Shane Mehling
Content Director

How Key Messaging Works

August 16, 2022

Brands may think that PR firms are mostly there to get them in magazines and help them write press releases. And while that is an important part of the job, one of the most valuable ways PR firms can elevate a brand is by crafting key messaging.

Those who spend their day working on a product/service often find themselves inside a bubble, with significant blindspots about their own brand. Key messaging creates a shared language for a brand, allowing everyone to discuss a product or service in the same way, which leads to consistency, clarity and the repetition of a company’s greatest strengths. Here are some tips.

First off, key messaging should strive to be four things:

Accurate
Explain the product/service in a way that all stakeholders agree with, especially those most familiar with details and technical aspects.

Concise
Never write ten words when you can write nine.

Accessible
Speak to the back of the room in language that makes sense to the largest audience (even those who aren’t interested).

Compelling
Accurate, accessible, concise messaging doesn’t matter if no one reads it. Above all, messaging must grab people and explain as fast as possible why a brand deserves their attention.
Conversely, these are some major things to avoid:

Jargon
Using terminology and insider knowledge will appeal to a share of your audience, but a far greater percentage will tune out quickly.

Informality
Messaging is meant to connect with people, but they must also take it seriously; using a casual or comic tone runs the serious risk of diminishing a brand’s importance.

Weakness
No brand wants to be a bystander, but using the passive voice and anemic language can easily make a product/service seem far less effective.

Negativity
Brands can highlight issues with competitors, but only in terms of their own solutions; valuable space can’t be wasted on complaints and criticisms.
Now, with all of that in mind, the process of messaging is pretty simple. Not easy, but simple. Messaging should pass through some gates of approval:

Gatekeeper 1: The Brand
They know what to say, but don’t know how to say it.
The brand has thought more about their product/service than anyone. They understand best what it does, what it’s up against and what is truly special about it. But that doesn’t mean they have figured out how to explain it. The first goal of messaging is to deeply research the brand’s own views and make sure everything going forward is a reflection of that.

Gatekeeper 2: The Persona
When it comes to good messaging, they’ll know it when they see it

The persona (or, likely, personas) is the ideal customer the brand wants to win over, which means it’s critical to determine what best engages them. The second goal of messaging is to build the tone, vocabulary, references and accomplishments around the assumptions of what each persona is looking for.

Gatekeeper 3: The Writer
They want to read minds and tell the future
The writer is actually not writing as much as divining, trying their best to interpret the intentions of the brand and connect those with the assumed preferences of the personas. The third goal of messaging is to pour over notes, research and then write until it feels like the brand is well-represented in a way that will engage those ideal customers.

Gatekeeper 4: The Brand (again)
The boss isn’t always right, but they are always the boss At the end of the day, this is the brand’s vision. There is no way to objectively measure which words, in which order, will work best, and sometimes (most of the time) there will be disagreements, either small or large. The final goal is to make sure the brand feels like their messaging genuinely represents what they have always tried to say themselves.
Key messaging can change, and some things will show themselves to not work in the long run, which is why both the brand and PR firm should make sure to take in all feedback and revise if necessary. These key messages are not written in stone. But they should not certainly not be taken lightly either. If you believe that your company is going to wow people, then the language you use needs to wow people as
well.

Want to see the kind of work MGP does for its sustainability clients? Get in touch at hello@wearemgp.com.

Shane Mehling
Content Director

How Key Messaging Works

August 16, 2022

Brands may think that PR firms are mostly there to get them in magazines and help them write press releases. And while that is an important part of the job, one of the most valuable ways PR firms can elevate a brand is by crafting key messaging.

Those who spend their day working on a product/service often find themselves inside a bubble, with significant blindspots about their own brand. Key messaging creates a shared language for a brand, allowing everyone to discuss a product or service in the same way, which leads to consistency, clarity and the repetition of a company’s greatest strengths. Here are some tips.

First off, key messaging should strive to be four things:

Accurate
Explain the product/service in a way that all stakeholders agree with, especially those most familiar with details and technical aspects.

Concise
Never write ten words when you can write nine.

Accessible
Speak to the back of the room in language that makes sense to the largest audience (even those who aren’t interested).

Compelling
Accurate, accessible, concise messaging doesn’t matter if no one reads it. Above all, messaging must grab people and explain as fast as possible why a brand deserves their attention.
Conversely, these are some major things to avoid:

Jargon
Using terminology and insider knowledge will appeal to a share of your audience, but a far greater percentage will tune out quickly.

Informality
Messaging is meant to connect with people, but they must also take it seriously; using a casual or comic tone runs the serious risk of diminishing a brand’s importance.

Weakness
No brand wants to be a bystander, but using the passive voice and anemic language can easily make a product/service seem far less effective.

Negativity
Brands can highlight issues with competitors, but only in terms of their own solutions; valuable space can’t be wasted on complaints and criticisms.
Now, with all of that in mind, the process of messaging is pretty simple. Not easy, but simple. Messaging should pass through some gates of approval:

Gatekeeper 1: The Brand
They know what to say, but don’t know how to say it.
The brand has thought more about their product/service than anyone. They understand best what it does, what it’s up against and what is truly special about it. But that doesn’t mean they have figured out how to explain it. The first goal of messaging is to deeply research the brand’s own views and make sure everything going forward is a reflection of that.

Gatekeeper 2: The Persona
When it comes to good messaging, they’ll know it when they see it

The persona (or, likely, personas) is the ideal customer the brand wants to win over, which means it’s critical to determine what best engages them. The second goal of messaging is to build the tone, vocabulary, references and accomplishments around the assumptions of what each persona is looking for.

Gatekeeper 3: The Writer
They want to read minds and tell the future
The writer is actually not writing as much as divining, trying their best to interpret the intentions of the brand and connect those with the assumed preferences of the personas. The third goal of messaging is to pour over notes, research and then write until it feels like the brand is well-represented in a way that will engage those ideal customers.

Gatekeeper 4: The Brand (again)
The boss isn’t always right, but they are always the boss At the end of the day, this is the brand’s vision. There is no way to objectively measure which words, in which order, will work best, and sometimes (most of the time) there will be disagreements, either small or large. The final goal is to make sure the brand feels like their messaging genuinely represents what they have always tried to say themselves.
Key messaging can change, and some things will show themselves to not work in the long run, which is why both the brand and PR firm should make sure to take in all feedback and revise if necessary. These key messages are not written in stone. But they should not certainly not be taken lightly either. If you believe that your company is going to wow people, then the language you use needs to wow people as
well.

Want to see the kind of work MGP does for its sustainability clients? Get in touch at hello@wearemgp.com.