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In 2011, Patagonia ran an ad with the message Don’t Buy This Jacket.
More than a bold statement, it challenged consumerism—urging people to rethink purchases, highlighting the environmental costs of overconsumption, and reinforcing the brand’s sustainability ethos. Paradoxically, it drove sales while cementing Patagonia’s reputation for authenticity.
From the words on your homepage to the pitch that wins deals, the campaigns that grab attention, and the emails that nurture relationships—your brand can’t succeed or cut through without key messaging that grabs attention and stays true to its values.
No surprise then that a brand can’t hope to succeed without nailing its key messaging.
You can’t just pluck great messages out of thin air. They need to be rooted in the truth of your brand—because your customers are savvy, and they’ll see straight through anything that does’nt ring true.
But developing motivating, value-driven messages isn’t complicated. Done right, it ensures your messaging reflects what matters most to your audience and keeps them engaged.
5 steps to deliver your key messages:
1. Identify your audience
Start by pinpointing the two or three key audiences you’re targeting. Then, identify the needs they all share—this ensures your messaging remains relevant and effective.
2. Define what you do – your features
List your core features, services, or products. Write up to 5 clear sentences that articulate what your brand delivers.
3. Describe the benefits of each feature
Now, focus on why you do it—how each feature solves a problem or delivers a benefit to your customers.
4. Create your key messages
Write each key message starting with a benefit and ending with a feature. Leading with benefits ensures your messaging is immediately relevant to your audience.
5. Develop a message hierarchy
Not all messages carry equal weight. Work out the best order —what comes first, second, third—to help your audience quickly grasp the point of your brand.
Follow these 5 steps, and you’ll be on your way to developing key messages that truly resonate with your customers.
But relevance isn’t enough—you need to be different too.
If every brand was equally relevant, how would a customer know which to choose? It’s not just about meeting their needs—it’s about standing apart. Ask yourself:
- What makes your brand uniquely suited to meet their needs?
- What differentiates your product or service from the competition?
- Do you have a distinct approach, process, or culture that sets you apart?
When communicating how you solve your customer’s problem, make sure you include the element that makes you different. That’s what makes your messaging compelling.
And if you find that you need to go back and repeat those five steps, then do so—because creating a brand that is genuinely different has a huge upside. Kantar’s global study[1]—the largest of its kind—shows that brands with meaningful differentiation:
- Capture 9x more market share than competitors
- Can charge double the price
- Are four times more likely to grow
- Are seven times more likely to attract new customers
Key message hierarchy – the most practical tool in brand strategy.
This isn’t a ‘nice to have’—it’s the lifeblood of your brand, helping you communicate the right things, in the right order, to the right people.
It gives you and your team a clear direction on what matters most, ensuring every message lands with impact.
Follow this process, and you’ll know exactly what headline belongs on your homepage, what message follows it, the first chart in your presentation, and the content of that brochure you’ve been meaning to write!
Join my online workshop
I’m running a series of one-hour online workshops where I’ll coach you through developing your own key messages. Places are limited and always oversubscribed, so don’t wait—sign up here
Why work together?
I’m now celebrating my 16th year running my Brand Strategy consultancy, as well as regularly speaking at conferences and lecturing at business schools, I teach brand management on the Chartered Institute of Marketing’s diploma course and am an accredited speaker with the Vistage CEO network. My expertise has helped hundreds of small businesses stand out, grow, and thrive.
If you’d like to explore how The Brand Arrow can help your business, reach out to me directly at bruce@thebrandarrow.com. I also regularly host free elevator pitch (value proposition) workshops to give you a taster of my approach:https://www.thebrandarrow.com/elevator-pitch
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