Brand Voice Is How You Say It. Key Messages Are What You Say.

When I start working with a client, I usually ask them to describe their brand voice. Most can get there pretty quickly. Warm, a little funny, no corporate speak. Even if they’ve never put it into words before, they know how they want to sound.

Then I ask what they want people to walk away believing about their business, that gets harder to define.

That’s the difference between brand voice and key messages. Both matter. But key messages are the harder exercise, and they’re what the vast majority of your content should be grounded in.

Your voice is how you say it.

It’s your tone, your word choice, your personality. It’s why someone can recognize your post before they see your name.

Your key messages are what you say.

They’re the 3–5 ideas you need people to understand and believe about your business. Every post should be carrying at least one of them.

Here are mine: Social media should be strategic. Being human matters more than almost anything else. And social media doesn’t have to take over your life.

If you’ve been around here for a while, you’ve heard all three. A lot. (Hopefully!) That’s on purpose.

They don’t have to be totally unique.

This is where people get stuck. They think a key message has to be something nobody else is saying. It doesn’t. Key messages are themes, not slogans. What matters is getting specific about what that theme means for your business.

Take an interior designer. “Your house should feel like home.” Every designer on the planet could say that. So we asked: what does “home” actually mean to the people you work with?

For one designer I work with, the answer was function. Her clients didn’t want a showroom. They wanted a home that worked for how they actually live, so they could finally feel comfortable in it. That became the key message, and it opened up a whole category of stories: how a space works day to day, the small decisions that make a room easier to live in, and why comfortable beats picture-perfect.

Other designers talk about function, too. One key message won’t set you apart on its own. But put it next to your other key messages, say it all in your voice, and that combination starts to look like nobody else.

Then say it over and over (and over)

A client asked me recently, “How many times can we say the same thing?!” Over and over and over again.

You think about your business all day. Your audience doesn’t. They’re taking in so much, and it takes repetition to break through. And there’s no guarantee they’re seeing every post anyway.

What keeps it from getting boring is changing the format. Tell a story about it. Show it behind the scenes. Answer a question a client asked you. Share an opinion. It’s the same message with a new way in.

How to find yours

Grab a notebook and answer these:

• What do you wish every potential client knew before they reached out?

• What do you find yourself explaining over and over?

• What do your favorite clients say about working with you?

• What do you believe about your industry that not everyone does?

Look for the overlap. Then pressure test what you find. Will it still be true a year from now? Does it matter to the person deciding whether to hire you? Could you say it twenty different ways? If it passes all three, it’s a key message. Most businesses land on 3–5.

This is strategy (and it’s supposed to feel hard!!)

If you tried this exercise, and it felt harder than you expected, you’re not doing it wrong. Key messages, voice, how they all fit together: this is the strategy part of social media!! And it’s tough to see clearly when you’re inside your own business. It’s a big part of what I do with clients, because it’s so much easier to spot from the outside.

But once you’re clear on it, I promise the content part gets so much easier! You stop wondering what to post, because you already know what you’re trying to say.

Work with me

🧡 Ready for strategy + someone to actually teach you how to implement it? You found your girl. I only take on one client a month, so reach out to be considered for my next opening.

💌 Questions, or a topic you want me to cover? Let me know!

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