Create A Marketing & Brand Messaging Architecture Like a Pro

Have you ever visited the homepage of a website but couldn’t figure out immediately what the brand does, or how you can benefit from its products/ services?

Or did you have a brief idea but couldn’t connect to the brand? Chances are, you hit your browser’s back button and forgot about the site.

Don’t make the same mistake with your business.

Your brand messaging and specific marketing messages help you communicate the essence and uniqueness of your brand to your audience and get them to engage with you.

That’s why you must create a brand messaging architecture and hierarchy that will help you create your key messages most effectively for your business.

What is brand messaging? Definition.

Brand messaging is the communication a brand uses to share its unique value with its target audience. It includes words and sentences that can be used across your branded website and other brand marketing materials.

Good brand messaging is clear, authentic, solution-oriented, and inspires connection & emotion.

In short, your brand message is the most powerful expression of the true & unique value that you provide to your audiences. Click To Tweet

Why is brand messaging important?

Brand messaging is important because it communicates what your brand stands for and helps it connect with your target audience.

Essentially, brand messaging is important because of three primary reasons:

1. Establishes the identity of your brand

Your brand messaging helps your target audience understand who you are as a business. What are your core values? What do you stand for?

2. Sets you apart from your competitors.

What makes your brand unique? Why should consumers choose you over someone else?

Your brand messaging should be able to answer these questions, making you more memorable.

3. Build trust with consumers.

It allows you to connect with your target audience on a deeper level. If they feel like they know and understand your brand, they are more likely to trust and buy from you. Trust drives small business growth.

Effective brand messaging lets you build strong equity, connect with your customers, and create an emotional connection that can lead to lifelong loyalty.

Related: Using brand elements brand associations to build equity

What is a marketing message?

A marketing message is the specific, targeted communication a brand wants to share with its target audience. A marketing message should persuade, influence, or educate the target audience about a product, service, or offer.

It should be clear, concise, and focus on the benefits to the target audience.

Marketing messages are created to serve three purposes:

1. To communicate -> the details of products and features the brand offers to the most relevant audience.

2. To provide value -> for the audience with content and lots of useful information and tips through different marketing channels.

3. To engage -> with the audience through different channels, answer their questions, and build a relationship with them.

How important is messaging in marketing?

Messaging in marketing is crucial for your brand as it is the fundamental communication of your product, value, and offers to your audience.

Marketing messages help you to attract your audience, engage and convert them, helping you to drive sales, grow your business, and build long-term relationships with your customers.

One of the main objectives of a website should be to share your brand and marketing messages with your audience.

What are the differences between marketing messaging and brand messaging?

Marketing messages can be product, service, content, or promotion-specific and may vary over time.

Brand messaging, however, is the direct representation of the brand at a higher level and is more permanent.

It communicates your brand values, the overall value proposition, and the brand promise and drives more authentic brand storytelling.

Marketing messages should uphold and encompass the core brand message.

What is brand message architecture?

A brand message architecture is a set of core brand messages comprising your brand’s most essential communication types.

A brand messaging architecture and framework helps you to tell your brand story consistently and establishes your brand’s competitive positioning.

Brand messaging framework examples

Four key examples of brand messaging examples that you should include in your brand messaging framework are:

1. Brand Story

A brand story is the overall description of your brand, its origins, what it does, and what it stands for.

2. Brand Promise

A brand promise is the clear, direct promise your brand makes about what it will deliver with all its products/ services.

3. Tagline

A brand tagline is a broader, inspirational feeling that your brand can invoke in your audience.

4. Brand pillars

Brand pillars are examples of brand attributes that make your brand value proposition powerful and make your brand stand out.

You can also have an elevator pitch and a corporate presentation to share your brand messaging, but they are essentially a compilation of some of the messaging above.

Brand messaging hierarchy

A brand messaging hierarchy is essentially a roadmap for determining which messages are the most important for delivering a clear, consistent representation of your brand identity.

It starts with the brand story, which is then translated into a brand promise, tagline, and brand pillars.

A messaging hierarchy helps present information in a structured way so that everyone who reads it understands the main points of your brand story and knows how to talk about it consistently.

What is a marketing messaging framework?

A marketing messaging framework is a set of key compelling, explanatory, and promotional messages that help drive conversions for your brand.

