Why You Need a Brand Messaging Guide for your Business (and Tips to Create your Own!)
Imagine having one document that holds the key to effortlessly marketing your business. Every time you’re trying to figure out what to say or who you’re talking to, you pull it out and immediately find your answer.
If you…
Have absolutely no idea what problem you solve for your target audience
Not sure what your target audience needs to hear to buy what you’re selling
Have no solid “what I do” statement or elevator pitch
Feel confused as hell about doing market research to understand your target audience
Congrats, you’re in the right place!
In today’s blog post, you’ll learn why you need a brand messaging guide and tips to create your own for your brand!
What is brand messaging?
Okay, so what even is your brand messaging— and why do you need it?
Brand messaging is how your brand shares its unique value and personality with your target audience.
Think about your unique selling point, your target audience research, brand voice, competitor research, and more— all neatly wrapped into one guide.
Here’s why you need brand messaging for your business:
1. Brand messaging gives you the words to explain WHY your target audience should buy what you sell.
It’s 2023, and it’s not enough to say “buy from me” and expect sales. Your audience needs to know what makes you different from your competitors. For example, if you’re a Virtual Assistant- what makes you DIFFERENT from any other VA, and why should someone hire you over anyone else? Brand messaging helps you communicate this.
2. Brand messaging makes it way easier to connect with your audience with a personality.
As made obvious by the brand personalities storming Tik Tok right now (hello Duolingo!) consumers LOVE connecting with a brand that has a killer personality. But don’t get it twisted– your brand’s personality is not YOUR personality. It’s carefully crafted to resonate with your audience.
3. Brand messaging helps you understand your audience and what they’re craving.
Ever launched an offer or service to complete crickets? You probably didn’t know what your audience actually wanted or needed. When you create brand messaging, you’ll do deeper research into your audience and know exactly what they need, what they need to hear, and how to solve their biggest problems (or “pain points”).
How can a brand messaging guide help your business?
Pass it to your contractors or your team
Hiring a casual contractor or a full-blown employee? Whether you’re bringing on a VA, social media manager, or another professional, sharing your brand messaging guide with your team makes consistency easy.
Stay focused and consistent
Solopreneur with no plans of hiring anytime soon? It’s tempting to keep all of your brand messaging stored in your brain or written on multiple different notes in your notes app (speaking from experience). But much like all those content ideas you have for Instagram— it’s easier to have it all written down. Instead of trying to remember what your ICA is when you’re marketing a new offer, you’ll know exactly who you’re trying to reach.
What’s in a brand messaging guide?
Ready to DIY your own brand messaging guide? Grab your fave notebook (or a fresh new Google Doc) and let’s get started.
Here’s what to include in your business’ brand messaging guide:
YOUR BRAND:
Brand positioning:
The number one rule of marketing? Know how you stand out in your market.
You’ve probably heard of a unique value proposition, but you might not know what it is (or like many entrepreneurs, you believe that you are your UVP).
Your unique value proposition is the value that only you bring to your clients or customers. Use your unique value proposition in every touchpoint of your marketing to communicate your worth to your target audience.
Need an example? Think about Apple. Their Unique Value Proposition? All of their devices connect seamlessly, so you can easily go from iPad to iPhone to Apple Watch.
Ask yourself:
What makes you different from any other brand in your niche?
What are my competitors doing?
(Not sure yet? Skip this and scroll down to start the competitor research section later in this post).
Values statement:
Your values statement shows what your brand stands for and how you communicate with your target audience. Your values lead you when you’re dealing with tough situations with customers, figuring out where to expand your products/services, and continuing to grow your brand.
For each value, add a sentence or two about what the value means to your brand and how you showcase it in your business.
Here’s an example from my brand:
Boldness: I believe the world is more fun when we pursue unconventional action! I take bold action in my personal and professional life whenever I can. I encourage my clients to push against their comfort zones in their business when safe and possible for them.
Ask yourself…
How do you hope a client/customer feels when they work with your brand?
What do I value the most in our business?
What are my non-negotiables in my business? What’s something I would never do (or let a client do)?
What do I want our brand to be known for?
Vision statement:
Crystal balls might not be real, but a vision statement is almost the next best thing. Think of your vision statement as a sneak peek into your business’ goals and dream for the future. It shapes the decisions you make, the products and services you offer, and gives you company-wide goals to aspire towards together.
Ask yourself…
Where do you see the business going?
Where do you see your business in 1, 5, and 10 years?
What do you define as “success” for your business?
Brand Tagline:
Your brand tagline is a quick and easy way to tell the world what our business is about. Use your brand tagline in social media bios, across our website, or on marketing materials (like packaging or in your email signature).
YOUR AUDIENCE:
Target Audience
Your target audience is who you’re trying to reach and sell to. In order to sell anything, you need to understand your target audience on a deeper level. Whenever you create anything new for your audience, use this as a cheat sheet to easily relate to and market to them!
