Do you remember the Nike slogan? Or what about the slogan for your neighborhood grocery store? The chances are that brands you are familiar with have something about their messaging that resonates with you. It connects you to them. It shows you who they are and their relevance to you. That’s what your brand voice, your brand messaging, and your general marketing strategy strive to do. With every piece of content, your business needs to acknowledge its true message coherently.
Large brands usually have a brand guide that dictates the general tone and message of the brand. This guide will have a detailed outline of key terms and phrases, abbreviations, a style guide, and anything else that will give can make the production of marketing assets easier. Unfortunately, this seems to be one step that only larger brands take when developing their marketing strategies.
Smaller businesses, or even medium-sized businesses, can use this more effectively than larger enterprises. How? Smaller organizations usually have a personal touch, an element of perceived personality that connects them to their target customers. There is something that resonates with that audience. Being able to isolate those elements and amplify them will strengthen that bond.
This will make selling much easier.
Now, with that in mind, don’t be led astray by the idea that using specific words in a specific order will make anyone buy anything. That’s not true. There are no magic words. There is no magical spell that can forcefully compel someone to purchase. Informed leads will become your customers. People buy when they are confident, and confidence is built after they are sure of your offer and how it is relevant to them. Simply put, you need to inform your audience, not only about your brand story but about your offerings.
How often do you look at a website or a social media page for a brand and see an emphasis placed on the owner’s personal connection to the brand? That’s an excellent way to show how involved you are, but why should anyone be invested in what you offer? Personal branding is about creating a coherent structure for your messaging, but make sure that the message shows how you are relevant to your audience.
Who are you to them? What should your products do for them? How are they affected by your business? Your customers only care about who you are and what you do as long as you are relevant to them. That doesn’t mean that there is no bond or relationship, but that should give you a better understanding of the relationship between a brand and its audience.
When you look to create a structure for your message, you need to think about who you are and what you represent through the eyes of your target. You need to consider the things that will make them confident in what you offer so they can invest their money. If they are not invested in your relevance to them, then they probably won’t invest in anything you sell.
