Yes, it’s a house that holds messaging.
For brand and corporate marketers, a messaging house helps organize clear and concise messaging. This becomes an indispensable model for your internal and external communications, approach to campaigns, and your investor and media strategy.
A strong brand strategy relies on consistency, as should your messaging. That’s where the messaging house framework comes in, ensuring your brand voice is communicated at the highest of standards.
There’s no shortage of sources on the origins of messaging house history, but pinning down exactly who created it is difficult. What we do know is that it started gaining traction in the ’90s, an era that gave us a masterclass in messaging.
You’ve got mail (AOL). Intel inside. (Intel). Expanding possibilities (HP). Solutions for a small planet (IBM). Think different (Apple.).
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Table of Contents
What is a Messaging House?
A messaging house is a framework used by brand, corporate, and product marketers to create clear, concise, cohesive, and compelling (alliteration ftw) messaging for companies, brands, and products. And it really does resemble a house.
Here’s what comprises a messaging house:
- A roof: This is your core message and brand promise.
- Pillars: Think of this as the messaging that supports the roof.
- A foundation: The evidence and proof points to support the pillars and roof.
- A basement (optional): This is typically optional but can be a spot for the brand’s purpose, vision, mission, and values.
As simple as this sounds, it can be a profoundly helpful way to organize your thoughts and the countless other opinions you receive (as does every marketer).
What Are the Benefits of a Messaging House?
Marketers are storytellers, and the messaging house approach provides all the tools needed to tell a good story. But the benefits go far beyond.
1. Consistency
This aligns teams across the entire organization. For external-facing teams like customer success, marketing, sales, and the executive team, it ensures everyone is representing the brand in unison.
Internally, this helps transform the entire company into brand ambassadors. Give them the tools to confidently, concretely, and consistently talk about your brand. Again, this is about your messaging getting amplified exactly the way you designed it.
2. Clarity
This helps you define what the brand stands for, simplifying complex messages into easy-to-understand concepts, which is exactly what your audience needs.
3. Differentiation
This is your opportunity to articulate your brand clearly and what makes it special. This is essential in breaking through noise against competitors.
4. A holistic brand
The words, content, and messaging we use reinforce the brand strategy and identity. A good messaging house powers this.
5. Media readiness
This framework should guide internal media training and preparation for interviews, podcasts, and writing opportunities. Remember, repeat, and emphasize messaging.
6. Street cred
There is something about presenting process-driven and multi-voice findings to an executive team for approval. This works and helps mitigate what can be a potentially subjective reaction.
7. Thought leadership
Similar to media strategy, this outline is the ultimate roadmap for your overall content marketing strategy, ensuring there is a common thread that ties together diversity across content formats.
A Complete Messaging House – Salesforce as an Example
To illustrate a real-life example, I followed the messaging house framework and used Salesforce as a case study.
Disclaimer: Salesforce did not consult on or approve this.
1. Roof
The leading AI-powered CRM, transforming customer relationships with intelligence and automation.
2. Pillars
- AI + Data + CRM = Customer Magic: Salesforce combines AI, real-time data, and automation to deliver exceptional experiences.
- The World’s #1 CRM: Trusted by Fortune 500 companies and startups.
- Scalable, Secure, and Trusted: Cloud infrastructure that scales, enterprise-grade security and flexible environments.
- AI Innovation & Low-Code Customization: AI and low or no-code tools support speed and innovation.
- Ethical AI and Sustainability: Salesforce is at the forefront of corporate social responsibility.
3. Foundation
#1 CRM for 10+ years (Gartner, IDC) | Over 150,000 customers, including Fortune 100 companies | Einstein AI powers over 1 trillion predictions per week | 7,000+ partners on AppExchange | Salesforce achieved Net Zero and runs on 100% renewable energy | Over $500M donated through the 1-1-1 model | 18M Trailblazers globally
And here’s how it can look visually.
How Do I Build a Messaging House?
There is no right or wrong way to do this, but here are examples I have used with success.
Step 1: Lead with data and research
Everyone has an opinion on messaging and words, so involve key stakeholders in this process via interviews, feedback, or surveys:
- Internal stakeholders: Key leaders across the company
- Prospects: What do they have to say about your brand and products?
- Customers: The voice of the customer is critical, especially with a project of such importance.
- Partners: A useful perspective to gather.
- Analysts: It won’t be the most exciting conversation you have, but it helps you align messaging to the broader industry and future trends.
Step 2: Conduct Interviews and Surveys
Conduct and record interviews, transcribe them, and analyze them. You’ll notice key themes emerge, which you use to begin the writing process.
Leverage surveys within the company to capture a broad amount of data and include teams in the process.
Step 3: Ensure Frequent Communication
Communicate updates frequently. Teasing the direction is useful because it gives you manageable feedback and ensures no one is surprised at the end.
Step 4: Write the Messaging House
Write in-house, partner with an agency, or hire great external writers. Like I said, there isn’t a set blueprint for this – go with what works for you. Create draft 1 of your Messaging House and edit voraciously. You’ll be pleased with the first attempt.
Step 5: Gather Internal Feedback
Gather feedback from the key stakeholders internally. Ideally, work with 2-3 people and one approver (CMO or CEO). Your job is to deliver great messaging, not please everyone. Be clear in your directive on this. Take in feedback, make adjustments, and complete the 2nd version.
Do a pulse check on this new version with the approver. If it’s coming along nicely, you get to graduate into a new phase.
Step 6: Engage External Stakeholders
Once you have ‘almost’ final messaging, go back to some of your key external stakeholders. In this phase, your customers and industry analysts can be great editors for you and hold you accountable for the key messages. It’s a critically important step that helps shape the final version.
Step 7: Finalize the Messaging House
Remember, you have used data, research, your own marketing experience, and the expertise of great writers; present this version as final to your approver. Job done.
It rarely goes this smoothly, and there may be times when you want to pull your hair out, but it will get you across the finish line.
I Built an Approved Messaging House, Now What?
Take a moment to appreciate owning and delivering on a massive project. Well done. Now, go set the company up for success.
- Enable the company: Ensure update messaging is communicated, distributed, and added to the right Google Drive, LMS, DAM, or however you store company files (ideally not your desktop with the file name of ApprovedCompanyMessaging_Final_Final_v9)
- Hit the road: Present the Messaging House in a company all-hands, with each department and key teams. Like any message, people need to hear it multiple times.
- Make it easy: Ensure all of the branded templates are updated with new messaging and provide the right templates for people to do their jobs quickly.
- Office hours: Be available to others. After all, Marketing serves the entire company.
- Get feedback: The new messaging better work! How do you know? Ask people on the front line, A/B test your homepage, and survey prospects and customers. It’s your responsibility to continue following the data.
- Get ready for V2: Guess what? You’ll probably adjust your messaging in six months. Why? Nothing is perfect, and things change quickly in our space. The good news is that you have a great framework to tweak.
You can do it!
