Consensus and Consistency – Their Vital Importance

It takes an audience longer to absorb your message than you think it does. This is especially pronounced when language is not aligned. Sure, there may be general agreement on what the primary attributes of your firm are, however, if all describe these attributes differently,the power of the message is significantly diluted. If Nike used “Just do it” on the West Coast, and “Give it your all” on the East Coast, would Nike’s tag line be the powerful anthem it currently is?

It is absolutely imperative that you sit down and build consensus around the language you are going to use to describe yourself. Most asset managers let language develop organically. It changes from meeting to meeting. People tend to gravitate towards language that is comfortable. Because of this, a given story ends up sounding very different depending on who is telling it. As it pertains to marketing, this is bad.  

And I am not recommending that you build an army of robots. I am simply recommending that you very clearly define what you do, what you value, and what makes you different. You invest with us for three reasons… 1… 2… 3. 

Yet, none of this really matters if no one outside your direct network is aware of what your core attributes are. Marketing well is nothing more than influencing how an audience perceives you.

Yes, you first need to figure out what to say, however, you then have to say it. The less obvious piece of advice… you have to say it a lot more times than you think you do. The world is a noisy place. Mind share isn’t free and it takes a lot of work to earn it. This monthly missive is a great example. I have written hundreds. All said, speaking from a lot of experience, I can assure you that there will be a strong contingency of people that see it and acknowledge the content for the first time.

By Kyle Dunn