Brand messaging is who you are. It’s taking a look at your organization, figuring out what makes it unique and what it has to offer other organizations, and distilling it all into a clear, coherent voice. All of that tells you what to say, but you still need to work on exactly how to say it. Your tone and characterization are everything, and they change how you’re viewed in the world at large. How can you figure out the best voice for what you do? Let’s take a look at some tips!
Your Mission… Should You Choose To Accept It
If you have an organization, then you have a mission.
It’s your goal, your beliefs, and how you hope to change the world. Here at SalesLabX, we want to usher in a new and brighter future through automation using Salesforce and Account Engagement (Pardot), and we firmly believe in that. You need to identify what you believe in. If you work in the construction industry, why is that? What’s your aim? Where is your business now, and where do you hope it’ll end up? If you’re in the business of providing medical supplies to hospitals and clinics, examine why the work you do is important. What are you doing that others aren’t? Determining these factors is going to give you a fantastic path forward, and help angle your messaging in a unique, striking way.
For example, if you manufacture and distribute medical supplies, you might boil your mission down to something like, “Through technology, we’re providing a better quality of life than was ever possible in the past. We’re ensuring a brighter future, because the future is built by healthy people.” So there you have a sense of duty, nobility, and responsibility. It has weight, and when someone reads it, they can feel that gravity.
To Whom It May Concern
Who is your target audience? It’s a business, for sure, but what kinds? As you can read in our previous article about
writing B2B copy, writing to other businesses is different from writing to a consumer. The key here is to identify the businesses you’re trying to communicate with, and then formulate your wording around how they themselves operate, all while maintaining your unique identity. Are you writing specifically to a sales or marketing department, or at the executives above them? Who is more likely to appreciate what you have to offer? Ideally, you’re going to want to take an ABM (account-based marketing) approach and tackle all the different departments and positions all at once through strategic marketing, but if that’s something you haven’t put together yet, find the space in the armor, and aim there. With B2B, you’re probably going to want to stay on the more professional side, but that doesn’t mean robotic. If you read your own copy and start getting bored, it’s time to re-evaluate. To be a good writer, you need to be a good reader. Read the copy of the businesses you’re seeking out, and see why it does or doesn’t work for you. Then take those lessons and use them to hone your voice!
Going Up!
The elevator pitch is a time-tested tool used by a myriad of professions in order to give yourself an overview of what you
hope to accomplish. People pitch movies and novels this way, and it will work for your organization as well. It’s a simple exercise: If you had to explain what you do, why you do it, and where you hope to go with it in 30 seconds, what would you say? It’s an exercise in critical thinking that can lead you right to your brand message, and as an exercise, it’s something you can practice with your colleagues. Ask them to give you the pitch, and practice giving one to them. Find your commonalities, and build off of them until the pitch flows smoothly. It may sound simple, but it’s a step that most people won’t take, and their brand messaging suffers for it. Take the time, and work it through. Like the people who sell movies and novels will tell you, those 30 seconds can change everything.
Assume The Position
Have you thought about your positioning statement? If a mission statement is the “how” and “why” of your
organization, your positioning statement is the “what”. It’s an internal statement detailing why the products or services you’re offering are going to serve your target market better than your competitors. How you set yourself apart from the rest of the market is going to be your strength. You know that you do something better than everyone else. Let that part of you shine through and guide you. Once you identify the parts of your organization that you can speak about with confidence, you’ll be able to tell more and more what that voice sounds like.
