Why Your Brand Messaging Should Come Before Your Website Copy
Ever sat down to write the words for your website and that blinking cursor blinked a little too long? And by the time you finally started typing, you then started hitting “backspace” more times than you can count?
Yeah. It happens to all of us.
And oftentimes the reason that’s happening is because we don’t have our own brand messaging and brand voice nailed down.
In this blog post, you will learn why brand messaging needs to come before your website copy… or any copy for that matter.
Oh and be sure to grab my free Brand Messaging Workbook to help you figure that out.
Grab Your Content Upgrade: Brand Messaging Workbook
What is Brand Messaging?
I’ve already talked about this in-depth here, so go check that post out. But essentially, your brand messaging is how your brand’s personality shines through in your tone, verbiage, phrases… how you talk about your brand to other people… and it contains your mission, values, and heart of your brand.
It’s basically a guidebook on how your brand talks and portrays itself. It’s an incredibly powerful document.
Let’s look at an example…
Dove has a very friendly, inspiring, and authentic personality that positions itself to help make girls and women feel confident and beautiful in who they really are. It’s a very people-centered brand, so all of its messaging has a very humanistic and emotional tone to it. They also use simple words and verbiage – nothing fluffy and nothing that can be seen as stuffy or unrelatable. All of this lines up with their values and mission of realness, authenticity, inclusivity, and confidence.
And they keep their messaging consistent throughout their website, ads, commercials, and social media platforms.
Why can’t we skip Brand Messaging and dive headfirst into copywriting?
Ok, so why can’t we just get writing my copy? Don’t we already know that my brand is friendly/snarky/sophisticated/etc?
I mean, you could, but I don’t recommend it. And honestly – anyone who hires me for any service is going to receive some sort of brand messaging audit and/or style guide. Because it’s important that we’re on the same page about who your brand is, what you stand for, and how you want to be portrayed. I want to be able to use the right words for your website, social media, emails, blogs, etc.
Brand messaging drives copy. Copy drives design.
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: Copy drives design. Know what drives copy? Brand messaging.
So before you design your website, you need to have the copy and the words written and organized for it. Before you write those words and that copy, though, you need to have a full grasp on your brand messaging. It will be a whole lot easier to talk about you, what you offer, and what makes you different from everyone else if you have a big ol’ document to guide you on what words and phrases to use… which ones not to use… your unique selling proposition (aka your secret sauce) and any one-liners.
If you have your brand messaging nailed down first, you won’t be staring at a blinking cursor so much. Or-if you’ve hired a copywriter—he/she won’t be sending you drafts that sound nothing like what you want to sound like.
Consistency is key.
It’s also very important that your copy stays consistent across ALL avenues and platforms. You want to sound the same in your social media captions, Instagram videos, your blog, your podcast, your YouTube, your email newsletters and lists, your lead magnets, your ads, your print material, etc. This is how your audience is going to remember you. You will sound the same across every single touchpoint. And that’s one way of building loyalty.
There you go. Now you have a better understanding of why your brand messaging should come before any copy.
(And if you forgot to download that Brand Messaging Workbook freebie, you can grab that here!)
