In marketing, “messaging” is how your organization talks about itself and the value you provide. It’s how you communicate with your target audience and ensure that everything they hear from you has a unified theme or mission.
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If I asked you, “what’s the breakfast of champions?” how quickly would Wheaties pop into your head? What about “where’s the happiest place on earth?” You might say Disneyland, even if you’ve never been.
Why?
You might live off of sausage biscuits and PopTarts, and consider your happy place to include a lot fewer strangers and zero life-sized mice -- even if it’s just a costume.
Without names, logos, or any visual representation at all, you can picture a Brand just by the words we use. That’s the power of messaging.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic if you could get the same results from your Brand?
But it really doesn’t matter if you become one of the most famous companies in the world as long as you connect to the right customers, effectively communicate your value, and meet their needs, all while growing your business.
In marketing, “messaging” is how your organization talks about itself and the value you provide. It’s how you communicate with your target audience and ensure that everything they hear from you has a unified theme or mission.
And messaging isn’t just the words on a page or screen. It includes the voice, tone, and style you choose to represent your company.
Authentic and compelling messaging leads to effective marketing. You want clients (and potential clients) to know who you are, what you do, and most importantly, why that matters to them. What problems do they have that you solve? Why will your product or service meet their needs better than the competition? Why is your Brand one they want to be loyal to?
If your message answers these questions well, it provides a successful foundation for the rest of the components of your marketing plan. Now you can create effective ads, blog posts, press releases, social media posts, and all kinds of marketing materials to generate leads and reach your business goals.
There are six, seven, maybe nine elements to developing your message depending on who you talk to. If you ask us -- there are seven.
Vision and mission statements are often confused or considered interchangeable, but you need both. Your vision statement is the impact you want to have. What is your company building toward?
Your mission statement is what you are doing to create the change described in your vision. What actions are you taking to reach your goal?
Your values act as a guide for how you want to do business. What do you believe, and how do those beliefs align with your vision and mission?
How would you give an elevator pitch about your company? Defining your “who, what, and how” is a concise way to describe your business. Another way to think about this is to think about your industry, audience, and promise to them.
It’s also important to know exactly who you’re talking to. If you are talking to bank CEOs, your message will look different than if you’re talking to parents with young children. Outlining personas-- a description of each of your target customers based on data or research--helps you create an effective content strategy aimed at the right people. We have a Personas Workshop to help you better define your audience and how to speak directly to them.
How do you want to sound? Depending on your company and audience, you can be witty, casual, professional, empowering, friendly, informative; the list goes on. Your tone and voice help clients connect emotionally with your Brand!
Why you? If you don’t take the time to set yourself apart, there’s nothing motivating customers to choose your company over the next. You know you’re the best choice; you know your unique selling point -- you have to make sure potential customers know it too!
How do you know if the message you’ve created is working? Before you start sending your message into the world, getting feedback from the people around you provides a fresh perspective.
Ask your friends, family, staff, and even clients about how they feel about your message. What tone do they hear? How would your message lead them to describe your brand? Can they identify why they would want to become a customer?
A/B testing can also help you see which message makes more of an impact! You can take two different versions of your message and see which one customers respond better to, whether that means clicking on an ad, filling out a form, or even staying on the web page longer. Here’s a helpful guide on A/B testing!
Surveys can be pricey and time-consuming but can be an effective way to test your message on potential prospects.
And, of course, see what the data has to say. Check your analytics to see which social posts get the most engagement, which ads have the highest conversion rate, and which marketing materials lead to the most form fills. You can adapt parts of your messaging as you learn more about when people respond the best!
It’s not about your Brand becoming a proprietary eponym one day (read: Kleenex, Band-Aid, or Coke), although that would definitely be something to brag about. It’s about creating a marketing message that convinces your audience to do business with you.
Your business is unlike any other. So don’t be afraid to write like you believe it.
If you need help defining your message or using your message to attract new clients, we can help! We know how tricky it can be to come up with a message, but we have also seen how it truly benefits us in all aspects of our marketing plan. Contact us here!
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