--- name: messaging-framework description: "Use when a team needs one source of truth for how to talk about its offer across website, sales, ads and outbound. Converts positioning into a layered message house with a core narrative, value pillars, proof, persona-specific angles and approved language, so every channel says the same thing in the right register." license: MIT metadata: title: "Messaging Framework" category: "gtm-strategy" author: "noah" summary: "Turn positioning into a message house: core narrative, value pillars with proof, persona angles, and words to use and avoid." tags: "messaging, message house, value pillars, personas, narrative" version: "1.0" updated: "2026-10-19" --- # Messaging Framework This skill produces a message house: a one-page structure that tells anyone writing about the product what to lead with, what to prove, how to adapt for each buyer role, and which words to use. It sits between positioning (the strategic choice) and copy (the finished words). ## When to use - After positioning is agreed, before rewriting the website or sales deck. - When reps, marketers and founders all pitch the product differently. - When onboarding new sellers or an agency who need to write on-brand quickly. - When entering a new segment that needs adapted angles without a new identity. ## What you need Ask for these first. If positioning does not exist yet, recommend doing that first or capture a working version in a few lines before continuing. 1. **Positioning:** target customer, alternatives, differentiators, market frame. 2. **Personas:** the two to four roles involved in buying, with what each cares about and fears. 3. **Proof inventory:** metrics, customer quotes, case studies, certifications, awards, notable customers you may reference. 4. **Customer language:** call transcripts, reviews, survey responses, support tickets. Real phrases beat invented ones. 5. **Brand voice notes:** formal or casual, technical depth, words the company never uses. ## Process 1. **Write the core narrative.** In three to five sentences tell the story: the world has changed in a specific way, that change creates a problem for this customer, the old ways of solving it fall short, here is a better way, here is what life looks like after. This is the spine of every pitch and homepage. 2. **Draft the umbrella message.** One sentence that captures the primary value for the primary buyer. It should be concrete enough to picture and short enough to say in one breath. 3. **Choose three value pillars.** Each pillar is a distinct reason to buy that ladders up to the umbrella message. Three is a heuristic: fewer feels thin, more becomes a feature list. Pillars should be outcomes ("forecast with confidence"), not capabilities ("dashboards"). 4. **Attach proof to every pillar.** Under each pillar list the capabilities that deliver it and the evidence that it works. If a pillar has no proof, flag it; unproven pillars are the first thing a skeptical buyer attacks. 5. **Map persona angles.** For each persona, decide which pillar leads, what pain to open with, what objection they raise, and what proof convinces them. An economic buyer usually leads with risk and return; a hands-on user leads with time and frustration removed. 6. **Mine customer language.** Pull exact phrases customers use to describe the problem and the result. Prefer them over internal jargon. Note phrases to avoid, including competitor terms and words with baggage in the market. 7. **Write channel-length versions.** Produce the same message at different lengths: 10 words, 25 words, 50 words, and a 100-word paragraph. Writers can pick the length a channel needs without improvising content. 8. **Check consistency.** Read the pillars, the persona angles and the short versions together. Each piece should be traceable to the positioning; anything that is not is either a new insight to feed back into positioning or noise to cut. ## Output format ``` MESSAGE HOUSE: [product], v[n], [date] Core narrative [3-5 sentences: change, problem, old way, new way, outcome] Umbrella message [one sentence] Pillars | Pillar (outcome) | What delivers it | Proof | Strength of proof (strong / thin / missing) | |---|---|---|---| | 1. ... | ... | ... | ... | | 2. ... | ... | ... | ... | | 3. ... | ... | ... | ... | Persona angles | Persona | Lead pillar | Opening pain | Likely objection | Best proof | Short versions - 10 words: ... - 25 words: ... - 50 words: ... - 100 words: ... Language guide - Use (customer words): ... - Avoid (and why): ... Gaps to close: [missing proof, untested claims] ``` ## Quality checklist - Every pillar is an outcome, not a feature, and has at least one proof point or a gap flag. - Each persona has a distinct lead pillar or opening pain; they are not copies of each other. - The short versions contain no information that is absent from the pillars. - Customer phrases are quoted or paraphrased from real sources when sources were provided. - No unproven superlatives. - The umbrella message fits in one breath when read aloud. ## Common mistakes - **Pillars that are product modules.** "Reporting, Automation, Integrations" mirrors the navigation menu, not buyer motivations. - **One message for every persona.** The CFO and the daily user buy for different reasons; the framework must say how each hears the story. - **Proof as an afterthought.** A pillar without evidence becomes an empty claim. Collecting proof is part of the work, not a follow-up. - **Internal vocabulary.** Teams fall in love with their own feature names. Buyers search for and repeat their own words for the problem. - **Treating it as finished.** Update the house when win/loss patterns shift or new proof arrives; date and version it. - **Writing taglines here.** The framework guides copy; it is not the copy. Polished slogans come later and should be tested. ## Example prompts - "Here's our positioning statement and 5 customer quotes. Build a message house." - "Create persona angles for our CFO, RevOps lead and sales manager buyers." - "Give me 10, 25, 50 and 100-word versions of our pitch from this messaging doc." - "Our pillars are Analytics, Automation and Collaboration. Rewrite them as outcomes with proof." - "Audit our homepage and deck against this message house and list where they drift."