Say It 1000 Ways: positioning, messaging, and copywriting defined
Known For podcast, Ep 001
Most consultants start with copywriting and work backward. Erin explains why that makes everything harder.
Three Things You’ll Learn:
What positioning, messaging, and copywriting each mean, and why they have to be built in that order
How positioning gives the right people a compelling reason to choose you
How to say one message a thousand different ways without losing the thread
If you’ve ever struggled to describe what you do, or found yourself rewriting the same bio for the hundredth time, this episode is for you.
Erin Braford starts with a simple question: what do positioning, messaging, and copywriting mean, and how do they connect? She walks through each term and calls out the most common place consultants get stuck: starting with the words before the strategy is solid.
[00:02:58] “Oh, you need a copywriter who understands healthcare? I got a guy.”
Erin uses the “I got a guy” problem to define what positioning is really solving for: becoming the first name someone thinks of when the right problem comes up. Messaging translates your expertise into language your clients use. Copywriting is where all of it becomes words on a page or in a room with a client.
[00:07:38] “Your message is what you’re going to say. Copywriting is how you say it.”
Transcription: Episode 1_Known For - a show by Dreamboat
Host and speaker: Erin Braford
(0:04) Today I'm going to jump in with some definitions because this is key to working with all of (0:12) my clients just getting on the same page about what these common, in my parlance, terms are (0:20) so that we can actually start to make progress toward clarifying our message, being clear (0:27) about what we want to note, be known for, and find new ways to get that message out (0:32) into the world even beyond just our existing referral partners and current network. (0:37) The three ideas that we're going to explore very briefly today from a definition point of view are positioning, messaging, and copywriting.
(0:47) The three of them are related and so we'll also talk about how they relate to each other and the common sort of missteps that get made around positioning and messaging and copywriting. (1:00) So I hope this is a helpful 101-level reminder and or introduction to what these concepts are. (1:08) I'm Erin Braford and this is Known For.
(1:12) All right, so let's talk about positioning. (1:15) Positioning is really on the strategy side of things. (1:19) It is something everybody kind of understands.
(1:21) It's pretty common for me to hear from clients, we want to be positioned as strategic advisors. (1:29) When my clients are saying that, they are usually saying we want to be seen as strategic advisors. (1:36) Again, we want to be known for being a trustworthy and valuable partner.
(1:42) That is, in general, what we're talking about when we say, how do you want to be viewed by the people around you? (1:49) So that is your position, sort of. (1:52) But then when we're actually talking about it from a marketing point of view, what we're saying is, how do you give people the right, or not just any people, specifically the right people, a compelling reason to choose to work with you?
(2:06) So it is about the associations you're creating around your firm. (2:10) And another kind of easy way to think about this that I use when I'm with clients is this idea of, you know that thing where you have someone asks you for a referral for something, and you're like, oh, I got a guy. (2:27) I got a guy who, you know, you've got an old house with stucco, and you need it painted by someone who understands that.
(2:33) I got a guy that's a very specific need. (2:37) And the reason they're asking for a referral is because it's not the easiest thing to discern. (2:42) And you want to work with somebody who comes from someone you trust, right?
(2:46) Same thing happens with consulting firms. (2:49) So part of the positioning equation, the work that we're trying to do, is become the answer to that, I got a guy problem. (2:58) Oh, you need a copywriter who understands healthcare?
(3:00) I got a guy. (3:01) You need a recruiter for your private equity firm who gets the regulations and also the competition landscape? (3:08) That is one part of the positioning equation.
(3:11) And what you're hearing is a combination of the industry and the service that they provide. (3:18) That's like entry point level positioning, the clarity around that. (3:22) The second part, and the thing that we're really trying to get to, if you're thinking about the full definition, is understanding the real value and the unique value that your firm provides for those clients.
(3:35) The reason is because if we think about it as a progression, knowing what kind of company you are and who you serve, that gets the prospect into the right arena. (3:47) They're in the right ballpark. (3:49) But now you have to then convince them, compel them to choose you.
(3:55) And so this is where differentiation becomes part of the conversation. (3:59) Once they're there, okay, you're a copywriter who does healthcare specifically, or you're a DEI consultancy that works with Fortune 500 companies. (4:10) Cool.
(4:11) Now why should I choose you specifically among my other options? (4:17) So that's the second part is identifying the unique value that you provide that they are willing to pay for. (4:24) So taking together the decisions about who you're going to serve, what specifically you want to be known for in terms of your offers, and then how you plan to differentiate or what you can do to differentiate from others that they might choose.
(4:41) That is all part of the decision-making around your positioning strategy. (4:45) Now that you have an idea about how you want to position your firm, how you want to show up, what you want to be known for, you have to figure out what the message to those folks is. (5:00) The message is still in the strategic realm.
(5:04) You're clarifying for your company, what kind of value you're creating specifically, and which of those bits of value are you going to lead with to try to compel that person to care about the work that you're doing? (5:20) Meaning our service solves a problem. (5:24) What problem is it that we solve?
(5:26) And how do we talk about that in a way that the audience, the prospects that we want to work with understand? (5:33) For me, I think I usually think about this space as a lot of the translation work. (5:38) So one, we have to be able to articulate the value.
