Three Ways to Elevate Your Messaging So Customers Will Listen
A strong message is key for any business or brand, especially when it comes to marketing and promoting your business.
✔️ Your messaging helps give your business an identity
✔️ Inform your customers about your business, values and what you do
✔️ It helps you connect more effectively with the right audience and start conversations with them
✔️ Your messaging ensures all your communication is on point and consistent so you can build strong and meaningful relationships with your clients
✔️ It helps you to carve out your niche and build your reputation so people know what you do and which area of expertise/solution to associate you with
Your message is the BEST way to build awareness for you and your brand.
But I know this is something so many business owners struggle with. Crafting an effective message that helps them and their business to stand out. Some people aren’t even sure what messaging really is, so let’s start there.
What is messaging, and how is it different from copy?
Messaging is what you talk about – the key communication points in your business – like an organised framework that gives you business structure. Your messaging underpins ALL of your copy; the voice runs through it.
Copy is how you say it – the words you use to convey the key ideas behind your messaging.
So, to write powerful copy, you first need to be clear on your message and what it is you are trying to convey to your audience. If you aren’t clear on your message, you won’t be able to find the right words to share it!
Now we are clear on the difference between the two, let’s dive into 3 key things you should focus on to develop powerful messaging.
Use clear concise confident wording
When it comes to your messaging (and your copy and content!), remember clear over clever.
Your message must be straightforward, specific and well-defined.
Clarity is key – it has to be clear to understand from one or two simple sentences what you do, who you do it for and why. At a glance, your ideal customer should be able to understand what your business is about without having to search through reams of posts to get the answer.
Your core message needs to communicate your brand promise/your UVP, your differentiator (e.g. specific audience or how you serve them)
Empowering female entrepreneurs to use their skills, expertise and voice
Think about a clear business objective – what is it you are trying to help people do?
For example, mine is: helping people build happy and profitable businesses.
Think about the words you chose and consider how you can make your language sound more confident and powerful. How can you add an element of personality to your messaging?
Get clear on what it is you are really selling.
I know it sounds simple, but do you know exactly what it is you are selling? And WHY are you selling it?
You need to get super clear on what you are offering and how this will help/benefit your clients.
Focus on the ultimate outcomes or benefit to your clients – this creates an emotional connection between the audience and the brand.
For example, if someone were selling a mattress, they wouldn’t sell the mattress; they would be selling a good night’s sleep. They would be selling not waking up with a neck ache. These are the BENEFITS of the mattress to the buyer.
Customers respond to how messages make them feel – this drives their buying decision.
How will your solutions make life easier for your customers?
What are the BENEFITS of working with you?
Find your authentic voice AND talk the language of your ideal audience.
To be powerful, the language you use needs to speak to your audience and the best way to do this is to ensure you are speaking their language.
But what does this mean? Well, it means:
✔️ Speaking to them in a way that they can resonate with
✔️ Using words and phrases that they would use to describe how they feel about their problems
✔️ Showing that you understand their problems, you know how this impacts them, and you can empathise with their challenges.
If you aren’t sure about any of these things, don’t be afraid to ask your audience what their challenges are that are relevant to your offers. Ask them to share the words they’d associate with a particular topic and how they’d describe how they feel because of this challenge. Ask your audience what solutions they want!
This research is pure gold. Once you have this information, you can weave their language into your messaging to help create that connection. This is how you can go on to create copy that makes your reader think, ‘How does she know?’ or ‘I feel like she’s talking to me’.
Remember, lots of messaging talks about who the company is and what they do, but for the most part, your messaging wants to focus on your customer and their needs.
As well as using the language your ideal client speaks, you also want to use language that reflects who you are. It’s important that the person and the brand match up!
How can you do this?
✔️ Create a brand dictionary for your business by creating a collection of words and keyphrases you like and regularly use. This helps to create consistency too!
✔️ Think about your brand: What would they be like, and how would they make people feel?
✔️ Leverage your personality – think about how you speak normally to your friends and family. Do you like to use humour and analogies and tell stories? Don’t be afraid to let your authentic voice shine through in your messaging and content.
✔️ Showcase your expert skills.
So let’s summarise what we’ve covered:
- Great brand messaging is keeping value concise and creating simple statements so people can understand what your business does at a glance.
- It’s about knowing exactly what solutions you offer and the benefits they bring to your audience and clients.
- Great messaging is messaging that highlights your personality and authentic voice and that speaks to the language of your audience.
- Powerful messaging is messaging that creates connections and builds trust and recognition.
Where to start with your messaging?
Start with developing some key phrases to act as the heart of your messaging strategy.
I’d recommend working on the following:
✔️ Creating your brand dictionary to act as your guide
✔️ Your who, what, why statement
✔️ Getting clear on your brand promise
✔️ Ensure you understand your services’ benefits to your audience/clients.
