How to Narrow Down Your Brand Message
“So… what exactly does your business do?”
As a small business owner, you’ve probably gotten this question a MILLION TIMES. Have you ever found yourself stumbling around, not sure exactly what to say? I mean, you don’t want to be too specific and miss out on a potential customer - but how do you stand out from the crowd and make a statement with your brand?
Branding is probably one of the MOST important components to figure out when starting your business —- and your brand message is one thing that you should focus on the most.
What’s a brand message?
A brand message is the story that conveys the purpose of your business and the problem that it solves.
So how exactly do you narrow down your brand message? There are a few questions you can ask yourself to help clarify what your message is:
Identify The Problem Your Customer Is Facing
The reason that your business exists is to fill a hole in your customer’s life that they are struggling with. If you are a wedding photographer - think more about being just someone that takes photos of people at a wedding. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. What are their needs? What struggles are they facing? What is overwhelming them? Going along with the wedding photographer theme, your customer may be looking for a way to save real, joyful memories that last forever - but they feel totally awkward in front of a camera. Find out what issue your customer needs help with, as that is what you are going to provide a solution for through your business.
Explain Your Expertise (Briefly) And How You Can Help
Next, you’ll want to step in and provide a little bit about yourself and how your business can help. THIS IS NOT A FREE TICKET TO TALK ALL ABOUT YOU. The purpose of your business is to focus on the customer, not talk about how great you are. Make sure you align yourself as an expert in whatever field your business is, then jump into how exactly you will HELP your customer solve their problem. Make the customer the hero of the story - you are more like Gandalf - everyone can tell you are this great, wise person after just a brief introduction, and your purpose is to guide your customer to their end goal.
Give Your Customer A Tangible Picture of Success
Finally, give your customer a taste of what life could look like if they worked with/purchase from your business. Giving them this end goal will temporarily satisfy them - and they’ll be sold in wanting to know more. Focus on positive language, like “posing will be effortless,” “saving memories that your grandkids will be begging to know more about,” etc. With this, your customer will be able to see the journey from the struggle to success, and want to make that THEIR story.
Once you have outline these three steps for your business, you will have a complete brand message (and STORY) to share with your clients and make the center of your business. Return to this message when talking about your offerings, chatting with a new client, or even making a post on social media. This story is YOUR business story - and it’s one that your customers will want to be a part of. Now go out there and write it!
