I love a good worksheet. They bring clarity to complex ideas, forcing everything onto the same page—literally. That kind of clarity is especially important when you’re building a message that needs to not just land, but lead.
That’s why I created the Message Foundation Worksheet (formerly known as the Buy-In Blueprint). It’s the tool I wish I’d had when I was first trying to turn abstract ideas into messages that people could act on.
The worksheet is free, digital, and designed to help you do one of three things:
1. Test and Strengthen an Existing Message
It’s hard to fix what you can’t see. The worksheet lays out six key elements of a strategic message all in one place—so you can see if anything’s missing, misaligned, or just unclear.
2. Build a Message from Scratch
The worksheet helps you design a message the same way your audience builds belief—step by step. It starts with what your audience already believes, and ends with the change you’re asking them to make.
You’ll define:
- A Core Question your audience is actively asking
- Two Core Components of your idea (and why they matter)
- The Core Principles that make them believable
- A strategic, two-word Core Strategy
- Your Core Claim—the position you’re taking
- And a one-sentence Core Case that ties it all together
3. Diagnose Why a Message Isn’t Working
When your message isn’t landing, it’s almost always because something essential is unclear or missing. The worksheet helps you pinpoint the weak spot—so you can strengthen the whole.
What’s Inside: A House-Shaped Structure Built on Belief
The updated Message Foundation Worksheet is based on a simple mental model: a house. It helps you build your message from the foundation up, following how belief actually forms in the brain.
Here’s how it works:
The Core Question (The Door)
This is the urgent, specific, and audience-language question your message is answering. It should sound like something your audience would type into a search bar. The clearer the question, the more powerful the rest of the message.
Worksheet Tip: Phrase it as “How do I…” and make sure it reflects a real, existing curiosity.
The Core Principles (The Foundation)
These are beliefs your audience already holds that justify why your idea matters. You’ll identify one Core Principle for each of your two components.
Worksheet Tip: A good principle is something your audience would say “Yes, that’s true” to—without you having to convince them.
The Core Components (The Walls)
These are the two most essential parts of your answer—your approach, offer, or idea. Think of them as the load-bearing walls of your message. Each one should be:
- Clear and distinct
- Desirable on its own
- Critical to the whole
Worksheet Tip: If removing either makes your answer fall apart, you’ve found the right ones.
The Core Strategy (The Shape of the Roof)
Your two components need to come together in a way that’s both unexpected and obvious. The worksheet helps you test combinations of the two until you find a pairing that feels simple, sticky, and smart.
Worksheet Tip: The format is “X-modified-Y” (e.g., “intentional innovation”). It should feel fresh—but inevitable.
The Core Claim (The Roof Itself)
This is your message’s position—the strategic answer to the Core Question. It’s a short sentence or phrase that declares what you believe and why it matters now.
Worksheet Tip: The best claims sound both new and grounded. They should make your audience say, “Of course. That makes sense.”
The Core Case (The Frame)
Once everything else is in place, you’ll write your Core Case—a single sentence that captures your belief-based argument:
Because [Core Principle 1] and [Core Principle 2], [Core Claim].
This is the beating heart of your message. It’s the logic your audience will use to justify why your message makes sense—not just emotionally, but rationally, too.
Why This Works
Most people build messages from the outside in: they start with a catchy tagline or clever headline. But without a clear internal logic, even the best-sounding messages fall apart under scrutiny.
The Message Foundation Worksheet helps you do the opposite. It builds from the inside out—from what your audience already believes to the change you’re asking them to make.
This approach isn’t just more ethical—it’s more effective. It reduces resistance, strengthens understanding, and increases the chances your message gets remembered and repeated.
And because it’s belief-based, it integrates seamlessly with tools like the Red Thread, the Core Case, and the Rationale Map™—all part of the Message Design ecosystem.
Want Help Using It?
You can download and use the worksheet on your own right here. But if you want guided help working through it, I teach it live in The Fundamentals of Message Design—a highly interactive workshop offered by the Message Design Institute.
Start with the Foundation
Whether you’re launching a product, leading change, or trying to explain what you really do, your message needs more than a headline. It needs a house. The Message Foundation Worksheet gives you the blueprint to build it.