Brand Messaging Framework: The 6 Parts We Hand Clients

A brand messaging framework keeps your website, emails, ads and sales calls telling one story. Most companies skip the part that matters most: how the customer sees them.

A brand messaging framework is the document that tells everyone who writes for your company what to say, to whom, and what you want the reader to do next. Ours has 6 parts, and every one starts from the customer.

I'm Chris Hornak, co-founder of Swift Growth Marketing. We write these for clients as the base for their website copy, their emails and their ads. This is what goes in one, where companies usually go wrong, and how we check that it's working.

Short answer: A brand messaging framework is a document with 6 parts: a clear audience, the problem you solve for them, an AIDA story (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action), a primary and secondary call to action, a visual of the buyer's journey, and examples of the message in use on the website, email, social media and ads.

What goes into a brand messaging framework?

When we hand a client their framework, it covers these parts:

1. The audience: who they're talking to, defined clearly.
2. The problem: what the client solves for that audience.
3. The story, in AIDA order: Attention, Interest, Desire, Action.
4. The calls to action: one primary CTA and one secondary CTA.
5. The buyer's journey, as a visual of the steps a buyer takes, from first look to signed deal.
6. Examples in use: the same message on the website, in email, on social media and in ads.

The AIDA story is the spine. The headline earns attention. The problem builds interest. Proof builds desire. The CTA is the action. Our guide to AIDA storytelling for brands walks through it section by section.

A framework that only lives in a PDF often goes unused. When a writer can see the homepage headline, the email subject line and the ad copy side by side, they can match it.

Why do most companies get their messaging wrong?

They haven't thought through the customer's journey or a story model like AIDA. They have a general description of their customer. And they usually think they're unique, which often isn't the customer's view.

That gap costs more than it used to, because buyers decide a lot before they talk to you. B2B buyers are nearly 70% through their buying process before they engage a seller, and 81% already have a preferred vendor at first contact, according to 6sense's 2024 buyer report. Kerry Cunningham, who leads research at 6sense, put it this way: "marketers must drive awareness and preference early in the buying journey."

That data covers B2B buyers, though. A company selling to consumers may see a much shorter journey, but the website still makes the first pitch.

So your website and your content make the first pitch, without you in the room. They also get skimmed. On the average web page, people have time to read at most 28% of the words, and 20% is more likely, Nielsen Norman Group found. Put the main message in the first lines a reader sees.

How do you find out what makes you different to the customer?

Start with the people who already buy from you. We ask clients about their current customers: what questions those customers ask, and who they are.

Then we look outside. We research the client's competitors and learn from the competitors' customers through third-party tools and deep research. What people praise and complain about in a competitor tells you what the market already expects, and where there's room.

This step is where the "we're unique" belief usually breaks. A company may be proud of something every competitor also claims.

A real example: one company, two audiences

One client is a healthcare education company that sells programs to universities, then helps those universities recruit students.

Before, their copy spoke to every reader the same way. It leaned on sales words like "Act now" and hard ROI claims. That tone fit neither of the two people the site had to win over: a university leader weighing a big partnership, and a working professional deciding whether to apply.

The framework split them. Each audience got its own message and its own pair of CTAs:

The leaders' message became calm and credible, written for presidents, deans and program directors. Each audience got its own landing pages and its own path through the site.

How do you know your messaging is working?

We watch how customers engage with the creative we put out. Are we reaching the goals we set at the start? How far along the journey do potential customers get? Is there a point where they drop off?

That last question is where the buyer's journey visual earns its place. If people read the page but don't click the primary CTA, the desire step is weak. If they start the form and leave, the action step asks too much.

A framework has limits. It won't fix an offer people don't want, and it won't show results in a week, because you need enough traffic and enough conversations to see a pattern. If you sell one thing to one kind of buyer, it can be a short document.

FAQ

How is a messaging framework different from a brand style guide?

A style guide covers how your brand looks: colors, fonts, logo use. A messaging framework covers what your brand says and to whom. Most companies need both.

How often should you update a brand messaging framework?

Update it when your audience, your offer or your market changes. If you see people dropping off at the same step of the journey, that's a sign the message at that step needs work.

Who should use the framework?

Anyone who writes for the company. That means marketing, sales, customer support and whoever runs your social accounts. The examples section is what makes it usable for people who aren't marketers.

If your website, emails and ads are telling three different stories, we can help you write one. See how our brand strategy and messaging work starts with your customer.