Depending on the product or service you’re trying to promote, there can be various types of marketing messages, but they should all be consistent with your overall brand message.

Besides, even if they are promotional, marketing messages should feel personal and conversational while still maintaining professionalism.

Key marketing message examples

Core marketing message examples primarily include product descriptions, specific positioning statements, content marketing, and news and promotional messages.

1. Product/ service description

Product/ service descriptions are the details, features, and benefits of each product/ service that make your brand stand out.

2. Specific positioning statement

A positioning statement is the specific messaging for each type of your target audience about the benefits the product offers them.

3. Content marketing

Content marketing is the information (usually free), entertainment, and stories that engage your audience and help them connect to the brand. Content can be both written and audio-visual.

4. News and promotional messages

News and promotional messages consist of special announcements, offers, and programs, that make the brand offers extra attractive to the audience.

How to create your messaging hierarchy and architecture?

You can create a strategic message hierarchy and architecture in five steps:

1. Identify your target audience
2. Develop your brand messaging framework
3. Develop your marketing message strategy
4. Test and refine your messages

1. Identify your target audience

The first step in creating your brand message hierarchy is identifying your target audience.

Who are you trying to reach with your messaging? What are their needs and wants? What are their pain points?

Understanding your target audience will help you to create messaging that resonates with them.

2. Develop your brand messaging framework

A brand messaging framework is the primary messaging of the brand story: the brand purpose, mission, values, etc.

Once you have defined your purpose and target audience, develop your key messages that will form the foundation of your brand message hierarchy.

These messages should be clear, concise, and memorable, and they should communicate the benefits of your brand in a way that resonates with your target audience.

3. Develop your marketing message strategy

A marketing message strategy consists of specific product/service-related or engagement messages for each of your audiences/ personas.

Your marketing messages can be used in various marketing materials, such as website copy, social media posts, and email marketing campaigns.

4. Test and refine your messages

Finally, it’s important to test and refine your messages on an ongoing basis. Try different versions of your messages in different channels and see what works best.

Be sure to track metrics such as engagement and conversion rates to continually optimize your messaging for maximum impact.

Your messaging hierarchy should be developed chronologically. Don't jump to the bottom tiers of marketing messaging before you finalize the top arch brand messages. Click To Tweet

Message architecture example

A perfect messaging architecture example would include the following messaging hierarchy framework:

1. Brand Messaging

• 1.1. Brand Story
• 1.2. Brand Promise and Tagline
• 1.3. Brand Pillars

2. Marketing Messaging

• Product descriptions

• Product positioning statement

• Marketing campaigns

Marketing and brand messaging guidelines

An effective messaging strategy should follow certain brand messaging guidelines irrespective of your industry and niche.

If you’re wondering what makes a good brand message, here are seven brand messaging guidelines that can help you to connect with your audience and grow your brand:

1. Be customer-centric and benefit-oriented

Your marketing and brand messaging should always be focused on the customer. Remember, your audience doesn’t care about what products and services you sell, and what features these have. They only care about how these features benefit THEM, and how their lives will improve.

So your messaging framework should always focus on the value that your audience will have by engaging with your brand.

There are 2 kinds of benefits for the customer:

Functional benefit: Functional benefits are the direct solutions the brand/ product can offer to solve the audience’s problem or pain point.

Emotional benefit: Emotional benefits indicate how your audience’s life will be better when functional benefits can solve their pain points. People buy feelings, not things. When people buy anything, it’s because they think they will feel better if they have it.

So emotional benefits are crucial to include in your messaging, either directly or indirectly.

2. Be direct and to the point

Your messaging should be clear and focused. Your audience shouldn’t have to guess what your message is or spend time on your website hunting for it. It should be direct, clear, upfront, and easy to find on all brand and marketing material.

3. Make it simple

Any messaging you create should follow KISS: Keep it Simple and Short (also called Keep it Simple, Stupid ;)). Don’t have too layered messaging; communicate the benefit for your audience in easy-to-understand language, so they can easily determine if you’re the right fit for them.

4. Maintain consistency

Brand messaging should always be consistent across every marketing collateral. Keep your messages the same across all platforms, both online and offline. Whether brand or marketing messaging, your communication and brand should always reflect the unique value proposition.

Also, ensure that you keep the same brand tone of voice irrespective of the type of messaging.

