Messaging Strategies That Level Up Your Brand Communication

A messaging strategy is the hook that makes your target audience stand up and take notice. It’s the way you stand out, and drive interest in your product or service.

Without this, the truth is you’ll struggle to cut through the noise made by your competitors.

In this guide, we’re going to show you how to build an effective brand messaging strategy for your business. We’ll show you how to discover your target market and how to communicate with them successfully.

So why Viddyoze? Well, we’ve helped over 250,000 businesses perfect their brand messaging strategy with our online video platform. Using our software, branding your video marketing messaging is super simple, fast, and effective.

Here’s how to create a successful brand messaging strategy.

When establishing a messaging strategy, the first thing you need to figure out is who you’re talking to.

This is your target audience – and you need to find out as much as you possibly can about them. We can’t stress this enough. Businesses that don’t, rarely do well.

Every piece of brand messaging you produce should be made with this group in mind. Essentially, this is your ideal customer.

Think about it. If you’re targeting 19-24-year-olds and your marketing messages are packed with cultural references from the 90s (Remember Clueless?), are they going to resonate? Probably not.

So how do you find your target audience? Here’s where to start.

Customer Avatars

Customer avatars (or buyer personas) are in-depth profiles of your ideal consumer. These avatars should be based on data and research, which you can capture through online surveys, interviews, focus groups, competitor research, and social media analytics.

To begin with, you want to know the following:

• Age
• Occupation
• Salary level
• Level of education
• Interests, or hobbies

Once you know this, you can begin to cross reference your research with customer data (who’s buying your products? How do they behave? What content currently works?).

You’ll soon start to see patterns of behavior which will help you inform your brand messaging strategy. At this point, you should be able to answer (or begin to) the following questions:

• Where does your avatar consume its media? For example, if your target market is 65-plus and your research reveals they don’t have much time on the internet, PPC, SEO, and social media probably won’t play a big part in your message strategy.
• What colors and imagery do they respond to? Millennials (born between 1981-2000) like warm pinks; Gen X (1961-80) are partial to red and violet; and Baby Boomers (1934-60) like calming colors, such as pale blue (Mann Co).
• What type of tone do they react well to? For example, is it serious and formal, or relaxed and quirky?

Focus Groups

Focus groups are a great way to see how your messaging framework resonates in real life. Ideally, you need to gather a group of people who represent your ideal customer. It’s also a good idea to have a mix of existing and potential customers.

The aim of the focus group is to ask a set of pre-determined questions about your messaging strategy in such a way that you encourage feedback.

You can also use a focus group to gather opinion for a rebrand, an avatar change, or a new product launch.

Here’s a quick guide to running an effective focus group.

1. Create a series of questions based on your messaging strategy
2. Prepare a questionnaire
3. Recruit your participants
4. Explain the process, get consent and begin the focus group
5. Get all participants to introduce themselves
6. Ask your questions (be sure to get equal input from the whole group)
7. Analyze feedback and implement into marketing strategy

Competitor Analysis

In order to stand out from your competition, you need to understand what they’re doing in the market.

In other words, keep your friends close and your competitors closer.

First and foremost, analysis of your competition will help you define your unique selling proposition (the thing that helps you stand out from the rest of the pack) for your messaging.

So how do you define a competitor? Usually, a business has three types:

1. Direct: A business that offers a similar product or service and targets the same customers.
2. Indirect: A business that offers slightly different products or services and targets slightly different customers.
3. Alternative: A business that offers completely different products but targets the same customers.

Once you’ve made a shortlist, you can start your analysis.

A competitor analysis can cover many areas, including a product or service, main selling point, pricing, market share, and strengths and weaknesses. For messaging strategy, it’s best to focus on branding and positioning.

Pay close attention to your competitors’ marketing material. Website copy, email marketing, hard copy (brochures or leaflets), social media posts, video marketing… we’re talking everything.

Once you know where the competition is at, you can build a different image for your brand communication, brand positioning, and unique selling proposition.

Now you know who you’re talking to, it’s time to figure out what you’re going to say with your marketing messaging.

To help, we’ve put together a list of 4 proven examples of strategic messaging for you to use. For the best results, we recommend using each one of these messaging strategy examples for a specific marketing campaign.

1. Focusing On Your Product’s USPs

A good messaging strategy will help you stand out from your competitors. One simple way to do this is to focus on your product or service’s unique selling proposition (USP).

