Author: Allison Wallner

A friend of mine recently asked me to review a mapping project to be displayed at his house. He’s a GIS mapping specialist, and looking at Google Maps is the extent of my experience, but I gladly reviewed the project.

When I looked at this map, I was confused with the markings that appeared. My friend was surprised at my apparently obvious question. The map was not conveying a clear meaning to someone with no advanced mapping knowledge.

What does this have to do with marketing?

Well-established communication is mandatory from the sender to receiver to establish a shared meaning. A shared meaning occurs when people understand each other’s perspective and meaning. This is crucial within any presentation, sales pitch, form of writing and simple conversation. Making sure your audience, no matter how big or small, is on the same page as you when doing business is a must.

Evaluating your audience when developing your marketing message can help with this objective. Becoming familiar with the realm of knowledge, goals and needs of your audience will make building your marketing message easier to communicate and understand.

Back to my example, my friend now understands that the symbols placed throughout the map are not clearly communicated to his audience. The map now has an easy-to-read map key displayed in the bottom corner.

Clear communication will lead you to a shared meaning, which avoids confusion and creates success.