How to Use a Brand Messaging Guide (So It Doesn't Collect Dust)

Is your brand messaging guide collecting digital dust somewhere in your Google Drive? You know what I'm talking about, right? That beautiful PDF you hired a copywriter or brand strategist to write, full of amazing insights about your brand voice, that you haven't looked at since you downloaded it. Yeah, and if you remember, this likely wasn't a small investment, either.

In this episode, I'm breaking down exactly how to use a brand messaging guide. You'll learn how to transform that fancy PDF into your secret weapon for consistent, compelling content that actually connects. Learn my practical system for putting your guide to work across every platform (without driving yourself nuts trying to do it all).

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EPISODE 143.
Read the show notes and view the full transcript here: https://erinollila.com/how-to-use-a-brand-messaging-guide-episode/

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Here's info on your host, Erin Ollila
Erin Ollila believes in the power of words and how a message can inform – and even transform – its intended audience. She graduated from Fairfield University with an M.F.A. in Creative Writing, and went on to co-found Spry, an award-winning online literary journal.

When Erin’s not helping her clients understand their website data or improve their website copy, you can catch her hosting the Talk Copy to Me podcast and guesting on shows such as Profit is a Choice, Mindful Marketing, The Power in Purpose, and Business-First Creatives.

Stay in touch with Erin Ollila, SEO website copywriter:
• Learn more about Erin’s VIP intensive options if you’d like to learn more about how you can hire her to help you with your marketing efforts
• Visit Erin's website to learn more about her business, services, and products
• Come chat with Erin on Threads, Instagram, or LinkedIn

