Social media and the Internet are always about the next big thing. People like seeing something new all the time.

Businesses, therefore, try to adapt by revising their brand messaging or replacing the old, boring message with an exciting new one.

The question is, does it work?

Or is the long game of consistent messaging the better way to help people remember a brand?

Let’s find out.

TL;DR – How to Build Consistent Messaging for a Brand

In this article, we’ll detail how to build consistent messaging for a brand.

In a hurry? Here’s a summary of the key tactics:

• Establish a clear brand identity
• Provide a messaging matrix for internal teams
• Keep it simple and flexible
• Collaborate with the right people

Can’t find the right balance between consistency and flexibility in your messaging? Start a FiniSprint with me today for one-on-one, results-driven coaching on your marketing strategy.

What Does it Mean to Have Consistent Brand Messaging?

Consistency in brand messaging means staying true to key elements that shape your brand identity, regardless of execution and the communication channels you use.

Note that it’s not to be confused with inflexibility or repetition, although you will employ some degree of repetition to keep your messaging consistent.

You can be flexible and also consistent by maintaining your brand’s core messages even as you adapt to various audience segments.

Why is Message Consistency Important?

Consistency fosters clarity, which also ushers in stronger brand recognition and recall. 

Conversely, inconsistent messaging can warp your audience’s idea of who you are. As a result, your audience won’t be able to accurately understand your brand story, relate to it, or share it with others.

What is Needed to Communicate a Consistent Message?

The following are must-haves for consistent messaging:

Messaging Matrix

This functions as a style guide but is more in-depth. It covers tone, style, formatting, and other elements, like target audience, key messages, and communication channels.

A messaging matrix will help align your internal teams and equip them to tell your story confidently and accurately.

Brand Pillars

These are defining characteristics that make you “you.” These include your purpose, positioning, and personality.

Establishing your brand pillars will prevent you from departing from your brand identity, especially when adapting your messaging for different channels or audiences.

What is a Consistent Messaging Framework?

A consistent messaging framework (messaging architecture) guides how you shape, communicate, and adapt your messaging.

Think of it as the blueprint of your brand story that contains the following components:

• Value proposition: Lay the proper groundwork by establishing your unique value proposition (UPV) first. This will guide your supporting messages and ensure that they all align with one overarching message about how it comes to your brand’s value.
• Message pillars: These supporting messages further elaborate on your value proposition. Like your UPV, message pillars remain the same.
• Key brand benefits: Enumerate key benefits under every message pillar in further detail. This will help you shape your messaging for various audiences, allowing you to pick benefits that match your target audience’s needs.

Consistent Messaging Examples to Draw Inspiration From

These real-world examples demonstrate how brands maintain consistency in messaging across platforms: 

1. Rare Beauty

Rare Beauty is a makeup brand that celebrates every person as uniquely beautiful.

It’s all about being confident in your skin and using makeup to enhance your innate beauty instead of altering how you look.

Their tone is casual, playful, and relatable–much like a big sis who dolls you up for a party or gives you a shoulder to cry on.

They keep this same tone across all their platforms, be it their website or social media platforms, such as their Instagram account.

2. Apple

Apple is one of the most recognizable brands today, and it’s by no fortunate accident. Their message is clear, and their telling consistent.

Let’s look at how they market the iPhone by delivering the key message – “Everyone has a story to tell.”

We get a snapshot of this message on their website, highlighting the iPhone as a creativity tool.

But their story really takes flight on their Instagram account:

Each of their posts features amazing photography #shotoniPhone, which not only effectively delivers their messaging about telling stories through photos but also cleverly displays the gadget’s capabilities.

Like these examples, you can let your brand stand out with clear, consistent messaging. For better results, work with a brand strategist to craft a compelling brand story.

The Importance of Branding Consistency in Long-Term Strategy

Consistent messaging is an underutilized asset that has a significant impact on business success.

Check out why it matters and how it helps to achieve long-term business success:

1. Increase Perceived Authority and Trust

In a world full of skepticism about brands, it’s crucial to maintain authenticity in the content messaging. Consistent messaging conveys what a brand is—its personality, values, tone of voice, and brand promise.

When consumers detect aligned messaging, they can recognize the company as authentic. Trustworthy brands with motives beyond making profits are perceived as credible and authoritative.