Essentially, this means promoting the one-of-a-kind features of your product; the stand-out stuff that your competitors can’t claim to have. Think of it this way: your USP should address the main issues/problems of your ideal customer.

The major benefit of this approach is that it is direct. It speaks clearly to your audience, explaining why you (and your product) are better than the competition. Done right, it will form a key part of your overall messaging strategy.

This works well on audiences because it gives them a concrete reason to buy your product. As a result, USP can significantly impact business revenue in a positive way.

Here’s a super creative video from Saddleback Leather hitting the USP focus perfectly. After spotting a number of imitations on the market, this brand decided to make a “how-to” video showing the copycats how to “improve” their knock-offs. In reality, Saddleback just points out their USP, revealing just how superior their bags are.

2. Aligning Your Brand With Your Customer Avatar

The main aim of this content messaging strategy is to position your entire brand as the “go-to” solution for your customer avatar.

So, what exactly do we mean by that? Well, essentially, this positioning strategy seeks to make your brand synonymous with your buyer persona’s problems (relating to your product, that is).

Initially, the reward for businesses is brand awareness. Conversion comes later, once your customers are fully bought into your brand story.

Red Bull is a brilliant example of this type of messaging strategy. Its main customer avatar is young and cool. To align itself with the target, Red Bull sponsors a number of events (most notably the Cliff Diving World Series and Big Wave Africa) and sports teams (Soccer team the New York Red Bulls, and Red Bull Racing, for example) that its customer avatar is likely to engage with.

The result? When the avatar wants a drink, they’re subconsciously drawn to Red Bull as an option.

Here’s an example of Red Bull messaging strategy in action. The video is highly engaging but also experiential. The incredible locations and incredible dives create a sense of something bigger than the brand itself. Red Bull itself isn’t front and center of the video, using subtle branding and not some not so subtle product placement to build brand awareness.

3. Addressing The Problems You’re Solving

This brand strategy takes a slightly different approach to messaging. Instead of focusing on your product or service’s USPs, you highlight how your offering can fix the buyer’s problem.

In other words, your customer avatar isn’t buying a product, they’re buying a solution. Show them what they can achieve using your product.

This type of strategy resonates because it forges a connection – generally speaking, people buy things for emotive reasons. There’s either a concrete issue it will solve (for example, buying a power drill to put up a shelving unit) or a goal they can see themselves achieving with a product (a new pair of running trainers or a gym membership).

The more “problems” your product or services becomes associated with, the more likely it is that people will come to you as opposed to a competitor.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yo2cFS2I7o8

Microsoft is a great example here. As a software company, Microsoft has a broad remit of customers. In this advert, the brand positions itself as the solution to a fast-paced world. In this advert, Microsoft portrays Windows 11 as an easy way for users to stay organized, informed, and entertained.

4. Supporting A Good Cause

Consumers love brands that champion a good cause. In fact, 71% prefer buying from a business with similar values to their own, according to 5W Public Relations.

The concept is pretty simple: support issues you care about and tell people about them.

As the above stat shows, people are much more likely to buy from a brand that cares about the same things they do. Additionally, it’s a great way to stand out from your competition, increase your brand awareness, and boost internal morale.

Ben and Jerry’s has a whole webpage dedicated to the social issues it supports, and the ways in which the company helps. The content ranges from helpful blogs and videos to external resources.

The brand even released a new flavor in support of the People’s Response Act, a piece of legislation designed to help tackle racism in policing. This ad is an awesome example of a company supporting a cause. The brand puts people and community at the center of its message, which creates a genuine bond between its user base.

Quality content is at the heart of every good messaging strategy, and video is by far the most effective way to communicate that message and build an audience of loyal followers.

We know that video is the most engaging type of content. Stats from LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram all report that video posts perform better on these social channels.

So the big question is: how do you create video content which your audience will love and will grow your brand?

That’s exactly where Viddyoze can help.

Our video creation platform is specially designed to be easy, fast, and effective. Viddyoze gives you access to over 2,700 video templates, which you customize with your own logo, brand colors, and messaging.

Getting started couldn’t be simplier.

All you need to do is login to the Viddyoze app, choose a template from our library, customize it with your branding and messaging, then download and post. Creating daily videos to execute your marketing strategy couldn’t be easier.