5. Be empathetic

Another key brand messaging guideline is to be human. Communicate with your audience in a way that makes them feel understood. That you ‘get’ them and can solve their problem and make their lives better.

How to create brand messaging?

A brand messaging template consists of three steps that you should follow in consecutive order:

1. Know your audience
2. Build your unique value proposition
3. Craft your brand story

Step 1: Know your audience.

Target a specific, micro-niche audience. Understand deeply their lives, specific problems, shopping behavior, goals and desires, and create a buyer persona.

The more specific you can get about your audience, the better.

Here’s what a one-sheet persona or customer profile may look like:

You can download the template here: Buyer Persona Template

For example, let’s say you have a brand that makes protein powders, and your target audience is male gym-goers between the ages of 30 and 45.

So your brand buyer persona should focus on men who want to get healthier/ stronger. Your core brand message should address these desires.

Within this audience, you can have 2 sub-personas. Those who have used protein powders before, and those who haven’t.

You can now create 2 kinds of marketing messages specific to this 2 sub-personas.

For example, see how Walmart talks about their buyer.

Not sure what your audience needs are, and how to get enough information to fill your buyer persona with?

A comprehensive way to get in-depth insights about your specific market, your niche, and what your audience is looking for is to get a tool like Semrush, where you can run different searches like Market Explorer or Topic Research.

As a reader of my blog, you can get an exclusive 14-day free trial of Semrush to check out this online marketing tool and get some insights.

Or you can always hire someone on a marketplace like Fiverr to run a deep analysis for you.

Step 2: Build your unique value proposition

A brand’s unique value proposition (UVP), also called the positioning statement, describes in a nutshell what your brand stands for and what makes it unique.

A UVP answers questions like how does your brand solve a specific problem to achieve the desires of your audience? What is unique about this value offered by the brand?

This is a part of creating your brand story as well.

A good example of a brand message is the value proposition/ positioning statement of Walmart, which clearly addresses its core audience of price-sensitive shoppers.

Overall buyer persona: Price-sensitive shoppers

Unique value proposition: Only Walmart delivers everyday low prices on the brands the shoppers trust, in an easy, fast, one-stop shopping experience.

Related: Check out 31 more value proposition examples

Step 3: Craft your brand story and messaging.

Identify what your brand stands for, why and how it connects to your audience, create your brand imagery, and build different brand messaging.

Now that you know how to develop brand messaging as a whole, let’s dig into the process of how to create your specific brand messages.

How to create different brand messaging examples?

There are four key brand message examples:

• Brand Story
• Brand Promise
• Brand Tagline
• Brand Messaging Pillars

Let’s see how to create them step by step.

Brand messaging example #1: Brand Story

What is a brand story and what does it include?

Imagine your brand story to be the ‘About Us’ section on your website. So it should include:

• • Why your brand was launched (brand purpose)
  • What does the brand want to do (Mission)
  • What does the brand aim to achieve (Vision)
  • What the brand believes in (Values)
  • The personality of the brand
  • The competitive positioning of the brand also referred to as the unique value proposition (mentioned above)
  • The origin, history, and foundation of the brand

All of the above together constitute the complete brand story and the brand’s core messaging.

How to create your brand story?

There are essentially 3 steps to creating your brand story.

Step 1.: Define the core essence of what your brand stands for.

Step 2.: Design your brand with the appropriate visual and language identity.

Step 3.: Message the brand identity in a way that connects to your audience.

You can also download the guide with worksheets, templates, and tips, with the form below.

Where to use your brand story?

• About Us section of your website
• Company brochures
• Brand/ pitch presentations
• Investor decks
• Company pages on social media
• Networking events or briefly describing your company to anyone

Brand messaging example #2. Brand Promise

The key component of your brand story and your brand messaging is your brand promise.

What is a brand promise?

A promise is the simplest message, stated in one or two lines about the value your brand promises to deliver.

A brand promise is actually a concise version of your brand value proposition. Click To Tweet

There may be 2 ways of stating the brand promise:

1. A complete positioning statement in one or two lines.

A complete positioning statement should include the basic value proposition: the brand features and the benefit that the customer can get by using the brand. Sometimes it can also include the target audience or credibility.

