Create An Effective Brand Communication Plan (+ Marketing Channels)

Learn a seven-step process to create an effective brand communication strategy that influences beyond visuals and connects emotionally with your audience.

Key Takeaways

Brand communication strategy is crucial for influencing consumer perceptions beyond just visual branding.
Messaging that appeals to emotions is more impactful than aesthetics in driving buying decisions.
A clear brand position and core message form the foundation of effective communication.
Multiple touchpoints across various channels are needed to build brand awareness and trust.
Understanding the audience’s journey and pain points leads to more meaningful and effective messaging.

What the video covers

The video explains a seven-step process to develop a brand communication strategy that goes beyond visual identity to influence audience perceptions.
Brand communication strategy is described as a 'silent assassin' that shapes how audiences perceive and emotionally connect with a brand.
Visual elements are important but messaging and emotional connection play a far greater role in consumer decision-making.
Consumers typically need seven to eight touchpoints to notice and engage with a brand, making a multi-channel communication plan essential.
Understanding buyer personas deeply, including their pain points and emotional drivers, is critical to crafting effective brand messages.
The brand’s position and value proposition must be clearly defined before developing a core message and supporting key messages.
Every branding message should appeal to the emotional brain using relevant language and tone to evoke the right feelings.
Brands ultimately live in the minds of consumers and are shaped by their perceptions, which marketers can influence but not control.
The video emphasizes the importance of coordinated messaging across multiple channels to build credibility and relevance.
Examples of communication channels like email marketing and community engagement are briefly mentioned as part of the strategy.

Chapters

What is the main purpose of a brand communication strategy?

The main purpose of a brand communication strategy is to influence how the audience perceives the brand beyond just visual elements, helping them understand why they should choose the brand by connecting emotionally and logically.

How important are visuals compared to messaging in branding?

While visuals help distinguish a brand, messaging is far more important in influencing buying decisions because it appeals directly to the consumer’s emotions and reasoning.

Why do brands need multiple touchpoints to engage consumers?

Consumers typically require seven to eight touchpoints to notice and engage with a brand, so a communication plan must use multiple channels to build awareness, credibility, and emotional connection.

Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown

Speaker A

What's up, brand builder? Stephen Houraghan here, BrandMasterAcademy.com, and in this video, you're going to learn how to create a brand communication strategy with this seven-step process so you can develop a tool of influence that goes way beyond the visuals to help your audience understand why they should choose your brand.

Speaker A

they should choose your brand now the brand communication strategy is the silent assassin for any brand that has taken the time to develop it effectively now there are plenty of branding terms that get plenty of pixel space such as brand design visual identity brand personality

Speaker A

Now, the brand communication strategy is the silent assassin for any brand that has taken the time to develop it effectively.

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perceptions now believe it or not in many corners of the world there are those that believe that branding is a collection of visual elements designed to create a distinction when compared to other brands now while aesthetics certainly play a role in distinguishing one brand from the next

Speaker A

Now, there are plenty of branding terms that get plenty of pixel space, such as brand design, visual identity, brand personality, and of course, brand strategy.

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we really want to know well whether it's you me john smith down the road your customer or anybody else we're all thinking the same thing how can this brand this product this service make my life better and why should i care and this is where a brand's communication strategy steps in

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And there has been considerably less time by considerably fewer branding experts afforded to the seemingly less sexy brand communication strategy.

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strategies ultimately the consumer decides in their mind what that image means to them brands therefore don't live on street corners on digital platforms or on billboards they live and die in the minds of the audience now brands are described in many different ways and i often

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And in this video, you'll see why this strategic branding element can penetrate hearts and minds and shape perceptions.

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the audience then it is shaped by the perceptions of that audience in the individual minds with every new touch point your target audience builds a better understanding of how relevant credible or interesting your brand is or is not the reality is no matter what level of

Speaker A

Now, believe it or not, in many corners of the world, there are those that believe that branding is a collection of visual elements designed to create a distinction when compared to other brands.

Speaker A

we can't control our target audience's minds we can most certainly influence them across multiple touch points with a communication strategy that informs the stories we tell across traditional and digital marketing materials and how do we do that well the brand communication strategy of course

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Now, while aesthetics certainly play a role in distinguishing one brand from the next, when it comes to making buying decisions and deciding which brands to adopt, the role of visuals is insignificant when compared to messaging.

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follow and why we do what we do we now understand that a vital part of our decision-making process is through our emotional limbic system in our brain so much so that brain-damaged patients left devoid of emotions struggled to make the most elementary decisions so what does this all mean

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And as consumers, we quickly move on past how a brand looks to get to what we really want to know about.

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up into a single core message but the reality is in the modern environment consumers need seven to eight touch points on average to even take notice of your brand so your brand communication plan needs to speak to your buyer personas to get their attention

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So what exactly is it that we really want to know?

