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IMPACT

Craft Message

Build your positioning statement and message hierarchy

For CMOs and marketing teams. The decision: what is our core message, and how do we test it?

Give it your target customer, key benefit and what sets you apart, and you get a positioning statement in three lengths, a message hierarchy, versions to test and answers to objections.

Try it with an exampleUse your own details

Last updated

Message HierarchyMessage Hierarchy: Tagline, then Value Proposition, then Supporting Pillars.Message HierarchyTaglineValue PropositionSupporting Pillars
How the answer is laid out, using the sections the tool prints.

Would our B2B buyer choose this positioning claim, and how do we test it with buyers?

Build a positioning statement, tagline options, three supporting pillars, audience-specific copy (champion, economic buyer, and technical evaluator), and objection answers from your target customer, key benefit, and differentiation. Every benefit is marked as an unproved value hypothesis until backed by measured proof, with a five-second headline clarity check in Craft Message.

What you get

This sample is a made up example, built from the inputs behind Fill in an example. It shows part of one section of the answer.

Positioning Statement

Complete Positioning Statement

Unproved value hypothesis: For cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies, our product is a cloud security monitoring platform that helps them get fewer critical cloud exposures. They lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts. Unlike periodic manual cloud audits, Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.

One-Sentence Version

Unproved value hypothesis: Our product helps cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies get fewer critical cloud exposures.

See the full example answer or run it with your own details.

Run Craft Message

You need: Target customer, Key benefit, Differentiation. You can add: Product name, Customer need, Product category, Competitor.

Your product name

Target customer description

The need they have, written as an action (for example "lose revenue to missed appointments")

Your product category, written as a noun phrase (for example "analytics platform")

Primary benefit/reason to buy

Primary alternative/competitor

Your unique differentiation

Your company's own industry (not your customers'). When given, it decides the sector notes; when left out, the tool reads it from your words and stays neutral if they are unclear.

Example answer

Generated on 2 November 2026 from this branch, with the inputs behind Fill in an example. Your own inputs give a different result.

IMPACT report

Example: Craft Message

Made with Craft Message by Helix GTM ConsultingBased on the made-up example inputshttps://impact.gtmhelix.com/tools/impact-craft-message/

Show the full result

Positioning and Messaging: our product

Sector: read from your inputs as cybersecurity, cloud security. Business model: not stated. Tell us how you charge and the plan will adjust.

Billing dependent steps are conditional: trials, seats and recurring renewals require a subscription; a statement of work requires a services contract; site or link commitments require connectivity billing. Confirm the applicable choice before using those steps.

Confirm one claim and its proof

No outcome proof was supplied. Choose one desired outcome below, retain a measured result with its period and source, and confirm permission before publishing. Every proposed benefit remains an unproved value hypothesis.

Positioning Statement
Complete Positioning Statement
Unproved value hypothesis: For cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies, our product is a cloud security monitoring platform that helps them get fewer critical cloud exposures. They lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts. Unlike periodic manual cloud audits, Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.
One-Sentence Version
Unproved value hypothesis: Our product helps cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies get fewer critical cloud exposures.
Message Hierarchy
Level 1: Tagline
StyleTaglineBest For
Outcome"Fewer critical cloud exposures"Clarity (unproved hypothesis)
Differentiator"Exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration"Uniqueness (unproved hypothesis)
Audience"Built for cloud security leads"Targeting (unproved hypothesis)
Problem"Do you lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts?"Attention (unproved hypothesis)
Level 2: Value Proposition

Problem to solution

Unproved value hypothesis: If you lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts, Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration, so you can get fewer critical cloud exposures.

Outcome first

Unproved value hypothesis: Fewer critical cloud exposures. Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.

Mechanism first

Unproved value hypothesis: Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration, so cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies can get fewer critical cloud exposures.
Level 3: Three Supporting Pillars

Pillar 1: the result. Unproved value hypothesis: What buyers get: fewer critical cloud exposures.

