In last month’s issue, we introduced the concept of branding and talked about why you would want to implement a consistent brand across the communications touchpoints for your parking business (see “Positioning Your Parking Brand to Benefit Your Business,” pages 34-35, Parking Today, July 2024).
It’s important to present a cohesive and differentiated brand image to set your company apart in the commoditized parking marketplace. However, you also know that the different stakeholders you deal with each day — including customers, lot owners, potential business partners, government, and the general public — all have different needs and want different information from you.
Key messages are the main talking points you want your audiences to hear, understand, and remember about your business. So, how do you engage effectively with each of these audiences to promote your business to them?
What are Key Messages?
Key messages are the main talking points you want your audiences to hear, understand, and remember about your business. They help you communicate your company’s value to your stakeholders and the reasons why they would want to choose to do business with you.
Key messages are not advertising slogans or taglines. Rather, they are consistent, compelling, easy-to-communicate messages that answer your audiences’ questions and give them the information they need about your parking business.
By considering the unique value your company provides to your stakeholders (as we talked about in last month’s branding article) and developing key messages that promote that value, you can focus the conversation and give your audiences the information they need to help them choose your company.
Key Messages for Different Parking Audiences
In the previous article, we talked about the common factors among your different audiences to help you develop your overall brand positioning. You considered the following to develop your brand positioning statement:
- Your target audiences and what they need from you.
- Your company and what services you provide.
- What is going on in your marketplace that might affect your audiences’ choices, such as competition, regulation, and public perception.
To develop your key messages, you’ll want to revisit this information and think about how your company meets the needs of each individual audience.
For example, monthly parkers may care that their parking spot will always be available and that payment will be easy and secure. They also likely care about any discounts or special privileges they get for being monthly customers. Meanwhile, lot owners care that their property will be kept secure and well maintained, that parking services will be delivered as promised, and that your parking company will be easy to do business with. Finally, potential buyers or investors care about the profitability of your parking company and what ownership or partnership would look like for them.
Once you understand the needs of each audience, think about how your company meets those needs and how that supports your overall brand position.
In the previous article, we used the example of the fictitious parking company ABC Parking and noted that its value to its stakeholders is its superior security. Based on this premise, we determined that the company’s positioning statement might be: “For parking decision makers that need a responsibly run parking partner, ABC Parking is the most secure parking company in the city, so they can feel safe about their parking choice.”
In this case, how does ABC Parking’s focus on security help meet the needs of its different stakeholders?
For monthly parkers, ABC’s key messages could be as follows:
These key messages use ABC Parking’s differentiator (its security focus) to answer the needs of the audience (availability, security, and privileges). ABC would then look at the needs of its other stakeholders, such as lot owners and investors, to develop key messages that answer their individual needs.
For your parking company, focus on how you meet the needs of your audiences, and how that supports your overall value proposition, to develop key messages for each group.
Key Messaging within Your Company
Once your key messages are developed, you’ll have clear, compelling talking points that answer the questions of each stakeholder group and tell them why they should support your parking company.
Refer to these messages any time you’re communicating with one of your audiences, such as pitching your company to a lot owner, developing promotional messages for monthly parkers, or talking to regulators or the media about your parking services. This will help you focus your message and consistently communicate the value you provide.
You should also develop specific materials for each stakeholder group, where appropriate. For example, the promotional materials you share with monthly parkers should be different from the sales materials you use with lot owners. Don’t ask your audiences to search through a lot of information to find what’s relevant to them. Give each group what they need so that they can easily understand why they should do business with you.
Finally, share your key messages and brand with your employees and anyone else who might represent your company to your stakeholders. This way, everyone has the same information and can share the same messages. Your company image will be consistent, your brand value will be clear, and your stakeholders will understand the key points you want them to.
Communicate Your Company’s Value
Clear, compelling key messages that answer the needs of your stakeholders can help you give them the information they need and communicate why they should choose to work with you. By developing key messages for each audience, you can easily and effectively manage your conversations with your stakeholder groups in a way that supports your brand position, builds relationships, and wins business for your parking company.
Carla Howden is a marketing strategist and fractional chief marketing officer specializing in business-to-business industrial and corporate clients. She can be reached at carla@m-consulting.ca, m-consulting.ca, or on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/in/carlahowden.
