In a previous article, I talked about?why it is critical to be a fingerprint brand vs a smudge. Creating and enforcing a unique, clear #brandidentity and messaging is essential for your business if you want to stand out from the competition. It will help you create a strong emotional connection with your customers, build trust and credibility, and drive #sales.
In this article, we shift our attention on how to make it happen.?
Below are some high-level tips on how to create a distinct, distinguishable brand identity and messaging. The tips also cover how to incorporate these components into your #contentmarketing and all other forms of communication.
I have gone through this "Branding and Messaging Exercise" countless times with clients of my?digital marketing agency. It is great for start-ups and SMBs that have never established their branding. But it is also great for existing businesses that want to rebrand, solidify their brand, or do a brand refresh.??
- Define your brand's purpose. What are you trying to achieve with your #business? What problems are you trying to solve for your #customers? Why do you exist? Why do you do what you do? Why should customers care? Outside of branding, it is critical to know this in general. Answering your WHY is always a great idea.?
- Identify and define your target audience. Who are you trying to reach with your brand? What are their needs, wants, expectations, and pain points? Once you understand your target audience, you can tailor your messaging to speak to each of them directly.
- Develop a unique selling proposition (USP). What makes your brand different from the competition? What are your differentiating strengths and benefits? Your USP is one of the core building blocks of your brand messaging. Many folks that we do this exercise with tend to pick things that are not truly unique to their business. You have to really understand what you as a business do uniquely that sets you apart.?
- Determine your customers' pain relievers and gain creators. Determine what each target audience's pain relievers and gain creators are. What are the things that would relieve their pain points? What are the things that would create value for them? This is from the Value Proposition Canvas framework.?
- Develop messaging that aligns with your brand. Once you know your brand's purpose, understand your target audience, their pain relievers and gain creators, and your differentiation you can work to develop messaging that aligns with it. It is best to do this exercise for each of your target audiences.?
- Choose the right tone and voice. How do you want your brand to come across? Do you want to be seen as friendly, authoritative, or something else? Do you want to be formal or informal? Your tone and voice should be unique to your brand. And it should be consistent across all of your marketing materials.
- Use visuals to tell your story. Visuals are a great way to break up chunks of text and communicate to visual readers. They can also be a powerful way to communicate your brand's message. Similar to your brand tone and voice you want to create a brand style for your visuals. Then, use high-quality images, videos, and infographics that are on brand. This will help tell your story and reinforce your brand. Consistency helps to build trust and credibility with your audience.
- Be consistent. Lastly, ensure your brand messaging is consistent across all of your #marketing materials. You want brand consistency from your website to your social media, to your advertising, and more. Consistency helps to build trust and credibility with your audience.
By following these tips, you can create a distinct, unique brand identity and #messaging that will help you to stand out from the competition and achieve your business goals.?
Do you have any additional tips or more detail that would help the rest of the audience? Please leave comments below!
