How To Make Your Message Stick: 6 Tips To Improve Brand Communication
Coming up with a great idea is an achievement. Deciding exactly how to communicate this whilst working toward the goal of actually getting your message out there to millions of people is another great achievement to make.
If you’ve got to this stage, you should give yourself a big pat on the back!
But what if that message is forgotten as quickly as it was recognised? What if your weeks (or months) of hard work, planning and budgeting result in a small murmur - rather than rapturous applause and 10X engagement you were hoping for?
Here’s how to avoid wasted time and effort and ensure your message sticks to improve brand communication.
1. Design Consistency
Great design is good, but consistent design is even better. By setting out brand guidelines for your design and following them rigidly, not only will people begin to recognise your messages amongst the hundreds they see each day - by having consistent design through your site - visitors will feel a sense of place when they visit you and are less likely to leave in a hurry.
2. Use Emotion
We’re all soppy folk, deep down. Have you noticed how every advert from dog food to mortgages now has a heartfelt soundtrack with some heartbreaking message about a man losing his cat, only to find it again all thanks to his car insurance? This is because it works!
Humans crave emotion and this is all more evident in the marketing they choose to engage with. Not only will the message be received well, it will stick in the minds of the viewer.
Studies show that emotional ads almost twice as effective as their neutral counterparts.
3. Tell a Story
The ability to tell a story will greatly improve your brand communication. Here’s how to go about it:
- Start by highlighting an issue that resonates with your reader
- Then effectively describe a technique or ‘journey’ to solving this problem
- Finally, neatly summarise the benefits of conquering the issue
By ensuring your service is key to the journey’s success, the reader will be left with an increased sense of satisfaction as they have started and finished their learning process with you. This will again increase retention of your message and improve your conversion rate.
4. Choose Images Wisely
It may seem obvious, but ensuring your message contains strong imagery is an essential tool in improving brand communication.
Information retention shoots up from a measly 10% to 65% when appropriate, relevant imagery is used. This is because our attention spans drastically increase when our brain has the opportunity to view and process images.
When you're waging the war against the ever decreasing attentions of the general population, a strong set of images will be your greatest weapon. Oh, and avoid using stock images - they will NOT help your cause!
5. Recognising Your Reader And Their Design Preferences
You can save yourself a lot of time and effort before you even begin crafting your message by considering a few things.
- Who am I sending this message to?
- Are they male or female?
- How old are they and what are they interested in?
By considering who the message is intended for your design choices can follow a more logical design process grounded in context.
6. Highlight The Key Points, Keep It Concise
Even the most optimised messages can be boring. Don’t forget to keep it short and snappy and ensure your design highlights the key points you are trying to communicate.
Our short term memory stretches to around 7 items at any one time, and it’s often closer to 5. We’d suggest focusing your message on 3-5 key points (the less the better) to make sure the chosen message sticks.
Focus your colour scheme and design around these messages. Choose contrasting colours to highlight and convince the reader where the key information lives and what should be focused on.
Know Your ACTUAL Target Persona
Don't just write to who you think might be your target market and don't just target your dream customer... properly research your Personas and make sure your marketing efforts are more effective.
Our success at doing this has seen us rise to become a Platinum HubSpot partner agency, as well as winning other awards. And we're sharing the tools we use. Download this free Persona Template and start your market research properly.
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