As a business, your brand is your identity. It stands up and announces, “Hey, this is what I’m all about, and here’s how to spot me in a crowd!” Don’t let your brand identity get lost in the crowd. Contact us today to elevate your messaging and stand out from the competition.
Building the right brand identity to represent your business plays a crucial role in achieving success. Successful SaaS and PS companies rely on compelling copy to communicate value to buyers, not flashy visuals, so for B2B companies, a brand’s verbal identity matters most.
To get the job done right, brand messaging needs to be accurate, complete, unique, and consistent. Otherwise, a company risks looking less focused and poorly defined alongside competitors.
Creating a Brand Messaging Guide (BMG) is an essential first step for growth-minded businesses ready to design and refine their verbal brand identities.
Some of The Amazing Brands We’ve Worked With
When done right, the correct SEO strategy and content marketing plan will position you as an authority in your market, increase organic traffic, improve conversion rates, and most importantly, drive more demo bookings.
Inside A Brand Messaging
Guide, You’ll Find:
Company DNA
Core Values
Names the set of beliefs a business aligns with and supports. It helps tell the story of where a brand gets its fire and drive and speaks to its target customer.
Mission
A consolidated statement that clearly defines what a company delivers.
Vision
Describes where a company plans to go in the future. Similar to the mission, but aspirational.
Purpose
Captures “the why” behind the brand.
Key Messaging
Brand Story
Introduction to a brand’s origin story, timeline, or industry positioning. Great place to introduce a business’s distinct voice, tone, and style.
Elevator Pitch
A short and snappy statement that helps people understand what a brand does – quickly. Ideally, everyone on a team will use the same message.
Tagline
A line (or two) of hero copy to provide context, specificity, and unique industry positioning alongside the brand’s name. Great way to leverage prime messaging real estate.
Customer Voice
Target Customer Persona
A profile of the individual a brand was built for. Defines their pain points, needs, and wants so that a business can speak to the buyer directly.
Features
A round-up of all the deliverables your product or service provides
Benefits
All of the results buyers experience from engaging with a brand
Words That Define
Voice, Tone, & Style
A brand’s personality defined by the way it sounds through a description of the character, attitude, degree of formality, and quirks of the brand.
Brand Drivers
A unique set of words or phrases defines a brand’s key pillars. Serve as a guardrail and guide for messaging.
Word Banks
A set of words or phrases expands on brand drivers, so teams can be consistent in the themes they design messaging around but diverse in the language they use to describe them.
Successful Partnerships
"I've had the pleasure of working with Hali as a thought partner for marketing content for our business for over a year. I greatly look forward to our monthly idea sessions! One thing I really appreciate is how much I can share all my ideas free-flow verbally, and Hali works her magic to transform my thoughts into many thoughtful pieces that are authentic to my voice. It's effortless to work with Hali because she understands our business and my perspective."
"Knowing how your company operates and what it stands for is easy to lose sight of in the day-to-day. Much of the knowledge of my own brand was implicit or buried, and in some cases, not particularly coherent. My conversations with RevenueZen made the implicit explicit, subjected it to inspection, and really helped me to craft a coherent and compelling narrative about my brand."
"I wanted to send across a note on Hali to say that we've been so impressed with the work she has done for us. She's been a joy to work with and cannot imagine commencing our inbound without having had the benefit of her expertise and valuable contributions. So thank you and thanks to Hali!"
To build a BMG, teams progress through a series of workshops guided by one of our team’s B2B brand strategists. The structure of the engagement breaks down into six phases:
Kickoff & Discovery
Introduction and overview of current brand verbal identity. 60 min. Zoom Call
Workshop 1
Meet the Brand, Core Values, Brand Hero Language, Mission, Vision, and Purpose. 120 min. Zoom Call
Workshop 2
Brand Personality, Voice, Tone, & Style, Features & Benefits, Brand Drivers, and Brand Word Bank. 120 min. Zoom Call
Workshop 3
Current Target Customer Persona Profile, Elevator Pitch, and Strapline. 120 min. Zoom Call
Reporting & Editing Call
Presentation of working language and a live-editing session between brand strategist and client. 60 min. Zoom Call
Final Brand Messaging Guide Delivery
Final BMG review and Q&A. 30 min. Zoom Call
Once complete, a BMG gives teams the ability to apply straightforward and consistent messaging across every brand expression.
