What is a Message House?
A Message House is a method for increasing messaging discipline within your team. A Message House consists of an outline of a house with messages inside. Simply tell your internal stakeholders (salespersons, fundraisers, etc.) to “stay inside the Message House” when communicating about their project or organization.
Why is a Message House effective?
The Message House method is effective because it promotes a focus on a small number of key messages and turns an abstract concept (adhering to messages) into a concrete and “sticky” idea (staying inside a house).
How do you make a Message House?
The original Message House design features a roof, three columns, and a foundation. The roof contains your “umbrella message.” It usually conveys the value or urgency of a project. The three columns each have a supporting “core message.” The foundation includes ancillary information such as proof points, statistics, examples, and testimonials.
Creating a Message House is easy using the templates in the free Message House Toolkit.
Who uses Message Houses?
Companies, nonprofits, NGOs and governments around the world use Message Houses. Organizations (and their reason for) downloading the Message House Toolkit have included:
- Apple, USA (“internal communications”)
- Nestle, Switzerland (“align a team to key messages”)
- Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Finland (“coaching communications”)
- State government, Australia (“key messages for an anti-bullying campaign”)
- Red Cross, New Zealand (“writing key messages”)
There are more than 1,000 use examples from 65+ countries at messagehouse.org/testimonials.
The toolkit additionally includes an eBook with:
- A framework for determining effective key messages for a Message House
- Examples of real-world Message Houses
- Advice for rolling out a Message House in an organization
- A case study of a non-profit using a Message House
- A simpler Message House version with just one “room” instead of the three columns, roof, and foundation
GET THE MESSAGE HOUSE BOOK
About the book (free pdf or buy on Amazon)
Create powerful messages and get your teams to use them! Communications expert Marc Fest shares his take on the classic Message House Method. Learn to create messages that inform, inspire, pre-empt skepticism, and trigger action. Then apply the Message House “trick” to get your team to remember and use them. This book is part of a pro-bono project and is available for free download at www.messagehouse.org/download.
Survey finds that 25% of communication professionals have used Message House method
According to a recent poll conducted in a LinkedIn group of more than 50,000 communication professionals from around the world, 25% of respondents have used the Message House method. Additionally, a third of those surveyed were aware of the approach. The poll received 200 votes. To learn how MessageHouse.org became the home of the Message House method, check out this LinkedIn article.
Are you an agency?
Acquire this site and turn the toolkit’s downloaders (see below) into your clients.