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§ 1.1.2 · A1 / A2 · typically two weeks · quarterly or annual

What this is

An update to an existing messaging document. New product line, a shift in who is actually buying, a competitor doing something that changes the conversation, or a year of performance data telling you which narratives landed and which never did. One conversation and a rewrite, rather than the full five-question process again.

When to reach for it

The test is whether your positioning is still directionally right. If the document still describes a company you recognize and the changes are additive—a new offering to fold in, an audience to sharpen, a claim that has stopped being true—this is the right piece. If the document describes a company you have stopped being, this is the wrong piece. We will tell you so and propose the full messaging document instead rather than performing a refresh on a foundation that has moved.

What we need from you

An hour, usually with the founder or leading executive. What changed, what stopped being true, and what you have found yourself saying in sales conversations that is not in the document. That last question is often the whole meeting—the message tends to evolve in live conversation months before anyone writes it down. If we have been running your measurement for a while, we bring performance evidence to the conversation. Which narratives got read, which posts got replies, which page people leave. It is a useful counterweight to everyone’s instinct about what’s working.

What you will have

The updated document, with the changes visible rather than absorbed, so anyone who learned the old version can see what moved. We also flag which downstream assets now contradict the update—the website section, the sales one-pager, the podcast description—so they can be scheduled rather than discovered later by a customer.

How long it takes

About two weeks, including your review.

Cadence

Quarterly if the business is moving fast, annually if it is not. We will usually raise it in the monthly audit when the evidence suggests the message and the market have drifted apart.

Next: § 1.2 Strategy

Turning a settled message into a sequence.