Branding 101: What business owners need to know about brand messaging

Explore how the way your brand communicates with customers builds loyalty

Whether you’re a new business ready to establish your branding or an existing one looking to rebrand, brand messaging is an essential part of that process.

Many people think that branding is all about the logo and visuals, and while they’re essential components, there’s much more to it than that.

If you’re thinking about working with a marketing agency to help you craft your new brand or refresh your existing one, it’s helpful to know the basics of brand messaging to get a better understanding of the information they’ll need from you and what you should be looking for in the end product.

Continue reading to learn everything you need to know about brand messaging.

What is brand messaging?

Brand messaging is the way you communicate your value proposition to your target audience. Your business’s brand message should inspire and motivate your audience, ultimately making them resonate with your business.

Your business only has a few seconds to make a positive and long-lasting first impression on your prospective customers. In this short period of time, especially online, they will decide if they will purchase your products or hire your services, or if they should continue the search for what they are looking for.

A brand message ensures that this first impression is an accurate depiction of what your business is all about, including your mission, vision, values, tagline, and the problems you are solving. It determines exactly what you want to portray to your audience in a clear and concise way.

Related resource:

Rebrand vs. brand refresh: which is right for your business?

How is a brand message crafted?

Most marketing agencies will craft your messaging from three distinct angles using different tactics such as competition analysis, defining your target audience and helping you determine your business unique selling proposition:

Customer: Who are you talking to? Try to get inside the mind of your audience and view your brand messaging from the outside. This will help you determine what you believe your customers will want from your business.
Competition: What do you offer to your customers that your competitors do not? Your brand should be authentic and unique to your business. Your audience should easily be able to distinguish between your business’s branding and your competitors both through visuals and messaging.
Internal: What is the vision for your business? Now look at your brand from the inside. Your brand messaging should tell a story that resonates not only with your target audience, but your team too.

What are the components of a brand message?

Your brand message is unique to your business, but there are a few essential components of any quality brand message.

First, your brand message should include your vision statement which is the ultimate goal of what you want your business to achieve. A vision should be forward-focused and aspirational while also defining the problems your business is trying to solve.

Brand messaging should also include a mission statement that defines how the goal from your vision statement will be achieved. Your mission statement does this by communicating the purpose of your organization and direction to employees, customers, clients, and stakeholders.

It’s also important to include your business’s values in your brand messaging. Values are the core moral principles that define and describe your company culture. Your business’s values are meant to be referenced throughout the lifetime of your business to guide decision-making and assess the current state of operations.

Finally, it’s common to include your tagline in your brand messaging. A tagline is a short memorable phrase that you use to portray the idea or purpose of your business. Taglines help the public recall your business and develop a positive attitude towards it. Depending on your business’s brand personality, you can have fun with your tagline with rhymes and wordplay to make it even more memorable.

Why is brand messaging important?

A well-thought out brand message helps keep your business’s communication consistent and cohesive, while also giving your business credibility.

Your brand message is the guidepost for your business to clearly communicate what you offer and what you stand for. With 86% of consumers saying that authenticity is important when deciding what brands they like and support, it’s clear that remaining authentic in your brand messaging is critical. [1]

It’s important to demonstrate to your audience that you are a reliable business that will attend to their needs. A strong brand message that stays consistent will allow your customers to easily recognize and build loyalty to your business.

Your brand message also gives you the opportunity to develop a short and simple explanation for what your business does and why.

Imagine that you only have 30 seconds to explain to an investor or a potential customer what your business does and get them to take action; this is called your elevator pitch. Your brand message will provide you with better guidance on what makes your business stand out and what gives it value.

How will my brand messaging be used?

Your brand messaging will be used across a variety of avenues in order to keep the same cohesive look and feel to your business, including:

On your business’s website and other online channels
On your sales pieces such as flyers, brochures, proposals and presentations
Internally to ensure all team members are on the same page regarding your business’s mission, vision, and values

Ultimately your brand message will be used throughout your business to keep your messaging consistent, so that whether your team is talking to a potential customer or employee, they send the same message every time.

A strong brand message helps the rest of your marketing and sales efforts be more successful because it provides purpose and clarity.

How we can help

At Different Perspective, our brand messaging process starts with interviewing you, our client, to get to know you better.

We then conduct a competition analysis, which is an audit of your direct competitors’ brand positioning, websites, social media platforms, blogs, and more depending on the scope of your project.

Next, we craft your business’s brand story that highlights your expertise, unique selling proposition, and business goals to help you reach your target audience by developing your identity and brand.

Our branding projects are very collaborative. We draw inspiration from our clients, their businesses, and their audience to build a branding suite that sets them up to shine in the best light.

Contact us today to learn more about our branding services.

Source:
1: Stackla | The Consumer Content Report: Influence in the Digital Age

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