Why good messaging dies with copy

Messaging docs are built around key ideas.

And this ☝️ is exactly why good messaging "dies" with copy.

It's not because the copywriter is bad at their job. Nor is it because the messaging strategist is bad at theirs.

It's simply because there's a fundamental disconnect in the documentation.

I've been thinking about this a lot recently after a Product team ripped some of my copy to shreds a few weeks ago.

Some of the comments sounded like, "This is the most important feature. Why don't we mention this?"

As I edited, I went back into the messaging document to figure out what I should have said about the feature.

In doing so, I discovered the reason I'd missed it in the first place: it was listed as one of about 7 bullet points under one of 4 big key ideas.

There was very little to suggest this was a feature that deserved a spot on the home page. If anything, it seemed like a minor plot point in the bigger overall story.

Now, I obviously fixed the copy, and to be honest I'm quite proud of how it turned out. The feedback was *invaluable* — but it solidified something I've been thinking for a while, which is that copywriters need to be involved in messaging documentation.

The truth: when people sit down to write for your business, more often than not they don't want high-level messages about your value. Instead, they want to make your copy *believable* — which means talking about real, ground-level features.

If you don't have documentation that tells them what the most important features are, they either make it up for themselves, or you spend hours in feedback rounds explaining the basics to them.

So, how did this experience changed my process?

For one, I'm improving my onboarding. But for two, I'm actually starting to create Brand Language Libraries for all of my copy clients.

Brand Language Libraries are Notion wikis that take all of your messaging and break it up into bite-sized and usable pieces. Designed to help writers and salespeople quickly figure out WHAT to say about important features, they act as the single source of truth for all of your writing guidelines.

Sections (so far) include:

✔️ Mission, vision, and values

✔️ Character sheet for the brand personality

✔️ Key brand-level messages

✔️ Messages for individual features

✔️ Messages broken down by persona

✔️ Brand voice guide

All of this information is housed in smaller pages so it's easy for someone to go in, find what they need, and get back to the real work.

I'm sure I'll be adding more as I go, but these have been an amazing internal tool so far. I've just put one together for a new client in the Insurance Tech space and it's going to make the *writing* so much easier, both for myself and for anybody they hire in the future.

Feeling pretty dang excited about what this looks like going forward and how it'll help web copy projects in the future. 🚀