“There are some things that money can’t buy, but for everything else, you’ve MasterCard.” You’ve probably heard this tagline so many times that you can’t go a day without using your MasterCard.
This is the power of brand messaging. The tagline creates a sense of trust and reliability and uses a positive emotive approach to instil sincerity and memorability into communication. Thanks to this well-crafted brand message, the tagline has attracted many people to partner with the company.
Brand messaging is your ticket to getting your target audience to become loyal customers. It’s more than enticing words skillfully put together; it’s a tool to communicate your core values and value proposition more effectively.
If you’re wondering how to craft your brand message, we’ve put together nine essential components to include in one.
What is Brand Messaging?
Brand messaging is using words to communicate your brand’s essence to your target audience.
You may use taglines, statements, and key messages related to your brand across your marketing channels to communicate that message.
Brand messaging aims to make the brand memorable, stronger, and differentiated from competitors.
Remember, customers only have a split-second to interact with your ad, social media channel, or other platform you use to showcase your brand and products.
While your products or services speak for themselves, a strong brand message is a surefire way to get into your audience’s mind.
Why Brand Messaging is Important
Strong brand messaging helps:
- Develop trust and loyalty: Consistent brand messaging creates a sense of trust and loyalty with your target audience. Your messaging communicates your values and establishes a connection with them
- Improves brand recognition: A unique brand message makes a brand recognizable. Nike’s unique brand message, Just do it, makes it memorable and recognizable
- Strengthens brand identity: Consistent brand messaging across all marketing platforms strengthens your identity. Every time you see, Just Do It, Nike’s products and logo come to mind
Essential Components of Brand Messaging
So, what must you include in your brand message to make your brand recognizable, strengthen your identity, and cultivate trust with your audience?
1. Brand Purpose
Brand messaging provides the perfect opportunity to communicate the brand’s purpose. Here, you capture the brand’s essence beyond making a profit.
It’s what drives your vision and goals. A brand’s purpose answers questions such as:
- What problems does your company solve
- Why your brand matters
- How you intend to make an impact
2. Brand Vision
You want to tell your audience where you’re going. This is called the brand’s vision statement, and it’s important to capture it in your messaging.
It helps focus the messaging on the company’s future goals.
3. Brand Values
A brand’s values are the company’s guideposts when doing business. You stand for these values and attract customers who share similar values.
Brand values also determine how an audience perceives you. Values like putting people first, excellence in customer service, and inclusion can propel a brand’s message and vision further.
4. Brand Voice
Brand voice describes how you communicate your personality using words, language, and phrases. It’s the tone used to convey the brand’s message. It’s hardly about what you say but how you say it.
For example, Nike’s Just Do It slogan feels evocative, casual, and playful. The voice should align with the company’s personality and purpose while being adaptable, appropriate, and authentic.
5. Position Statement
Brand messaging should also communicate its position in the market. This statement describes the what, how, and who of the business.
MasterCard’s statement, for example, is to connect and power a digital economy that benefits everyone by making transactions straightforward, safe, innovative, and accessible.
This statement communicates the brand’s industry (digital economy), audience (all customers), and promise (help customers make safe and straightforward transactions).
6. Value Proposition(s)
A brand’s value proposition describes the feature that makes the brand, product, or service attractive to customers. If you’re dealing with several customer segments, you’ll likely have many value propositions and/or different ones.
It’s essential to capture this element in your brand messaging to tell your customers what they’ll enjoy when using your products or services.
Nike’s value propositions, for example, are innovation, customization, accessibility, and status. The company offers a variety of products, fulfilling the value proposition of accessibility.
7. Unique Selling Point
Your brand message should also communicate features that make your brand stand out from competitors. Think about pricing, quality, values, service, etc, that make you unique or better in the market.
You could use a few that resonate most with your audience and add them to the brand messaging.
8. Elevator Pitch
An elevator pitch allows you to describe as much as you can about your brand in a few words. You can use your positioning statement to add value propositions and differentiators.
Ultimately, you have a short snippet describing your brand’s most essential elements.
9. The Tagline
Now that you’ve defined all the essential components, you can summarize them into a memorable brand message or tagline. You want to use a few impactful words to help the brand narrate its story. The message should reflect the brand’s purpose, vision, position statement, voice, etc., to help the brand stand out and create a lasting impression.
Practices for Developing a Good Brand Message
Some practices to help you craft a captivating brand message include:
- Simplicity: The message should be simple. This makes it easy for the audience to understand your brand
- Consistency: Communicate the same message across all platforms. Use the same message whether you’re developing slogans for packaging, writing a copy for your website, or marketing an event
- Relatable: The message should relate to your target audience. The topic should be relevant to your audience
Conclusion
Developing a well-crafted brand message can’t be overstated. It plays a critical role in the company’s overall success and strengthening its identity.
It’s also an excellent way of communicating the brand’s mission, values, and unique selling point. More importantly, it helps establish strong emotional connections with your target audience.
Note that the brand message isn’t just a catchy slogan. It’s a framework with a strong strategy built around it. The nine components should help you develop one that draws and relates with your audience.