Transcript

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Have you ever paid a lot of money for a brand messaging guide only to find it sitting in your Google Drive collecting dust way later? Maybe you open it up occasionally and think, oh wow, this is really good stuff. And then promptly close it again because you're not sure what to actually do with it. Yeah, if this scenario is too real for you, You are absolutely not alone. I have worked with far too many people that I'd like to admit that have purchased brand messaging guides or branding guidelines that never actually did anything with them. Or worse, they just didn't know how to interpret what was in the messaging. in actual practical application. And that, my friends, is why I have broken my brand messaging guide into two separate parts, because having a brand messaging guide, it's kind of like having a fancy new kitchen gadget. It looks impressive, but if you don't know how to use it, it's just taking up space on your counter. And I say this because I actually just bought new kitchen appliances and I don't know quite how to use my stove yet. My stove's not on my counter. I will say that, but it is very important to be able to understand how to use the things that we purchase, especially for something so important as a branding guide, because it influences everything in your marketing. We've covered a lot in our brand messaging series from handling multiple ideal clients to crafting an elevator pitch, in talking about editorial style guides, the voice, the tone, the style, the values, the mission, the vision, the everything. Today, in our final episode of the series, we're going to cover one really, really big topic. Thanks How do I actually use this? So before we dive into the how, let's quickly recap what we're working with. Okay? Your brand messaging guide typically will include a voice and tone guidelines, which is how you sound, your key messages, which is what you say, your ideal client profiles, That is who you talk to and your editorial style preferences, how you say what you do. But knowing what's in it really isn't enough. We need to be able to turn this from a reference document into an actual marketing strategy. And no, that does not mean you need to be an expert. everywhere, you know, on all the social media platforms and creating all the different types of content because nobody really needs that type of pressure in their business or their life. But we do need to know how to show up in the places we choose to for our business. Let's start by talking about content mediums. Before even trying to develop a content strategy, it is very important to know what type of marketing content that you'd even like to create for your business. Again, you don't have to be everywhere. and do everything in order to have a successful strategy. In fact, quite often trying to do too much and parceling your efforts out over too many mediums or channels is what leads to burnout and messaging failures. The most common content mediums for businesses are the website, Emails, blogs, case studies, podcasting, YouTube videos, and social media content. Now, let's review how you would choose between these content mediums quickly. Website. Absolutely nothing to choose from because you need a website for your business and it's one of the best decisions that you can make. Your brand messaging guide will 100 percent influence the words that you choose on your site. If you plan on emailing your audience, you'll be sharing insights, any event information, and any behind the scenes content to your business, as well as things like I mentioned, like promo offers or storytelling content. Blogs are great for establishing thought leadership, sharing industry insights. Showcasing Expertise. Case Studies, also on your website, are very powerful tools that help you build trust and demonstrate the value that you're delivering to your clients. Podcasting and YouTube videos are ideal ways to reach a targeted audience, depending on the type of content they like to consume, excuse me, like the style of content, whether that be audio or video. And then social media is just practical. Getting in front of people's face for real time engagement, for brand building awareness, and for fostering community or fostering a sense of relationship between yourself and the audience that you create. So once you understand what content mediums you'll be using within your marketing efforts, It's important to then talk about content goals, and that's how to put this into practice. The biggest mistake that businesses make is to create content or implement marketing strategies without knowing what their actual goals are and how the content and the content mediums, obviously, that they choose moves them closer. So some, you know, core goals that I hear people in their business choose are things like increasing brand awareness, increasing lead generation, growing thought leadership, and improving on customer engagement. Again, you will choose. What mediums that you're going to use, the ones I just mentioned, based on your, your immediate or future goals, , in these categories that I just shared. Now that we know what our goals are and what our mediums are for, for getting those goals to actually happen, let's talk about the content buckets. And that's what you actually share on your preferred marketing mediums. Now, if you're looking for ideas for things like blogs, social posts, emails, or more, there's a few different content buckets to choose inspiration from, such as informative content buckets, which could be things like educational or how tos, industry insights, Behind the Scenes content. There is Engaging content buckets, which could have things such as, , conversational type questions, maybe, or content. Entertaining content, user generated content. There's your Brand Building content buckets, which could be personal stories, , inspirational content. There's your Emotional Connection content, and that could be focusing on the experience, or showcasing happy customers. So, that's not a complete list, but I feel like that's, I tried to think about, of all the content buckets that my clients have that we tend to drop their stories into, those tend to be the most comprehensive buckets that a wider audience would be able to gather kind of some inspiration from in order to, you know, hear, listen to this on an episode and put it into practice in their own business. Let me kind of showcase how this works in a real life scenario. Let's take a local bakery as an example. Their website may showcase their core offerings and brand story. Their Instagram features daily specials and behind the scene moments. Their newsletter shares weekly updates and seasonal offerings, and their blog may have things like,, featuring recipes and baking tips or other local businesses where they source some of their ingredients. Let Each platform serves a different purpose while still feeling like the same brand. Now again, we don't want to start posting everywhere and doing too much,, content creation in the first place. Just because everyone else is doing it is not a strategy. So when we, Try to have examples based on everything that I just shared with you. And we're talking about things like those goals. Let's see how a business coach could kind of play this all out. For brand awareness, they can show up consistently on LinkedIn and share valuable insights. For lead generation, they may choose to offer a free downloadable guide or invite people to a no cost online meeting. For thought leadership, they may be writing blog content and guesting on podcasts. And for customer engagement, they could be nurturing their email list with valuable content. The key is they're not trying to do all of these things on all platforms all at once. They're being strategic about Where they choose to show up and why they're in that place. Okay, let's talk about our content buckets because our goals and our mediums are where we're showing up and why we're showing up there. But what do we actually create? That's where your content buckets come in and I promise it's not as complicated as it sounds. I want you to think of content buckets like a well balanced meal. You need your proteins, which could be things like informative content, Your veggies, which could be your engaging content, and your comfort food, which could be your emotional connection content. So let's break, break it down. We'll stop my corny examples here., informative content. They could be educational pieces that showcase your expertise, industry insights that position you as a leader, how tos that provide immediate value. Your engaging content could be stories that make you relatable, questions that start conversations. Behind the scenes peaks that build trust. Your emotional content could be client success stories that prove your worth. Personal journey moments that make you appear human and relatable, and yet the values in action that show what you stand for.