You can’t just put your products or services out there and expect people to see the value of your offerings on their own. You have to help your audience understand the importance of the product or service.
This is where your key message comes in. Think of it as a marketing copy that highlights the pain points your buyer personas are dealing with and describes how your product or service helps resolve them.
Your key message is a statement that captures the central idea that you want potential customers to have about your brand, its identity, goals and objectives, product/service features, and unique selling point.
In this article, we’re going to share some impactful key message examples for brands that you can draw from when developing your brand messaging, as well as practical tips to keep in mind when drafting your key messages.
How to Write Effective Key Messages?
Use the following rules and characteristics as a guide when creating key messages for your marketing communications:
1. Follow the key message formula
For your key message to stop people in their tracks and inspire them to take action, it needs to feature three important components which can be expressed by this simple formula: (value) + (how) + (solutions or capabilities).
Your key message needs to state the value that your brand has to offer and highlight any unique details that set you apart. Then it needs to say how you provide this value and the pain points or use cases that your product has solutions or capabilities for.
2. Keep it concise and simple
Ideally, your key message should be short and straight to the point. Avoid long run-on sentences and stick to words that are easy to understand.
People should be able to read the entire statement in 30 seconds or less. Assume that every potential customer is unfamiliar with your industry and keep the jargon minimal.
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3. Ensure it’s relevant to your audience
Your key message is not the place to list out all of your product/service features or tell the story of how your business began.
Put yourself in your audience’s shoes and consider what is important for them to know about your brand, then make that the focus of your messaging.
A good strategy is to use your key message to speak to your audience’s pain points and challenges so they can see the specific ways in which your offerings can improve their lives.
What challenges can you help your audience solve? Who are your products or services intended for? What differentiates your products and positioning from that of your competitors? These are the kind of details your key message should contain.
5. Embrace clarity
If what your company does and the benefits your products bring to the table are not immediately evident to anyone who reads your key message, your copy is not clear enough.
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Key Message Examples for Brands
1. ServiceNow
“Focus on work that matters. Say YES to driving growth and reducing costs with ServiceNow, the intelligent platform for end-to-end digital transformation.”
Going by this core message from ServiceNow, you can tell that it’s a technology brand that helps businesses create, streamline, and transform their digital infrastructure to improve productivity.
The very first sentence tells you what you can look forward to if you choose to use ServiceNow; the ability to focus on work that matters.
This means that the brand can help you minimize or eliminate certain workflows that are crucial but low-value and tedious or monotonous so you redirect your human resources to more high-value tasks.
In just two sentences, ServiceNow makes it clear that it can help you save money and scale your business. What the company does and the pain points its products can solve are unmistakable, and the message manages to be strong while appealing to all target clients.
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2. Zapier
“Easier automation, bigger impact. Zapier connects your tools to streamline your mission-critical processes. Build custom workflows in minutes. Automate the busywork, so you can focus on your job, not your tools. We’ll show you how.”
Zapier’s website is filled with effective key messages like this that speak to its target audience, capture their attention, and lure them to stay longer and learn what the product can do for them.
Zapier understands that modern-day businesses have to use many different tools and software to run their operations. This means that they have a lot of workflows that need to be set up and managed, so Zapier promises to help them automate these processes in a matter of minutes.
In just a few sentences, Zapier explains that it is there to help busy organizations make their employees’ jobs easier and ramp up productivity. I mean, what professional or company wouldn’t want that; the ability to do more in less time?
Naturally, readers are going to be inspired to find out more about Zapier’s offerings and how they can benefit from them.
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3. Oportun
“Your money goals are our goals. Oportun is here for all things saving, borrowing, budgeting, and investing. Tell us where you want to be financially and we’ll help you get there.”
The very first statement in Oportun’s key messages establishes a connection with the reader and positions Oportun as a company that takes a personal approach with all its customers.
It suggests to readers that Oportun has their back and will be there for them financially in whatever capacity their needs require. Oportun’s brand message then goes on to list some of the areas of finance that the company can help users with.
Then it rounds things up by reemphasizing Oportun’s commitment to helping them realize their financial goals.
Even though this key message doesn’t explicitly state what techniques or strategies Oportun will use to bring users one step closer to financial fulfillment, it’s still captivating enough to pique your interest.
From the message, it’s evident that Oportun is a financial technology company and its core differentiator is its personalized approach. And that’s enough to get potential customers curious enough to sign up.
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4. Quan
“Helping busy teams build healthy rituals. Our science-backed employee well-being software helps managers and teams prevent burn-out and enhance team performance.”
The last thing any company that cares about its employees and wants them to continue contributing meaningfully to the organization’s growth would want is for its workforce to experience burnout.
Quan’s key message taps into this pain point to sell the software as a proven solution for addressing and preventing it.
Quan’s messaging uses powerful words and evocative language to highlight the brand’s value proposition, describe what it does and what it can accomplish, and push readers to find out more.
