The Simple Brand Messaging Strategy Every Business Needs

Here’s a secret: your brand messaging strategy doesn’t have to be so complicated.

If you remember this ONE thing every time you write copy for your business, you will succeed.

It’s that simple.

Why Do Your Products or Services Matter?

When it comes to your brand messaging strategy, I want you to remember one word: WHY.

• Why did you start your business?
• Why do your products or services matter?
• Why should your clients or customers care?

Asking “why” gets to the heart of the matter. Your heart and your audience’s.

Most decisions, including purchasing decisions, are based in emotion. Your messaging needs to make an emotional connection with your prospective buyer, or they won’t buy.

No one buys without a “why.”

While you inherently know the reasons why people should buy your product or service, your audience doesn’t. They need to be convinced.

You need to keep reminding them…

It’s the Old “Features vs. Benefits” Thing

Ever heard of the marketing concept of “features vs. benefits”?

The idea is that instead of focusing your copy on the functional features of your product or service, you should on the emotional benefits it brings to your audience.

Examples of Features

Features basically describe what your product or service can do. For instance:

• Self-paced video training course
• 10 hours of wedding-day coverage
• Flexible payment plan
• Drag-and-drop website editor
• Built-in A/B testing tool
• Free day-of delivery
• Custom client mobile app
• 24/7 chat support

Cool stuff, right? Sort of.

What really makes these features cool is what they can do for your audience.

Examples of Benefits

Benefits are less about your business and more about your audience. Less about facts and more about value. Less about telling and more about selling.

Let’s rewrite the above features as benefits:

• Self-paced video training course ➡️ Learn anywhere, anytime
• 10 hours of wedding-day coverage ➡️ Available all day, so you don’t miss a single snap
• Flexible payment plan ➡️ We’ll work with your budget
• Drag-and-drop website editor ➡️ Design a custom site easier than ever
• Built-in A/B testing tool ➡️ Boost your conversions by seeing which tactics work best
• Free day-of delivery ➡️ Stay focused on your event, not your vendors
• Custom client mobile app ➡️ Everything you need, right at your fingertips
• 24/7 chat support ➡️ Get help from a human the second you need it

All of these benefits go back to one thing: the WHY.

Features tell. Benefits sell.

My Personal Brand Messaging Strategy Fail

Focusing on benefits over features sounds easy, but it’s actually easy to forget.

Even for experienced marketers like me.

Just this week, I was on a call with a prospective client that put the copywriter in me to shame.

Twenty minutes in, he asked a question I should never have had to answer if I’d done my job right…

“So… remind me… like… why I need this?” 

Okay, those weren’t his exact words. But essentially, this person was wondering why the project we were discussing was even worthwhile.

Cue the cringe.

One of the keys to good copywriting is to make the value of your business so clear, your client doesn’t have to wonder why they need it. They feel the need in their bones.

Apparently, I had not done a good job of articulating the benefits of Quotable Copy’s services. The guy literally had to ASK me.

Which then put me in the awkward position of defending myself. I think I did a good job — I could talk about copywriting benefits all day — but if I had been more proactive in doing so, the sale would gone more smoothly. For both of us.

The 5 Stages of Buyer Awareness

Now, you could argue that if this client wasn’t even convinced of his need for my services, I shouldn’t waste my time trying to convince him of my solution to his need. 

He actually was aware of the problem, though — he just needed to be reminded.

This might be a helpful time to mention the “five stages of awareness,” a copywriting framework developed by Eugene Schwartz back in the ’60s. It goes something like this:

1. Unaware: Doesn’t even know they have a problem
   • “My digital marketing is doing just fine!”
2. Problem aware: Knows they have a problem, but doesn’t know solutions exist
   • “Hmm… my website isn’t bringing in the number of leads I’d like. I wonder why.”
3. Solution aware: Knows solutions exist and is seeking them out
   • “If I could improve my website copy, I bet I’d get more leads. Maybe I need to hire a copywriter.”
4. Product aware: Recognizes your solution could help and wants to learn more
   • “Sarah seems like a good copywriter. But is she better than others I’ve found?”
5. Most aware: Understands everything they need to know and is ready to buy
   • “Yep, Sarah’s the best. I want to work with her!”

Your copy’s job is to speak to your reader at their current stage of buyer awareness… and gently usher them toward the last.

I generally recommend focusing your efforts on people toward the tail end (say, #3–5) of the five stages of awareness. You’ll definitely have higher conversion that way.

Whatever stage someone is in, though, they still need to be reminded of your why.

Sell the sizzle, not the steak.

How to Make Your Brand Messaging Strategy Stand Out

Want an easy way to apply this brand messaging strategy to your own marketing copy?

We’ve got lots of easy copywriting tips… but here’s one you can try today.

Try the “5 Whys”

I just told you about the five stages of awareness, so why not tell you about the five whys, too?

The “five whys” is a technique that helps you uncover the root cause of a problem by continually asking “why.” For example:

1. “Why is my design business slow?”
   • Because you aren’t booking new projects.
2. “Why aren’t I booking new projects?”
   • Because clients don’t see the value in booking your services.
3. “Why don’t clients see the value in booking my services?”
   • Because you haven’t articulated the benefits very well.
4. “Why haven’t I articulated the benefits very well?”
   • Because your marketing copy sort of stinks.
5. “Why does my marketing copy sort of stink?”
   • Because you haven’t worked with a copywriter who knows how to effectively attract and convert your ideal clients.

I’m not telling you to put these five whys in your copy directly. But you can certainly use the framework to discover, and then convey, the benefits of your product or service.

Once you’ve established that emotional benefit, then you can share the features that make that benefit possible.

Both features and benefits are, well, beneficial.

But what matters most is always the “why.”

Okay, That Was a Lot of Info… Is This Messaging Strategy Actually Simple?

Yes.

Despite the amount of info shared in this post (what can I say, I love marketing psychology!), the brand messaging strategy I recommend really is simple.

Whatever you’re writing about, whomever you’re writing it to, always go back to the “why.”

Why? Because that’s what gets people to buy.

Learn More Brand Messaging Strategy Secrets!

If you liked this post, you should join our copywriting newsletter, The Weekly Wink.

1. Why? Because you’ll learn more tips to improve your brand messaging strategy.
2. Why? Because those tips will help you connect better with your audience.
3. Why? Because that connection will cause your audience to like and trust you more.
4. Why? Because that trust will prompt them to buy your product or service.
5. Why? Because those sales will grow your income, your business, and your impact on the world!

Pssst: Want to outsource your brand messaging strategy to the pros? Check out our conversion copywriting services for creatives. We can craft your copy for you, so you can do other stuff while your marketing attracts people on autopilot.