The “wordy bits” of brand identity matter.
A lot.
In its most glorious and fully realized form, a brand’s verbal identity, or verbal branding, will convey meaning; beyond mere products and services to create an emotional connection between a business and its target audiences — all while differentiating them from competitors in the marketplace.
A well-crafted verbal identity encompasses who a company is at its core while celebrating language that delivers clarity and builds trust with customers; it’s the stuff of brand marketing dreams.
Meanwhile, “brand identities” that sidestep the verbal half of the equation are playing a dangerous game. Relying on cornflower blue-inspired hex codes and minimalist logos to communicate everything and nothing all at once, like an obtuse modern dance performance, is likely to leave an audience bewildered and uneasy about the amount of beige they’ve just been served.
AKA – what does this company even do?
You don’t ever want a potential (or active client) to have to ask that question.
Vague and undefined terms of engagement rarely leave people inspired to spend money, so there’s serious value in it for brands to invest in figuring out who they are and how they communicate. Option one, the verbal identity that knocked it out of the park and wowed the masses, is what brands need to stand out, so here are five factors to remember when building your own shining star of a verbal identity.
1. Know Thy Audience
It’s the first rule of branding; know who you’re talking to, and if you don’t, in a big, bold voice, ask, “WHO ARE YOU, DEAR CUSTOMER?!”
Figure out what they do, where they’re located, and what they value. Obsess over their pain points, fears, needs, and desires, and then talk about them with empathy every chance you get.
Branding is about providing value to the customer, so don’t take another step until you know exactly who you’re engaging.
2. Be Consistent to Avoid Looking Choppy
Nobody likes a bait and switch, and nothing messes with a customer’s trust more than being inconsistent in how you show up as a brand. Be discerning in your word choices, develop specific and unique brand guidelines to document your standards, and stick to them.
Creating a cohesive and consistent customer experience every time you communicate with your audience ensures they never have to worry they’ve got the real you, regardless of platform or medium.
3. Introduce Yourself With Style
It’s rude to make people guess who you are, so whip up a brand story to let the audience in on your origins as a business and current market position. A narrative that captures what makes your brand unique and why customers should choose you over your competitors must be succinct but powerful enough to capture attention and inspire loyalty among potential customers.
Voice and style are the basic building blocks of a brand’s personality, so don’t forget to bring character and quirk into play as you breathe life into your brand’s big curtain-raiser moment.
4. Pitch Like You’re Riding a High-Speed Elevator
If you want to control your brand narrative, you need a great elevator pitch, plain and simple. It should be short and snappy enough for someone who interacts with your brand to understand exactly what you offer after hearing it once.
An elevator pitch is designed for quick conversations, so keep it simple – no more than two sentences long – and good gravy, make sure it’s memorable.
5. Different Wins
In the never ending battle of brand sameness, businesses spend all day jostling to claim they’re “the best” in the bunch. So, let them scrap it out. Be wild, play smart, and let everyone spin their wheels while you do something different. Doing something specific, conveying it effectively, and showing how you’re different will always be more valuable than claims of being “the best.”
Spend your time defining what makes your brand special, setting it apart from everyone else, and you’ll carve your own route to the top, earning brand recognition.
Verbal Branding Services
A brand’s verbal identity is a powerful tool that captivates and engages customers and quickly conveys key messages. It tells the story of where your business comes from, why it exists, and what sets it apart from competitors, so it’s worth taking the time to get it right and all your own. Go forth, brands, and get yourself a big beautiful verbal identity that tells the world exactly who you are, and if you ever need a guide along the way, we’re here to help.
RevenueZen offers verbal branding services to brands looking to better convey what they do. Interested? Let’s talk.
I’m a native NYC boy, and my upbringing was centered around music, theater, and museums. As an only child, I often spent the entire evening making lesson plans for my imaginary students, printing them out, and making scholastic demands to a room of stuffed animals. I’d even make report cards, assign them their future teachers, and make pretend calls home to my ill behaved stuffed friends. Some point along the way I grabbed a degree in Biotechnology from Brown, and now I’m an SEO Strategist by day, perform original music under the name Jame Doe in the evenings, and sew elaborate clothing all night.
