Marketing Messaging Framework for Beginners

Much more goes into a website than picking a pretty design template and writing about your offerings. As a web designer, I’ve talked about what it takes for a website to be designed effectively. I haven’t touched on the marketing messaging framework side too much, even though that’s extremely important to converting website visitors to clients!

Your website is your core place of business. Everything you do to market your business refers people back to your website. The messaging needs to be consistent across marketing channels and your website to give your audience the same experience, no matter how they come across your business. This is one of the first things you should do when you start a business!

This explanation of building a marketing messaging framework will give you consistency, clarity, and confidence to increase conversions on your website. 

What Is a Marketing Messaging Framework?

A marketing messaging framework, or brand messaging framework, is a guide that helps you consistently communicate who you are, what you offer, and why it matters to your audience. Marketing messaging is the foundation for everything you say in your marketing, not to be confused with brand voice. Whether your website copy, Instagram captions, email newsletters, or blog posts, your brand messaging framework gives go-to language that reflects your value and connects with your ideal customer.

These are the core components of a marketing messaging framework:

• Positioning Statement
• Unique Value Proposition and Key Benefits
• Core Messages
• Target Audience Overview
• Brand Promise and Mission Statement
• Social Proof Points
• Call to Action (CTA) Language

We’ll go through each of these in a minute! The framework keeps your language and messaging consistent so you don’t confuse your audience. Plus, sometimes it’s easier to write about yourself and what you can do for someone, but your audience is the ones who really matter. Everything you write should keep your audience top-of-mind.

Benefits of a Marketing Messaging Framework

Is a marketing messaging framework sounding like something you can skip? Think again! There are so many benefits to getting clarity on your messaging.

• Consistent Communication Across Platforms: Your messaging sounds the same no matter where someone interacts with your brand, building trust with your audience.
• Clear Value Proposition: You can clearly explain your elevator pitch!
• Faster Content Creation: You’ve already done the outlining, so now you just have to create the content.
• Stronger Emotional Connection: You can speak directly to your audience’s pain points and values so they feel seen and understood.
• Better Team Alignment: Everyone on your team says the same thing in the same voice, keeping everything on brand.
• More Strategic Marketing: You don’t have to guess what you should post every day because you have a strategic foundation. 
• Improved Conversions: A super clear message will speak to the right people, who are much more likely to take action.

A brand messaging framework has greatly impacted my business and the people I attract and convert. Everything feels so much more aligned, and I’m more confident about my marketing strategy.

7 Key Elements of a Messaging Framework

A marketing messaging framework hits seven key elements. These will help you develop clear messaging and language to connect with your audience and encourage conversions.

1. Positioning Statement

Your positioning statement is what you do and who you do it for. It sets expectations for your services and target audience. Someone should know pretty quickly whether or not they are your target audience. 

2. Unique Value Proposition and Key Benefits

A unique value proposition (USP) explains why people choose you over competitors.  What makes you different? Your USP will influence all your marketing messaging. Another business might offer the exact same services at the same price, but one customer might choose you over them. Why? Maybe you provided a better customer experience or had a personality they vibed with more. Those could be your unique value proposition.

3. Core Messages

These are your main “pillars” or themes to repeat across platforms. What do you talk about the most? What do you want to educate your customers on? These will relate closely to your services. Can you tell what my core messages are by looking at my Instagram? I talk a lot about web design, SEO, and paid advertising. I offer these services and want to educate my audience about these topics.

4. Target Audience Overview

Create a short profile of your ideal customers. Buyer personas can help you speak directly to a specific person in your target audience instead of thinking of them as a group. 

Consider these questions:

• What are their demographics?
• What are their professional goals?
• What problems are they trying to solve?
• How do they typically research products or services?
• What kind of content do they consume?
• What do they care about when choosing a product or service?
• What kind of messaging resonates with them?

5. Brand Promise and Mission Statement

This is the big “why” behind your work. Why do you do what you do? What are you promising to your customers? A strong brand promise and mission statement are easy to understand and credible, meaning you can actually deliver on them (don’t guarantee results if you can’t always deliver on them!). They should be unique so you can set yourself apart from competitors. These statements need an emotional element that connects with your ideal customer’s desires and needs.

