What Is Brand Message And How To Create Brand Message Strategy?
A clear and compelling brand message is crucial for standing out in today’s hyper-competitive business world. Crafting a message that will help your brand stand out from the crowds and resonate with your target audience requires careful planning. That’s why we recommend that all brands take time to create a brand message strategy.
For mission-driven businesses, a compelling brand message strategy is key to connecting with people who care about sustainability and driving meaningful impact. This link between brand strategy, brand messaging, and the brands that consumers support is evidenced by some recent studies.
For example, a Nielsen Company study found that 81% of Australian consumers value authenticity in brands and that 73% are willing to pay more for brands that are authentic and reduce their environmental impacts.
What exactly is a brand message, and how can you develop an effective brand message strategy? Let's dive deep into these essential aspects of brand communication.
What is a Brand Message?
Your brand message is the main message that you express about your brand and your unique value proposition, your personality, and your purpose or cause.
Brand message goes beyond your tagline or slogan. It’s your core narrative that tells your audience what your brand stands for, who you are, and why they should choose you. It’s essentially the heart and soul of your brand.
Another way of thinking of your brand message is your elevator pitch: that short description of your business that summarises it in a few sentences for anyone who doesn’t know your brand – memorably capturing the essence of your brand while differentiating your business from your competitors.
Whether you’re building an Instagram content strategy, a content marketing strategy, or a purpose-driven marketing plan, having a well-developed and strategic brand message can be a significant advantage.
The Importance of Brand Messaging
There are many reasons why a strong, captivating and clear brand message is important.
When successfully implemented, brand messaging can:
Build awareness about your brand and help customers to recognise and remember your brand
Help your audience connect with your brand through messaging that resonates with them and builds an emotional connection
Build thought leadership and demonstrate legitimacy in your industry
Motivate customers to take action
Create an engaged community around your brand
Drive website traffic and convert followers into leads
Differentiate your brand from competitors and help you to stand out in a crowded marketplace
Creating Your Brand Message Strategy
Below are several things to consider and steps to take when crafting your brand message strategy.
Know Your Audience and Define Your Content Pillars
Understand Your Audience
Understanding your target audience is crucial for developing an effective brand message that addresses their needs and aspirations. Consider these key aspects:
Demographics and age ranges
Professional roles (such as founders, directors, and marketers)
Key interests and values (such as sustainability, business growth, and activism)
What are your audience’s needs, paint points, and desires?
Define Your Content Pillars
Your brand message should be supported by clear content pillars. The three fundamental pillars to consider are:
Education: Share valuable insights and knowledge
Culture: Showcase your brand's personality and values
Trust Building: Establish credibility and reliability
Develop Your Content Strategy
Your brand message should be consistently reflected across various content types:
Behind-the-scenes content to showcase transparency
Expert insights and tips in your field
Success stories and case studies
Industry reports and analysis
Below are things to consider when creating and developing your content strategy:
Define Your Brand's Core Values
Increasingly, customers are looking for brands that communicate authentically, that are original, and that are aligned with the values of the customer. It can be helpful to identify the core principles that guide your business decisions and actions and show what your business stands for. This can also help to differentiate your business from others and help you stand out from the crowds.
The ability to reflect your company values in your brand message can help create a connection with your target audience, particularly if they’re aligned with your values and if your messaging resonates with them.
Develop Your Unique Selling Proposition (USP)
Developing your USP helps to differentiate your brand from others. You can do this by focusing on what problems you solve for your customers, and how you do that better than others.
Also, remember to highlight your strengths and why customers should choose you over your competitors.
Craft a Concise and Memorable Message
Keep your messaging simple and easy to understand. That helps to grab attention easily, as people are often distracted by multiple competing messages and need to have information conveyed simply, clearly, quickly, and enthusiastically so that they can remember your brand and differentiate it from others.
Storytelling and messaging that convey an emotional connection can be a powerful way of attracting customers to your brand. Using language that evokes emotion and connection on a deep and personal level can help in this regard.
Don’t forget to add a call to action in your messaging, reminding your audience to make a purchase, connect with you on social media, or sign up for your newsletter.
