How a 16th-Century Map Can Inform Corporate and Association Messaging
Image caption: Jacopo De’Barbari’s 1500 map of Venice, which appears to be drawn from an aerial vantage point. It was the largest map ever produced at the time and provided a novel view.
An Unprecedented Perspective
In 1500, a Venetian painter and printmaker named Jacopo De'Barbari drew the first-ever aerial map of Venice. The map was extraordinary for a few reasons:
It was the largest print ever made. At 4' x 9', the map had to be printed on six sheets and pieced together.
It offered a view never before seen, because there was no one vantage point in or around Venice that could provide such a view. (There were no aerial drones in 1500!)
It included both large-scale geographic information and minute details, such as doors, windows, and even chamber pots (10,000 of them!).
How did de'Barbari draw his bird's eye view of Venice when manned flight was still three centuries away?
It’s believed he used the work of several different surveyors, some of whom climbed bell towers throughout the area and drew what they saw.
That is to say, de'Barbari relied on diverse perspectives to create a coherent picture and provide Venetians and others with a literal “big picture” view that had been lacking.
So, what does De'Barbari's map have to do with company communications and messaging?
What Communicators Can Learn from De’Barbari’s Approach
Organizations are made up of departments and functional areas that may have very different objectives and perspectives on how they should communicate with their audiences. Successful communications harmonize these viewpoints into an overarching strategy and consistent messaging.
The same way De'Barbari blended several visual perspectives into one, you’ll need evidence-based and relationship-informed insights from everyone involved in strategy and the customer/member experience:
leadership
products and services subject matter experts
sales and marketing staff
events and education staff
anyone else customer- or member-facing
The viewpoints of external audiences are important, too, because company communications need to address the audiences’ needs and perspectives in order to be successful in moving them to action—converting them to customers or members, retaining them, getting them to make a purchase. This means you need to conduct audience research and understand the perspectives of the people you are trying to reach.
By basing your messaging on a blend of informed perspectives, you can communicate in a consistent manner that supports business goals and market demands.
Message Platforms Provide Consistency
Once you’ve gathered the various staff and external audience perspectives, you need to distill it into a cohesive vision—much like De'Barbari did when he used different surveyors’ drawings as the basis for one map.
The communications map you need is a “message platform”—a guide for talking about your organization and its offerings in a way that is supports your goals and appeals to your audiences.
The message platform should include messages about--
the attributes that differentiate your company from the competition
your value to your target market (and specific sub-segments) , based on your audience's known needs and motivations
how specific products and services meet your audiences' needs and solve their problems
The effort you spend collaborating on a cohesive approach to communications will yield the "big picture" about your unique strengths, plus the more granular, decision-empowering information that gets target audiences to engage and convert.
Put cohesive messaging out on your website and in all communications channels, and you've mapped out your own success.
Contact Us for Communications Strategy & Support
If you'd like help developing a strategic, audience-focused message platform, or understanding your audiences better through research, get in touch.
More about De’Barbari’s map: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/View_of_Venice#/media/File:Jacopo_de'_Barbari_-_View_of_Venice_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg
