One of the most common things that my 1:1 clients struggle with is figuring out how to explain what they do to the people they want to sell to in a way that makes sense and reaches more of them. Brand messaging is the how.

So why is Brand messaging so hard for creators to wrap their heads around?

Crafting a Brand messaging strategy takes the guesswork out of what to say and how to say it. As a creator, a few critical elements of your message are the most powerful for you to understand. Still, figuring out how to articulate the value of what you do can feel confusing. A simple google search for Brand voice results in an endless slew of results and strategies. So I’m here to tell you what you need to know about Brand Strategy for your Brand and creative small business. Because let’s be honest, how often do you need an elevator pitch if you work from the spare bedroom of your house?

What is Brand Messaging?

Your message is how your customers and clients build a relationship with your Brand. A cool logo and aesthetic may catch their eye, but your messaging will keep them coming back for more. Brand messaging establishes how your audience understands your Brand and its value. Your messaging should do three things

1. Articulate the value of what you do and the problem you solve.
2. Establish you as an authority in your field
3. Differentiate you from your competition

^^^And it needs to do all of this in a language that your audience can resonate with and understand.

Why is Brand messaging important?

Plain and simple, the better the Brand messaging, the higher the conversion rate. Have you ever had the experience of clicking someone’s link for the first time and immediately being ready to purchase after reading a couple of the paragraphs and bullet points on their sales page?

It’s because they had strong messaging and conversion copywriting

You didn’t question the value of their product or service because it was correctly conveyed to you.

The bottom line is that your brand message works for you – even when you aren’t working. It lives and breathes on your digital footprint, speaking and connecting for you.

How do you craft Brand messaging your target audience will love?

The first step to crafting a brand message is starting with a solid foundation in the form of your Brand and business model (something I like to call your Brand Blueprint). If you don’t have an established brand and business model, there is no point in working on your messaging. How can you explain the value of what you do if you don’t even know what you are selling yet? Revisiting your foundation (check out my free Brand Blueprint template) is a great preliminary step in refining your Brand’s messaging. Before digging into your messaging, you will also need to understand your Brands strategy, your audience, and what they need from your product or service.

The next step is defining your Brand Voice & Tone.

How do you speak to your audience? Your Brand messaging is what you say – and your brand voice and tone are how you say it. You can think of your Brand Voice as how much and what kind of personality you will infuse into your Brand.

Define the Tone

Think of this as “How Does Your Brand Sound?” What are the subtle nuances about how your Brand sounds that almost contradict each other? These subtle nuances are your Brand Tone.

Define the Voice

Think of this as “What does your brand say?” Quite literally – what words does it use? How do you/your Brand say hello and goodbye? What are other phrases you use regularly? What kinds of cultural or niche-specific things does your Brand refer to?

Write the Story

The following piece defines your brand story, which isn’t your story but your customer’s story. Story Brand teaches brands to position themselves as the guide in a hero story that focuses on your ideal clients’ “main character energy.” I highly recommend you dig into the book on your own, but here is the cliff notes version.

Your brand story should go something like this.

The hero (your ideal customer or client)

Has a problem (that you just so happen to know how to solve) & meets a guide (that’s your Brand) that helps them to achieve success (What their life looks like after your Brand) & avoid failure (what your Brand helps them to prevent)

This brand story should also identify your customer’s problems and experiences internally, externally, and philosophically.

The combination of your tone, Voice, and this story becomes your Brand messaging. The words, phrases, and value statements that you refer back to and use in your copy and marketing material describe who you help, how you help them, how you’re different, and why you do what you do.

Lastly, as a footnote of sorts, I want to mention SEO. Now SEO deserves (and will soon get) a blog post all its own. But having a basic understanding of SEO and what keywords you should include in your Brands Messaging is worth doing the leg work on.

SEO is Search Engine Optimization, which is becoming increasingly important for your Brand and business. Initially, brands only considered Search engine optimization when it came to increasing web traffic on a platform like Google, which first and foremost started as a search engine.

SEO refers to optimizing the words you use in your copy and messaging so that your Brand’s online presence shows up in more user-generated searches. But now, we are seeing SEO become a part of social platforms like Instagram, Pinterest, and Tik Tok. Optimizing the words in your profile description, posts, and captions means more people searching for your content will find it. Optimizing your Brand messaging is a strategic and intentional way to set yourself up for long-term success.

Click here to be notified when next week’s blog to learn how to find SEO keywords for your Brand goes live.