Question 2 — what is the message?

Start from what they should do, not what you want to say. The smallest honest next step.

As it is usually taught: decide what you want to say, then say it clearly and often.

What it really asks of you is an inversion. Never start from "what do we want to say". Start from "what do we want them to do". Before any drafting, complete this sentence: "After this communication, we want [who] to [do what]." One audience, one action. The message is whatever, said to that person, makes that action reasonable.

Choose the smallest honest next step

Actions come in a ladder. Early steps cost the reader little; later steps cost commitment:

flowchart LR
    subgraph COMM["Communications earn these steps"]
      A["explore"] --> B["consider"]
      B --> C["examine"]
      C --> D["evaluate / compare"]
      D --> E["discuss"]
    end
    subgraph REL["The relationship earns these"]
      F["buy"] --> G["recommend / return"]
    end
    E --> F

Communications earn the early steps. The relationship, and the people in it, earn the later ones. Buying belongs to the relationship, not to a mailing.

Ask for the smallest honest next step: the one the reader is actually ready for. Asking beyond their stage costs trust. A first email that asks for a meeting asks too much; the honest ask may be "look at this comparison page". A reader walked up the ladder step by step arrives at the discussion warmer than one pushed toward it.

The strongest asks are invitations to check

Notice which steps sit in the middle of the ladder: examine, evaluate, compare. Only a company with real evidence can sincerely ask a buyer to scrutinize it. If your claim inventory is strong, these become your natural asks: here is the report, examine it. Here are the three documents every vendor should show you, compare us. Whoever teaches the buyer how to evaluate the category wins most of the evaluations. The message is then not a claim but a lens.

A message is also a commitment

Whatever you say, the organisation must keep. That is why the message is checked against the claim inventory and the voice charter, and why what you choose not to say is part of the message. One more consequence, worth the whole chapter: the action you ask for is countable. Each step of the ladder is a business event you can later count, which is how question five becomes answerable.

This week

For your next communication, write the sentence: "After this, we want [who] to [do what]." If the action is more than one step up the ladder from where the reader stands, lower it.