If you’ve ever watched a movie with a protagonist who had no personality or emotion, you know how hard it is to follow the story. This is often the result of bad screenwriting. But when an audience can’t follow a business’s story, it’s usually because of ineffective brand messaging.
To prevent this from happening to your brand, spend time on your brand messaging. Below, we’ll explain the different types of brand messaging and provide tips on how to make an effective one for your brand’s social media – the way that top social media management agencies in the Philippines do it.
What is Brand Messaging?
Brand messaging refers to a company’s way of communicating its identity, purpose, and uniqueness to others. It combines non-visual branding elements to create verbal and non-verbal language for the brand.
These elements include:
- Mission statement
- Vision statement
- Core values
- Unique value proposition
- Brand pillars
Using these elements as a basis, the company crafts a distinct communication style that effectively showcases its personality, values, and story.
The Different Types of Brand Messaging
When there’s no differentiation between different types of business, the market is saturated. That’s why companies must find a way to stand out from their competitors. One way that many companies do this is by using different types of brand messaging.
To help you figure out what type of brand messaging you should use for your company, we’ve created two categories: informational and emotional.
Most people use both types on some level because they work well together, but one will usually be more powerful than the other in each situation.
- Informational Brand Messaging
Informational brand messaging focuses on conveying what the company does and how it does it (in as much detail as possible, of course). This information is important because it gives potential customers a sense of what they can expect from the brand. It is also helpful for your current customers to know how you will help them succeed.
To create informational brand messaging that conveys professionalism and value, consider these tips:
- Keep Your Message Short and to the Point – The best way to stand out from your competitors is to go beyond simply listing your standard product/service offerings. Instead, include short statements that state what you have to offer, then describe why it will benefit customers.
- Add an Objective – This is another way to add value to your communication style. If you write in a way that projects confidence and professionalism, readers should also feel confident and professional reading your communication.
- Use a Unique Turn of Phrase – Even with the best informational brand messaging, you need to stand out from the crowd. Take the time to find and use a unique turn of phrase that will make your message memorable.
- Emotional Brand Messaging
Emotional brand messaging focuses on conveying what types of feelings your company evokes in others, as well as why your product/service is such an important part of their lives. A good emotional brand message also helps people self-identify with your company’s brand and understand how they can be part of it.
To create emotional brand messaging that resonates with readers, consider these tips:
- Keep your messages upbeat.
- Use strong, emotive language to grab attention and connect with your audience.
- Tell stories that focus on the emotional journey of your brand, rather than simply listing facts and features.
- Use images and visuals to supplement your emotional messages and help tell your brand story.
- Be consistent with your emotional messaging across all channels to create a cohesive brand identity.
Importance of Developing Your Brand Messaging
There are many benefits to developing your core brand messaging, including building trust with your customers, communicating your brand story, and creating a deeper connection with your audience.
Your messaging is an essential part of your brand identity, so it’s important to spend time developing it to create a strong foundation for your business.
But apart from enhancing your rapport with consumers and users, a well-developed brand messaging also provides the following benefits:
- Organic word-of-mouth marketing: No matter how you try to promote your brand, people are more likely to trust products that are recommended by their friends. Brand messaging can help customers connect with your deeper message and show them how to talk about your brand to others.
- Makes marketing materials consistent: An established brand message ensures that your messaging, design, product, and content marketing are all aligned with your company’s values. This will be really significant if you’re participating in digital marketing in the Philippines – or any other part of the world – since this will help users better recognize you whenever they come across your online marketing assets.
- Allows users to see who you are: If you want customers to connect with your brand, they need to understand who you are as a company. Brand messaging will communicate this to them, so they know what to expect from your business.
- Makes your branding consistent: An established brand messaging strategy is essential when writing a creative brief, creating an elevator pitch, or revamping your homepage. It helps the creator stay on brand and produce content that is consistent with the company’s image.
How to Create an Effective Brand Messaging Strategy
Step One: Define Your Brand
Before you can start crafting messaging for your brand, you first need to determine what it is. What are your core values and why do they matter to you and your customers? What is your vision for the brand and what makes it unique?
Once you have a good understanding of who you are and what you stand for, you can start shaping your messaging around those things.
Step Two: Identify Core Values
Your brand’s core values should be things that you and your team believe in and are passionate about. They should be things that will guide your decision-making and how you operate as a business.
When crafting your brand’s messaging, be sure to highlight things like quality, integrity, customer service, and sustainability. These are all core values of your brand, and highlighting them in your messaging will help to differentiate you from your competition.
Step Three: Find Your Unique Selling Proposition
Your brand’s unique selling proposition (USP) is what sets it apart from the competition. It’s what sets you apart from your customers and why they should choose you over your competitors.
Think about what makes your brand different. What are you passionate about and why does it matter to your customers? Once you have a good answer for that, you can start to craft messaging that speaks to that aspect of your brand.
Step Four: Visualize Your Messaging
When crafting your brand’s messaging, it’s important to have a clear picture in your mind of what you’re trying to say. Visualize your message in as many different ways as possible to make sure that it’s as effective as possible.
Think about how you would say the same thing to a customer in a different way. How can you make your message visually appealing? How can you grab a customer’s attention?
Step Five: Test Your Messaging
Once you have a concept for your brand’s messaging, it’s time to test it out with some sample messaging. Send out a few emails to some of your customers and see how they react. Ask them what they liked and what they didn’t like about the messaging. Use that feedback to continue fine-tuning your messaging until it’s perfect for your brand.
Conclusion
When customers see or hear a company’s brand message, they should instantly think of that company. The message should be distinct, so the customer base can recognize it without fail.
A brand message is the heart of a company’s marketing efforts. It is the distilled essence of what the company is, what it does, and why customers should buy from it. The message should be consistent across all channels, so customers see the same thing whether they’re interacting with the company online, in person, or through advertising.
Creating an effective brand message is essential to building a strong brand. It takes time and effort to craft a message that accurately reflects the company and its values, but it’s worth it. A strong brand message gives customers a reason to choose your company over the competition.
However, if you find it difficult to do this on your own, you can always ask for help from the experts, specifically a branding agency in the Philippines.
