If you had to describe your Business in a few short sentences, what would you say? What Message do you want your audience to remember? That’s the key to clear messaging, actually defining a clear message. This may seem obvious, however having a clear, core message is more than just delivering a clever marketing slogan – it should fundamentally represent your business. Ask yourself, what is it that makes your business different from your competitors? Then find a way to convey that message using clear, simple, concise, and engaging language.

If your message isn’t clear, it’s more than just the meaning that may be lost; ambiguous marketing could be damaging your brand, and recovery can take a long time. Market with purpose, consumers aren’t going to try to guess what your message is; it should be clear simply by reading it. All too often, marketers miss the mark with advertising campaigns by trying to be too funny, too vague, or by targeting the wrong audience. That’s not to say you can’t use humour, or create marketing material that appeals to a wide audience, however there is a right and wrong way to do it.

With that in mind, how do you create a clear message that resonates with your audience and gives them a reason to remember your business?

Change Your Perspective

When coming up with the perfect marketing message, think of yourself as a potential consumer of your product or service, and not as a business owner. Frame your message in language your audience will understand and relate to; unless your target audience are all familiar with it, leave out technical jargon and complex terminology.

Be Consistent

But don’t be repetitive – there’s a fine line between the two that your business must be able to balance. Having a clear and consistent marketing message will help build recognition and trust with your following, however constantly reusing the same material at every opportunity can become annoying. Once you have developed a key message, you can continue to adapt and evolve with that message. Users of diverse mediums respond to different messaging, so it can often pay off to have multiple variations of your key message directly targeted at different market segments.

Be Cohesive With Your Brand

Your message and your brand are not two distinct marketing tools, rather they should act together as one. Your message is simply an extension of your larger brand identity, and both should be communicating in the same voice. Every point of interaction a customer or potential customer has with your business helps to determine how they view your business. Your business, your brand, and your message should all be telling the same story.

Ultimately, the goal of all marketing is to connect people who have needs with businesses that can help meet them – with clear messaging, you can show consumers that you are the solution.