A message architecture acts as a foundation for your brand identity and messaging. But creating your message architecture requires careful planning and collaboration among a company’s stakeholders. And implementing it requires the right tools—like GatherContent’s content operations platform.

Here, we’ll explain what message architecture is and why it matters. We’ll also outline how to create a compelling message architecture and share some examples to inspire you.

What is message architecture?

Message architecture is a set of three to five communication goals. These terms or phrases guide a content marketing strategy—including topics, format, style, tone of voice, graphics, typography, color, and more. A company’s message architecture serves as the North Star of an organization.

“Before I can recommend new content types, compile a cut list, or determine editorial style, I need to understand what we’re trying to communicate,” writes Margot Bloomstein, an early proponent of message architecture, in a blog post.

In her book Content Strategy at Work, Bloomstein outlines the three qualities of a messaging architecture, including:

• The message architecture identifies levels of priority.
• The message architecture is actionable.
• The message architecture is specific.

Why is message architecture important?

A message architecture is an actionable representation of the company’s vision and mission statement. With a well-defined message architecture, companies can build brand awareness, meet the needs of their target audience, and drive sales.

A message architecture is an actionable representation of the company’s vision and mission statement. With a well-defined message architecture, companies can build brand awareness, meet the needs of their target audience, and drive sales.

Message architecture establishes brand identity

A message architecture lays the foundation for your brand identity. It informs how you communicate with your target audience.

Brands often define their mission and values but don’t convey them. “If the label fell off… would you recognize your own voice? Would your boss or client?” writes Ann Hadley in her book Everybody Writes. “It’s the smallest things that signal a brand. A personality. A point of view.”

With a defined message architecture, a business can reflect the company’s core values and unique personality throughout its messaging.

Message architecture makes a company stand out

A robust message architecture makes understanding the brand’s value proposition easy. It ensures that your target audience understands what you offer and how you differ from your competitors. With clear communication goals, marketing teams can strengthen brand positioning and surpass their competition.

Message architecture builds trust

With a message architecture, companies create a shared vocabulary. As a result, they can build trust by communicating their values consistently.

“Those attributes and terms reflect a broader discussion to establish concrete, shared terminology—not just abstract concepts that fall apart outside the hallowed halls of marketing,” writes Bloomstein.

Whether your audience visits your homepage or engages on social media, your brand messaging architecture creates a consistent user experience.

3 steps to develop a message architecture

Developing an effective message architecture is a collaborative process that requires a company to synthesize its vision, mission statement, and core values.

Here are three steps to define your brand messaging architecture.

1. Brainstorm and evaluate

The first step is to brainstorm and prioritize three to five communication goals. Companies should invite essential stakeholders to participate in a live brainstorming session. Bloomstein offers several techniques to structure these sessions.

The card sort approach

A card-sorting exercise is a hands-on approach that engages stakeholders and facilitates discussion.

First, teams receive a stack of cards with different adjectives. They must sort cards into three categories including:

• Who are we?
• Who do we want to be?
• Who are we not?
  

Once your team finishes sorting cards, it’s time to narrow them down. This step requires teams to reconcile who they are now with whom they wish to become. What are the three to five qualities that will define your brand?

The final step in the exercise is to rank these qualities. What is your top priority? By creating a hierarchy of communication goals, marketing teams can better define their key messages.

Venn diagram

Bloomstein suggests using a Venn diagram as another option to define your message architecture.

Each circle should define the brand offering and audience needs. Teams then sort the adjectives mentioned above into each category. Stakeholders can also add their own. Terms that overlap will define the message architecture.

Once a team identifies the overlapping words or phrases, it’s time to narrow them down and identify messaging priorities.

2. Document

Once you settle on the three to five terms that will make up your message architecture, you will need to document it.

Identify your communication themes and provide bullet points to clarify these terms. Describe how your message architecture will guide your content strategy and design.

Here is an example of a documented brand messaging architecture:

• Message Architecture:

• Modern

• Understands the history of the industry; eager to help shape its future.

• Approachable

• Customer service is accessible and proactive.  

• Efficient

• Process-oriented. Continually seeking ways to improve.

• Impact on visual design

• Modern typeface
• Imagery of people who are dressed professionally, but fashion-forward
• Bold colors

• Impact on content strategy

• Content should be professional, but informal language is okay (e.g., use of “you” or “we,”)
• Remove industry jargon. Spell out acronyms.  
• Employ modern content types to reach the audience (podcasts, video, social media)

3. Communicate

Companies should share their message architecture with their entire organization—including external content creators. Businesses should define the message architecture in brand guidelines, internal communications, collaborative tools, and training sessions.

As a company grows, how it communicates with its audience may change. As a result, your message architecture should be a living document.

3 examples of message architecture to inspire you

Defining your message architecture may feel like an intimidating process. After all, it lays the foundation for how your brand communicates. We’ve rounded up three effective message architecture case studies to get you started.

1. Airbnb

Airbnb’s mission is to “create a world where anyone can belong anywhere.” The brand aims to create community, encourage adventure, and transform the hospitality industry.

Marissa Phillips, former head of Content Strategy at Airbnb, founded the company’s UX Writing team. She shared how they developed the brand’s messaging architecture on the company’s blog.

Philips defines their messaging architecture as follows:

1. Straightforward
2. Inclusive
3. Thoughtful
4. Spirited

She also includes examples of how the company applies those goals—whether their audience is planning a trip, traveling, or hosting a guest. “We might push to include rationale for a policy change because it’s a more straightforward approach. When writing for stressful situations, we’ll be thoughtful in how we anticipate and meet people’s needs,” notes Philips.

2. Etsy

Etsy is a commerce platform that connects creators with customers. Etsy’s vision is to “keep commerce human.” The platform’s message architecture includes the following:

1. Magic
2. Forward Thinking
3. Human
4. Supportive

In a Brand Guidelines presentation, the company shares what each communication goal “feels like” for sellers and customers. For example, its forward-thinking principle evokes “imaginative; innovative; nontraditional twists; unexpected; confident; co-creation; anything is possible.”

3. Section

Section is an online education platform that aims to provide “top-notch business education to all.”

The platform recently rebranded and shared the process on its blog. Its new message architecture is:

1. Rebellious and real
2. Fast time to impact
3. Open to all that are hungry

Its website uses post-its, highlighters, and strike-out design elements to “evoke the real world of work and the learning process, which is fast, messy, exhilarating, and full of back-and-forth.” The brand also uses black-and-white imagery that pokes fun at the stuffy corporate aesthetic of the past.  

Put your message architecture into action with GatherContent

Developing a strong message architecture is a critical component of a content strategy. But how you implement your message architecture is just as important. Here’s where we can help.

GatherContent helps thousands of organizations create and scale quality content. Our content operations platform brings stakeholders and processes together—ensuring consistent content creation that aligns with your message architecture.

Start a free trial today to see how GatherContent helps make your messaging architecture come to life.