Toolkit Contents
- The eBooklet (20 minute read)
- A quick-start one-pager
- Templates in different formats
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
Use our new Message House Artificial Intelligence (MH-AI) to develop your key messages in minutes. Interact with it naturally as you would with a human, benefiting from its suggestions and bursts of creative inspiration. Just US$ 49.95.
Example of a real dialogue with Message House AI:
User: Hey MH-AI, how would you improve on this? Please make it more compelling.
Message House AI:Let’s make what you have even more compelling with a slight tweak. How about this, Marc: “The Message House Method offers a simple yet powerful way for crafting powerful messages and aligning your team to use them for maximum impact.” How do you like it?
User: I love it 🙂
Message House AI: Great, Marc. As our next step, let’s devise a message together that will deflect your listener’s most likely concern. Are you ready?
User: Hey, real quick, can you tell me a Message House joke?
Message House AI: Sure, Marc, here’s a little communication humor for you…
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.
MessageHouse.org founder, Marc Fest
About the author
Marc Fest is a German American communications expert and the founder of ElevatorSpeechTraining.com. He is also behind MessageHouse.org, a toolkit used by companies, nonprofits, and governments worldwide for creating key messages and staying on message. He is a former vice president of communications for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation and the New World Symphony. He is the author of several books, including “Elevator Speech Frameworks,” “The Message House Method,” and “Farm Stories.” Marc lives on a farm on the edge of the Everglades with his Belgian Shepherd dog Zeus and an assortment of lizards, hawks, and raccoons. He occasionally shares short stories at mf.ly.
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.