2. Reinforce Audience Engagement and Loyalty

The audience unconsciously takes note of the repetitive messaging and brand story that surfaces frequently across the various communication methods.

The patterns create a positive brand perception and help keep the customers engaged and coming back for more, eventually boosting loyalty.

3. Support the Sales Goals

With endless solutions competing for the audience’s attention across channels, consistent messaging helps a brand cut through the noise and stand out.

The distinct content and personality are crucial in attracting the attention of buyers and guiding them through the customer journey.

If you need help to create messages with impact, I’m here to help.

We can craft messaging that aligns with your brand values, creates an emotional connection with your audience, and boosts a cohesive brand identity.

Schedule a free strategy call today!

How to Maintain Consistent Messaging Across Channels

Being consistent when conveying the message across different platforms can be challenging. It’s a balancing act between maintaining the core and being flexible enough to be relevant.

These tips should help:

Pick a Key Style Element

Help the audience recognize the brand by picking a key style element — such as typography, style, or color scheme — and using it consistently across all platforms.

But the message can go beyond surface-level visuals.

For instance, The Economist’s Instagram account looks very much like its website. They use social media posts, such as news highlights, to give people a sneak peek into their news stories.

You can also focus on one main goal for all your communications. Do you want to entertain? Educate? Inform? Then, do so across all the channels you use.

Adapt but Stick to Your Core

Consistency doesn’t mean inflexibility.

A brand can be consistent and still bend the messaging to match what it’s saying, where. In fact, that’s ideal! Or else, who will take a company seriously when they’re goofing around on LinkedIn?

Adopt a more professional tone for LinkedIn and a playful one for TikTok while staying true to the core values that define the brand.

How to Create Content That Reflects Brand Consistency

Companies are expected to engage with their target audience across various channels, making it critical to maintain brand consistency.

Learn how to create content that creates a unified brand identity:

1. Define the Brand Cores

Begin by defining the brand’s mission, core values, and overall purpose. The content team can then create content embedded in those brand cores.

2. Document Them in the Brand Guidelines

Compile the tone of voice and visual identity, and create a brand style guide to act as a reference point for all team members.

Incorporate the phrases to use, punctuation, industry jargon, and font to create uniformity when creating blogs and writing social media posts. This can help increase brand recognizability.

3. Use Templates and Examples

Templates provide content creators with a starting point, ensuring all communications are aligned and instantly recognizable.

Provide practical examples that demonstrate the correct application of the brand guidelines across various messages, including blog posts, emails, and social media posts.

4. Create Consistent Content Across Various Channels

The core message should remain the same whether it’s a blog, podcast, reel, or email. Have a messaging hierarchy that clearly outlines the core and supporting messages, along with the corresponding proof points.

Tailor the core messaging according to the unique context, the type of audience, and the format of each platform.

5. Conduct Regular Audits

Experiment with different versions of the messaging to see which content performs better. Then, conduct regular audits to ensure the content aligns with the brand’s identity by checking it against the set goals.

Utilize the insights and feedback loops to help content creators continually improve the quality of their content.

If you’re doubtful about doing this on your own, work with me. As a messaging professional, I understand how to create consistent brand messaging.

Together, we can develop your messaging framework, create a comprehensive brand style guide, and ensure consistent messaging across all channels.

Hop on a discovery call today and let’s discuss how to solidify your brand messaging.

How to Apply Consistent Messaging in Internal Communication

With the multiple communication channels, it is difficult for an organization to maintain a unified voice, foster trust, and align everyone with the company’s goals.

Follow these steps to ensure every team is on the same page while communicating:

• Create a Communication Strategy: Start by creating a communication plan that outlines the key messages, channels, and frequency of communication. This unified strategy aligns the teams and departments.
• Define the Messaging Guidelines: Create a style guide that encompasses all aspects of the brand identity used in communication, including tone of voice and visual elements. It also shows how to incorporate them in communication in the respective roles and consistently represent the brand.
• Leverage Communication Tools: Utilize tools like Slack and employee apps to create a single source of updates, ensuring effective communication within the team.
• Train the Team Leaders: Ensure that managers and leaders understand how to align messages with the overall company goals. Train them on the tone, style, and delivery methods of their messaging.
• Refine the Strategy Regularly: Conduct regular audits of internal communications to identify any inconsistencies and address them promptly. Besides, monitor the employee feedback to refine the clarity and alignment of the messaging.