  • Proof you have: none given for the result yet.
  • Proof to collect: exposures found and closed during the proof of value, with the time it took to fix them.

Pillar 2: the difference. What sets it apart: Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.

  • Proof you have: none given for the difference yet.
  • Proof to collect: a side by side with periodic manual cloud audits on the same customer data, for critical exposures open and alerts per analyst.

Pillar 3: why it is safe to buy. Buyers in this sector often raise "We already have a tool for this"; the answer is under Objection Handling.

  • Proof you have: no customer count or reference given yet.
  • Proof to collect: a reference or pilot result that answers that objection.

Words this sector's buyers use, to check your wording against: attack surface, exposure, misconfiguration, alert fatigue, mean time to detect, mean time to respond, SOC, compliance audit, risk register, threat intelligence.
What buyers in a business like yours also weigh: term, scope and price.

Message Variations

Variation A: lead with the problem

Unproved value hypothesis: Do you lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts? The difference in one line: Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.

Variation B: lead with the outcome

Unproved value hypothesis: Our product: Fewer critical cloud exposures. Built for cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies.

Variation C: lead with the difference

Unproved value hypothesis: Still living with periodic manual cloud audits? The alternative is this: Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.

Variation D: lead with social proof

No customer count, result or recognition was typed, so there is no honest proof line to write yet. The first pillar says what to collect.
Audience-Specific Messaging

For the champion (SOC or cloud security lead):

Our product gives you a way to get fewer critical cloud exposures, instead of living with periodic manual cloud audits.

For the economic buyer (CISO):

Our product lets your team get fewer critical cloud exposures. Measure it in critical exposures open and alerts per analyst, the figures this sector already watches. They will also weigh term, scope and price.

For the technical evaluator (risk, compliance and audit):

On risk, in your words: "cloud security monitoring platform". For the technical review: Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration. Our product is a cloud security monitoring platform.
Objection Handling
  • "We already use periodic manual cloud audits." Acknowledge it, then ask where it leaves cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies short. Then show the difference: Our product offers exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration.
  • "The price is too high." Tie the price to critical exposures open, measured in the buyer's own data, and agree how the cost will be compared (term, scope and price).
  • "We already have a tool for this." Map the overlap honestly and show what the current tool misses, on the buyer's own environment.
  • "We have too many alerts already." Show how findings are ranked by real exposure so the team works on fewer, more important items.
  • "Integration with our SIEM and ticketing." Name the integrations available today and test them in the proof of value.
  • "We need proof before budget." Offer a fixed length proof of value with success criteria agreed in writing first.
Message Tests
  • Show the headline to someone outside the company for five seconds and ask what our product does.
  • Ask a customer to confirm in their own words the result our product gives them, and use their words.
  • Check every line against the words this sector's buyers use (attack surface, exposure, misconfiguration, alert fatigue, mean time to detect).

To sharpen this, give: a customer count or a result with its source typed into key benefit or differentiation (it would change the proof lines of the three pillars and the proof-led variation); how you charge (it would change the cost, call to action and proof wording).

Next Step: Use Translate Execution to adapt these messages for each channel

Built by Shashwat Ghoshhttps://impact.gtmhelix.com/tools/impact-craft-message/

Aligning several stakeholders? Run the B2B Positioning Workshop to compare how your Founder, CEO, CMO, CRO and Demand generation head frame the buyer, the alternative and the promised change.

When a tool is not enough: if the decision needs more than one answer, talk it through in a call. Book 45 minutes with Shashwat.

How to read the answer

The tool turns your Target customer, Key benefit, and Differentiation (plus optional Product name, Customer need, Product category, and Competitor) into a Positioning Statement (Complete and One-Sentence Version), a three-level Message Hierarchy (Tagline, Value Proposition, and Three Supporting Pillars), Message Variations (A to D plus Audience-Specific Messaging), Objection Handling, and Message Tests. If you did not include a measured customer result with its source and period, every benefit line is prefixed with Unproved value hypothesis: and Variation D: lead with social proof prints no proof line until you collect the evidence described under Three Supporting Pillars.

