Messaging

The set of things a brand consistently says, in order of importance. Without it, every author invents the company again.

Messaging is the brand's argument, pre-agreed and ranked: the one thing said always, the three things said when there is room, the answers to the hard questions decided before they are asked. It exists so that a hundred authors produce one company instead of a hundred.

The format that works is a hierarchy, not a paragraph soup: lead message, supports, proofs, each with its own sentence already written well. Then the maintenance: messaging rots as the product moves. A quarterly read-through against reality keeps the company from reciting its previous self.