You know the phrase "captions that convert"? We've all heard it and then sat for an hour on our phone staring at an image and trying to perfect an Instagram caption with the deep desire to convert anyone who reads it into buying something. (Nope? You haven't done that? WHO ARE YOU!?)

What we've found is that if we don't have a tight handle on our messaging, writing copy is ridiculously hard. But, once you've got your brand messaging in place, it's 1000x easier to write effective copy that talks to your people - whether that's on a website, on Instagram, Facebook, anywhere!

So in order to write copy that connects with your potential clients or customers, we recommend starting with your brand messaging – and also brand voice! This is an integral part of our brand strategy and brand identity processes and it helps our clients to get clear on what it is they’re trying to communicate with their audience. Super key for writing copy!!

What is brand messaging?

Brand messaging is anything you are communicating to someone who views your brand. This might be clear with a bold quote or statement, or it might be more subtle. Either way, whatever vibe or tone you take away from interacting with a brand, is part of their messaging and what they’re communicating with the world.

How a brand communicates can reveal a lot about a company's values and ethos - even if it's unintentional! As Entrepreneur says: "Brand messaging is about capturing just the right language that embodies your brand and makes it stand out from the pack."

So, tell me more. Why is brand messaging useful?

So, back to that Instagram caption – you want your captions to connect, yes. You want to increase your sales, grow your business, boost engagement… you want all of that right!? Well when you’re writing those captions, do you know what language you’re using or what underlying message you want to communicate about your brand so that they are interested in buying from you?

Defining your brand messaging will give you an excellent tool for creating stronger connections with your people. It helps you create a language, a voice, and a persona for your brand. It can also help take the guesswork out of what to say and how to say it.

A few examples of brand messaging:

Period Aisle make period underwear. Their brand messaging (and mission!) is that “People with periods deserve safe, effective & sustainable options designed for their comfort.” Throughout all of their social media content and website copy, you get the message that they care and support all genders, including trans and non-binary people who have periods, and also care for and want to support the planet. You can’t interact with their brand and not leave knowing that that’s what they stand for, and that’s excellent messaging!

Revie Jane is a fitness instructor turned self-love product creator. Her brand messaging is all about taking care of yourself, working through your traumas to heal, and using exercise and self care as tools for that process. She shares her workouts, but emphasizes the mental health benefits she gets from them, so through every product she sells and every workout she posts, you understand that you are worthy of love, healing and joy.

Here at Salt Design Co., our messaging is focused on how good brand and web design can strategically help you work towards and even achieve your business goals. We bring strategy, business and goal-setting into a lot of our work and explain the process behind designs in relation to the business, not just our design choices and why something is visually attractive.

How to define yours.

As we've mentioned, your messaging can come through from your brand ethos and values. What do you want to do with your business? Why? What does your business stand for? Think through these and create a list of values that might be relevant. Check out this post for more help with your brand values.

Once you've defined your brand values, you can then use them to create your brand messaging.

How does that work? Well, let's say you are a fitness + weight loss company. One of your values might be sustainable lifestyles. You believe that the scale is not important, but how you feel is. You value lifestyles that allow you to be healthy and lose weight at the same time. What you can do is take that value and create a brand message with it. For the fitness + weight loss company that brand message might be: "Step on the track, not the scale", or "How you feel is more important than what you weigh". This will allow the fitness + weight loss company to talk to their value in any copy they write.

Plus, the more specific your values are, the easier this will be. Your brand messaging needs to resonate with your customers; it needs to be something they care about. If it's short and easy to remember, that helps too!

Once in place, you can draw on it as inspiration for all aspects of your brand personality, voice, and communications and you'll know exactly how you want to talk to your people!

The important thing to remember is that these messages can be both literal and also subtly understood. You don’t need to put pressure on yourself to come up with punchy taglines and phrases, just do your best to get clear on what your brand is communicating and why. It’ll go a long way, we promise.

Want to work with us on your brand strategy and brand identity? Send an email to hello@saltdesignco.studio and we’ll set up a call to chat!

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