How much thought have you put into your message?
It doesn’t really matter if you’re a business or just someone fantastic, if you’re online you have a brand and the question of “how to create top of mind awareness” for your brand needs to be answered. People see you, hear you and connect with you in various places. Is the message you’re giving off the one you’d like to? Does it say rock solid or does it say fly by night? Is it stable and secure or fueled with drama? We all know that Facebook person that posts exclusively on dramatic this or that’s, or uses too much personal that most of us don’t care to hear about. It’s our brand, people. This is the message we’re sending that sticks in others’ minds when they think about us.
What do we want those messages to say? When you walk in our door at Savy Agency, and sit down to review your brand or kickoff a brand planning and positioning session, we’ll often ask: What do people think when they think about your brand? What would you like them to think? What do they think about similar brands? Is anyone doing it right and why?
Does your messaging keep people listening before you stop talking?
Positioning yourself for good top of mind awareness is essential to attracting more options in your life or the life of your brand. To become the top-of-mind choice that you’re going for, I suggest making your messaging rock. Keep it simple, because we all know that works, and people have a low threshold for remembering long drawn out details about a personality. Seek to be remembered, and of course, if you’re a product, have a repeat performance. If you include some of the following in your messaging, you’ll be off to a great start.
Engaging
Make your message so engaging, unique, even unexpected or otherwise out of the norm, that people are compelled to pay attention. Remember most of us are absorbed in life or by other messages trying to capture our attention. People tend to attune to things that are new and unfamiliar. Let’s face it, boring is no fun. Examples of this are piggybacking on commonly accepted ideals or messages with a new spin or outlook, encouraging a rethink or another way to look, do or interact with something.
Actionable
Seek to move people, even in small steps, and they’ll have momentum forward. Keep it simple by reducing the number of steps it takes for them to engage with you or to buy your product. It’s somewhat like an ice breaker in a networking situation. Everyone is standing against the wall without momentum waiting for someone to take a step, or even waiting for themselves to get the courage. One step generally supposes another, and before you know it, with action people feel more open and connected in the room.
Relevant
When you interact with someone speaking directly to you or you read about something that you’re experiencing in your life, it’s much more memorable and interesting. Why is that? It’s mostly because it becomes relevant to you. This is something we work through with our clients every day when we pull out their dusty old website copy. This is the messaging you’re communicating about yourselves or your brand. It’s not a resume, it’s a statement. One that you’ll be remembered by.
A few tips for increasing relevance include getting specific. Connecting with a few very well is better than connecting with everyone just a bit. And you’ll forge a deeper connection with those because you’re specific, to the point and are communicating in a manner that resonates to those who click with you. It’s helpful to first consider the specifics or big idea that support your point and craft your story from that, step by step, filling in the relevant details that make it interesting and keep others involved.
Developing messaging that rocks in your personal and business life will make you more memorable, keep you top of mind, and ultimately provide you with more opportunity in life, and on line.