Here is a brand promise example on a website homepage with the customer benefit & brand features:

Here is a brand promise example on a website homepage with the customer benefit & brand credibility:

2. A short, catchy statement.

This generally leans towards the brand features, though in some cases it can also include the customer benefit.

Here are some examples of brand promise vs. value proposition:

How to create a brand promise?

There are 4 steps to creating a brand promise:

Step 1.: Define the place where your audience is currently (facing a problem) – Position A.

Step 2.: Identify the place where they want to be (i.e., when the problem is solved) – Position B.

Step 3.: Look at your brand value proposition and how your brand will help your audience reach position B.

Step 4.: Craft a concise and to-the-point brand promise based on the value proposition.

In the above example of FedEx, this is how the brand promise works:

Position A: The audience does not like sending parcels and is unsure when they will reach.

Position B: They need to be able to trust a delivery service that will deliver when it’s supposed to.

Brand Promise of Fedex: We deliver on time, across the world.

Tips to create a brand promise:

• Focus on Position B (the ultimate benefit), not Position A (the unhappy situation). That should merely be implied.

• The brand promise is about the brand’s overall value and is not focused on a product. FEDEX has multiple products, all with different, specific value propositions, but all adhere to the core message of ‘The World on Time’.

• A brand promise can be conversational in the first and second person, or just a statement in the third person. The most important thing is clearly and directly communicating the brand value proposition.

Where to use your brand promise?

• On your website homepage, as the first statements that your visitors read to understand what the brand promises to deliver.
• As a part of your logo
• In events and trade shows
• In online ads
• For offline advertising like on cars, billboards
• As a sign-off after any marketing communication
• Branded content/ campaigns

Brand messaging example #3: Tagline

What is a brand tagline?

A brand tagline is a brand promise but on a broader value level. Instead of the functional benefit, it indicates the state of being or the feeling that the brand helps you attain.

Brand promise vs. brand tagline

A tagline can go with the logo and/ or be used as a secondary message along with the brand promise.

See the examples below.

How to create a brand tagline?

Step 1: Think about the brand values, what the brand believes in.

Step 2: Imagine your audience reaching Position B with your brand promise. How would they feel?

Step 3: Make it an inspirational, life-related message.

Step 4: Also speak directly to your audience, like a conversation, in the second person.

Step 5: Narrow it down to a few simple words, no more than 5. Make it short, catchy, easy to remember.

Where to use your brand tagline?

• As a part of your logo
• In events and trade shows
• As a sign-off after marketing communication
• For offline advertising like on cars, billboards
• Sign-off for the brand always, if possible. This will help consistently inspire a specific feeling in your audience, and build a connection over time.
• Additionally, as mentioned above, your brand promise can be your tagline and be used along with the logo.

Brand messaging example #4: Brand messaging pillars

What are brand pillars?

Brand pillars are the foundation of your brand’s story and the value it offers your target audience through its core features. Messaging pillars should be used across all of your communications – from your website to your social media posts to your advertising.

Your brand pillars can help to create your competitive positioning and differentiate you from your competition.

Look at these 2 sections of your unique value proposition:

1. We provide you with _________________________ (value proposition)
2. Because __________________________________(Reason-to-Believe)

These highlight the most important features your brand offers, and the uniqueness you stand for, compared to your competition.

Your messaging pillars could also be your brand values, and how you do business. And those could be your differentiators as well. Read my full post on brand messaging pillars and how they can help to create content marketing.

How to create brand pillar messages?

Step 1: Identify your key messaging pillars that give your brand that added edge.

Some brand pillar examples could be:

• Customized service
• A specific attribute in all products/ services
• The level of innovation

Step 2: Create a one-line statement to describe the pillar.

So for example, if your brand pillar is being environment-friendly, you can write something like: ‘We use only fresh, organic ingredients in all our products, without any artificial preservatives harmful for the environment (if it’s true, of course)!

Step 3: Provide evidence to support that brand pillar, if possible.

In the above example, you can provide transparency about where you source your ingredients, how you produce them, any certifications, etc.

The core messaging pillars for the beauty brand Lush Cosmetics are displayed across all its website pages.

You can click on each on the website to get more information.

Where to use your brand messaging pillars?

• On your About Us section. Or across all pages, like Lush.
• In the footer
• As a part of your values, if applicable
• In brand/ company presentations
• In specific marketing messaging for product descriptions or campaigns

How to create marketing messaging?