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5. Chipotle
“We believe that food has the power to change the world. We do it by being real. Being real means making food fresh every day. Being real means we only use 53 ingredients that you can pronounce. This isn’t just food for thought, it’s thought for food.”
This key message from Chipotle tells you everything you need to know about what the brand does, what its mission is, and how it lives up to this goal. Clearly, this is a restaurant brand that takes the business of food seriously and wants to encourage full transparency around the things we eat.
The company leverages the repetition of words like “real” to reinforce the message it’s trying to pass across and evoke an image of freshness, authenticity, and healthiness.
When a restaurant is telling you on its website, in its ads, and in other communication channels that it only uses fresh organic produce to prepare meals and specifies the exact ingredients it uses, you can’t help but trust it over its competitors.
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6. MasterCard
“There are some things money can’t buy. For everything else, there’s Mastercard. Together, the possibilities are priceless.”
In 1997, MasterCard was in dire need of a reboot and needed a long-term marketing campaign with staying power that would help it drastically increase awareness and customer acquisition.
The company finally settled for the “Priceless” campaign which became a viral hit and inspired numerous other ads. Over two decades later, this key message remains etched in MasterCard DNA and it continues to evoke strong emotions.
The very sentence forces readers to recall the many wonderful things that money can’t buy such as friends, family, love, or watching your favorite club lift a trophy.
By the time you get to the second part of the sentence that mentions MasterCard, an emotional connection has already been established. The beauty of MasterCard’s key message is in its stickiness; it’s concise, catchy, and so incredibly memorable that it almost dares you to forget it.
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7. Trello
“Trello brings all your tasks, teammates, and tools together. Keep everything in the same place—even if your team isn’t.”
In a world where hybrid and remote work are becoming increasingly popular, Trello’s key message highlights a challenge that many companies face: staying on top of what needs to be done and who is doing what.
Using succinct sentences, Trello frames its product as a collaboration platform that can help businesses streamline goals and projects, and increase productivity, by making it easier for them to manage all the moving parts of their workflow.
Trello’s message not only shines a light on the brand’s value and capabilities, it also doubles as a call to action. It motivates businesses to take a step towards solving the problem of confusing task ownership and scattered spreadsheets and documents.
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8. Peloton
“Peloton uses technology and design to connect the world through fitness, empowering people to be the best version of themselves anywhere, anytime.”
Peloton wants to be known for more than just “the company that makes exercise bikes”. It wants to make staying fit and exercising fun, convenient, and simple enough for anyone to do.
Through its key message, Peloton explains what the company does and stands for, what it wants to achieve, and how it plans to achieve it. Peloton’s messaging frames it as a fitness brand that wants to do more than help you work out.
It also wants to help you build healthy habits and connect with other people who are on the same journey. Peloton’s message is concise and compelling enough to connect with readers and distinguish the brand from other companies in the fitness market.
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9. Tiktok
“Tiktok is the leading destination for short-form mobile video. Our mission is to inspire creativity and bring joy.”
Another great key message example your brand can emulate can be found on TikTok’s About page. TikTok doesn’t beat around the bush, it goes straight to the point and makes its value proposition clear.
To anyone who’s been paying any attention to the world, there’s simply no denying that TikTok is one of the hottest social media platforms right now. It’s wildly popular and has lots of creative content to offer across a multitude of topics and interests.
Even if you have never heard of the platform or seen a bunch of TikTok videos, the claim that it is the leading destination for short mobile videos will likely spur you to go see for yourself.
Yes, TikTok is tooting its own horn, but a little bragging won’t hurt your key message as long as your product can back it up.
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10. Casper
“Hi. We’re Casper, the Sleep Company. We are setting a new standard in sleep innovation. Our researchers, designers, and engineers at Casper Labs spend their waking hours studying sleep and creating products based on real customer needs and feedback. The result? The most innovative sleep products that no one else has ever dreamed possible.”
Since Casper arrived on the scene in 2014, it has wormed its way into the hearts of over a million customers and made hundreds of millions of dollars along the way. How has it managed this feat?
The secret is in the key messages that the mattress company infuses into all of its content from its website to its social media pages. Casper’s messaging declares that it is the “Sleep Company” whose focus is on making innovative sleep products.
This already puts it above other companies selling mattresses in the minds of readers who are looking to sleep better so they can maximize productivity.
Casper’s messaging positions it as a brand that uses research and scientific methods to design products that eliminate inconveniences that can hamper your sleep.
This sets them apart from their competitors and pushes potential customers to learn more about Casper’s offerings so they too can enjoy better sleep and all the benefits that come with it.
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11. Outdoor Voices
“Outdoor Voices is on a mission to get the world moving. We believe freeing fitness from performance starts with having fun and generating endorphins. That’s why we create high-quality products for Recreation that make you feel strong, confident, and ready for #DoingThings.
