Hey there, marketer. You’ve come up with brilliant messaging for your next product launch and you want to make sure everyone who works on it – writers, designers, events and sales teams, and everyone else – understands and uses it. Jot it down, share it broadly, and keep everyone singing the same tune with the message house template. Use it as a reference guide for your value pillars, product promise, customer pain points, and product proof points.
How to use the message house template
Step 1. Raise the roof
The first section of the template is called the messaging roof. It contains the at-a-glance details of your messaging. Write down the positioning statement that you put your blood, sweat, and tears into here. Then specify who that statement speaks to, i.e., who your audience is.
Step 2. The long and the short of it
You’ll notice that there are spaces for a long and short description for your production. These are super helpful boilerplates that the team can use in a variety of marketing materials. Once you share this document, your teammates will start to use them broadly, so take time to work on these statements and get sign off from all the stakeholders (branding, product marketing, etc.) before they’re out in the wild.
Step 3. What’s your worth?
The Value pillars and supporting content section is where you break down the elements of your messaging. Your value pillars are the bedrocks of what you offer your customers. What legs do you stand on that set you apart from the competition? Why do you deserve our customers’ time and money? Put all that down here.
Then for each value describe how your product fulfills these needs and lives these values in the product promise area. Focus on how your product makes a difference for your customers. What do they get out of this relationship?
Step 4: The difference you make
For your product to stick, it has to uniquely solve a problem for your customers, one that they couldn’t solve on their own. You might have a lot of thoughts here, but only put down those that align with the value pillar you’re substantiating here. Real-life customer quotes can really bring this section to life so include those here if you have them.
Step 5. Show your work
Dive deeper in the product proof points section. List all the things about your product that support the value pillar, deliver on your product promise, and make your customers’ pain points go away. Call out features, functions, and services you offer here so that the rest of the team, when called upon, can have specific talking points and a narrative that proves your messaging.
Step 6. Wrap and share
Once you complete steps 3 to 5 for each value pillar, take a look at what you have. Does it have a narrative? Would anyone in your company be able to review this document and tell this story? It’s a good idea to run your messaging house by one or two other people (someone in marketing and someone not familiar with these types of projects) for a gut check. When you’re ready, hit publish and share it far and wide.
Atlassian is an enterprise software company that develops products for software developers, project managers, and content management.