4 Strategies for Achieving Consistent Communication 

Consistency in messaging can be challenging. You’re talking about keeping your teams, stakeholders, and even partners aligned on what to say and how to say it.

Here are 4 strategies to equip your teams to accurately communicate your messaging:

1. Create a Clear Brand Story

Start with a solid foundation of a clear brand story and identity.

In other words, confidently answer the questions, “What are the cores of the brand?” and “What should it communicate?” in terms that the audience will understand and appreciate.

It’s the whole reason for setting up the communication in the first place.

When the teams understand this, it’s much easier to keep them aligned in the storytelling, regardless of where that takes place.

Need help crafting a compelling brand story?

I’ve worked with companies on their marketing strategies, resulting in the sale of over $500M worth of products and services. Join me for a discovery call today to explore how we can work together.

2. Provide a Messaging Matrix for Internal Teams

Now that the “what” and the “why” are clear, it’s time to move on to practical steps that keep that story intact.

Implement a messaging matrix that outlines the core components of the messaging, including the target audience, content themes, objectives, and key success metrics.

Additionally, create a comprehensive style guide that outlines the tone, language, and personality.

However, don’t just email these guides to the team; help them fully integrate them into their day-to-day interactions by conducting workshops and training sessions.

3. Keep It Simple

Let’s look back at Apple’s “Everyone has a story to tell.” It’s simple and crisp. The audience only needs to hear it once to remember it.

Like this example, keep the message simple so that it’s easy to remember and adapt.

If the messaging can’t be summarized in one sentence or the teams are struggling to express what the brand wants to say, the messaging is probably too vague or complicated.

That also means it’s challenging to adapt to different occasions.

4. Collaborate with the Right People

It’s tempting to choose brand ambassadors and influencers based on their numbers alone (e.g., the number of followers).

But remember that the choice of partners can either help reinforce the message or take away from it.

So, choose people wisely. Some considerations would be:

• Shared values
• Audience perception
• Associations

Work with someone who understands all levels of marketing strategy to develop a framework that drives lasting impact.

If you’re not seeing enough leads or conversions with your marketing, it could be an indicator that something is off.

Sign up for ConversionRX, my comprehensive marketing review and diagnosis, to evaluate your strategy and increase conversions.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

I’ve answered some of the most commonly asked questions about consistent messaging below:

What Are the Key Elements of Consistent Messaging?

The following are key components of a consistent messaging framework:

• Value proposition: Tells what you offer your audience and how it sets you apart from your competition.
• Message pillars: Supporting messages that elaborate on your value proposition.
• Brand benefits: Highlight the most important features of your brand and how they benefit your audience.

How Does Consistent Messaging Affect Brand Identity?

Consistency in messaging enhances brand recall and establishes brand identity.

It also clarifies who you are, what you do, and what you offer your audience, which breeds trust and creates loyal customers.

What Role Does Tone of Voice Play in Consistent Messaging?

Tone communicates your brand’s personality and affects how your message is received.

It’s similar to how our tone of voice affects our conversations with people.

How Often Should Businesses Review and Update Their Messaging to Ensure Consistency?

Annual reviews help keep your messaging consistent. But if you’ve recently shifted in strategy or branding, you might need to review more often, such as monthly or quarterly.

What Tools Help Enforce Consistent Messaging Across Channels?

Here are some tools to ensure consistent messaging:

• Content planning platforms like Trello to ensure content alignment across blogs, emails, and social media posts
• Automation tools like Zapier to automate messages to channels like email
• Writing tools like Grammarly to maintain a consistent tone and language on all content
• Design tools like Canva and Figma to ensure consistent campaigns

Conclusion

Staying consistent is hard work. But keep at it, and reap the rewards in stronger brand recall and credibility. Stick to the messaging by creating a clear brand story, equipping teams with messaging guides, keeping the message simple, and partnering with the right people.

Better yet, work with a marketing pro who understands all levels of marketing strategy, from branding to messaging. Schedule a discovery call with me today.