Message Development – Guide to Achieving Maximum Results in Brand Messaging

When it comes to effective communication, nothing is more crucial than the underlying concept on which it is built. Message development is the process of delving deep inчto ideas and language to create the most impactful means of engaging with your target market. Before investing time and resources into creative expression and production, research, and testing are employed to gauge the potential of advertising executions. As Albert Einstein famously stated, “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.” However, when discussing our businesses, more than simplicity is required.

Conveying the simple story of our products, services, and businesses requires more than understanding how and why they work. It necessitates an understanding of what our audience needs to know about them and when they need to know it in the sales funnel. This is precisely why developing robust brand messaging is both challenging and vital.

What is Message Development?

Message development is a meticulous process of crafting clear, consistent, and compelling messages that effectively communicate your purpose, values, and vision to your audience. Whether you communicate internally with your team, externally with your clients, or publicly with your stakeholders, message development empowers you to achieve your goals, establish trust, and build credibility. In this article, we will explore the benefits of message development in communication and share best practices and industry-specific examples.

Understanding Brand Messaging

Brand messaging encompasses all the communications your company has with its audience. To ensure and monitor the quality of content, regular review is essential. It comprises various elements, such as your core messages, including your mission and vision, the language used to convey those messages, your brand story, your signature brand voice and personality, and your unique value proposition and brand pillars. Unlike marketing messages, which may vary based on the target audience’s demographics, brand messaging remains consistent. It plays a crucial role in making your company and its content easily recognizable and memorable.

The Importance of Message Development

Message development goes beyond creating catchy slogans or headlines; it connects your communication with your strategy, identity, and values. It helps define your unique value proposition, differentiating you from competitors while clarifying objectives and the path to achieving them. Effective message development engages your audience, motivates action and support, strengthens your brand identity and reputation, and prevents confusion, inconsistency, and misunderstanding.

Developing Effective Messages Step by Step 

If you are grappling with brand messaging challenges, here’s a simple guide to help you define and develop your messages.

Start with Discovery

Begin the brand messaging development process with a comprehensive discovery phase. This involves:

• Reviewing internal and external business assets, such as brochures, websites, memos, and sales decks;
• Conducting interviews with key stakeholders to understand their perspectives on the business, customers, values, and their opinions on the current messaging;
• Analyzing available data and customer feedback to discern compelling factors and customer understanding of the brand story;
• Studying the assets of top competitors;
• To delve deeper, consider sitting in on a sales pitch or call to identify key selling points, customer questions, hesitations, and the overall storyline. Review outside assets written by or for your target audience to understand their language and preferences.

Utilize a Brand Messaging Development Template

After the discovery phase, create a basic outline of your product, service, or business story. Keep it concise, focusing on three to five key points relevant information supports. These key points will serve as your brand pillars. To determine these, answer these questions:

• Why does your product or service matter? What problem are you trying to solve?
• How do you solve that problem?
• Who cares?
• What should users or customers do next?

Brainstorm differentiators that set your product, service, or brand apart from competitors or alternatives. The answers to these questions will form the foundation of your:

• Mission statement. The purpose of your business and what you hope to accomplish.
• Vision statement. The larger impact you aim to make through your work.
• Brand promise. A customer-facing statement describing the value your business offers.
• Brand positioning statement. An overview of the category your business competes in, how you differentiate yourself, and how you solve your target audience’s problems better than competitors.

Define Communication Strategy

Once you have established your key messages, it is essential to determine how to communicate them effectively. During this stage, focus on:

• Refining your messages to ensure clarity and impact.
• Aligning your brand voice with your brand personality.
• Adapting your language choices to match how your customers think and talk about your brand.
• Organizing and simplifying key messages for easy comprehension.

To facilitate this stage, draft sample sentences or paragraphs explaining each message and compile relevant key phrases. This provides stakeholders with a context and visualization of how the messages will be conveyed.

Brand Messaging Examples: Learning from Top Brands

Analyzing how successful companies approach brand messaging can provide valuable inspiration for your messaging efforts. Let’s take a look at two prominent brands and their approaches.

Nike

Nike effectively communicates its brand values through its famous tagline, “Just Do It.” This message permeates Nike’s communications, maintaining a consistent voice and style. Nike creates a distinct, recognizable, and cohesive brand identity by inspiring people to take action.

Apple

Apple, known for its innovation, has crafted messaging centered around the slogan “Think Different.” This concept is consistently applied across all Apple communications, positioning their products as the embodiment of technology’s future and offering users empowerment and status.

Applying Your Messaging

Once you have finalized your messaging, language, and storyline, it is time to put them into practice across various communication channels. Ensure your messaging is integrated into:

• Elevator pitches
• Taglines
• Sales pitches or presentations
• Ad concepts
• Your homepage and website content
• Social media content
• Any other communication platforms relevant to your business

Create one or two assets incorporating your messaging for an initial messaging project and gather stakeholder feedback. This will help refine your messaging based on real-world applications and perspectives.

In conclusion, developing powerful brand messages requires careful consideration and strategic thinking. By following a structured approach and leveraging the examples set by successful brands, you can craft compelling messages that resonate with your audience, reinforce your brand identity, and drive desired outcomes. Remember, effective communication starts with well-developed and finely-tuned messages.