What’s a perfect day for you?
I open my eyes, and one of my three cats is curled up on my pillow with me. I wake up, sous vide an egg, and take a 40-minute walk around my SE Portland neighborhood where I either vacate my brain of all thoughts, or talk to a friend about nothing in particular. Aimlessly walking, I find myself looking at the architecture in my area, and make my way home to lounge in the backyard. I then experiment with a new sewing pattern, and in the evening, someone else cooks, and then I work on my music with my band until my eyes are heavy.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Definitely coming up with creative ways to help clients tell their stories. I find that my content syncs turn into a pseudo-therapy session, which I really do adore. It’s a pleasure to validate people’s thoughts when it comes to their businesses.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
I make the most perfect scrambled eggs. You always use a whisk and give a splash of salt, because that breaks the proteins up. Cook low and slow and never stop moving, and add a good spoonful of ricotta cheese about halfway through. Also, eat a full spoonful of ricotta while cooking the eggs because you deserve it.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
pokemonfood@aol.com and jakeismadcool was AIM name for a little too long
Did a little Los Angeles/Chicago hippity hop as a child, and spent the majority of my time hanging out in the dirt and working with horses. Left high school at the moody age of 15, took a backpack for a several year spin around the world, and then somehow got harangued into picking up a book or two, so ended up with a degree in Cultural Anthropology from Berkeley. I found myself in a strange walk of life as a professional sailor for the better part of a decade, and started a non-profit maritime education school for underserved populations on the water. I love adding a tool to the belt, so like all proper hyphenates these days, I peppered in working with reclaimed wood, B2C marketing, social media management, success coaching, bartending, personal training, business consulting and baby shoe production to the resume.
What’s a perfect day for you?
I wish I had a more fantastical fantasy day, but the essentials are what tend to make me feel best. If I have had iced coffee, some form of chicken and rice, a workout that doesn’t involve running, some time tending to my horde of plants, a game or two of cribbage/dominion/chess and assurance that all my people are healthy and happy, I’m stoked. If it is a really really special day, I would get to play Monopoly, but that’s only on the table once or twice a year because I have been told that I tend to get a little too competitive. Sigh.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love being able to facilitate clarity and understanding through thoughtful questions and creative design. It is an absolute honor to be invited into the process of learning the unique ins and outs of a person’s journey, and then sharing that narrative through compelling storytelling.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
I’m gonna be honest, the kitchen and I don’t tend to blend well. Once a year I apron up to make latkes for 24 hours with heaps of vodka flowing during the process, and then I return to my standard operating procedure of being grateful for the folks in my life that keep me fed.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
Yikes. There was an @hotmail involved and something about dancing naked under the moon. Now that I think of it, I should probably go check that account…
I grew up in Pittsburgh, PA (all over) and ended up graduating from Slippery Rock University with a BS in Marketing. After college my love for marketing led me to awesome work-related opportunities resulting in relocating to both Austin, TX and NYC – both cities I absolutely love. Outside of work, I enjoy working on the duplex I currently live in & rent out, and have taken a very recent heightened interest in epoxy woodworking projects!
What’s a perfect day for you?
A day with limited plans, ability to be spontaneous. Would involve an activity with my dog and nice weather, whether that be a walk, a hike in the woods, biking or kayaking (yes, we’ve done them all).
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Getting to meet new people, build relationships and learn more about different business models and growth.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
Burnt, inedible, unable to consume lol.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
I’ve actually only ever had 1 personal email address that only has my name, nothing crazy.
What’s the quirkiest thing about you?
Secretly (or maybe not so secretly) a huge nerd. Things I genuinely love talking about and building relationships over:
Ethical business growth
Marketing (demand gen & lead gen)
Software / SaaS
SEO
(at least my friends find it quirky lol).
Anything else you want the world to know?
