Brand messaging: You’ve heard about it. You’ve seen content about it. Maybe you even attended a workshop about it, or bought someone’s course on it.
And yet, even after doing all of that, you may still be wondering: “Am I… ‘messaging’ correctly?”
As a copywriter who works with tons of personal brands and creative founders, I have had years to develop my hot takes about brand messaging.
Here’s my no-filter take: most brand messaging advice sucks.
There is no reason we should have so many books, podcasts, and programs about brand voice, value props, target audience development, positioning, and all that, only for you to still be confused about your own brand’s messaging.
So naturally, like any eldest daughter Capricorn, I had to do something about it.
When I created my own brand messaging offer, Main Character Messaging™, I specifically designed it to fill in the gaps that other brand messaging offers are leaving. When you book this service with me, you don’t simply get told what to say in order to sell, you’ll walk away seeing yourself as someone who’s able to sell easily.
Consider this your private tour of Main Character Messaging™.
First, who needs brand messaging strategy?
The first thing to note about MCM is that it’s not for everyone.
And in fact, if you’re a brand who has multiple moving parts, is quickly evolving past the small business stage, and have multiple people impacting your brand, you’re probably going to need some of the brand messaging work I was just dragging.
(Yes, it’s all about nuance over here at Dark Roast Copy Co. You gotta do what works for you.)
But if you’re here, you probably fall into one of the categories of business owner I frequently help. If that’s you, here are some key reasons why you should be looking for brand messaging strategy:
– You struggle to create content that converts
– You panic every time someone asks, “so what do you do?”
– You’re scared about alienating ideal clients and niching down
– You’ve tried “personal branding” but haven’t seen an increase in sales
– You’re an established founder, but want to build a brand outside your business
– You’re hiring other people to work on your business (social media manager, designer, content writer, etc.)
– You’re good at what you do, but you have a hard time “selling” yourself
– You describe yourself differently every time you’re asked
– You want to live rent-free in your ideal clients heads, but you’re stuck on corporate jargon and AI slop “messaging” bits
Do any of those sound like you?
What you need, in my opinion as a brand messaging strategist
After working with a ton of clients that range from service providers, to creative founders, to personal brands, here are the elements that I think are absolutely essential for messaging in your business.
1. Authority Type Quiz Results
People are always saying you need to be an authority to sell.
But no one ever talks about how to show up like an authority.
Or, they say that, then they point to some cringy LinkedIn bro’s “thought leadership” post and tell you to make something like that.
So I create a resource that tells you what type of authority you are, plus which sales tools you should focus on based on your authority type.
Honestly, it’s criminal that I put sooo much good information in this and am not charging for it, but I guess that’s just my gift to you.
→ Take the Authority Types quiz here.
2. Personality + Brand Voice Profile
Being consistent with how you sound and what vibe you give off is important for any brand.
You want to make sure your audience has a clear understanding of who you are, and more importantly, you want to make them feel a certain way about you.
In order to do this, I write your Personality and Brand Voice Profile like I’m writing the description of a character in a TV show.
Our goal is to flesh out the details of who you are so clearly that people will be able to identify you as easily as they do their favorite character on the last series they just binged.
3. Selling Persona Profile
Now *this* is where the real magic happens.
Because yes, crafting your Selling Persona Profile helps us get clear on why your people buy from you (essentially building off of the TV character profile listed above.)
But the Selling Persona Profile is also important for YOU to understand how you’re best able to sell to people.
When you’re clear on knowing exactly how you need to show up in order to sell confidently to your people, you’ll be less likely to be swayed by all the shiny objects that are telling you to switch your business up every other week.
The Selling Persona Profile breaks down how you sell effectively, and tells you how to do that more.
4. Brand positioning + ideal client analysis
Positioning is something that is hard for a lot of business owners to understand, let alone nail down for themselves.
Basically, positioning is the space you occupy in your niche and in the minds of your ideal clients.
Because, for example, there are tons of health coaches out there, but a health coach for buys millennial moms and a health coach for women dealing with chronic illness are going to speak to their ideal clients differently.
Having a clear analysis on who you’re speaking to and what kind of space you occupy in their mind is essential for communicating clearly about your brand.
5. Main messaging + taglines
Now, THIS is the main course of Main Character Messaging™.
So many business owners overcomplicate this part of their brand messaging.
Honestly? You really only need a couple taglines or main messages that are specifically engineered to speak to the heart of your ideal clients.
You need them to be simple enough to repeat often, convicting enough to get people’s attention, and compelling enough to convert.
Sounds simple, but it’s not possible to do without laying the foundation with everything else we’ve seen come before here.
6. A “how to use” overview to your messaging
These final sections of MCM are more of a courtesy, but I saw they were essential for helping my clients actually use the messaging we’d worked on together.
Based on your marketing channels and plans, I put together a “how to use” guide that tells you exactly how your messaging can be adapted for your different channels.
7. Audit of current messaging presence
Plus, I give you an audit of how you’re currently doing on the different channels, like your website, Instagram, emails, etc.
My goal with MCM was always for it to be as practical and effective as possible. I’m virtually holding your hand as much as I possibly can to help you implement this messaging, so it can start working for you!
Are you ready for better, no-BS brand messaging strategy for your personal brand or creative business?
Honestly? I’m so passionate about business owners having no-BS messaging that works for them, that I truly would send you to a different resource if I knew there was one better out there.
But I don’t know of any copywriter, brand messaging strategist, or brand designer doing anything like MCM. It truly is the best tool I can think of for personal brands and creative founders who want to nail down their brand’s messaging.
If you want to become more of the Main Character of your brand, you can inquire here for us to work together, or check out all my copywriting services here.
And remember, you can get started with MCM for FREE by taking the Authority Types quiz here.
