Did you know that brand authenticity is a crucial decision factor for 88% of consumers? Casa guides you on the path to effective brand messaging, so you can make the right impression on your target audience.
Let’s dive into the world of branding and discover how to create a brand message. In this blog post, we will show you what to keep in mind when unveiling the story behind your brand.
What is brand messaging?
To kick things off, we will clear up what brand messaging is. Essentially, it can be compared to the voice of your brand.
Brand messaging is the way you convey your value proposition and brand personality in your internal and external brand communication.
Your brand’s character consists of its mission and vision statements, core values, and brand foundation.
It plays an important role in building brand awareness and loyalty among clients, but also shapes the perception of your business.
Therefore, brands should pay attention to having clear, concise, and consistent brand messaging.
Don’t worry, Casa Media has thought of you! We are here to clear the view for you with our top tier advice on crafting effective brand messaging.
We gotchu.
Why brand messaging matters
Although we have already briefly touched upon the subject, let’s dig a little deeper into the importance of brand messaging.
Imagine asking four different people from your business to describe who you are and what you do. Do you think you’ll get four equal answers?
If you do, we have bad news for you: most likely you will end up with four different responses.
Not because your team doesn’t know how to describe your brand, but because your brand message is not completely clear.
Having clear brand communication leads to more consistency, for those you’re trying to reach as well as your own team. And don’t forget, consistency is key!
Casa Media strongly recommends establishing alignment across all your brand’s touchpoints and in each piece of content so you can create the greatest possible impact.
Different types of brand messaging
The two main categories of brand messaging are internal and external messaging. These types of communication strategies serve the same purpose, but have distinct approaches and target groups.
Internal brand messaging
Internal brand messaging involves communication with employees internally. The purpose is to foster and enhance the company culture, while also encouraging advocacy among the team.
So, what do internal brand messages look like? They appear in the shapes of company-wide meetings, training materials, internal newsletters, and so on.
Usually, the information in internal brand messages are about the company’s history, values, etc.
A brand guide is a good example of internal brand messaging
External brand messaging
Now, external brand messaging is a bit different: this field focuses on communication aimed atexternal audiences, such as clients, the target audience or general public.
Your brand wants to raise awareness about itself, create a public brand personality, and build customer loyalty.
As you probably already guessed, you can find external brand messages as social media content, advertising campaigns, website messages, PR, and more.
What all these formats have in common is that they all showcase the brand’s benefits, features, values and quality.
In other words, your external communication is the direct line to your customers and potential leads.
However, don’t neglect your internal brand messaging – your employees are the human embodiment of your business.
Invest in your team like you invest in your customers, that is the key to success.
Brand messaging framework
Now that you understand the different layers of brand messaging, it is time to craft your own brand messaging framework!
A brand messaging framework is the ideal guide for creating messages that convey your brand personality. Here is a list of this special framework’s components that you must have at hand at all times.
Brand positioning
The first element is brand positioning, which defines who you are targeting and how you meet the needs of your audience in a better way than the competition. Also, it is related to the brand perception you wish to create.
Firstly, know who you are and how you differentiate yourself from competitors. Being aware of your brand personality goes further than knowing which products or services you offer.
Instead, make your unique value proposition your bestie. The so-called UVP describes how you, and only you, bring great advantages and be beneficial to the lives of your target group.
Its formula is easy and focuses on who you help, how you do it, and what the outcome is. In case you are not sure how to develop your value proposition, carry out a SWOT analysis and assess your brand’s unique selling points.
Additionally, know your target audience. This may seem obvious to you, but is often put aside. Uncover the mysteries behind the demographics, pains, gains, and motivations of your target.
We suggest designing personas as well: this technique helps to get to know your ideal customers and gives your team members a more empathic perspective when writing copy and developing content.
Wondering how to create buyer personas? Hubspot explains it in this tutorial
Mission and vision statements
If you don’t know where you are going, it is hard to know what you are doing.
A vision statement is a description of which goals you aim to achieve in the future. It is like a picture of where you want to see yourself in the future. Therefore, it has a long-term focus.
A clear outlook for the future serves as a guiding principle for your business for decision-making and strategic planning. Plus, it inspires your team and customers to work towards your business goals together.
The other famous component is a company’s mission statement. This strategic framework captures the fundamental purpose of a business and explains how you will reach your vision statement.
Your mission can be short to medium-term and answers what you do, how you do it, and why you do it.
Key messages
What is the common denominator among brands with remarkable online presence?
Easy, the answer is strong messaging pillars. This aspect gives your business another opportunity to be different and to catch the eye of the public.
Brand pillars mainly appear on your website and other marketing channels and they are used in both internal and external communication.
So, be consistent in what you say and integrate data that highlights your competitive advantage.
