What defines your brand? Is it your logo and the visuals you use? The value you offer? Or the voice and personality that you exude?
It’s all of those things but the real secret is the thing that really makes your personal brand stand out: messaging.
Your brand is shaped through the words you use, from blog posts to newsletters to Instagram captions. It all needs to come together in a cohesive way that conveys your brand essence. What you actually say should match what you want to say matches to build a clear and memorable personal brand.
1. How will you introduce yourself?
Your website is your 24-hour storefront and it’s one of the foundations of defining your brandn and presenting yourself to the world. How do you want to be perceived by clients? First you need to define your business mission and then you need to illustrate your value. It’s all about the copy.
What impression do you want to make?
- Friendly
- Serious
- Fun
- Approachable
- Professional
- Sophisticated
- Expert
- Analytical
- Candid
- Creative
- Cheerful
- Free-spirited
- Elegant
- Trustworthy
- etc.
The tone and words you use shape the way that your potential clients internalize what your brand is all about.
And remember, it’s not just about YOU. More importantly, it’s about who you’re selling to. Who is the demographic you’re speaking to and what are their objectives?
Understanding your client’s objectives and paint points will help you to write compelling copy. You should address their challenges and explain how your product or service will help them to reach their objectives. Therin lies the value you offer.
Understanding this will help guide the language you use and the tone you set. That understanding should be front and centre on your website’s homepage and throughout your entire website.
Once you’ve defined your voice and established your website copy, it will be that much easier to carry your messaging through to blog posts, social media updates, and newsletters.
2. Who are you addressing?
Keep in mind that when you’re writing, you want to be directing your speech directly to your ideal client. Address your content in the second person using “you” and “your” to help your readers to feel like you’re speaking directly to them.
Using “you” to address your writing directly to your reader rather than speaking to a third person makes the reader feel connected to you and they’ll pay more attention to what you have to say.
3. What makes YOU unique?
What’s unique about your business? What value do you offer? What are your core values? What do you believe and how is that absolutely necessary for running your business? After you answer these questions, characterize the tone and style of your brand.
Honing in on your unique value proposition is what makes people want to buy from you the first time… and it’s also what keeps them coming back for more. Your unique value proposition should express the benefit you offer that makes clients feel happy and fulfilled.
Arguably your business’ value proposition is the most important element of your overall marketing message. Why? Because a value proposition tells prospects why they should do business with you rather than your competitors, and makes the benefits of your products or services crystal clear from the outset.
4. How do you draw people in with your words?
Remember that your purpose when copywriting is to engage readers and convey your personal brand. Using trigger words is an amazing way to get your readers thinking. Imagine how much more engaged your audience will feel if you provoke them to stop, think, and consider.
The words “remember” and “imagine” act as triggers for your readers. Other trigger words include, “consider,” “picture this,” and questions like “what if?” These triggers work because they get your readers thinking, which makes for good storytelling and a more engaged audience.
Using the word “because” is an impactful trigger; it tells your readers that they’re about to receive an answer to substantiate your idea. Don’t forget that people read your copy because they want to get something out of it. Using “because” as often as possible gives them answers that will justify the worth of your content.
5. How can you convey authenticity in your voice?
Nothing makes it sound like you’re trying too hard to be professional than writing with a passive voice. If you aren’t sure how to recognize an active voice vs. a passive voice, here are a couple of examples:
Active Voice: William Shakespeare wrote many great works of literature.
Passive Voice: Many great works of literature were written by William Shakespeare.
Confident, direct storytelling is more engaging, right? That’s where your active voice should come in. It will make your writing more decisive and personable.
Learn to recognize passive sentences and change them to an active voice. One of the main ways to spot a passive voice is searching for the word “by”. You can see it in the example above: “Many great works of literature were written by William Shakespeare.” Positioning your sentences with “by” is an indication of the passive voice and way can feel overly formal, dated, and just plain dull. Anytime you use that word, stop and consider if there’s a more active way to make your point.
Ask for Help
If you need help creating a robust brand content library that’s true to your brand’s core message, contact Barker Social today. Whatever your business or marketing goals, we have a content creation strategy that will meet all of your brand’s needs.
