When it comes to getting your message out there to your audience or customers you will very quickly learn that the marketing world emphasizes the importance of how it is presented. This may include the exact wording, the presentation or layout on the page, the accompanying graphics, and the use of appropriate colors, fonts, and capitalization.

Before all that can even happen, however, there is a crucial component that often does not receive the attention it deserves when it comes to this field – what is actually being said.

This may sound dreadfully obvious, but trust me in saying that far too many people, companies, and advertisements fail to take this first piece seriously enough before moving on to its presentation.

Let us cover, then, the two components of a powerful message, beginning with this essential first step…

What You Say

What you say in your messaging is the foundation of your branding. This needs to be clear, authentic, and deeply important to you and your company.

The key with this component is that we need to focus on conveying our purpose for what we do and how we do it. For now, forget the what and the how of your venture and think only in terms of why. Why are we focusing on the why? We connect with messages that resonate with what is important to us. Simon Sinek, in his TED talk entitled, “Start with Why – How Great Leaders Inspire Action,” put it best:

People don’t buy what you do they buy why you do it.

Simon Sinek

Look at your business’s vision, mission, and purpose statements – note what you do (vision) and how you do it (mission), and then set that all aside. Now look at your purpose statement. Start to build out your messaging based around this, around why it is that you do what you do.

How You Say It

Only after you have nailed down exactly what it is that you’re trying to say should you begin to approach this step of how best to say it. The tactics of marketing will not be nearly as effective, nor effective in the way that is truly best for your business, without first having a purpose-focused strategy for them to fit into.

Now you can begin refining and iterating how best to convey your message. Wording does matter, and finding the right words and phrasing for your messaging will facilitate your audience’s understanding of and connection with it.

The final presentation of that refined message can take on a variety of forms – written, verbal, visual/graphic, etc. Color choice can be a very important factor, as well as image selection, headline or introductory wording, preframing, and many other aspects of branding and marketing design. These topics will be discussed in separate articles.

Experiment with this presentation component, employing various techniques, until you achieve the desired reach and result from your messaging.

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