Doing so will give your own staff a basis of important references when mentioning your brand and it will also accentuate your company values.
An example of Casa’s own brand pillars as described on the website
Tone of voice
In the crowded realm of branding, where competition is fierce and attention spans short, the importance of a captivating tone of voice can’t be repeated enough.
Decide how your brand should come across on social mediaor online, whether there is specific language you want to use, and which emotions are associated with your business.
Refusing to choose a messaging style guarantees failure sooner or later, whether you want it or not. Consumers will always prefer brands that evoke trust and uniqueness.
Visual identity
The final piece of the puzzle is your brand’s visual identity.
Not only does this include your logo and website visuals, but it also involves the graphics you use in overall brand communication. Whether that is offline or online.
Visual aesthetics reinforce the overall brand personality and help you to convey your brand message. Also, they create a cohesive experience across all touchpoints and marketing channels.
From your color palette to the fonts you use, visual elements take your brand’s storytelling to a higher level and play a role in stirring emotions. Choose illustrations that match your brand messaging.
These are Casa Media’s brand shapes, representing the bold brand identity perfectly while also being in the theme color.
Tips to create and use your brand messaging
Before we wrap up, here are some tips and tricks from yours truly to get the most out of your brand messaging framework.
If you need any assistance with spicing up your messaging, Casa Media is here to help you!
Define your brand objectives
Identify what the goal of your brand messaging is. What do you want your target audience to do when they come across your messages? Register, subscribe, follow, or buy your products or services?
Make up your mind about this before you develop the brand messaging framework, so that you can move ahead with a peaceful mind and confidence.
Simplicity is the secret
Regardless of everything, your brand messaging needs to be simple and authentic. If not, the public and your team will notice that something is not right and it will result in a loss for your brand.
Remember that there is no need to have the boldest brand voice if your brand has a subdued personality.
Make sure your brand’s storytelling is on point
Storytelling is the perfect tool to make your brand more memorable and engaging.
You can easily integrate it in your strategic framework through case studies on your website, the way you structure your information, and marketing material.
A powerful example that shows how the search engine can help you find whatever you need and plays a role in capturing life’s most important moments
Integrate various touchpoints in your brand messaging
Obvious or not, your brand messaging should embrace a variety of communication channels – both online and offline.
When choosing the formats for brand messaging, keep your objectives in mind as well.
For example, creative posters are the perfect touchpoint to attract attention, while videos are useful to retain that awareness.
Examples of captivating brand messaging
I know. We said we would call it a day. But… we can’t let you go without any practical examples of effective brand messaging, can we?
The answer is no. So, here you go. You can thank us later!
Loom
Loom is a technology business focusing on screen recording and video messaging. Its platform allows users to quickly create videos of their screen, share ideas, and collaborate with others.
Loom’s website is built around the advantages of video. It begins with “One video is worth a thousand words” and is backed up by their tagline “Loom video messaging cuts out distractions to help teams work smarter”.
If you analyze the software company’s full website, you will see that the benefits of video messaging are emphasized consistently.
They even state that their technology helps you skip meetings, because you “explain anything clearly and effortlessly”.
Regardless of how you perceive Loom, one thing is for sure: customers love it. And that is one of the indicators of compelling brand messaging.
Dove products can be found in households around the world.
Although many like the brand because of its product quality, it masters the art of expressing its mission and values better than most businesses.
When we look at the marketing efforts of Dove, the beauty giant always comes up with remarkable advertisements – going from the famous portrait sketches to their campaign about real beauty workshops.
Instead of explaining the advantages of their products, Dove puts the spotlight on confidence, natural beauty, and self-esteem education.
They want to come across as a gentle friend who is there to empower female friends and remind them of their strength, natural beauty, and beauty in diversity.
As they are at the top of skincare brands, Dove clearly knows that branding goes further than products and services. It is a best practice that can’t be missed in our list.
Taylor Swift
At last, we have our all-time public’s favorite Taylor Swift.
Being an early adopter, social media is one of the aspects that make the singer’s connection with fans so strong.
In fact, over the years she has built a reputation and brand image of ‘the girl next door’. Swift likes to make use of it and live up to the perception of her fans by interacting with them on socials.
For instance, when a fan notified her on Tumblr about her custom Twitter hashtag, Taylor replied with a bunch of emojis in the same style as her supporter’s message.
There are many more examples of Taylor’s effective marketing strategy, but there are not many celebrities who interact with their fans like she does.
Nor are there many people who hide clues in everything they do – which is also a marketing stunt.
We love Taylor and her marketing, and so should you.
Well done! You now know how to craft an effective brand messaging framework for your own business. Count on our team at Casa Media to assist you whenever you need. Don’t hesitate to contact us!
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