Being able to quickly and concisely communicate your brand message is key for your target audience to know who you are and what your why is. Take this brief questionnaire and see how quickly you can answer these questions about your organization:
- What is your mission?
- What is your vision?
- What are your key values?
- What is your brand story?
- Can you describe your brand purpose in a sentence? What about in two-words?
- Why was the company started?
- What problem does your organization solve?
- What value does your services/product add to your target audience’s life?
Knowing in detail the answers to these questions is crucial in building brand awareness. At Dimalanta Design Group, we use our proprietary Out&Out Marketing® philosophy as the plumbline for everything we do – including brand messaging. Out&Out Marketing is based on these six straightforward principles that help determine the most effective strategies to maximize your marketing efforts.
Let’s look at these six principles and what they say about brand messaging:
Principle #1: Simple
Keeping your brand messaging simple is the most effective way for your audience to grasp it. Brainstorm with your team how to boil down your message down to one sentence.
Principle #2: Disciplined
Having engaging and memorable brand messaging is a great goal but having marketing strategies and tactics that are complete and executed consistently is the journey. Out&Out Marketing stresses the importance of applying the discipline necessary to make marketing a priority for your organization’s brand messaging.
Principle #3: Perpetual
Brand messaging needs to be perpetually cultivating relationships by having an ongoing conversation with your target audience. In marketing, a one-and-done strategy is just not effective. It takes several touches and interactions with your audience before they know who you are and several more before they understand your brand purpose.
Principle #4: Targeted
When asked who your target audience is, do you often reply “everyone?” If so, you’re probably not effectively reaching anyone. Out&Out Marketing encourages specificity in determining not only who your audiences are but also what they’re like and how they act. The more targeted your brand messaging, the more success you’ll have.
Principle #5: Relevant
In today’s fast-paced, multimedia environment, brand messaging and communications must provide something of value or they will be ignored. Out&Out Marketing stresses the importance of providing relevant and relatable messages to engage your audience.
Principle #6: Personal
Each of your customers wants to feel like your most important customer. When you have a small to midsize business, you have the advantage of being able to develop personal relationships with your customers. With Out&Out Marketing, you can learn how to best connect with and nurture those relationships. Doing so is pivotal to success.
Building a brand that is lasting and effective requires simple, disciplined and perpetual marketing tactics that are targeted, relevant, and personal. Knowing who your brand is at the core and incorporating that into every decision of your organization will differentiate you from your competitors.