Words Bring Impact: 3 mistakes to avoid with your brand messaging

The mission is there. Your work is important. You talk about it regularly.

But still, something doesn’t quite stick. Your audience isn’t engaging the way you want them to.

Time and again, we see impact-driven organisations facing the same challenges with brand messaging and communication. And it’s rarely about the mission itself.

When teams are overstretched and underfunded, it’s easy to stay heads-down in delivery mode, leaving little space for the talking-about-it part. Brand and communication often become afterthoughts: the nice-to-have rather than the strategic essential. As a result, even when organisations finally bring in communication specialists, they find themselves playing catch-up.

Every organisation is unique. Your audience, your mission, and your business model all play a role in shaping your brand and communication strategies. But some common patterns crop up again and again across industries and team structures. 

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1. There is too much jargon 

Often, our work with clients is about saying less to say more. In the effort to sound credible or prove impact, organisations slip into technical language, long sentences, and dense jargon. Whilst the messaging makes sense to those who write it, it often doesn’t to those reading it. 

The easiest and often most effective way to fix your messaging is to cut out the fluff. Be to the point, focus on what matters, and speak to your audience like a person, not a policy paper.

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2. It’s too corporate 

Whilst the channel indeed defines the message, and many impact organisations primarily show up through their website, email and LinkedIn, this often gets confused with needing a corporate tone. Too often, we see powerful messages buried under formal language, stock visuals, and a one-size-fits-all tone, creating distance between the message and the audience.

Especially for organisations truly having an impact, the human, down-to-earth, slightly casual element is key to building a strong community and maintaining a good relationship with them. 

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3. The net is cast too wide 

Wanting to reach everyone is understandable. Unfortunately, if your content tries to speak to too many people at once, it risks resonating with no one.

While it’s normal to have multiple target audiences and key messages, it’s important to keep these specific and targeted. Not only will this strengthen the overall brand image and reinforce your mission, but it will also better engage the audience you actually want to reach.

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Brand and communications shouldn’t be afterthoughts, but rather key building blocks in your overall strategy that, when done right, will not only amplify your impact but shape it.

So remember: cut the fluff, add some heart and be intentional.
The rest will follow.