Specific Claims
Ones a competitor could not also make.
Brand Messaging
Brand Messaging Specific Enough That Someone Could Disagree
If a competitor could put their name on your messaging without changing a word, it is not saying anything. Brand messaging turns a position into language that is specific, supported by evidence, and structured so sales, marketing and the website are making the same argument rather than three different ones.
We Test Whether It Could Be Anyone
The swap test is simple and most messaging fails it.
Evidence Attached
Every claim with something behind it, or it does not ship.
A Hierarchy
What is said first, second and only when asked.
Written for Use
Language people can actually say out loud.
Nothing Invented
No statistics, results or claims we cannot source.
Messaging, Explained
What Does Messaging Produce?
Four things, and the framework is only useful if people use it.
Discuss Your Messaging →- 1
The Core Claim
One sentence, specific, defensible.
- 2
Supporting Points
Three or four, each with evidence.
- 3
Objection Answers
What to say to the reasons people hesitate.
- 4
Audience Variants
The same argument for different readers.
What Messaging Work Covers
From position to language people can use.
Messaging decides what is said; brand voice decides how it sounds.
How We Develop Messaging
Start from customer language, end with something that could be argued with.
Collect Customer Language
How buyers actually describe the problem.
Draft the Core Claim
One sentence, specific.
Attach Evidence
Each claim supported or removed.
Run the Swap Test
Could a competitor say this? If so, rewrite.
Build the Variants
Same argument, different readers.
Specificity
The Swap Test
Put a competitor's name on your messaging. If it still reads as true, it is not messaging.
Why does most messaging fail it?
Because generic claims are safe. "Trusted partner", "innovative solutions", "customer-focused" — nobody can object to any of them, which is exactly why they carry no information.
They also survive internal review easily, because there is nothing specific enough to argue about. Specific claims get challenged; vague ones get approved.
The organisations that end up with distinctive messaging are the ones where somebody insisted on a sentence that could be wrong.
Why does every claim need evidence?
Because an unsupported claim is a liability rather than an asset. Buyers discount it, and if it turns out to be false it damages the claims that were true.
It is also a useful discipline internally. A team required to attach evidence to each claim quickly discovers which ones it cannot support, and those are usually the vaguest ones.
Where a claim genuinely cannot be evidenced, the honest options are to remove it or to state it as an intention rather than a fact. We will not manufacture a statistic to support it.
Questions,answered.
Brand messaging turns a position into specific language — a core claim, supporting points with evidence, objection answers and audience variants — so every team makes the same argument.
Put a competitor's name on your messaging. If it still reads as true, the messaging is not saying anything specific to you, and most messaging fails this.
Positioning decides where you sit and what you give up. Messaging is the language that carries that decision, with evidence attached.
Yes, or it should be removed or stated as an intention. Unsupported claims get discounted, and a false one damages the true claims sitting next to it.
Because generic claims survive internal review and specific ones get challenged. Distinctive messaging usually requires somebody insisting on a sentence that could be argued with.
Still deciding if brand messaging is right for you?
Talk to UsNobody Objected Because There Was Nothing To
Messaging drafts go through review, and the process reliably favours the vaguest version. A specific claim invites questions: is that true, can we support it, what about the cases where it is not.
A general one — trusted partner, innovative approach, focused on results — raises no questions at all. It passes every review comfortably, because there is nothing in it to disagree with.
What survives the process is therefore the version a competitor could publish unchanged, arrived at by a series of individually reasonable decisions to remove anything anyone might challenge.
Free Messaging Review
Find Out Whether Your Messaging Says Anything
Send us your website copy. We will run the swap test on it and tell you which claims are yours and which could be anyone's.
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