Implementing Your Brand Message Strategy
After you’ve created a brand strategy, it’s time to start putting it into action. Two of the most important steps at this stage are keeping your messaging consistent and measuring success.
The Power of Consistency in Brand Messaging
Your brand message must remain consistent across all platforms and marketing materials while being tailored to each channel's unique characteristics.
Don’t forget to extend consistency in all your content, including the graphics and visuals you use, your logo, your colour palette, and your choice of visuals.
These are some of the tactics you can use to maintain consistent brand messaging:
Create clear brand guidelines
Develop a content calendar
Conduct regular team training around brand messaging
Here are some tips on how to achieve a consistent brand message on LinkedIn, Instagram and Pinterest:
On LinkedIn, focus on professional insights and thought leadership
On Instagram, emphasise community building and visual storytelling
On Pinterest, concentrate on driving website traffic and lead generation
The Importance of Measuring Success
Measuring the success of your brand strategy helps to track how effective it’s been, and highlights opportunities for improvement.
You can track your brand message effectiveness through key performance indicators (KPIs) such as:
Impressions and reach
Engagement rates
Conversions and website visits
Best Practices for A Successful Brand Message Strategy
Below are three best practices to ensure a successful brand message strategy:
1️⃣ Keep It Simple
Your brand message should be clear, concise, and easily understood by your target audience. Avoid industry jargon and complex terminology unless specifically appropriate for your audience.
Think of your brand message as an elevator pitch that can be easily understood and remembered in just 30 seconds. Remember to highlight the benefits of your brand to your target audience.
2️⃣ Be Authentic
Modern consumers value authenticity. Ensure your brand message aligns with your company's true values and practices.
Being authentic also requires you and your staff to live your brand message. Your message should therefore be reflected in every aspect of your business – from your company culture, to your supply chain, the way you manufacture your products and your customer service.
A modern trend in authentic brand messaging is to empower employees to be brand advocates and ambassadors who live and breathe your brand message.
3️⃣ Stay Flexible
While consistency is crucial, your brand message should be flexible enough to evolve with changing market conditions and consumer needs.
By regularly monitoring the effectiveness of your brand message, you can stay nimble and make adjustments as needed based on feedback and market trends.
By reviewing your brand messaging on a regular basis, you can ensure that it stays relevant and adapts to changes in your industry, and aligns with your target audience and shifts within the broader cultural landscape.
Examples of Effective Brand Messaging
There are many leading examples of effective brand messaging, particularly from purpose-driven brands. Take a look at these 8 eco-brands from Australia that incorporate powerful brand messaging into their communications.
Below are three examples from global brands and one Australian brand.
💚 Patagonia: Some of Patagonia’s messaging and brand values that are reflected on their website and all that they do include:
“Build the best product, provide the best service, and constantly improve everything we do.
Examine our practices openly and honestly, learn from our mistakes, and meet our commitments.
Protect our home planet.
Be just, equitable, and antiracist as a company and in our community.”
💚 TOMS Shoes: TOMS is famous for donating one pair of shoes to a child in need for every shoe purchase that’s made. This is reflected in their succinct messaging: “With each pair of TOMS that you buy, you help positively impact lives— 105 million and counting.”
💚 Who Gives A Crap: This well-known Australian toilet paper brand is famous for its catchy messaging: "Good for the planet, good for people, good for your bum." The company donates 50% of its profits to clean water and sanitation non-profits around the world, linking its business to doing good.
Brand Messaging for Sustainable Brands
A strong brand message strategy is essential for building a successful and sustainable business presence. By understanding your audience, maintaining consistency, and regularly measuring your success, you can develop a brand message that resonates with your target market and drives business growth.
Brand messaging for sustainable brands is particularly important, and can help to connect you with your target audience while creating an emotional connection with your vision and mission. At Green Socials we specialise in crafting bespoke digital marketing strategies, which include brand messaging. Get in touch to explore how we can help elevate your mission-driven brand.
Remember that your brand message is not just what you say—it's the total experience your audience has with your brand across all touchpoints. Make it count.