Step 1: Identify your product or service’s value proposition.

You might have one or multiple products. Identify what is special about each of them, what benefits they offer to each kind of persona, and how your audience can buy and use it.

Step 2: Create a marketing plan and strategy for your brand as a whole or specific products.

Identify which target audience your marketing strategy should specifically cater to, what kind of marketing it could entail, and what would be the execution plan.

Marketing strategy examples:

• Brand Marketing• Inbound marketing
• Influencer marketing
• Affiliate marketing

Step 3: Identify the specific campaigns and messaging you need to create.

There are 4 key marketing messaging examples:

• Product/ service descriptions
• Specific positioning statement and promise
• Content
• News/ promotional messages

Let’s see how to create them step by step and then where to use them.

Marketing messaging example #1. Product/ Service Descriptions

But before you get started on specific marketing plans or campaigns, one core type of messaging you need to create is the descriptions of each of your products.

All your products/ services should uphold your core brand positioning and brand pillars. Click To Tweet

See the brand positioning example from Lush Cosmetics below. Their primary buyer persona is urban people who want to look good but also care about the environment.

And these are their pillars, as mentioned.

So in a nutshell, their brand positioning seems to be about environmentally friendly cosmetics.

Now see their product descriptions below.

How to create product or service descriptions?

Step 1: Identify the value proposition, positioning, and features, of each product

Step 2: Acknowledge the benefit it delivers to the audiences, to your primary brand persona.

Step 3: Ideally, provide some evidence (credibility) of why the product can actually deliver that benefit.

See the product example from Lush.

So the product description of these shampoo bars includes:

Positioning and features

1. Concentrated packs of shampoo that can replace liquid bottles
2. Packed full of essential oils and fresh ingredients

Benefits

1. Functional: Your hair will be shiny and grease-free
2. Emotional: Savings (you don’t use so many bottles). Maybe you also save money, though it’s not clearly stated.

Evidence

1. One bar replaces three bottles of liquid shampoos

All of these marketing messages uphold their core brand positioning and brand messaging pillars.

This is why you ALWAYS need to determine the brand messaging first.

Where to use product/ service descriptions?

• On the products/ services page of your website
• In brochures and leaflets
• In ads

Marketing messaging example #2. Specific positioning statement and promise

Personalization is the key to marketing in the future.

Especially in the post-corona world, with a huge shift towards more digital time, people are flooded with marketing messages and will filter out non-specific messages to ones that most meet their needs.

So you can create a marketing message with a specific statement and positioning for each product/ service you have. And each message should be applicable to a specific buyer persona.

It should state the specific offers and promises for each kind of buyer based on the products and features offered.

How to create a specific positioning statement and promise?

See the steps below, with examples from the Active Campaign website.

Step 1: Identify all your different personas.

Step 2: Write the specific benefit or promise this specific audience can get.

In this example, let’s go to Marketing Teams.

It simply positions itself as the next-generation marketing tool that helps marketing teams to improve customer experiences and conversions.

Step 3: Show details of the promise. i.e., all the benefits in detail.

I have shared an example below from this page, but many specific benefits are also shown.

Step 4: Show HOW so this goal and benefit can be achieved.

Basically, in this case, it’s by automating workflows.

Step 5: Specify all the tools available to make this happen (going back to product features and descriptions).

 

And all of this is specific to ONE persona.

You change the audience, and the messaging will be completely different, targeted to the needs, pain points, triggers, and desires of THAT specific audience.

Where to use your specific positioning statement and promise?

• On the Products/ Services page of your website
• In product and persona-specific flyers and leaflets
• In events and trade shows
• You can also use this messaging in your brochure and brand presentations but try to find a concise way to do that. Otherwise, it becomes too overwhelming and not as impactful as it should be.

Marketing messaging example #3. Content Marketing

Content is anything that adds value to the audience’s life and attracts them to your website or product.

These are generally continuous and consistent.

Content marketing is a complete messaging strategy in itself. It includes the most effective, helpful, and engaging ways in which to connect and engage audiences.

Needless to say, this is also specific to buyer personas, depending on the benefit the brand promises them.

In the above example of Active Campaign, as the company promises to help marketers with automation, a valuable content piece would be how to use automation effectively.

