Brilliant Bitesize Brand Messaging Strategy Ideas for Your Business

As the entrepreneur of a small business, you may know how to connect with your ideal audience. This means meeting them at their level, drawing them in, and delivering value so you secure the sale. Once you wow your customer and produce repeat sales, you have accomplished most of the hard work. 

When you create a clear brand messaging strategy that suits your audience and meets them on their level, you build empathy. Then it’s all about delivering it consistently so they associate you with what you want to be known for and come to you first. 

Read on for some tasty tips to help you attract your ideal clients.

Create a brand strategy

Your company’s brand lets your audience know what your company stands for. It governs everything from your logo to color psychology you use in your branding to what you say and how you say it. Your brand should clearly state who you serve, your audience’s pain points, and offer an overview of how your solution delivers.

Know your brand voice

Your brand voice shows a combination of your values and what is important to your clients. For example one of my clients refers to burnout on her website.  This is a common struggle for business owners though if you have a solution, this could be a strong part of your brand, especially in our ever-stressed society.  Part of the solution includes the adjectives of relaxing and engaging.  Your message is further reinforced through the words that customers use to describe your brand and their experience of it.

Writing in your brand’s voice becomes an element of your content strategy and a key part of your advertising. It’s important to ensure that your content ranks for search engine optimization (SEO) and conversion rate optimization (CRO) to bring in more clients for your business. 

Visualize your brand through your audience

Part of designing your brand messaging strategy involves exploring your favorite clients so you can attract more like them. On the flip side, you’ve probably learned the hard way about red flags you won’t tolerate again. So it’s as important to define who you don’t want to work with (and projects you don’t want to take on again) as it is to define what you do want. Let’s face it. You’re not for everyone and everyone is not for you. To that end, your business is not going to suit everyone’s taste though searching for your caviar clients is so worthwhile.  

You could also think of one person, your all-time favorite client, and speak to them through your marketing. This ensures your marketing is personal and specific, speaking to lookalike clients. However, if you’re stuck, write down what you think or know about your ideal client avatar, including:

• What do they love and hate?
• Do they have any particular catchphrases?
• Are they a certain age or generation?
• Perhaps you attract more men, women or non-binary?
• Also, what is the mission statement of your brand?
• How formal is it?
• Maybe your client prefers Facebook over Instagram or LinkedIn over Snapchat?

The list is endless.

Once you’ve taken time to discover this, onto the next step….

Determine your non-negotiables

What are your core values? What will you refuse to sacrifice no matter what? It’s important to choose 3-5 key tenets and define how you’ll express them both within your company and in terms of benefits or boundaries for clients. I’ve written on this before and you can read more about how to find and use your core values in business.

Don’t be shy to set yourself apart from the pack

You won’t be a leader if you’re a follower, so now that you have your core values, you can use them to create taglines and marketing strategies that stand out from the pack. And take some time to do competitor research to see how other companies position themselves in the marketplace. Just as importantly, how do their taglines or slogans land? What feelings do they impart?

And, of course, take some time to express what you don’t want to be by considering what drives you nuts about your industry or competitors. A blend of competitor and customer research will help you nail your positioning and create your positioning statements and company slogan.

With that in mind, let’s take time for a small pop quiz.  Which companies do the following taglines belong to?  

1. Just do it!
2. A diamond is forever.
3. There are some things money can’t buy, for everything else there’s…
4. Finger lickin’ good, and
5. Snap, crackle, pop!

Now, just in case you don’t know the answer, they are right at the end of this article. Hopefully, at least one brand slogan stands out for you, and you get an idea of how this brand leads the pack.

Infuse your brand with extra flavor

Now it’s time to set it down in a style guide or playbook that your team can follow so that everyone understands how you want to make your audience feel. It also ensures that everyone talks about what you do in the same way, ensuring a consistent customer experience at every stage of the journey. This forms the brand blueprint for your company, which you can use to build greater rapport with your audience. Remember, it’s all about helping them know you and building your confidence.

Business branding moving forward

Once you form your business brand and use it consistently in your advertising, it’s crucial to reevaluate your brand every few years to ensure that it’s still relevant. Truth be told, with the world changing at a faster pace than ever before, it’s a good idea to revisit it once a year. We make small shifts frequently, and it’s important your brand messaging reflects your business. Not sure about this? Even if you look back to where you and your company were last year, two, years ago, and five years ago… you’ll see how things have shifted. 

And yes, the pandemic played a huge role in how things have changed, by driving more people online and transforming how everyone uses technology to deliver.

Building business authority

How can you power up your approach and show your expertise in your social proof? Your approach should include the testimonials happy clients leave.  It might also come through on Google, LinkedIn, and even Trustpilot, among others.

By setting your company apart you can stand out as the go-to choice. Part of this is through who you and your company reach out to and connect with. You may collaborate with similar brands. For example, as an accounting pro, you could link with Bookkeepers, CPAs, business strategists, and even business apps your audience might benefit from. You might appear on podcasts relating to your field so that if someone searches for your company name, it will show up more often as your authority grows.

Similarly, you may wish to align with PR experts who can match you with opportunities to raise your authority in your industry. In particular, I love Help a Reporter Out, a service that publishes quote or source requests from journalists and sends daily emails to would-be sources (hey, that’s you!)

Ready to create your brand messaging blueprint?

Take a few moments to look through some of these best practices and see how your brand stacks up.

As a reminder, yes, your brand messaging is all about your audience and what they need to see, read, or hear. But it’s also about how you want to show up and make them feel. The best brand messaging bridges the two sides. For more reading, you can check out this article about the Brand Engagement phase of the REACH Visibility Trajectory™ my flexible framework on putting your best foot forward.

If you’re ready to dive in and work together to define and codify your brand messaging, I’d love to chat. Please book a call with me and we can talk about how we can work together.

P.S. Want to check your answers to the brand slogan quiz? They’re below!

Answers to quiz

1. Nike
2. De Beers
3. Mastercard
4. KFC
5. Rice Krispies