An Introduction to Brand Messaging | Building a Purposeful Business

What is branding?

Most small business owners think of branding as something purely visual. The logo, colour palette and typography that form a business’s visual identity.

Whilst that’s certainly part of it, it’s not the whole story.

The folks at 99designs have a beautiful definition of branding that I couldn’t help but include here:

“Branding is what your business needs to break through the clutter and grab your ideal customer’s attention. It’s what transforms first-time buyers into lifetime customers and turns an indifferent audience into brand evangelists. It’s what you need to stand out, make an impact and take your business to the next level.”

Your branding is what makes that dream customer of yours sit up and say, “Hey, they look interesting”. It speaks to your target market and beckons them in a little closer, sparking that curiosity to find out more about you. 

It builds connections and keeps your customers with you, rather than someone else. But most importantly, branding is what makes your business unique. It’s what brings you to life.

There are many components of branding, all of which are important to consider:

• Logo
• Colour palette
• Typography
• Complementary design assets
• Website
• Marketing materials
• Brand messaging
• And so the list goes on…

Whilst it’s the visual elements of a brand that are so often front of mind, we’re going to explore brand messaging today. Because, when your brand message is clear and your business is purposeful, it’s a lot easier to build that visual identity.

What is brand messaging?

In simple terms, your brand messaging is the voice of your business. It’s the town crier, drawing in your audience, engaging them and (ultimately) converting them into customers.

Just like your visual branding needs to be consistent, so too does your brand messaging. It should be clear that it’s your brand speaking. So that every time a customer consumes a piece of your content, they know it’s you without needing to read your name.

It can help to think of brand messaging in human terms. If your visual branding is your clothes, make-up and physical appearance, your brand messaging is your personality and character. 

Yes, it covers the words you use but it also includes how you use those words, with your style, tone and voice all speaking to the needs of your audience and the purpose of your business.

Why brand messaging matters

I always say that brand messaging is what will deepen your connection with your audience. The visual brand might draw them in, but it’s your brand message that’ll get them to stick around.

It’s the difference between spending your time with a beautiful but characterless person and a striking engaging one!

Key brand messaging components

Mission statement

It can help to think of a mission statement as the perfect-white-tee for small businesses. It’s kinda essential.

Your mission statement speaks to your raison d’être, or rather, the most important reason for your business’s existence. So, really, it’s why you started this whole adventure in the first place.

The key with any brand messaging is this – remember that you’re not speaking about your reason or your story. You’re speaking to your customers on behalf of your business. Show them why they should care, not why you care.

Your mission statement will summarise your purpose and presents it in a way that is clear and memorable to your target audience.

It can be used internally, to inspire and guide your work and your employees, and externally, to show your purpose to the world.

Brand positioning statement

Now, this is a fun one. Your brand positioning statement is what makes your brand unique, it sums up what makes you different. And – confession – it’s always my favourite to work on with my copywriting clients.

To identify your brand positioning statement it can be helpful to go through your competitors and analyse their strengths and weaknesses. Look for any gaps where you can do things differently. What do you feel is missing when you’re browsing through their websites? What aren’t they talking about on social? What feeling just isn’t quite there yet?

Use the answers to those questions to identify the areas you can step into. These are your magic ingredients as you position your brand within your industry (or even outside of it!).

Vision statement

Your vision statement is a little different. It (typically) isn’t intended to be shared externally, yet it still forms an important part of your brand messaging.

Why? Well, it’s your guiding light for the future. It’s what keeps your content creation, new service offerings, new products and the rest of your work on track as you move towards that ultimate goal. And, in doing so, it keeps your messaging consistent.

So you can see an example, here’s mine (it’s never been shared before!):

“To be the go-to person when you want to untangle your online messaging and market your small business in a way that is purposeful, intentional and clear.”

Tone of voice

If you’re a regular reader, you’ll know that I’m pretty big on tone of voice. Your tone of voice is the difference between sounding like a corporate machine and letting your unique personality shine through.

When we write, we don’t have access to any of the nuances that we do when we’re speaking. We can’t emphasise certain words, take a jokey playful tone, add on some sarcasm or weave in a healthy dose of reassurance. Or, can we?

That’s the magic of your tone of voice. Once you get clear on how you want your business to sound, you can use that to guide your copywriting and content creation.

Your tone of voice is the string that ties all your brand messaging together.