But content could be of many different types:

• Blog posts
• Videos
• Podcasts
• Case studies
• Lead magnets
• Emails
• Quizzes
• Webinars

Lead magnets: Lead magnets are usually more in-depth information and value the audience can sign up for.

Emails: Emails are personalized, targeted communication that you can send to their audience periodically to create engagement, and to get your website seen.

Of course, this is also not a comprehensive list. There could be many other types of content as well.

How to create content marketing?

Step 1: Create a digital content strategy specific to each buyer persona

Step 2: Decide which kind of content would be most suitable for the different audiences

Step 3: Create fresh, valuable, insightful content

Step 4: Publish and share it based on your content calendar

You can consider using a content marketing toolkit like the Semrush content tool to plan, create, and distribute your content.

I find platforms like these very helpful for doing my content creation in a structured way, measuring the results, as well as a

I have used both Semrush and Hubspot, which have advantages.

Semrush is better specifically for research and content management, whereas Hubspot is good as an all-in-1 marketing automation platform.

A cheaper alternative to Semrush is SE Ranking.

Where to use content marketing?

• On your website, in a clear section titled blogs. You can share this content on social media as well

• On native social media. i.e., create specific content for specific social media and upload it directly there. For example, LinkedIn or YouTube videos

• In print media. You can create advertorials or similar content to be published on print mediums

Marketing messaging example #4. News/ Promotional Messages

News and promotional messages are time-specific announcements and offers that may be a part of your marketing strategy, and thus you may occasionally need to create this type of messaging.

How to create news or promotional messages?

Step 1: Identify the specific news, event, or offer you want to communicate, based on your marketing strategy

Step 2: Decide which kind of content would be most suitable for the different audiences

Step 3: Create fresh, valuable, insightful content

Step 4: Publish and share it based on your content calendar.

Where to use news and promotional messages?

• On your brand website. Ideally, if it’s a limited-period offer or announcement, put it directly on the homepage.
• In social media. Share and promote your offer as much as possible
• By email. Let your audience list know about your offer
• In offline advertising like on cars, billboards• In online ads like banners

Concluding tips to develop marketing and brand messaging

First of all, don’t get overwhelmed by all the messaging you need to create. Just start at the top brand tier, build your brand, and slowly move down to create all the messaging.

Some other core tips to remember:

1. Make your website content optimized and SEO-friendly as much as possible.

Organic traffic and search engine positioning strategies can help you grow your search engine ranks and your website and business.

So when you create marketing messaging for each page, blog post, social media content, etc., apply on-page and off-page SEO techniques to get your website get noticed, and don’t ignore ongoing SEO maintenance.

Work with a customized SEO strategy and follow a keyword research checklist for your website pages.

2. Provide a call to action with every relevant message

If your readers just read your blog/ product/ event description on your website, social media, etc., and you don’t guide their journey with a call-to-action, they might leave your page no matter how engaged they were. Invite them to take action.

Some examples could be signing up for a trial, buying a product, visiting a store, redeeming a coupon, or simply Know More.

If you haven’t added enough CTAs when you launched the website, do it when you refresh your website or do your regular website maintenance.

3. Use emotional/ power words

Some examples are: cheerful, confident, creative, courageous, exciting, fun, happy, inspired, hopeful, playful, passionate, vibrant, and terrific.

These connect with people at a subconscious level and help them to feel more attracted and connected to your message. Not feeling confident about writing all your messages yourself?

Hire someone from remote networks like Upwork or Fiverr who can write good SEO-friendly content.

4. Live up to your messaging

It’s not enough just to create messaging that glorifies your brand.

You actually have to be able to deliver all that you promised consistently. Otherwise, you won’t be able to build a sustainable brand identity in the minds of your audience, and they won’t trust you.

5. Use your messaging to drive conversions

Creating messaging and content is just the beginning. Don’t forget to use high-intent keywords for your content, a sales funnel with ample lead-generation opportunities for your audience to help convert readers into customers.

You can use free/ affordable tools like WordPress plugins like  WPForms and GetResponse to create email campaigns and sales funnels to convert those leads.

Or use OptinMonster to build very personalized campaigns that lead to conversions.

And that concludes my guide on brand messaging! Now over to you. What kind of brand and marketing messages do you create?

Do you do them yourself or hire a professional? Share in the comments!