"Build-A-Brand”: The Ultimate 3-Step Guide to Building Consistent Brand Messaging Across All Platforms *Free Downloadable Brand Strategy Kit*
Consistent messaging is crucial for building and maintaining a unified brand identity and online presence, and is imperative for developing trust and quick recognition among customers. Consistency is the key to not only creating an authentic and noticeable brand presence across all platforms, but also to creating internal company alignment! When your team is empowered with a clear sense of your company’s mission and key value differentiators, as well as your brand’s tone, personality, and values, they are better equipped to clearly communicate your value to customers in a unified voice. When your entire team can clearly communicate your unique differentiators in your market, your company stands out among competitors, better resonates with your target audience, and ultimately establishes long-term customer loyalty. Here are 3 easy steps for strengthening your messaging, aligning your team around your corporate mission and brand values, and defining your UVP in your market!
STEP 1: Frame Your Messaging Around Your Unique Value Proposition
Defining your brand’s core values and mission is a critical step to creating consistent messaging. Your mission is your ‘why’, and before you can strategically communicate your value to customers, you first need to establish a clear and concise company-wide understanding of your mission, values, and UVP in your market, and compared to your competitors. A unique value proposition (or UVP) is the differentiator(s) that sets your company apart from competitors. It outlines not only all of the benefits your company provides to customers, but more specifically, what value your company provides to distinguish you from other companies in your industry. Understanding your unique value proposition sets the framework for creating aligned messaging around a clear sense of your company’s competitive advantage.
Questions to Ask to Identify Your UVP:
How does my product or service DIFFER from what’s already available in the market?
What issue does my service/product solve in a way that’s unique to my market?
Why should customers trust my company and our service over my competitors?
Once you have clear and concise answers to these questions, you’re ready for step 2!
STEP 2: Develop a Comprehensive Brand Guide with Your Brand’s Tone, Voice, and Personality
Building a comprehensive brand guide for your team is crucial for creating a cohesive brand presence, and a clear reference point for all branding efforts. A brand guide helps ensure uniformity and consistency across every touchpoint, by providing clear guidelines about visual elements like logos, color schemes, and typography, as well as the preferred tone, personality, and voice of all corporate communications in every department. This consistency is imperative for building trust, reliability, and recognition among your target audience. While building your guide, consider your audience! What tone and personality would best align with your target consumers? What personality style is most approachable to your audience?
Whatever approach you take for building your brand identity, outlining a clear guide to align your team on your brand’s voice and personality will ensure that your team is aligned on the best methods for reaching your target demographic. Rather than thinking of a comprehensive brand guide as another set of rules for your team to follow, present it for what it is—a strategic framework that enables your brand to stand out, strategically connect with customers, and create a recognizable presence across all platforms and in every department.
Need some ideas to get you started? Download our free *Comprehensive Guide to Define Your Brand Identity* with step by step instructions and examples.
STEP 3: Align Your Team On Your Mission & Messaging
Ensure that your team has a clear grasp around your mission, messaging, and unique value proposition. Every team member across all departments should not only have a clear understanding of your company’s mission, messaging, and UVP, but a concrete understanding of how to communicate them to consumers using your company’s tone, personality, and voice.
2 Easy Ways to Align Your Team on Mission, Messaging, and UVP:
Workshops:
Create consistent company-wide workshops to refresh your team on your brand's messaging (using your new brand guide as a reference point!) to introduce any new changes, shifts, or updates to your brand’s tone, voice, personality, or branding. Hiring a third-party like EnticEdge to help ensure your team is aligned on your unique value proposition, and equipped with the right tools to communicate it in the market, is an important step in building alignment and strengthening your value to consumers!
Value and Respond to Feedback:
Create a collaborative space where team members feel comfortable to share client feedback and interactions. Remember: being able to successfully communicate your UVP to consumers starts with first understanding the way your company’s value is perceived by the consumers themselves! Creating an environment where your team can express productive feedback to help you understand how to better communicate your messaging to your consumers and ensure that your UVP translates to your audience in a clear, concise, and digestible way is an important step for strengthening your brand presence. While it might seem redundant, it’s important to remember the value of the consumer perspective and voice in shaping the way you communicate your mission and messaging to them.
Understanding your core messaging, value proposition, and unique brand identity forms a strong foundation for creating consistent messaging across all platforms! Aligning your entire team and all departments around these core principles is pivotal for confirming that your mission is communicated effectively, and properly integrates your brand’s voice, tone, and personality. This alignment ensures that every aspect of communication, whether it may be a marketing campaign or a customer service interaction, strategically resonates with your target audience, while still reflecting the values of your company. By investing time into defining your mission, developing your brand guide, and aligning your team on your UVP, you create a cohesive brand presence that successfully and consistently communicates your messaging to your target audience!