What to do next

  • Founder: Follow Confirm one claim and its proof: pick one outcome claim, attach a measured customer result with its period and source, and get written permission before publishing it.
  • CEO: Run the five-second headline test under Message Tests with someone outside your company to verify they can state what your product does and for whom.
  • CMO: Collect the missing evidence listed under Pillar 1, Pillar 2, and Pillar 3 (a before-and-after pilot result, a side-by-side comparison on the same customer data, and a customer reference) and re-run the tool.
  • CRO: Give reps the Audience-Specific Messaging (champion, economic buyer, and technical evaluator) and the six Objection Handling responses for active deals.
  • Demand generation head: Test Variation A (problem-led), Variation B (outcome-led), and Variation C (difference-led) in outbound and social campaigns once the value hypothesis is backed by proof.

Why come back

Come back once you have a verified customer count or before-and-after result with its source, and re-run the tool with your billing model specified so the proof lines and commercial calls to action are complete. The tool applies the same fixed rules every time. It does not call an AI model, and this site does not keep what you enter.

Who is the Craft Message tool not ideal for?

  • Anyone who cannot give the inputs listed above, because the answer is built only from them.
  • Teams that need buyer research done for them: IMPACT structures your positioning as hypotheses, and you test them with buyers.
  • Anyone who needs live competitor data: the tools do not look anything up. They work from what you type about your market and rivals, and anything they add themselves (such as common complaints in a category) is marked as something to check with buyers.

How do I use the Craft Message tool with an AI assistant?

Add IMPACT once (see Use it in Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini), then ask in plain words. Here is a prompt built from the tested example:

My role is not stated. Ask me for my role first. Use IMPACT's Craft Message tool. product name: our product; target customer: cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies; customer need: lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts; product category: cloud security monitoring platform; key benefit: Fewer critical cloud exposures; competitor: periodic manual cloud audits; differentiation: Exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration. If this tool is unavailable, ask me to open its web page; do not invent its output. In Gemini CLI or Antigravity, use the Helix GTM Suite skills package for related guidance, without claiming to run this connector.

How does the Craft Message tool work?

You do not need to sign in. A web browser is enough, and the answer comes back in a second or two.

  1. Fill in the form above, or press Fill in an example.
  2. Press Run Craft Message.
  3. Read the result on this page, then copy it and edit it before you use it.

It applies fixed rules in the IMPACT code to the inputs above and returns text. It does not call an AI model, does not look anything up, and does not store what you type. The web form and the AI assistant connector run the same tool code, so the same input gives the same answer in both.

Previous: Anchor MarketNext: Translate Execution

For developers

MCP tool name: impact_craft_message. REST: POST https://impact.gtmhelix.com/api/tools/impact_craft_message with this JSON body (see How it works):

{
  "input": {
    "product_name": "our product",
    "target_customer": "cloud security leads at mid-size fintech companies",
    "customer_need": "lose days chasing low-risk cloud alerts",
    "product_category": "cloud security monitoring platform",
    "key_benefit": "Fewer critical cloud exposures",
    "competitor": "periodic manual cloud audits",
    "differentiation": "Exposure-based ranking of every misconfiguration"
  }
}

Choose your app

Run a Helix tool in your browser, then take the result to ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Connectors work with supported plans in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf. The Helix GTM Suite skills package supports Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Antigravity, Cursor and VS Code, and is available through skills.sh. Each plugin has its own installation steps, below or on its own page.

Prefer a guided room you can share with your team? Open the Market Sizing Lab on ChatGPT Sites or the Positioning Workshop on ChatGPT Sites.

Connector setup guides · Skills package setup guide · Find the skills on skills.sh