On this episode of Your Brand Is Showing, I sat down with Cassidy Handle, a brand messaging strategist and copywriter, to really dig into what brand messaging is, why it matters so much, and how to start building it with clarity and confidence.

🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify

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What Is Brand Messaging?

At its core, brand messaging is the strategic foundation that defines how your brand communicates who you are, what you do, who you help, and why it matters.

It’s the combination of:

• Your brand’s voice and tone
• Your core values and beliefs
• Your mission and vision
• The specific language you use to connect with your audience
• The stories you tell to make emotional and logical connections

It’s not just what you say—it’s how you say it, why you say it, and who you’re saying it to.

Cassidy explained it with a simple metaphor: “The horse is your messaging strategy. The cart is your copy.”

In other words, before you start writing emails, creating Instagram posts, or designing a website, you need to know the bigger story you’re telling.

You need your guiding strategy first—otherwise, all your marketing efforts feel disjointed, and your audience feels disconnected.

Why Brand Messaging Matters (Even If You’re Just Starting Out)

Brand messaging isn’t something only “big brands” need. It’s something every service-based business needs, whether you’re a solo copywriter, a personal trainer, a web designer, or a yoga instructor. Here’s why:

• It builds trust faster – When your messaging is clear, consistent, and resonant, your audience knows exactly who you are and what you stand for. Trust isn’t built through volume; it’s built through clarity.
• It creates an emotional connection – Good messaging isn’t just factual—it’s emotional. It taps into your audience’s hopes, fears, desires, and dreams. It makes people feel seen, heard, and understood.
• It makes marketing and selling easier – When you have a strong messaging foundation, you’re not reinventing the wheel every time you sit down to write a post or send an email. You already know how you speak, what matters most, and what your audience cares about.
• It helps you grow sustainably – As you build a team, work with contractors, or even use AI tools to assist your business, your brand messaging becomes the blueprint that ensures consistency—across every platform, every project, every piece of communication.

What Goes Into Strong Brand Messaging?

Brand messaging isn’t just a tagline or a “vibe.” It’s a full ecosystem. Here are some of the core pieces you want to define:

1. Your Mission

Why does your business exist? What’s the change you want to create for your clients or community?

2. Your Vision

Where is your brand heading in the next 5–10 years? What future are you building toward?

3. Your Core Values

Not just generic words like “honesty” and “authenticity” but clearly articulated principles that guide how you operate, communicate, and make decisions.

Cassidy recommends going deeper here. Instead of just listing values, ask yourself:

• What does your brand do and not do?
• What does your brand love and hate?
• What kinds of references, humor, or cultural moments would you use or avoid?

That level of specificity is what gives a brand texture and makes it memorable.

4. Your Audience Profile

Your messaging should be built for someone, not just “anyone.” Create a vivid, detailed profile of your ideal client:

• What are they struggling with?
• How do they describe those struggles in their own words?
• What are they dreaming about?
• How do they make decisions?

Pro tip: Pull from real conversations, testimonials, and intake forms to understand their voice, not just your perception of it.

5. Your Brand Voice and Tone

How does your brand sound? Are you bold and cheeky? Warm and nurturing? Sharp and strategic? Clarify not just your general style, but also:

• What kind of humor is okay (and what isn’t)
• Whether you swear and if so, how much
• What topics you lean into and what you avoid
• What personality traits you want your brand to embody

Consistency here builds trust and helps your brand feel like a real, three-dimensional person your audience can relate to.

The Power of Specificity

One of the biggest opportunities in brand messaging is learning to get more specific.

Not just “we help bold brands stand out”—but how? Not just “we value authenticity”—but what does that look like in action?

Cassidy shared that when you document specifics—your audience’s exact words, the jokes your brand would and wouldn’t make, the core beliefs you hold—it makes everything easier: your marketing, your sales, even how you show up in collaborations or partnerships.

When you know who you are and how you sound, you can make decisions faster, show up more consistently, and create a seamless brand experience from Instagram DMs to checkout confirmation emails.

Brand Messaging Evolves (And That’s a Good Thing)

One of the most reassuring parts of this conversation? Your brand messaging doesn’t have to stay frozen in time.

As you grow—as a business owner, as a person, as a leader—your messaging can (and should) evolve with you.

The goal isn’t perfection. The goal is alignment: making sure that how you’re communicating today truly reflects the brand you’re building for tomorrow.

If you’ve been feeling scattered, stuck, or unsure why your marketing isn’t landing the way you want—it might not be about working harder. It might be about stepping back and solidifying your brand messaging.

Messaging is what gives everything else shape, substance, and staying power. And the best time to start building it intentionally? Right now.

🎧 Listen on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify