How to Develop A Killer Messaging Document for Your Business

Last week, Fire Enterprises (FEI) marketing maven Marka showed savvy salesperson Zoot and FEI tribe leader Org how creating a messaging document can help keep FEI on message. This week, Marka goes over two crucial components of an effective messaging document. Remember, fire = print.

Marka, Zoot, and Org sat in Org’s office, discussing the document Marka was creating to keep FEI staff “on message” when communicating with customers and prospects.

“We’ve already been over FEI’s Unique Selling Proposition, which is obviously an important element of our messaging document,” Zoot said. “What’s next?”

“Glad you asked.” Marka stood up and scribbled on the whiteboard in Org’s office.

Key Benefits
“Next, we build out a Key Benefits section that expands on our USP,” Marka said. “This section will list the main benefits of working with FEI and devote a couple of sentences to each. Let me give you an example.”

Marka scribbled more on the whiteboard.

FEI Helps Customers Save Money—Our fire solutions have been proven to reduce heating, lighting and cooking costs for businesses and huts alike.

“Our Key Benefits section will proceed like this, offering a short statement or paragraph for every benefit that an FEI product or service provides,” Marka explained.

“Once our employees become familiar with these benefits statements, they’ll start thinking—and talking—about FEI from a customer’s perspective,” Org said.

“That’s right,” Marka said. “And Marketing can keep this guide handy to ensure they don’t drift off message when crafting communications.”

Marka returned to the whiteboard.

Buyer Personas, Pains and Your Solution
“Here’s where things start to get complicated,” Marka said. “We want to sketch out the buyer identities of ‘typical’ key business influencers at ‘typical’ FEI prospect and customer companies. Then we want to identify their business challenges and how FEI helps solve them. This will give every FEI staff member a rough-and-ready guide to having intelligent, benefit-focused conversations with all types of customers. Here’s a sample chart for two key buyers in the Restaurant industry, one of our biggest markets.”

“We also want to develop case studies and other support materials that demonstrate exactly how our solutions have delivered what we promise here,” Marka said.