These days, everywhere you look, you’re inundated with content.

Blogs, YouTube, newsletters, websites, social media platforms, podcasts, webinars.

Which begs the question: in an endlessly crowded landscape, how do you break through the noise?

For us here at Creative Blue, creating a message that stands out comes down to three things:

1. Authenticity – Be true to the message and mission of your company.
2. Value – Be clear in the value you’re bringing. Be explicit in your message, in your language, in your voice.
3. Consistency –  Be consistent in how you communicate and talk about your brand, team, customers and services.

Let’s break down those sections a bit further.

Authenticity is best

Always.

No matter your product or service use-cases or market sector. Authenticity doesn’t apply only to client-facing work, but it should be considered when discussing branding/messaging between employees or partners.

Authenticity sets the tone for work culture and provides a consistent behavioral norm.

By making authenticity a priority, you build trust and loyalty across customer channels, prospective partners, and your team. If you want to build high, you need a solid base.

Author, influencer, and SEO strategist Neil Patel says, “Authentic businesses inspire and prosper…charlatan companies will ultimately fail regardless of whatever efforts are made to promote them and however much money is invested in them.”

Authenticity speaks directly to how much you value your business and your customer-base. It provides you with direction in how to articulate your message: tone, voice, word-choice, sentence structure.

Deliver value, always 

If you’re unsure of the value you bring, it’s time to take a step back and reevaluate your business.

Once you know how, you can make the world better, your customers’ lives easier, and the day-to-day smoother, you can begin to build messaging to address real-pain points.

When talking about your brand, be very clear and explicit in the value you bring. Don’t talk around your value, don’t drone on about your products’ benefits– get to the point. And do it quickly.

Readers’ attention spans are waning, and content is everywhere, be concise with your value proposition.

Consistency is key

In all your messaging, remain consistent. Make it easy for your readers to recognize you. That means creating brand guidelines. Create rules for your brand and your messaging: vocabulary, tone, tagline, product names, value statements, use-cases, sentence structure, calls to action, social media posts, etc.

Whenever and wherever you talk about your brand, your message should be consistent with previous messages.

Four questions to help you stand out

These four questions will help you ensure you’re authentic, delivering value, and consistent in your messaging. They act as a practical guide to understanding how and why you do business– both of which help you stand out in a crowded landscape.

• Is it time to reinvent or reinvigorate?

Evaluate your current messaging. Is it meeting your brand expectations and goals? If so, dig your heels into your current strategy, and if not, take the necessary time to figure out how you should best pivot.

This kind of thinking requires envisioning what the future of your business looks like and evaluating where your company came from.

• What is your company’s vision? 

Consider the horizons you have established for the future of your business. Will you expand your company into new markets in one year, or will you own a particular segment of business in five years’ time?

Knowing and fully understanding the company’s concrete targets and the milestones you wish to meet along the road to your success will dictate the kind of tone and messaging you employ. 

• Where did your company come from? 

Sometimes you have to look back to know how to move forward.

Should your company’s history play a part in its future messaging, or should you scrap those former values, messaging, and vision to better connect with your customers and communicate your newfound values and use-cases.

Knowing your company history does not require digging deep into the archives. You don’t need to know your founder’s iterations of the mission statement (unless, of course, it is a part of your company story). It’s more about understanding why your business was established in the first place and recognizing the steps it took to get to where you are now. 

• How are you communicating your current mission? 

Your voice and your message must align with your mission. With all your messaging, it’s important to remember that you represent the company, its goals, and its culture.

Think about how you speak to your clients, how you advertise to the outside world, or how you engage in communications internally. All content you produce should be written with a specific goal in mind, and behind that goal, there should be a larger strategy. Is your company a change agent? Do you have a clear sense of social responsibility? Do your strategic decisions align with your brand?

You must clearly communicate the importance and impact of your message; otherwise, it’s likely to get lost in the shuffle.

Your voice must underpin the company’s values because if it doesn’t, you risk losing that hard-earned authenticity. Everything you do should support your unique mission, specific vision, and company targets.

Use storytelling to connect with your audiences 

Brand recognition comes with powerful and strategic storytelling.

This is not something you can throw at the wall to see what sticks. It requires thoughtfulness, strategy, and planning.

Strategic storytelling means writing authentically, delivering value, and being consistent in tone and voice.

Start small and stay focused.

When writing, think of a specific person in your target audience so you know that you’re staying true to what your customers need.

It’s hard work to stand out. Especially when the competition is so high. But it is possible. If you’re looking for ways to make your message stand out, we’d love to talk about how Creative Blue can help.