May come as a surprise, but I’m not THAT much of a nerd lol – I actually have dedicated the majority of my life until recently playing soccer and lacrosse. Huge Pittsburgh sports fan! I have a gigantic close family who are very important to me: 2 older sisters, 1 older brother, and 2 younger sisters + 18 first cousins who are more like my siblings 🙂
I spent the majority of my life living in Dallas, TX and finally made the decision to move to Los Angeles late last year. It helps that my family lives out here and getting to spend more time with them is awesome. My favorite part about the move is getting to help my little sister with her acting auditions. I’m the official reader for most of her tapes (quiet voice speaking the lines of the other character in the scene). From a young age, I was an avid reader and would spend most summers cooped up in my room absorbing as many stories as possible. My love for reading made me think I would make a good teacher (idk why this was my logic).
I ended up going to UNT to get my teaching certificate for one whole week. No, I didn’t get it after a week. I changed my mind and moved back to Dallas to study psychology at UTD. I was also a waitress during this time and worked open – close on Friday – Sunday. It was a hectic period, and I have some pretty interesting stories. I’ve worked in sales, admin, and marketing, and although I don’t have as much free time as I did during those summers from my youth, I still absolutely love to read (although now mostly in the form of articles and captions).
What’s a perfect day for you?
Call me boring but nothing is better than being in your pajamas on a cold day drinking coffee and watching Hallmark Christmas movies. I might sound like an old soul, but I promise I’m not!
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Helping companies and getting to play a small part in helping them reach their business goals. As an added bonus, I get to work with a passionate group of people that genuinely love what they do.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
Christmas cookies! There is some serious backbreaking work to this process. Every year I begrudgingly make my way to the kitchen for an all day affair of chaos consisting of milk, egg, flour, an assortment of spices I use once a year, and my 2 sisters. It’s a family bonding thing, but it’s also messy and painful. The cookies look and taste amazing when they are ready. So..sort of worth it.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
Maybe don’t share this, but I think it was something like sexilylcutie@aol.com annnnnddd……..I think I was like 11/12 years old.
I studied journalism and sociology in school. I was a DJ at my college radio station and then later at a local AM station. Ask me to read the news.
I live in Northwest Arkansas, but have lived in Connecticut, Idaho, New Jersey, Texas, Wisconsin and California. I love to travel, so I’m always looking for my next global adventure.
In my spare time (in addition to travel), I like to take food photos, cook, garden, and work on my food blog. This is where I test out my SEO skills on a live project and get to see the magic percolate. I nerd out on keyword research, improving my DR and planning strategies.
What’s a perfect day for you?
I’m traveling somewhere new, so I set out to explore a new city. I tend to stay away from touristy sites and instead dive into public markets, take a cooking class to learn the food and culture, stroll aimlessly admiring street art, or take in an outdoor rooftop movie overlooking the Acropolis.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Learning. I know that’s a bit cliche, but I love to stretch my skill set. I also love interacting with my clients and connecting with them on a personal level. Relationship building is a huge factor in this role.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
Loaded baked potato soup. I’m a soup connoisseur, especially during the winter. Also, I make a mean 3-cheese and tomato grilled cheese.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
My lips are sealed. But, I used to sell dial-up internet service.
What’s the quirkiest thing about you?
I like to dive headfirst into anything travel related. I’m the go-to person in my group of friends for travel-related questions, research, or finding the best price or things to do. Want to stay in an Airbnb castle in Tuscany? I’ve got you. A week in an Athens flat? Let’s go. Or, if you want to hear about the Manhattan penthouse bathroom I got trapped in…
Anything else you want the world to know?
I have a secret desire to start a podcast, possibly triggered by my 90s obsession with Pump Up the Volume. You should meet my new mic. The sound is sick!
While I was born in CO, I have lived in Oregon since I was 3. Growing up on 5 acres I was fortunate to call a forest my playground and learned to work with my hands. Though I don’t think I studied anything of note in school, I was lucky to have the opportunity to play basketball at the collegiate level for a few years. My wife, son, two dogs, and I live just outside of Portland in a wonderful home surrounded by awesome neighbors. I am constantly working on new projects around the house from building out our mudroom to garden boxes, and most recently a pergola.
What’s a perfect day for you?
