How to Elevate Your Brand With Messaging That Resonates

A big mistake too many entrepreneurs make is spending thousands and thousands of dollars on a visual brand identity without proving their offerings or their message. But what good are pretty pictures if too many people get confused when you talk about what you do? One indicator that you should prioritize your brand message over your brand image or design is a high bounce rate on your website, as shown in Google Analytics. Another indicator is that your company only receives referrals.

While you could ask a brand designer to create a custom logo, color palette, and typography, or a videographer and photographer to provide you with beautiful branding images, it almost always becomes an expensive mistake if you don’t prove your offerings or message does not resonate.

To start improving your message, you should create a guide to your brand message and brand voice. This is one of the most important internal business documents that every business owner should refer to again and again as your brand evolves. In this article, I’ll break down the 3 most important elements of an effective brand messaging guide to help your brand attract more perfectly matched customers. I like to break brand messaging guides into three parts: the brand strategy, the ideal customer, and the brand voice.

See also: Branding is more than an accessory: it is the foundation of every business

The brand strategy

At a high level, brand strategy consists of the following basic components:

The unique value proposition: This is non-negotiable for any company’s branding strategy. Your value proposition is how you differentiate yourself. With a weak value proposition, customers have no compelling reason to consider you over your competitors. When it’s strong, you make your brand uncopyable and you’ll always be in demand no matter what the competition comes out with because you know who you are.

Brand mission: This is one of the most powerful things you can communicate about your brand because it communicates why your business exists in the first place.

core values: What does your brand stand for and what does it not stand for? Once you’ve established your brand values, all business decisions—from marketing to customer experience to team hiring—can be made much more quickly. This should come from what your ideal customers value.

Brand Stories: What led to the birth of your brand? Have you had any unfortunate experiences that made you do something else in the market? How does this move your company forward in service of your mission? What results have you helped your clients achieve? How did you finish your product? Answering all of these questions will help create a narrative that will help customers relate to your brand.

Brand Personality: A defined brand personality shapes how your company feels to people. What characteristics does the brand have that a customer will identify with? At a high level, a brand personality defines the direction of your message and all copywriting. Think of it this way: what would make your customer want to have dinner with your brand if it were a person?

Related: Your brand is much more than your logo. Here’s what really makes your brand stand out to customers.

The ideal customer

When it comes to crafting marketing messages to attract your perfect match, there are three key messages to repeat before presenting your unique process or offering:

pain points: What is your customer struggling with? How aware are you of this struggle?

Desired transformation: In her words, what does your customer want? What do you value?

Failed Attempts: What other solutions has your customer already tried? What solutions are there and to what extent do these solutions not meet your ideal customer?

The Brand Voice

Brand message and brand voice are not the same. Think of the song “Happy Birthday”. The melody will never change, but a musician can change other things, like the key, the tempo, or even the instrumental or choral arrangement. It’s just a fancy way of saying that you can play “Happy Birthday” with different instruments, keys or tempos, but the melody always stays the same. Think of the brand message as the melody to “Happy Birthday” and the brand voice as all the ways “Happy Birthday” can be performed in different ways. Let’s dig a little deeper into the brand voice.

Brand claims: What phrases or terms does your brand keep repeating? The vocabulary your brand repeatedly plays with must serve to reinforce your brand mission and values. So if this is difficult to define, refine your brand values ​​first.

Volume: What emotions connect your ideal customer with your company? How would you describe their pain points and desires? How does the tone change when you talk about your origin story or expertise?

Articulation and style: This is where it gets a little more technical. Articulation and style refer to how your brand embellishes certain tones as shown in punctuation, emoji, and other typographic symbols.

Rhythm: The rhythm of your speech refers to how long or short your sentences are on average. Is it punchy and short? Or is it lyrical, long-winded and melodic?

Related Topics: 4 questions to ask yourself to ensure your brand resonates

A visual brand identity without a strong verbal brand identity typically results in customers not understanding the true value of a company’s offerings. The visual brand identity might make for pretty marketing, but without a strong brand message, price objections are almost always raised – and the company could lose sales.

Unlike brand guides that outline the proper use of a logo, font spacing, and a color palette, a brand message guide outlines the proper use of your brand’s words. When you have your brand message in a guide, you have a strategic SOP that you can always refer to when marketing to attract your perfect match. Team members, especially in sales and marketing, all stay on the same page, reducing the likelihood of inconsistent marketing messages or poor customer service.