A very wise ad man once said, “Give me the creative freedom of a tightly defined strategy.” This may sound counter-intuitive, but it’s true. A good, tightly defined strategy lets creative people focus on how best to say something without worrying whether they are saying the right thing.

If you aren’t telling people something compelling about your product or service, not even the most creative execution will convince them it is worth buying. Said another way, if you have the wrong strategy, every subsequent penny you spend is wasted.

Developing an effective communication strategy entails the steps below.

• Setting Communication Objectives
• Analyzing Competition
• Disclosing Key Facts
• Targeting Audience(s)
• Summarizing Current Perceptions
• Summarizing Desired Perceptions
• Identifying The Promise
• Developing Believable Support
• Adopting the Appropriate Tone and Personality
• Download our Strategy Blueprint
• Be consistent. Be consistent. Be consistent.

Not all ideas developed during the course of a project are equally good. How can you tell which one to run? Market research among your target audience is the surest way to define which is the most motivating. But often, companies don’t have the time or money to research.  You must base your decision on judgment.  So when you look at several alternative ideas, how do you judge which is most likely to succeed?

The first and most obvious consideration is, “Does it faithfully execute the strategy?” Also, consider the following. These guidelines are believed by many industry professionals to contribute to success.

• Break the Pattern
• Intrinsic Interest
• Position the Production Clearly and Competitively
• Reflect the Character of the Product
• Generate Trust
• Appeal to the Heart and the Head
• Speak with One Voice
• Dramatize the Main Benefit in Your Headline and Visual
• Avoid See/Say Visuals and Headlines
• Tell the Entire Story with Headlines, Subheads and Captions
• Create Story Appeal
• Find the Right Balance Between General and Specific Claims
• Give People Helpful Information
• Feature a Call to Action
• Make Entertainment Values Reinforce the Message

Positioning is the process by which marketers create an image or identity in the minds of their target market for their product, brand, or organization. According to Al Ries and Jack Trout in their book “Positioning - A Battle for Your Mind,” brands are valued by the way prospects or customers perceive them. Therefore, each brand must be ‘positioned’ in a particular class or segment. For example, Mercedes is positioned as a luxury brand; Volvo as a safe brand.

• How to identify a compelling long-term position

Campaigns include a series of communications integrated over time and across media. Individual messages reinforce and build on each other. They achieve a whole series of goals. Together, they move prospects closer to a sale.

• Orchestrating Tactical Efforts to Achieve Strategic Objectives
• Reach and Frequency
• Creativity: Your Greatest Leverage
• Ensuring Campaign Success
• Setting Budgets
• How Long Should a Campaign Last?
• Focus on the Customer’s Customer
• Be Big Where You Can
• Visual Storytelling

Most B2B marketers will find print publications and Web sites to be the most cost effective way to reach large numbers of people in their target audiences. Only the largest marketers will find broadcast necessary and affordable. Therefore, most of the topics below relate to print.

• Considerations when Purchasing Media
• Reaching Your Target Audience
• Cost of Reaching Your Target Audience
• Target Tightly To Minimize Waste
• Consider Qualitative Factors
• Timing: Finding the Right Pathways and Doors
• Multiple Audiences
• Net Vs. Gross Rates; Commissions vs. Fees

The ubiquity of Microsoft PowerPoint and the ease of creating presentations within it, make it the medium of choice during the “closing” stages of the sales cycle. Here’s why this tool is so important and how to use it to maximum effect.

• Much of B2B is 1On1
• Find the Right Balance Between Overwhelming and Underwhelming
• Use The “Drill-Down” Model to Explain Items of Interest
• Make Your Content the Hero
• Make Slides Readable from the Back of the Room
• Be Aware of Incompatible Versions and Unsupported Features
• Resolving Resolution and File Size Issues
• Anticipate Problems: A Checklist

Within a Web site, newspaper or magazine, an ad’s visuals create the stopping power. But the copy usually communicates the selling idea. Whether copywriters succeed in selling  depends on two things: what they say and how they say it.

The strategy lessons discussed above help with the “what” part of the copy equation. The “how” part requires talent, intuition, empathy and experience. Below are some things we have learned from experience.

• “Less is more” when it comes to words, too.
• How much copy is enough?
• Understand the Sales Process
• Become a Ruthless Reductionist!
• Use the Inverted Pyramid Style
• Create Multiple Ports of Entry to Copy
• Marry Clarity and Uniqueness
• Anticipate the Reader’s Questions
• Address The Six Questions
• Highlight the News

The terminology surrounding advertising production can confuse people. This series of lessons is designed to help you understand the language of production so that you can better communicate your needs and understand the needs of your agency.

• Image File Formats: Their Strengths and Uses
• Vector or Raster: Why it Makes a Difference?
• RGB vs. CMYK vs. Spot Colors
• Understanding Print Production Specs

Rehak Creative Services is not a market research company, but we appreciate the value of good research. It can help:

• Illuminate audiences’ wants and needs
• Craft compelling strategies and messages
• Point out the strengths and weaknesses in concepts
• Quantify the relative appeal of alternative concepts
• Track the effectiveness of campaigns
• Pinpoint the reasons for campaign success or failure
• Measure the return on investment in marketing and communications
• Defend against arbitrary budget cuts that undermine brand equity

• Create Customer-Led Campaigns
• Companies Fund Programs They Can Measure

PR offers less control over messaging than paid communications. Nevertheless, it can carry “weight” that paid communications do not. When a story appears about your product or service, people see it as “News.” And if you’re lucky enough to gain the endorsement of a trusted editor or columnist, you also gain credibility.

• How to Get Your Story Out There
• The Unpaid and Unpaved Highway
• Damage Control

No one knows your company as well as you. You know your company inside out. However, a good agency can help you look at it from the outside in. Agencies can help you put your best foot forward by looking at a product or service with the cold, dispassionate eye of a customer who has choices.

• How to Get Great Ideas from Your Agency