Does Brand Messaging Matter More than Design?

Your brand is your most powerful tool for attracting new customers. It's how your audience assesses your credibility, determines if your business meets their needs, and finds out essential information about your services or products.

While a well-designed brand creates a memorable first impression, it’s your brand messaging that truly drives engagement and conversion. Effective brand messaging ensures you are convincingly communicating your value beyond just what you sell.

What is brand messaging?

Brand messaging encompasses all the written elements when you’re talking about your brand. From your brand story to your product descriptions to the headline on your home page and everything in between, it’s all part of your brand messaging. Your website's messaging is your most powerful marketing tool, acting as a 24/7 spokesperson and keeping visitors engaged.

Effective brand messaging answers potential customers’ questions before they even realize they have them, saving you time and clarifying your offerings effortlessly. Good messaging is the glue that holds your brand experience together.

Why is brand messaging important?

Imagine your perfect customer is scouring Google or social media and clicks to go to your website. If your website is designed well, they will likely start clicking through your web pages for more information.

However, if critical information like who you are, what you offer, and why you are the best in your niche is missing unclear, or vague, they will immediately look elsewhere. They may even invest in a competitor whose web design is subpar. Why? Because, while you made a good first impression with your design, you failed to provide them with the information necessary to convince them you are the best choice.

No one likes uncertainty; no one wants to invest their time and money into something they are unsure about. If you want to increase your conversion rates, make sure your brand messaging provides the information your customer needs to feel confident in their investment.

Well-written messaging demonstrates credibility.

Good brand messaging tells your customer base that you not only care about the details of your business, but that you are also a top-tier professional in your field.

Effective brand messaging should be Clear, Correct, and Informative.

Clear: Your content needs to be easily understood. Don’t make your audience do unnecessary work to decipher a complicated, jargon-filled sentence. They’re coming to you to solve a problem they have, don’t give them a new one.

Correct: Your credibility relies on the correctness of your content. If your audience sees misspelled words, false statistics, or convoluted messaging, their trust in you will plummet, and they will likely seek out your competition.

Informative: No one likes uncertainty. Provide your readers with all the information they need to invest in your product. If you leave them guessing, they won’t trust that you can do the job and do it well.

Brand messaging should create a connection.

Not only must your messaging be clear, correct, and informative, but it needs to create a connection with your audience. To accomplish this, your messaging must be engaging. Simply put, no one likes boring content. You want your copy to draw readers in.

Does this mean you need to tell personal stories, be (falsely) energetic, and talk to your audience like they are your best friend? Your website content isn’t a diary or a history book; it’s a solution for your customer.

Good messaging is written with a specific target audience in mind. Writing as if you’re talking to your target audience will set you apart from a competitor business that focuses on their self as the audience.

Brand messaging is free advertising.

Think of it this way, would you buy a car without giving it a test drive? The same often goes for any other investment.

The good news is you can provide free value without giving away a product or free service. Valuable content is one of the top ways to allow your potential customers to “test drive” your brand. That test drive may be just the thing someone needs to make the purchase.

Your messaging is home to the ultimate test drive, whether it is your social media posts, your blog, your newsletter, or any other moment where you share exactly what makes your brand set apart.

In the end, your brand messaging should increase your audience’s knowledge and skill, while simultaneously proving to them that buying from you is their wisest choice.

Effective brand messaging makes it so your voice is consistent across every platform you share content, from the blog posts you write to the tweets you post. Developing your brand voice is essential to retaining credibility and connecting with your audience.

Most brands sorely underestimate the power of strategically crafted messaging and overemphasize feature-based content. You need to tell a story that engages your target audience and convinces them to buy with you and stay with you.

Sound daunting? Paying for professional brand strategy is the best way to ensure your message engages your target audience and demonstrates your credibility in your own voice.

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