The Messaging Starter Kit
Get your positioning straight. In an afternoon.
You know your product. Putting it into words a buyer instantly understands is the hard part. This tool walks you through it the way a senior marketer would: five short steps, a worked example at every stage, and two finished documents you can use straight away.
No theory. No fluff. Just the questions that get you to clear positioning and messaging your whole team can rally behind.
Your answers save automatically in this browser as you go. Nothing is sent anywhere.
Step 1 of 5
Who it's really for
Strong positioning starts with a specific buyer, not a broad market. The tighter you are here, the sharper everything downstream becomes.
See a worked example
Throughout, we'll use a fictional product: ShiftPilot, staff scheduling software for independent hospitality venues.
Best-fit customer: Operations managers at independent cafes and restaurants with 5 to 50 staff.
The job they hire it for: Build next week's roster fast, without blowing the labour budget or breaking pay rules.
What they use today: A spreadsheet, a group chat, and a lot of mental maths.
We'll use this to assemble your finished copy at the end.
The category in plain words. How you'd finish "it's a kind of ____".
Be specific. Role, type of company, and size. Resist the urge to say "any business".
The real outcome they want, in their words. Not your features.
The honest current state. Often a spreadsheet, a manual process, or nothing at all.
Step 2 of 5
Your competitive alternatives
Buyers don't judge you against your ideal competitor set. They judge you against whatever they'd do if you didn't exist, including doing nothing. Name those real alternatives. This is where most founders get positioning wrong.
See a worked example
ShiftPilot's real alternatives:
1. A spreadsheet they already know (free, but slow and error-prone).
2. A generic HR or payroll tool (does scheduling badly, as an afterthought).
3. Doing nothing and rostering by hand (the status quo, and the hardest to beat).
Include why a buyer might pick it over you.
Step 3 of 5
Your differentiated value
Now the pivot. List the few things you do that the alternatives can't, then translate each into the value a buyer actually feels. Capability is what you have. Value is what they get.
See a worked example
What ShiftPilot does that the alternatives can't:
Built-in pay rules for hospitality, so rosters are compliant by default. Live labour cost as you build the roster. Staff confirm shifts by text.
The value that creates:
Stop overspending on wages. Stop worrying about pay-rule breaches. Cut rostering from two hours to fifteen minutes, with fewer no-shows.
Two to four genuine differentiators. Only things that are true and hard to copy.
Turn each capability into an outcome they care about. Start with a verb where you can: save, cut, win, avoid. Money, time, risk, peace of mind.
Step 4 of 5
Your messaging hierarchy
One core message at the top. Three pillars underneath, each with a piece of proof. This becomes the backbone of your website, your deck, and how your team talks about you.
See a worked example
Core value proposition: Build a compliant, cost-aware roster in minutes, not hours.
Pillar 1, Control your biggest cost: See labour spend update live as you roster. Proof: venues cut wage overspend by an average of 8%.
Pillar 2, Compliant by default: Pay rules built in, so you don't need to be an expert. Proof: covers all hospitality award conditions out of the box.
Pillar 3, Less admin, fewer no-shows: Staff confirm shifts by text. Proof: rostering time down from hours to minutes.
One sentence. What you do, for whom, and the payoff. Plain language.
Step 5 of 5
Putting it to work
Two practical outputs. The objections you need a confident answer to, and a homepage headline you can paste in today.
See a worked example
Objection: "We already have a spreadsheet that works." Response: Your spreadsheet can't warn you before you overspend or breach a pay rule. ShiftPilot does, in real time.
Homepage headline: Rostering that pays for itself.
Supporting line: Compliant, cost-aware rosters for hospitality venues. Built in minutes, not hours.
The thing prospects say that stalls the deal. Write the response you want everyone giving.
Short, benefit-led, in your buyer's language. Pull from your value proposition.
One sentence under the headline. Who it's for and the payoff.
Your finished kit
Your positioning, on one page
First, a health check on your thinking. Then your answers, assembled into copy you can use today. Print or save it as a PDF to share with your team.
Positioning health check
Your assembled assets
Starting drafts, built from your answers using proven positioning templates. They get you most of the way. Refine the wording in your own voice, or have it pressure-tested in a review.
Your homepage headline
Your inputs, captured
Positioning Canvas
Messaging Hierarchy
Objection Handling
Email yourself the kit
Send your positioning and all four drafts to your inbox. Tick the box if you'd like Emma to review them with you.
Your answers go to Emma at Red Unicorn so she can send your kit and, if you asked, arrange a review. No spam, ever.
Done. Your kit is on its way.
If you asked for a review, Emma will be in touch within one business day.
You've got a solid first draft. Now make it land.
This tool gets your thinking 80% of the way, for free. The last 20%, the wording that makes a buyer stop and act, is where a senior eye earns its keep. In a focused 60-minute review, Red Unicorn pressure-tests your positioning, sharpens every line, and tells you where it will and won't land, before you build a website or a deck around it.
Book your review →This opens an email to Emma with all your answers included, so she arrives at the review already across your thinking.