Using the branding bare necessities – Part 1

Why is it, that when you explain exactly what it is that you do for your audience, you don’t get the enthusiastic response you had hoped for? You might think your products, services or prices are the main culprit, but more often than not, it’s your messaging.

Many businesses have gone to market with excellent products or services but when things don’t go as expected, they change the very thing their business is based on, their products or services.

But it’s likely that those products or services are perfectly fine. In fact they might have been perfect, and business owners end up throwing the baby out with the bathwater when the only thing that was missing was clarity.

Tell them only what is absolutely necessary

Communicating too much about what you do actually has the opposite of the intended effect. You might think, the more you tell them, the more they’ll understand. Sounds logical, right? However, the more information you unload on people, the more likely they are to become confused.

Your messaging needs to be filtered so you tell people only what is absolutely necessary for them to quickly understand what it is you do and how you can help them. Your product or service may be extraordinarily comprehensive with many moving parts and much attention to detail but if that detail is what you attempt to communicate on first exposure, you’re misrepresenting your brand.

Instead, quickly get to the core of what it is that this comprehensive service results in. It will fulfill a want or need of some kind but once that want or need has been fulfilled, how will your customer feel? Will they be happy? Excited? Entertained? Relieved of Stress?

As a rule of thumb, on your first exposure with your audience, subconsciously they’re looking for the suggestion that the emotion they’re searching for is on the other side of your brand.

Simplify your language

It’s very common to come across industry experts who flex their knowledge muscles by using jargon, terminology and complex explanations as a means to assert their authority. It helps your audience show that you know your craft inside out and they will gain the trust that they’re speaking to the right person to help them. That is a misconception though.

Of course your audience wants to learn new knowledge from someone who exceeds their own knowledge. But they will only come to the conclusion that you are the person to help them if they fully understand your message. Coupling your industry knowledge with the skill to communicate it in simple language, in a way that’s easy to understand, is where the sweet spot lies.

In the next article, we’ll dive into three key elements that go hand-in-hand with the bare necessities and simple language. Including these elements with the key points above will ensure that your audience quickly understands the upside of your brand.

Stephen Houraghan, Brand Creator, www.iconicfox.com.au