\ Okay, now that we have our content mediums figured out, our content goals planned, and then the content buckets that we're going to use to actually make that all happen, there are two different things that I put in my brand messaging guide, specifically this Marketing Made Easier section, that a lot of people don't put in there. And those are your messaging hierarchy and your messaging frameworks., Now there's a, there's Most of my clients will just hire me for their website copywriting after a website project or anything like that. So I know their brand. I know their guidelines. I've created their guidelines for them. But I do have clients that after we've worked together, they take this and they create all of their own content or they turn it over to a social media manager or a VA that's on their team who is writing content for them. It's important that I set them up for success in order to have everything that they need in regard to the frameworks and the hierarchy of how they should be presenting their message. When I mention frameworks, what I'm including are some copywriting frameworks that will help them Know whether or not they're going to achieve like a conversion or whatever it is they're looking for. I'm not going to explain all of those frameworks in this episode, but I'll review them. For example, there's PAS, which is your Problem, Agitate, Solution framework. There is AIDA, which is Attention, Interest, Desire, Action framework. There is FAB, which is Features, Advantages, Benefits framework. There is BEFORE. After, Bridge Framework, and then there's BAB, which is Benefits, Alternatives, Bridge Framework. So I lay out what those frameworks are and share examples on how they can use those frameworks within their own content. Following that is your messaging hierarchy. So imagine your brand message, message echoing through all of your marketing channels. It would be clear, consistent, and persuasive. That's the power of a messaging hierarchy though. So a messaging hierarchy from my perspective is basically different layers that you should keep in mind while you're creating your copy and your content. There is the top lever level is your brand promise. Your Value Proposition, Your Key Messages, Your Proof Points, and Your Calls to Action. Following this section, which kind of explains how to do everything that I would do with my clients, is kind of where we put it all together. It's where the magic happens. It's matching your medium to your goal. and your content type. And yes, I can hear some of you out there that's panicking already about how much content this sounds like, but here's a secret. You can create content once and repurpose that content many times. Let's take the blog post you write. It's not just a blog post. It's also social media posts that are pulled from key points within that blog. It's an email newsletter that summarizes the insights and leads people to the overall blog. It's talking points, possibly, for a podcast episode. Content for Your Next Lead Magnet. The key is creating systems that work for you. So, you know, maybe that means that you batch content creation on Mondays and you use templates for consistent formatting. Maybe it means that you set up a content calendar and then you actually use that content calendar or you create standard operating procedures for your content workflow. And I highly recommend that. I recommend listening to two episodes on this podcast. One is the episode with Melissa Morris where we talk about creating business processes like SOPs. I will link to that in the show notes. And another one is a recent episode about using Airtable to create a content hub that I recorded with my friend and podcast guest that's actually been on here three times, Colie James. In my messaging section, what I do after the framework and the hierarchy is that I create messaging ideas that are exactly for that individual client. Those could be things like what to share on social media. For example, client afters, , behind the scenes, their processes, as an example, , different types of educational content specific to their business or inspirational content. It could be blog post ideas, you know, solution focused content, , addressing pain points and fears, showcasing expertise and thought It could be social proof and case studies. You know, showing a transformation in the people that have hired my clients. It could be what to do in video content versus podcast content. How to approach things like webinars and live events, email campaigns, whether they're automated emails, whether they're sequences or whether they're broadcast, it could be, maybe they have their own podcast and we need an entire section for messaging ideas based on their content mediums and their content goals for their podcast., and. Most of the time when I work with my clients, I'm also creating a client survey. So our client survey data also lives within this section so that we can take content from those audience surveys and drill it down into how it's going to be used in their overall marketing messages. Okay, now, before we end, I want to just kind of review some common challenges and solutions, because I know that you're thinking of them right now. For example, you might be thinking, I can't stay consistent. Well, here's the solution. Start small, pick one platform, one content type, One day a week and master that before adding any more., another issue could be that you're thinking, I don't have time for this. Here's your solution. Remember that repurposing strategy that I mentioned. Use it and consider batching your content creation so that you create from the top level down and you're not creating Like, so many pieces for different types of content and different mediums. You may feel overwhelmed. Well, that's fine. You don't need all the options. You pick what works for you from this episode and for your audience. That's it. If you're thinking that your message feels scattered, well, the solution is that's exactly why you need this brand messaging guide. You can use it as kind of like that guiding star and what to share within your business. The bottom line is your brand messaging guide isn't meant to be a pretty PDF that sits on your drive. It is meant to be a living, breathing document that guides every piece of content that you create. So start small, Be consistent. Use what works for you. And remember, you do not have to do everything. You just have to do something well. And if this still feels overwhelming and you'd rather have someone implement your brand messaging strategy, I do that. So just reach out and I will happily help you create your strategic brand messaging and get you started on the right journey to maximize all of that marketing potential that is just out there in your business, ready for you to take hold of. Okay, come back next week where we'll keep talking copy, but it won't be brand messaging.