(5:41) But the second part is then thinking about how do my clients talk about this problem? (5:49) A lot of times as consultants, we bring a lot of knowledge to the space. (5:54) We've already sort of solved the problem over and over and over again for other clients.
(5:59) And we frequently speak to that output, the outcome of the work that we do. (6:06) It can be easy to talk about the work the way a practitioner thinks about it, and not necessarily the way the client is articulating the problem. (6:16) So this bit of messaging strategy, thinking about what messages are we going to lead with?
(6:21) What are we going to test and learn to see what's most compelling? (6:25) Those are about this, this step is about grabbing the key ideas and creating the framework that you can then use to go to market. (6:34) It answers key questions with the specifics.
(6:38) So who are we? (6:40) How do we describe the work that we do? (6:42) How do our clients describe the work that they do?
(6:46) And then how do we talk about the value we create? (6:50) How do we support that value creation, that big promise? (6:54) With some very clear benefits.
(6:57) And then how do we back up those benefits? (6:59) With evidence, with proof points that we actually can deliver those things. (7:04) So right there is a pretty basic, clear messaging framework, value proposition, key benefits for the client, evidence or proof points that you can deliver that big promise that you've just made.
(7:18) Now, you actually have to take that messaging to market. (7:24) And now that it's time to take that message to market, now you're looking at which words physically, pen to paper, do I choose to describe these ideas that I've just set up in my messaging? (7:38) In other words, your message is what you're going to say.
(7:43) Copywriting is how you say it. (7:45) The key to copywriting or thinking about this way, I think, is how do you say your one message a thousand ways consistently to reinforce those associations you're trying to create in your positioning? (8:02) One way to think about this is that you have one message and in copywriting, you want to say that message a thousand different ways.
(8:11) Because how you say something on your website is different from how you'll say it in an introduction at a networking event, is different from how you would say it at a pitch with a client or on a sales call. (8:27) And yet it's all has to be the same message. (8:29) You can't go off script, but so much.
(8:32) Because you want to be consistently reinforcing the value proposition, the thing that you deliver to that client. (8:40) And so how you say it changes for where it is showing up, where your client is meeting it. (8:49) That's all copywriting.
(8:50) So just to kind of recap, we tend to start at copywriting. (8:54) It's just what you think of when you're like, I need to describe what I do. (8:57) I'm going to write a headline or I have to write this bio for myself or I have to put a boilerplate for our firm together for this speaking event.
(9:06) That's all tactical downstream copywriting. (9:10) And it's much, much harder if you find yourself constantly switching words, constantly trying to figure out exactly how to manipulate the message for that audience. (9:22) That is because there may not have been as many strategic decisions made or need to spend a little bit more time identifying what the message is so that you know how to then interpret it for those different end points.
(9:38) Similarly, it's hard to get to a clear and compelling message if you are unclear about how you want to position yourself. (9:45) If you are using lots of ands in the kind of company that you are. (9:50) We're a DEI and consulting and training and so-and-so and so-and-so company.
(9:59) That is not a position that's trying to have many positions into one. (10:06) And it makes it very confusing because imagine now when you go to write that one message, how do you articulate that you're all of these companies at once? (10:15) It's very difficult.
(10:17) And so the relationship there, if you want to start way upstream, is that we are going to start with our clear positioning strategy, which usually comes out of decision making around what we want to be known for and what our opportunities in the market are to stand out.
(10:34) We're going to clarify how our clients in that space think about their problem and craft a message that is ownable and repeatable.
(10:45) And then we're going to turn that all into copywriting so that we're saying our same message a thousand ways across all the channels where we are trying to reach our clients.
(10:56) So the reason, once again, I wanted to go over these definitions is because this is absolutely the core of the work that I do. (11:04) And it points often to some of the work that need to be doing for yourself as a consultant who is trying to make a name, have a reputation that precedes you. (11:15) What is the value of that?
(11:16) The value of that is that you become the person who is immediately thought about when a client or a prospect that you don't even know has a problem that sounds like the problem you solve. (11:29) The more clear your referral partners, your team members, and you are about who you are as a business, who you serve specifically, what you do uniquely, it is the easier it is for those referrals to be made. (11:45) And not only that, but once those referrals are made by people who understand how to point them in the right direction, that means you're saving time on every sales call.
(11:56) You're not having to rethink your marketing topics. (12:00) You can easily identify LinkedIn posts if that's how you want to share some thought leadership. (12:06) All of these things are tied back to knowing what you want to say and why you are saying it.
(12:12) And so I hope that by going through messaging, copywriting, and positioning, or rather in order from strategic to tactical, positioning, messaging, and copywriting, I hope you can identify some opportunities to help the right people feel more compelled to choose you when it comes to providing a service that they need. (12:34) But I hope that this has been a helpful introduction to the difference between positioning, messaging, and copywriting. (12:42) If you have any questions, I hope you'll send them directly to me.
(12:45) I would love to get a chance to answer them.
(12:47) If any of these ideas are particularly helpful, I hope you will let me know what's standing out to you and what's coming up for you so we can continue to grow in our mutual understanding of what is helpful in this space for consultants like you. (13:02) I'm Erin Braford, and this is Known For.
