6 Pillars of Successful Brand Messaging with Ashlee Sang

Brian chats with Ashlee Sang, a values-aligned brand messaging strategist and consultant who equips visionaries to clarify and amplify their message. Drawing on her background in anthropology, Ashlee brings a values-centered approach to brand development, content creation, and marketing strategy. In this episode, she details common challenges faced by values-driven founders, shares her six pillars of successful brand messaging, and gives a few quick tips to get your brand’s story out of your head and into the world.

Episode Highlights

Mission-driven businesses are “why”-driven businesses.

Ashlee defines a mission-driven business as one deeply rooted in its reason for being, also known as its “why.”

“A mission-driven business is a group of people, or a solopreneur, who have a really, really clear reason for being -- a really clear why -- that is driving them toward every single decision,” Ashlee said.

If the mission is the “why” of the business, then Ashlee’s sweet spot is working with the “how” of the business: its values.

“Values-driven is the operating system; it’s the mechanism,” Ashlee said. “If I can always point back to core values, then I always know it’s in alignment.”

Businesses evolve through experimentation.

Ashlee started her entrepreneurial career as a freelancer on the side while working in nonprofits and NGOs. Through years of experimentation, she discovered and refined her niche of values-aligned messaging and now encourages her entrepreneur clients to embrace their own trials.

“No matter how well prepared you are, no matter how much research you’ve done, no matter how firm your plan is, there are so many other factors at play,” she said. “One of my favorite things about business is we sort of get paid to experiment.”

Clear messaging builds clarity and confidence.

After more than six years in the business, Ashlee has noticed her clients commonly struggle with feeling too scattered to find the common threads in their work or being too close to their work to articulate it clearly. Clear brand messaging can overcome these challenges because it creates a cohesive experience for clients, partners, and team members.

“We can all write an email,” Ashlee said. “We can all slap together something on a website. But are we really going in with intention, thinking about those tiny details and the big picture? … The idea is a lot less important than the experience we’re creating for people.”

Follow the six pillars for a successful brand messaging strategy.

Ashlee defines brand messaging strategy as how a business wants to be known, and she’s narrowed a successful brand messaging strategy to six core components:

1. Brand statement

2. Mission statement

3. Values

4. Voice

5. Audience

6. Key differentiators

Together, these elements serve as the root system that informs all marketing, operations, and external communications for a business.

“I like to think of a brand as a tree, so the messaging strategy is the root system holding everything else up,” she said. “Brand messaging strategy is the focus and intention of the brand you are building.”

Resources + Links

• Ashlee Sang: Website, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook

• Brian Thompson Financial: Website, Newsletter, Podcast

• Follow Brian Thompson Online: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, X, Forbes

About Brian and the Mission Driven Business Podcast

Brian Thompson, JD/CFP, is a tax attorney and Certified Financial Planner® who specializes in providing comprehensive financial planning to LGBTQ+ entrepreneurs who run mission-driven businesses. The Mission Driven Business podcast was born out of his passion for helping social entrepreneurs create businesses with purpose and profit.

On the podcast, Brian talks with diverse entrepreneurs and the people who support them. Listeners hear stories of experiences, strength, and hope and get practical advice to help them build businesses that might just change the world, too.