There’s a lot of noise out there. So how do you actually get people to stop and listen to you?
Let’s try an exercise: Close your eyes and think about your business’s brand. What springs to mind? If we had to guess, you’re probably thinking logo, fonts, colours, and maybe a nice bit of signage out the front of your building. You’re almost definitely not thinking about the words and phrases you use to connect with your customers. And many don’t.
The fact is your brand’s messaging is just as important as your logo. A strong message not only communicates your business’s ethos and unique selling point – but feels like it’s being communicated by a real, living, breathing human being instead of a faceless organisation. It talks to people, not at them. So how do you actually go about crafting a unique brand message? Consider these three points.
Know Your Audience
When we work with real estate agencies, we often ask them what kind of cars their clients drive. It sounds stupid, but there’s a good reason for it. In real estate, you often work within different socio-economic areas, and the way you interact with each client can change depending on where they’re from. While society as a whole has moved on from cars as a status symbol, they do still often give a window into these target markets.
This is all to say, you need to have a keen understanding of not only who your audience is, but the key aspects of their personality. What do they spend their time doing? How do they behave around friends and family? What’s their five year plan look like? The more info you have, the more you can develop your voice.
Know Your Voice
Before you can develop a message that resonates with your audience, you need to have a firm understanding of how your voice actually sounds. Famed Copywriter Chris O’Shea says to really create a voice for your brand, you need to create a person.
‘I don’t mean “A B males aged 35-44 with a promiscuous attitude to white spirits.” I mean I think of an actual person, be it a friend, neighbor or relation, who is in the target audience,’ says Chris.
This is done on two levels: macro and micro. On a macro level, you want to create a series of defining principles that guide who your business is. Does it talk seriously, humorously, affectionately, firmly – the list goes on. Write these down and flesh them out.
Secondly, consider the micro. Does your brand’s voice use contractions in sentences, emojis on social posts, or write out numbers in full (you know – 1 vs one). These are small details, yes, but they work well to create a firm and consistent voice.
Know Your USP
So what makes you different? We don’t mean ‘we make more sales than our three closest competitors’, but rather why should people care about you and how can you help them? This is your unique selling point.
This is the point of difference you need to leverage throughout all your messaging – it’s your angle to get people to care. Now the way you actually translate this core angle is really going to depend on the two points above, and that’s the beauty of it. By following these steps correctly, your messaging will be completely unique to your business.