It can really depend, but a great weekend day starts with waking up in Black Butte, Oregon to poached eggs and sweet potato hashbrowns. Hanging out with friends and family in the morning over Portland Roasters coffee and then going out for a hike/round of golf/clay shooting in the afternoon. A short nap after lunch provides the energy to go to the pool for a couple of hours before finishing up with a Rib-Eye steak dinner and smoky single malt scotch around a fire scratching my dogs’ ears and listening to kid’s running around and laughing.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Getting to be a part of helping people achieve their desired professional growth. I also love building efficiency.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
Bacon-wrapped, gorgonzola-stuffed dates.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
tootallrock@ – I believe it was my first ever email address.
I could talk about my career, but that’s what LinkedIn’s for, so let’s talk about the fun stuff. I love what I’ve done in my life and can’t wait until tomorrow so I can do more. I love doing things that make me nervous as much as I love being calm in the midst of the crazy. I jump out of airplanes for the rush and sit on the beach at daybreak to take in the peace only the sea can bring. Depending on the day, you might hear anything from Chopin to Five Finger Death Punch blaring from my truck. I’ve served my country and currently serve my fellow veterans as a Service Officer for the American Legion. Sleep? I’ll do that later.
What’s a perfect day for you?
A giant glass of water to start the day, a warm breeze carrying the smell of summer, and time spent with the people I care about. Maybe some good food at some point and an evening by the fire in the firepit out back.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Every day brings a new challenge to overcome. Every day carries an opportunity to be the best person I can and improve the lives of my team. Oh, and SEO.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
No one, and I mean no one, can put in a DoorDash order like me.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
16 years of ballet. 2 troublemaking dogs. Lots of opinions. Raised a nomad and grateful for an unstable childhood, I made my way west in 2008. My first year of college an english professor told me I was a terrible writer, so I got a book deal and dropped out. These days I’m still writing, but I realized pretty early that royalty checks aren’t consistent, so I got my first agency gig editing and climbed my way through the marketing ranks from there, one algorithm at a time.
What’s a perfect day for you?
Autumn Sunday morning, late breakfast, followed by coffee and an edible, then thrifting in a comfy sweater. Or, alternatively, Day Two of a good PNW music festival.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Building a legacy and getting to meet amazing people along the way.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
My brussel sprout game is untouchable.
Three most used emojis?
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
The perfect day starts by waking up on a warm summer day by the side of a river that I’ve hiked out to. I open the tent, splash some water on my face, and get the coffee ready by a small morning fire. Then I jump into my hammock and read until my wife wakes up and demands to be fed. So I grab a rock and make the fire a little bigger, and prepare some camping approved breakfast combination. I’ll take some long and purposeless hike throughout the day, either with my wife, friends, or by myself. Get back, take a nap, wait until night time to have a beer and smores. Perfect.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
I love solving big and important problems that help others get unstuck and move closer to their potential.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
Carne asada tacos. The secret is in my marinade. I’ll never tell.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
My first AOL email….”kenret13@aol.com”. To this day I have no idea where that came from or what it means. LOL
I was born in California, raised outside of San Francisco. (You can take the kid out of SF but you can’t take the… yeah.) Oddly but also completely logically, I studied Moral Philosophy in college. I think learning how to think and talk and structure arguments is one of my best assets in business. But I also love music quite a bit, and while my music theory isn’t great, I’ve been playing instruments of various kinds for 20+ years now. Talk classical flute or fingerstyle guitar to me.
What’s a perfect day for you?
Morning cappuccino at the cafe, listening to jazz rap (look it up on Spotify), while reading The Economist. Few strategy calls with awesome SaaS founders. Winding 30-mile bike ride (taking the scenic route) to the gym for a lift with a friend. Thai BBQ dinner with mezcal cocktail. In bed before 10:30.
What’s your favorite part of your job?
Learning about new business models and coming up with a strategy, then seeing it evolve over time. I’ve spent a lot of time “turning the dials” on B2B growth campaigns, but the development of a strategy and aligning everyone to that vision, is my favorite part.
What’s a recipe that no one makes better than you?
Pancakes. I am really good at warm, buttery, fluffy pancakes. And crepes.
What’s the most bizarre email address you’ve ever had?
My address as a pre-teen was coolsk8r32@aol.com. Judge me all you like, I was 11 and could not get enough of skateboarding. And being cool.