Regardless of which messaging strategy you choose, Viddyoze will enable you to achieve your goals through constantly entertaining, studio-quality video content.

Click here to get started. Or learn more by watching the video below.

Write How Your Customers Talk

To make a genuine connection with your audience, speak to them like real people.

By that, we mean use a conversational, easy-to-understand tone, peppered with terminology familiar to your customer avatar, and avoiding industry jargon, and long, complicated words.

To find out how your customer avatar speaks, head to message boards, such as Reddit or Quora, and search for topics related to your USP.

Keep Things Simple

A solid messaging strategy relies on clarity. Potential customers want clear, concise copy from your brand – anything else is likely to put them off.

So get to the point – and fast.

Highlight your USP as soon as possible. Shout about the problem you can solve. Explain why your product is better than the rest.

Too much copy can overwhelm readers and cloud their decision making – so keep things brief in social media posts, ad banners, and emails.

Use The Fewest Possible Words

When it comes to messaging, less is definitely more.

Take a look at our tagline:

Make Scroll-Stopping Videos In Just 3 Clicks

Bring your ideas to life with just a few clicks – even if you’ve never made videos before!

It’s short and simple, with no unnecessary words. Any potential customers landing on the Viddyoze website will know exactly what we do within seconds.

Tell A Story

Powerful stories increase brand trust and improve sales. It’s that simple.

In fact, a compelling brand story can boost the value of your products and services, according to the Journal of Brand Management.

Why? Because people remember good storytelling. All four of the proven strategies we listed above can be (and should be) executed with a story.

The moral of this story? Tell one whenever you can.

To help you create your own content, we’ve selected 3 examples of effective messaging strategy marketing.

Starbucks – Pumpkin Spice Latte

Every fall, Starbucks unleashes the pumpkin Spice Latte – and the world goes crazy!

In the build up to the PSL’s annual comeback, Starbucks goes all-out on the content front. Videos, social posts, ads, quizzes… you name it, Starbucks is using it to promote the PSL.

The content tends to be fun, playful, and engaging and it always focuses on the same thing: the PSL’s unique selling proposition: a delicious drink that’s only available for a certain amount of time each year.

MasterCard – For Everything Else There’s MasterCard

“There are some things money can’t buy; for everything else there’s MasterCard.”

With those words, MasterCard launched its iconic “Priceless” campaign in 1997 – and never really looked back.

The concept is simple: MasterCard makes paying for the little things easy, helping to create moments that really matter. It’s a brilliant example of a brand addressing the problem it helps to solve (the problem being paying for “the little things”).

The brand has switched it up over the years, trading more emotive content (like the original here) for humor and nostalgia, keeping things relevant for newer audiences.

Nike – Believe In Something. Even If It Means Sacrificing Everything

When the NFL turned its back on Colin Kaepernick over his controversial protest against police brutality in the USA, Nike made the bold decision to make him the face of their next campaign.

The results were incredible. Not only did it send Nike’s stock skyrocketing within months of its launch (an all time high according to CBS), “Dream Crazy” won an Emmy for Creative Arts too.

It was a bold move, and not without its drawbacks, as thousands of people took to social media to burn their Nike gear. Ultimately, it resonated with a larger part of the brand’s audience – which was Nike’s goal all along.

An effective messaging strategy must underpin every aspect of your content. Think of it as the glue that holds your brand together.

As we’ve shown, when used correctly, it can help you define your customer, communicate your message, grow your brand awareness, improve sales, and stand out from your competition.

Sure, there’s a lot of work to do. But take the time to plan your strategy now, and you’ll reap the rewards later.

To help simplify things, use Viddyoze for video content needs. With our super easy software, you’ll be able to ensure that all video content is on message and on brand in a matter of minutes. It takes just 3 clicks.

What Is Message Strategy In Public Relations?

A message strategy in public relations is how you want your brand to be perceived in the media. It relates to the media coverage you want to generate and how that coverage can shape public opinion of your business.

What Is A Message Strategy Brief?

A message strategy brief is a set of instructions which you pass on to your communications team to ensure they craft marketing messages that align with your messaging strategy.

It’s a tool used to ensure your branding is harmonious and non-confusing to customers.

What Are The Three Steps In Developing Message Strategy?

• Step one: define your target audience
• Step two: craft a message that resonates with that audience
• Step three: distribute your marketing materials where your target audience will see them