conversation is an engine

Two recent conversations with marketing friends illustrate a common issue I face when writing copy for a communication tool. The financial marketer needed to reach through the independent financial counselor to the individual investor. The medical device marketer needed to reach through the rep organization to a new-ish target audience—an audience the reps were not so eager to talk with. Both marketers understood that the communication tool we were preparing must help establish a relationship between the counselor/rep and the final audience.

In both cases we worked through a set of messages, set priorities and discussed the tone. The copy and entire piece must  engage the first audience (I’ll call them the “gate” audience), but in a slightly different way than it must engage the final audience. The gate audience must quickly understand the primary benefit to the final audience and then be prepared to verbally go over the communication piece with the final audience, pointing out benefits and finally leaving the piece with them. The gate audience must also quickly feel very comfortable with the messages, tone and presentation—so much so that they can speak intelligently and with passion. After all, that is what these folks do for a living.

The final audience may (or may not) take the piece and read it. More likely they will engage in a conversation with the communication tool as something of a prop, and then take their cues from the relationship they already have with the presenter. That is, after all, how we understand and take action on lots of things in this life. Most everything is about relationships.

Effective copy must make the gate audience comfortable, then impassioned, then empowered. That same copy must duplicate the passion for the final audience and go on to provide detail as necessary. And that means communication tools like your common brochure are really instruments for relationship-building.

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