The five-question worksheet

Five acts of saying, one page per communication, filled in before anything goes out.

One copy of this page per communication: an email, a mailing, a page on your site, a fair, a visit. Fill it in before anything goes out. The order is the method: do not start at question three.

The worksheet is not paperwork. It is five acts of saying. What you cannot say clearly, you do not know yet, and it is cheaper to find that out here than after the money is spent.

Before you begin

• Give this communication a name and a date.
• Check it against your signed voice charter. If there is no signed charter yet, stop here and start with the voice charter template.
• Decide which ledger the cost belongs to, in writing, now: a specific ask you will measure, or the long game you protect from measurement. See what to measure.

1. Who is the target audience?

Not a market. A person in a situation. See question one.

• Who will read this? Name the person, or the role.
• What do they believe today about the problem you solve?
• What are they afraid of getting wrong?
• What would count as proof for them: a report, a reference, a visit?
• Who else is in the room when they decide?

2. What is the message?

One audience, one change, one next step. See question two.

• What is the one thing they should think after reading this? Say it in one sentence.
• Complete this sentence: after this communication, we want [who] to [do what].
• Is that the smallest honest next step, or are you asking for more than the relationship carries?
• Which claim backs the message, and where is the proof? Take it from your claim inventory, the list of claims you can prove.

3. How will we deliver/present it?

See question three.

• Which channel carries it: your site, a mailing, a meeting, a fair, a visit?
• What does the channel itself say? Its cost is part of the message: a visit says more than an email.
• Who controls the pace: the reader, or you?
• Which language is it in, and does the charter's register line for that language fit this stage of the relationship?
• Soften the ask, harden the evidence: is the evidence stated plainly?

4. What is the expected result?

An action you can see, not a feeling you hope for. See question four.

• Who does what, by when? Name the action, the person or role, and the date the window closes.
• What will exist if it happens: a reply, a request, an order, a booked meeting?
• Could a colleague check it happened without asking your opinion?
• If it succeeds, what is the next concrete step, and with whom?

5. How do we know/measure success?

Decide now, before anything goes out. See question five.

• How will you know a response came from this communication? Ask them, or give this communication its own door: a page, a contact, an offer that only it carries.
• Write the decision rule: if fewer than [number] [results] by [date], we will [specific change].
• And if the number is reached: what will you repeat or extend?

Sign, send, and close

• Filled in by, date.
• The answers keep the charter. Checked by, date.
• After the window closes: what happened, and what did you change?

Keep the finished pages. A year of them is your own marketing record: what you asked, what happened, what you changed.