5 Steps to Create a High-Converting Message for Your Business

According to the Office of National Statistics, every year there’s over 300,000 new businesses being born in the UK alone, across a wide variety of sectors. For many business owners, this means fiercer competition, leaving them to wonder how they can stand out and convert more. The answer? A strong, high-converting message. A message is a great way to create communities, attract new customers and retain loyal advocates. Yet, despite the importance of having a solid message, many business owners struggle to identify how to craft one that’s effective and stands out. 

What exactly defines a business's brand message? Let's dive in.

Brand messaging is a vital element used by marketers, copywriters, salespeople and business owners to convey what a business does and why people should be interested in that brand. 

It acts like the North Star of your brand and its services. 

It leverages your value proposition - along with your brand personality, language, and tone - to showcase what your business is about and to create a strong sense of community and identity within your target audience. 

It also helps to build your individual sales messages, which are an extension of the brand message and are used to describe each of your products or services individually.  

Having worked with small businesse owners for the past 15 years, we know how challenging and overwhelming the process to develop a brand message can be. 

Most are unsure about the actual elements that make a brand message, while others can’t figure out how to turn what they have into a high-converting tool, so they often give up! But trust us – the work that goes into creating a strong brand message is worth it, because it’s what will make your business stand out and be successful. 

So if you’re still struggling to create your message, we’re sharing with you 5 steps you can take to tackle the process:

Step One: Find Clarity

The last thing you want is for your audience to be unsure about what exactly it is you offer. If there’s no clarity in your message, you can post and have pages and pages on your website telling a very long, convoluted story about what you do and who you are, and yet end up with a confused audience!

Without a clear message, even the most skilled copywriters will struggle to put together something that actually works and sells.

That’s why the first rule to creating a great message is to focus on its clarity.

A persuasive message needs to be straightforward, specific, and very well-defined.

It needs to use the right words that are relevant to your audience, and it must directly communicate with them.

It can’t afford to have big words, jargon or fancy phrases.

It needs to be simple, short and clear.

One of the biggest dangers most businesses face when creating a message is that they try to fit in as much as possible; they include what they do, who they are, what they want to achieve, their products, how they’re different, etc.

Of course, this all has a time and place, but at its most basic, a message just needs to concisely convey your value proposition, the specific audience you serve or how you serve them, and a hint of your brand personality.

Nothing more, nothing less.

So start off by finding clarity (if you don’t have it already) around those things as they will be the foundation to build or further improve your high-converting message.

Step Two: Think about What You’re REALLY Selling

Whenever we work with our clients on their persuasive message, we always take a moment to reflect on the following question:

“What are you really selling?”

Finding the answer often proves to be a real challenge, but it all really comes down to a deeper analysis that goes beyond the most obvious benefits your business might bring to its customers.

We want to reflect about the concept of “benefits” from every possible angle; practical, emotional/psychological, ethical, cultural, etc.

We want to uncover as many layers as possible while asking ourselves why would someone choose our brand or services over those of our competitors.

Need a straightforward, simple example? Imagine for a moment you’re a mattress seller. Now, we could talk about all the features of the mattress, its materials, measurements, etc. but the question is - are we really selling a mattress? In reality, what our customers want to hear is that we’re selling a good night’s sleep, a chance to wake up in the morning feeling refreshed, no more back pain, or maybe the promise of comfortable winter nights and fun between the sheets. It surely isn’t just about the mattress and its components, see the difference? 

So focus on identifying the ultimate benefit of your brand. When a message genuinely focuses on the ultimate benefit, it naturally creates a bridge between brand and audience, because customers will feel seen, heard, and understood - and that’s what truly makes a high-converting message.

Step Three: Define the Language of Your Audience

Once you’re clear on what you want to communicate, now it’s time to look at how you’re communicating it.

As obvious as it might sound, the best way to nail that language is to listen to your audience and talk to them.

Depending on resources and budgets, you could opt for an in-depth market research, or social media surveys, sample groups of your target clients, etc. If you’re operating on a tiny budget, but your target audience is in your network, opt instead for one to one conversations.

And if you’re wondering what to include in your market research, independently from how you’re running it, our advice is to focus on customer challenges relevant to your offers, potential solutions these customers are seeking, and - most importantly - how they feel when thinking about these solutions. Of course, you can also use this opportunity to further investigate their psychographics, as these can give a further insight into the tone or style of your message.

Pay attention to the language used by the customers to talk about these things, so you can put in place a word bank; this can be a great tool to share with copywriters and content team to ensure your message is coming to life in every marketing output.

Step Four: Say Goodbye to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

With the rise of social media and online platforms, it’s become essential for all brands to communicate who they are virtually. While for many this has led to thinking outside the box and creating really strong brand personalities that can convey the message at every opportunity in a few images or words, for others this has created a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde communication issue.

This might seem particularly problematic if you run a personal brand, but this issue is just as relevant for business brands.

A confused prospect will never become a paying customer, because they won’t be able to tell with certainty whether they can trust what they see or hear and the experience or quality the might experience after they give you their money.

So once you’ve identified your message and found the right language, make sure you’re consistent with it across your whole brand and in every part of the user journey you’re building.

You can learn more about what the Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde effect is and how to prevent it in your message or copy by reading this article.

Step Five: Keep it Simple and Be Consistent

Last but not least, do not overcomplicate your message.

A great brand message is all about simplifying concepts and keeping value propositions concise. Your customers need to understand at a glance what you’re about and they need to hear it in a consistent way, throughout your channels. 

And speaking of consistency, your brand message won’t change with every new service or product you create (that’s the sales message!) and it will probably not require a makeover unless you go through a massive rebranding process.

So don’t get caught up in trends around messaging and don’t try to be too smart or fancy about it, as that might hurt the simplicity, effectiveness and longevity of your brand message.

And that’s it! We hope that these 5 tips can give you more clarity and a deeper understanding of how to develop a brand message that sells.

Need a little support to develop or refine your message? Our consultancy services might be perfect for you!