The stories we tell shape how others perceive our business and, even more importantly, how we perceive our business. When you think about brand messaging it’s easy to get lost in the words and phrases, but the true power of great messaging is in the alignment it provides.
As you walk into a new year, do your business the biggest favor and take pause in asking yourself if your messaging truly aligns with your value, impact and direction you’re seeing your brand move towards.
Here are three significant areas to focus on as you reboot your messaging this year.
#1 The Message You Tell Yourself
Maybe you saw this coming, but the first narrative that needs attention is the one inside your own head!
If you’re working to stand out and create real connection between your audience and your value, you have to believe in it. How can we possibly convince others how incredible our offers are if we don’t believe it ourselves? As a female business owner, I know the struggle when it comes to quieting the noise of comparison to show up with confidence each day but I promise it’s possible.
Take time to seriously reflect on what you’ve achieved, the impact you’ve made through your work and how much you’ve grown already as a business and a human being! Solidify the power of your own journey by reminding yourself that you’re doing incredible things and you are capable of creating a legacy through your work. This is just the beginning!
#2 The Message You’ve Been Sharing About Your Brand
This year, give yourself permission to pivot towards where you’re feeling called.
Maybe you’ve spent the last year or more regurgitating the same elevator pitch and ideal client description, but it’s left a bad taste in your mouth. It’s okay to outgrow our messaging. It’s not okay, though, to shrink ourselves and our brand just to avoid change. We’re saying “goodbye” to outdated identities and embracing the voice your brand needs this year.
How do you want your brand to be perceived? Where do you want to position your business in your industry? You have the power to go from neighborhood artist to professional muralist ready for big projects. This could be the year you leave behind your “budget friendly” messaging to being seen as a premium service provider. Commit to showing up and guiding your audience to where your business is heading now.
#3 The Message You Share About Your Offers
Whether you are a service- or product-based business, your offers are the door your audience is walking into to work with you.
You can cultivate the most incredible messaging around your brand, but if it falls flat when you talk about your offers, it’s going to stand in the way of turning browsers into buyers. Take time to look at each of your offers and think of them in terms of each ideal client segment. Not every offer is for every client!
Ask yourself what problems you’re offering the solution to for your clients? Which specific price points, transformations and value does each offer provide? You want to tell specific stories that help the exact customer for that offer immediately tell it’s what they’re looking for. It’s too easy to create messaging that focuses on the features of your work, but that usually just makes your offers fade into the background. Get super targeted around who you picture working with for each offer, so you can imagine speaking directly to them with your messaging.
Hustle & Heart Challenge
This month, take time to review any goals you’ve set for the new year, and ask yourself how your current messaging aligns with them. Are there areas of your messaging that are calling out to be updated and revised to position your brand differently than you have in the past? Lean in and focus on how you want to speak about your business and how you want others to perceive it.