Unlike traditional athletic wear and lifestyle brands that focus their messaging on inspiring you to get active by talking about the endless benefits of exercising, Outdoor Voices’ key message puts its own unique spin on fitness.
The brand’s message seems to understand that exercise can be daunting and it’s a lot easier to make fitness a regular practice when you’re having fun or doing it with other people.
Outdoor Voices turns the light away from performance-oriented exercise and shines it on fun, comfort, and community-oriented fitness.
In so doing, Outdoor Voices’ key message instantly appeals to its target audience—young and (aspiring) active people who want stylish athletic wear that’s sustainably made and appropriate for all kinds of fun and sweaty activities.
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12. AllSpice
“A git platform for hardware engineers. Accelerate your time to market with AllSpice – enabling modern revision control and collaboration for native electronic designs.”
This key message example conveys all the important information that potential customers need to know about AllSpice.
It tells readers what AllSpice is about (a git platform), who it is for (hardware engineers), the value it can add to their lives (time to market acceleration), and how it accomplishes this (revision control and collaboration.
There’s no ambiguity in AllSpice’s key message. It provides immediate clarity about what the brand does and how it can help using easy-to-understand language even though the product is built for the technical market.
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13. LessAccounting
“Smart bookkeeping. Powered by professionals. Backed by technology. Let’s do it all for you! Reconcile your accounts. Provide you with clean books every month. Ensure accurate records for seamless tax filing. Track your business financial health.”
There’s a lot to love about this key message example from LessAccounting. It’s packed with short sentences that are rife with information about the brand and its services.
Bookkeeping is a tiresome and perplexing task for most people who aren’t accounting professionals. It is precisely this pain point that LessAccounting’s messaging highlights and pledges that its product will solve.
This key message answers all the important questions: What kind of product is LessAccounting? A digital bookkeeping software.
What does LessAccounting do? Help you get your accounting, payroll, income, cash flow, expenses, and other bookkeeping records in order so you always have a clear understanding of your financial situation.
The value the brand has to offer and the advantages of using is apparent for all to see, so naturally it will appeal to LessAccounting’s target demographics.
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14. Decipad
“Make sense of numbers today. Decipad is an interactive notebook that helps everyone tell stories using data.”
This key message from Decipad demonstrates that it understands its audience’s pain point which is the inability to make sense of numbers. It then goes on to explain what Decipad does and how it can help them solve this challenge.
The message is concise, relatable, and easy to recall so it’s more likely to stick in the minds of readers.
After taking in the message, readers will be pushed to keep reading through the rest of Decipad’s homepage to discover the specific ways that the product can help them interpret data.
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15. Slack
“Made for people. Built for productivity. Connect the right people, find anything you need and automate the rest. That’s work in Slack, your productivity platform.”
When you’re a small team with just a few people, you can probably get by using email or WhatsApp as your primary communication tool. But as your company grows bigger, it becomes expedient to find a more effective solution to streamline your communication and collaboration efforts.
So when you go looking for such a solution and you come across Slack’s website and read its key message, you will get a sense that you’re in the right place.
You’ll know what Slack can do for your workplace right off the bat, so you’ll be encouraged to keep scrolling to learn about the product’s specific features.
Key messages don’t have to be unnecessarily wrong to sell your business and help first-time visitors understand what you bring to the table.
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16. Unbounce
“Smart marketing tools to grow your business. Turn more of your visitors into customers. Unbounce is the AI-powered landing page builder with smart features that let you create beautiful, high-performing marketing campaigns in just a few minutes.”
Unbounce is a SaaS company that is dedicated to helping businesses optimize their conversion rates using effective landing pages and its key message helps to drive home this value proposition.
The moment you land on Unbounce’s homepage, the use cases and benefits of the product are immediately clear. You know right away that this is a tool you can use to build landing pages, design successful marketing campaigns, and scale your business.
Traditionally, creating landing pages would require you to enlist the services of a designer and developer, but Unbounce promises to help you build one on your own, within minutes.
That assurance and the potential time and cost savings it would bring, make Unbounce’s message pretty hard for marketers and business owners to resist.
Conclusion
Key messages play a crucial role in your marketing and branding efforts. They help potential customers paint a picture about why your business exists, what it can do, and the type of experience they can expect from you.
When you take the time to craft a strong key message, you’ll be able to grab people’s attention and distinguish your brand from the throngs of competitors in your industry.
By paying attention to the things these messaging examples from top brands, you’ll be able to communicate your brand’s value proposition and create compelling key messages that resonate with your target audience.
Tom loves to write on technology, e-commerce & internet marketing. I started my first e-commerce company in college, designing and selling t-shirts for my campus bar crawl using print-on-demand. Having successfully established multiple 6 & 7-figure e-commerce businesses (in women’s fashion and hiking gear), I think I can share a tip or 2 to help you succeed.