Think about the people who are buying from you. You should do some market research (I know, the dreaded phrase of any business owner).
Remember, though: your target audience isn’t perfectly prescriptive of everyone who will buy from your brand. Every customer or client won’t have every single one of these traits.
Instead, consider your target audience to be a general overview of the type of buyer you’re trying to attract.
Some aspects you can include in your target audience analysis:
What age range does your target audience fall into? (note: I’d recommend picking a smaller age range like 25-30 rather than 25-50. Looking at a large age range makes it much more difficult and gives you a less specific picture of your target audience).
Where do they live? Where are they located?
Who does your target audience interact with? Who do they trust? (for example, influencers, educators in a certain field, scientists, etc).
What is your target audience’s educational level? What’s their career or job path?
What are they passionate about? What interests them, or how do they spend their free time?
What other brands do they follow and love?
Ideal client avatars
Okay, you defined your target audience! Now, let’s get a little bit more specific by breaking your target audience up into ideal client avatars (ICA). You may have also heard them referred to as “buyer personas”.
You’re probably wondering “why create a buyer persona when I just figured out my target audience?”
Remember how I said to consider your target audience to be a general overview of the type of buyer you’re trying to attract? Yeah, that’s why. Each of your ideal client avatars is an even more specific version of your target audience. Not everyone in your target audience needs every single thing you have to offer, so with each offer you can tailor your marketing to the ICA that needs what you’re selling!
For my clients, I usually break their target audience down into three ideal client personas.
For each persona:
Give a little background about them
What are their interests?
What are their problems?
What motivates them?
What’s the solution (aka what product/service would solve their problems)
For example:
ICA: Sarah
Background: Sarah is a 29 year old website designer located in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sarah started her website design business three years ago and loves working with her clients. Right now, Sarah is struggling to attract qualified leads. She’s uninspired by her messaging and feels like she’s fading into the background online. She’s motivated by scaling her business so that one day, she can start to outsource more of her work and spend more time at home with her two kids. To solve her problem, Sarah should invest in done-for-you website copywriting and brand messaging so she can attract more qualified leads, stand out from the competition, and watch her business grow.
(Note: you can make it way more fun than this. I whipped this up reaaaal quick, but take some time (and your market research) and have fun with it!).
Competitor research
You’ve probably heard the phrase “community over competition”, but this DOESN’T mean your business doesn’t have any competitors! Understanding what your competitors are up to is good news for your business. You don’t need to do a deep dive, but there’s a few things you should know.
How many competitors is enough? I usually include 2-3 direct competitors when writing brand messaging guides for clients, and take notes on others. This helps us determine their brand positioning and unique value proposition.
For each competitor, research and make note of…
What is the competitor’s brand positioning? What is their unique value proposition?
Where is the competitor located? Are they local to you or somewhere else?
What are the main products/services they offer?
How your brand differentiates itself from this specific competitor (ex. Do you offer full-service packages when they don’t, do you offer more niche services, is your process different)
YOUR BRAND VOICE:
Brand voice
Think about some of the biggest brands in the world— like Apple. Whether you’re experiencing them through their website, social media, or in-store, everything looks and sounds the same.
That’s what brand voice and tone is all about— they keep everything you say on-brand, no matter where you’re saying it. Using a consistent brand voice makes your brand recognizable from your competitors. It also helps you effortlessly attract your target audience.
To break it down for you:
Your brand voice is the words, phrases, and language you use when communicating with your audience.
Need help with your brand voice? Try this activity:
To help my clients visualize and step into their brand voice, I create a chart with “words we use” and “words we avoid”. Want a free copy of the chart? Download your freebie here.
Here’s an example:
Words we USE…
Positive, uplifting language
Want or desire (instead of need)
Words we AVOID…
Swear words
Can’t/don’t
Manifest
Brand tone
Your brand tone is how you speak
Need help with your brand tone? Try this activity:
To help my clients understand how to use their brand tone, I create a chart with “things we are” and “things we are not”. Want a free copy of the chart? Sign up to download it here.
For example:
We ARE…
Trustworthy
Positive
We AREN’T…
Negative
Exclusionary
Brand personality
Your brand personality is more about the way you act and less about the specific words you use. It's how your target audience experiences your brand (and how it makes them feel). Your brand personality exists to make your audience feel connected to it.
Ask yourself…
How would you describe you describe your brand as a person? Are you friendly? Supportive? Casual?
Emojis and punctuation
They might seem like no big deal, but emojis and punctuation you choose make a big impact! Using the same emojis and punctuation styles builds trust and recognition with your target audience (plus it’s a great opportunity to show off that personality!).
Ask yourself…
If your brand was a human, what emojis would they use most often when texting?
What punctuation do you use? Are you using exclamation marks or periods? Do you use dashes or colons?
Stuck on crafting your brand voice, personality, and tone? This freebie will walk you through it!
Need more personalized support (or would rather someone else do it)? Let’s work together to create stand out brand messaging. Click here for more!
