It’s the end of the first month of 2016 and as many of us hit the gym, give up alcohol and eat more salads than the British rabbit population, should your brand be given the same treatment? Like a new pair of jeans can increase our confidence, new messaging can really invigorate the brand.

Your brand’s messaging is important for three simple reasons:

• To have a defined and consistent voice
• For people to have a clear understanding of who you are, what you do and why
• To stand out from the crowd

Like all transformations, you get out what you put in. Don’t be put off, though, we’ve done some of the hard work for you. Here are our top tips:

Get your key executives’ buy-in and contributions

You don’t want to be presenting new messaging to your boss’s boss to have them shoot you down. Get the decision makers involved in a workshop where everyone has a say, and more importantly, agree on aspects of the messaging. That said, we all know not everyone will come to an agreement all of the time. I’ve run workshops where I’ve had to break up fights with people unwilling to come to a compromise. Name a referee!

Think of the audience

Review the profile of your audience to better understand their motivations as well as turn-offs. For PR, the style and tone will be factual and concise for a media audience – it’ll just need to be tailored for the readership of publications you’re targeting. If you’re running a messaging session for more than PR, conduct some word analysis to understand the tone of voice which resonates best with your key audience.

What is the competition saying?

Conduct a competitor audit to see how they’re describing themselves. Look at their website, social feeds, videos as well as press materials and pick-up. The news coverage of your competitors is a good indication of whether their messaging resonates with the media.

Step outside of the company

Try and wipe your mind of all the messaging you’ve developed in the past. Leave the corporate brochures and jargon at the door and attend the session with a fresh perspective. Every messaging workshop needs the ‘Grandma test’ – if she doesn’t understand what the brand does, you know you’ll risk confusing others.

Know what you don’t stand for, as well as what you do

Not everyone is all things to all people. Make a list of words and phrases that your brand doesn’t stand for and stick it on the wall. That way, everyone in the workshop stays focussed on what you stand for.

A great messaging workshop helps your brand cut out the fat and tone-up. The result of which can really revitalise the company’s reputation as well as the people behind it.

We can do more than just give you these tips. We run PR messaging workshops; conducting necessary research beforehand, working through a three-part methodology and delivering a comprehensive written report.

If you’re interested, get in touch: hello@fireflycomms.com