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#004: Messaging document - a cheat sheet 🗒️
Included in the post: a downloadable, fill-it-yourself version.
A messaging document is an essential part of the PR & marketing toolbox. It stores your key messages and other bits of information that help you tell your story.
The main benefit of having a messaging document is consistency. Writing down your key messages and proof-points helps you to be consistent, even if you are the only person doing all the writing and speaking on behalf of your organisation (unlikely).
I've included a link to the downloadable, fill-it-yourself version of a messaging document below.
Messaging document - the basics
At the very minimum, this is what your messaging doc should include:
Your company in a sentence. Up to 150 characters.
Your company in a paragraph. Between 250 and 500 characters.
Key messages and proof-points. In bullet-point format for easy overview.
Facts and numbers. Information that everyone needs to get right, e.g. the number of customers, active markets, employees. (💡Tip: stick with a number for a while for better recall and usability, even the real number is slightly smaller or bigger.)
Company boilerplate. Usually, a version of "your company in a paragraph" with added bits that make sense in a news media context, e.g. investors in the company, founder or leadership information, or the number of customers.
Messaging document - optional extras
Here are some common extras that I've found useful to add:
Founding story. About 500 characters on how the company came to be.
Founder(s') bio(s). This can be useful for press releases or conference speaker blurbs.
Voice & tone guidelines, preferred language. Add if you strongly prefer certain industry terms to others.
Company FAQ. Responses to frequently asked questions by the media or social media followers. Useful if you're looking for a quick reference on the company position or preparing notes for an upcoming spokesperson interview.
When to use the document
A list of examples where the document could be useful:
Use key messages as themes for your social media content calendar
Pull out key facts or numbers for infographics to share on social media.
Prepare your spokespeople for interviews by compiling a one-pager that highlights key messages and relevant topics for the occasion.
Use customised versions of your key messages and proof-points in blog posts.
Draft a hero message for your website or landing page based on key messages.
Draft a quick blurb for a conference based on the boilerplate, the founder’s bio or the founding story.
How to update the document
Don’t update too often. This hurts consistency.
Highlight major updates. Make sure frequent users know if a major proof-point or fact/number is updated. Just add a comment in the document and keep it for some time.
Use the title to highlight the month of the last update.
Download the template
To personalise the 📄 messaging document template, just download the file.
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If you’d like to read more about how to create your key messages, check out this previous post.
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For founders, CEOs, marketing or PR peeps wanting to do a better job in communicating their mission to the world.