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though many an article will put these two on a pedestal the reality is they don't really tell you too much about the ideal customer who they really are what they really do what they really feel and the challenges that they're going through but by understanding the journey your target

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Well, whether it's you, me, John Smith down the road, your customer, or anybody else, we're all thinking the same thing: how can this brand, this product, this service make my life better, and why should I care?

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to achieve what obstacles are standing in the way these questions will get to the crux of who these people are and why the existence of your brand and the solution it offers is so important to them step number two uncover their pain points and emotional investment understanding the journey of

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And this is where a brand's communication strategy steps in.

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while many marketers and entrepreneurs go through the motions to get to the selling as quickly as possible strategic brand builders on the other hand that spend that extra time on this section really reap the rewards later on because they really understand their audience as abraham

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Now, in his wildly popular book The Brand Gap, and one of my favorites, Mr. Marty Neumeier said, a brand is not what you say it is; it's what they say it is.

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a brand a really really sharp axe step number three know your position now before the brand communication strategy comes to life the brand strategist will have done their due diligence they'll have applied creative thinking to uncover an opportunity to develop a differentiation

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In other words, although brands spend billions of dollars a year to control their image in the market via multi-channel content marketing strategies, ultimately, the consumer decides in their mind what that image means to them.

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that brand is different before a single message is crafted this position must be clearly defined step number four gain clarity in your value now the key differentiator and the positioning strategy mark the spot where the comprehensive brand image will stand so from here the brand strategist works to

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Brands, therefore, don't live on street corners, on digital platforms, or on billboards; they live and die in the minds of the audience.

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strategy and no message should be crafted without us step number five develop your core message now with the position and the clear value of that position to the audience already outlined it's time to develop the core message now the core message is widely considered to be the cornerstone

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Now, brands are described in many different ways, and I often make a point of describing what the term means in as few words as possible.

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plants a flag in the ground outlining the summary of the overall message the core message however is not a tool that can be used time and again by the brand manager so that's the role of the next step step number six clarify your key messages now the core message places the crosshairs in the

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And if I had to pick a single word as a descriptor, I would choose the word perceptions.

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is why your brand communication strategy needs a coordinated effort the positioning strategy the value that that difference offers and the core message all represent a series of key messages that must all work together to shape the perceptions in the mind of the audience so clarify

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If a brand lives in the mind of the audience, then it is shaped by the perceptions of that audience in the individual minds.

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uncover the emotions that each one will appeal to remember we make most of our decisions through our emotional brain so every last one of your branding messages therefore must consider the emotion that it's appealing to and use the relevant language and tone to evoke that emotion

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With every new touchpoint, your target audience builds a better understanding of how relevant, credible, or interesting your brand is or is not.

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and your messaging framework we now need to decide what your communication channels are going to be now imagine this years ago if you wanted to create a small business never mind to build a brand your communication options were limited to tv which you couldn't afford radio which you probably couldn't

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The reality is, no matter what level of brand awareness a business has, it doesn't actually have control over how the consumer perceives their brand.

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heart here are some of the most effective modern digital marketing channels to distribute your brand's communication first up is social media marketing now it's true that organic reach on some social media platforms is not what it used to be probably because zucks is stuffing those fees

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Now, you might be thinking, really? Really, Steven? No control? So what's the point in all this branding stuff if we don't actually have control over perceptions?

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and with a little bit of searching you might uncover a highly engaged group and become part of that community email marketing now email shot into the spotlight with marketing in the late 90s when email open rates were upwards of 90 percent but as usual however marketers ruined a good thing

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Well, although as brand builders we can't control our target audience's minds, we can most certainly influence them across multiple touchpoints with a communication strategy that informs the stories we tell across traditional and digital marketing materials.

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communication strategy as needed email automation allows brands to slowly and consistently nurture relationships to draw customers closer with small deliveries of value on a consistent basis website communication now your website is often one of the very first touch points that your brand

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And how do we do that?

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they're going to value most businesses will have messages that bang on about how great they are including a detailed biography of the founders and their pets and because you've taken the time to develop your communication strategy now your website will display critical key messages that speak to emotions and begin shaping

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Well, the brand communication strategy, of course.

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that relationship happens with your audience now look branding is a game of shaping perceptions brands built strategically consider each and every one of the tools of influence that shape perceptions and none are more important than the brand communication strategy so take

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Now, neuroscience is a rapidly evolving field that hasn't covered much about the human brain that we never knew in the past or at least couldn't scientifically put our finger on.

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to get more videos like this until next time brian like a master and i'll see you in the next video

Topics:brand communication strategybrand messagingbrand positioningemotional brandingmarketing channelsbrand perceptionbuyer personasbrand communication planStephen HouraghanBrand Master Academy

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