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Marketing messaging templates

How do you stand out in a crowded market? It starts with knowing your audience — who they are, what they care about, and the problems they want to solve. You can use this knowledge to craft marketing messages that truly speak to buyers and engage existing customers.

Most marketers recognize the importance of brand and product messaging. When you define what sets you apart, you can better tell the story of your brand and describe the value of your product. But it can be challenging to get everyone aligned on core messaging. You are hustling to launch new marketing activities and campaigns — the tactical details take over.

It is also common for marketing content to go through multiple versions, formats, and reviewers before it is finalized. If you do not have a set of core messages or content pillars for everyone to rally around, your content can become disjointed and diluted during these production cycles. That will make it less compelling for your audience to read, listen, or try your product.

Templates help you build a messaging hierarchy by deconstructing it into smaller elements, such as a value statement, core concepts, and proof points. This exercise helps you channel your customer's mindset and deeply consider what they value. Templates ensure consistency across all the teams that develop content — improving clarity and your ability to launch more swiftly. That alone is worth celebrating.

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What are the benefits of marketing messaging?

Well-defined messaging contributes to strong brand identity. It requires you to get clear on what the organization's vision is. Then you can translate both your vision and your values into meaningful, practical messages that will shine through in each customer communication. Messaging impacts buyer perceptions and, ultimately, business growth.

Having a set of core marketing messages allows you to:

  • Align internally around a shared story: Collaborate and reflect on the real value you provide. This exercise helps everyone better understand your product and how it meets customer needs.

  • Deliver a consistent message across all channels: Showing what you stand for (and making it memorable) takes repetition.

  • Differentiate from competitors: Customers in the digital age have more options than ever. Clear messaging gives you a distinct identity.

  • Make room for future experimentation: A great messaging framework provides a foundation from which you can branch out. Once you have developed core content pillars, you can add and test additional messages.

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How does messaging differ from positioning?

Communicating the value of your brand or product requires both positioning and messaging. These are distinct and complementary concepts:

  • Positioning is an internal exercise that you complete as an organization or team. It helps you articulate the unique benefits of your brand, product, or service.

  • Messaging is external. It is how you translate the positioning into content to reach your customers.

Positioning helps shape messaging — it remains consistent over time. Messaging can change based on current campaigns or areas of focus. But there is an added layer of complexity because some organizations create positioning and messaging at the company or brand level, as well as for each product. Here is a breakdown:


Who it is for

What it does

Who is responsible

Marketing positioning

Internal teams

Establishes the values and perceptions of your brand

Corporate marketing

Product positioning

Internal teams

States the unique benefits of your product and why it is better than what your competitors have to offer

Product and product marketing

Marketing messaging

External customers and prospects

Translates market positioning into key messages that will resonate with your audience

Corporate marketing

Product messaging

External product and customers

Translates product positioning into product messaging about use cases, core functionality, and features

Product marketing

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What should be included in marketing messaging?

Effective messaging requires close alignment between marketing and product management teams, as well as a deep understanding of your target customers. Messaging frameworks vary by organization but typically contain the following components:

  • Value proposition or tagline: Primary value statement or tagline used to describe the benefits of your brand or product

  • Messaging pillars: The most important themes you will communicate to set your brand or product apart

  • Proof points: Details and differentiators that bring credibility to the messaging pillars — such as technology, design, or customer service

  • Target audience: The buyer personas you serve

  • Use cases: Essential ways customers use your product to solve problems

Messaging frameworks follow a top-down hierarchy. Start with the value statement that describes how your brand or product is unique, develop messaging pillars that support the value statement, and add proof points to support those pillars.

Of course, you can customize your messaging based on your strategic plans and marketing goals. Some marketing teams choose to combine positioning and messaging within the same framework.

A messaging hierarchy chart

Related:

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Messaging templates

The six templates included below give you a foundation for building marketing messages. You can add to and customize each to fit your organization's needs.

Core messaging statements

Use this simple template to define core marketing messages — the statements that will become your tagline or messaging pillars. Think of these messages as the building blocks that support all of your marketing efforts.

Core messaging statements

Brand messaging

Expand on your core messaging with additional elements — such as proof points and target audience. This template combines internal and external messages so you can connect the dots between each.

Brand messaging

Messaging matrix

Create distinct messaging by audience type and channel (email, social, paid ads) using a messaging matrix. This is useful when developing content to reach prospects and customers at different stages in the customer journey.

Messaging matrix

Persona messaging

Use this template to develop unique messaging that will resonate with each customer segment or persona. Some personas will have overlapping needs and pain points, while others will be more discrete. Develop a top-level message that resonates with all of them.

Persona messaging

Product messaging

Launching a new product? Get aligned on the most important messages that demonstrate its value. You may want to differentiate between top-level messaging (e.g., benefits and outcomes) and feature-level messaging.

Product messaging framework

Product messaging map

This messaging map combines brand messaging, persona messaging, and product messaging — it is a great way to evaluate messages alongside one another. It is especially useful if you market multiple products.

Messaging map

These templates provide lightweight frameworks for getting started. In time, you might find that you outgrow Excel templates and need a more sophisticated, collaborative messaging framework. Try Aha! Roadmaps to get access to strategic templates, automated workflows, and marketing roadmaps.

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