6. Social Proof Points

How are you going to display social proof? Social proof is so important to help show the customer that you’re a professional. Whether it’s testimonials, results, experience, or credentials, make it a point to display social proof on your website and across marketing channels.

7. Call to Action (CTA) Language

Finally, how are you going to entice your audience to take action? Language plays a big role! Is it a simple ‘click here’ (I hope not) or ‘let’s get this party started’? Use action-oriented phrases tailored to your audience to encourage them to take the next step in the customer journey.

Common Mistakes Beginners Make

I’ve worked in marketing for a long time and often see beginners make these mistakes when crafting a marketing messaging framework. 

Being too vague or generic.

You’ve heard the phrase, “If you try to speak to everyone, you speak to no one,” right? Beginners often think that being vague will attract more customers. However, it has the opposite effect. Customers will be confused about who you are, what you do, and how you can help them, making them unlikely to take action.

Plus, you won’t be attracting the right audience. I’m pretty sure you don’t want to work with just anyone! Being specific and clear in your marketing messaging will ensure you only get inquiry forms from people you actually want to work with.

Inconsistency across platforms.

Imagine finding a service provider on Instagram and absolutely loving their vibe, so you head to their website to learn more information. Only when you get there, it feels like a completely different business than the one you interacted with on Instagram. How disappointing!

Inconsistency in your marketing messaging can make people feel this way. Ensure you stay consistent with your core messages across all channels, no matter which ones you choose to use.

Forgetting to test and refine over time.

Sometimes, you think certain messaging will resonate with your audience, but you’ll find out later that it isn’t earning the attention or reaction you were hoping for. It’s okay to test different language and refine your marketing messaging framework. As you grow as a business owner, you’ll learn more about your target audience and what they respond well to. Tweak and refine your messaging as needed!

How to Build Your Marketing Messaging Framework

Now it’s time to build your brand messaging framework! Follow these steps to get started.

Gather Insights

Conduct customer interviews, reviews, and competitor analysis to learn more about your audience. You’ll start to understand how your business fits into the industry and the unique selling points you can offer your customers.

Fill In Key Elements

Remember our seven key elements of a marketing messaging framework? Use the insights and data you collected and start to fill these in. Answer the questions I provided to help develop your framework.

Review for Clarity and Consistency

It all comes back to clarity and consistency! Is your marketing messaging clear about who it’s for and what you do? Is it consistent across all platforms (website, social media, emails, blogs, etc.)?

Test in Your Content

Try it out and see how it feels! Does it make sense? Maybe have someone outside your business review it and give you their initial impressions. This can tell you a lot about who you’re attracting with your marketing messaging framework.

Where to Use Your Brand Messaging Framework

Everywhere is the correct answer! Your website copy is a big one. This is where you’ll convert website users to leads. They’ll read your website and decide whether or not to inquire. It needs to be direct and engaging to convert the right customers.

But your other marketing channels are just as important. Make sure your messaging on social media, sales pages, emails, blogs, ads, pitches, and presentations match your website copy. Give people the same experience, no matter how they discover your business.

Tips for Keeping It Effective

Your marketing messaging framework is complete! Now, what do you do with it? Share it with your team or contractors. Anyone working within your business on the marketing side needs access to this. Even if multiple people are writing content for your business, it needs to sound like one cohesive voice. This framework will help them stay consistent.

Your framework should be in an accessible document to revisit and edit whenever necessary. I recommend reviewing it every 6–12 months to make sure your messaging is aligned with your framework. If something feels off, change it!

Writing Your Marketing Messaging Framework

A marketing messaging framework can feel like an extra step, especially if you’re a solopreneur. But it’s a worthwhile exercise to help you nail down your messaging. You will speak more clearly to your target audience, which increases conversions. You’ll feel more confident in your marketing and content strategies because you have a foundation and starting point. 

Every business owner should have a brand messaging framework. Use this guide to help you start building yours! It doesn’t have to be done in a day. Chip away at it so you can start using it as soon as possible.

And if you need help creating one, I got you! My digital marketing services give you a foundation to attract the right people and help you convert them. Schedule a discovery call when you’re ready to work on your marketing messaging framework!

 

 

How to Build a Brand Message Framework