--- type: "How-to guide" title: "How to create a core message for a post" description: "Pack one idea into a one-sentence core message with four questions about context, then check it, so your post stays on track and on point." resource: "https://cuongthach.com/docs/know-trust-love/guides/create-a-core-message/" markdown: "https://cuongthach.com/docs/know-trust-love/guides/create-a-core-message/index.md" tags: - "docs" - "en" - "know-trust-love" status: stable generated: by: "process:cuongthach-okf-export" at: "2026-10-20T16:02:37Z" --- # How to create a core message for a post A core message is the one sentence readers must remember after reading the post, and each post carries only one message. You make it by answering four questions about context, then squeezing the answers into one sentence. ## Before you start - You have an idea, a note or a recording to work from. A short seed or a few bullet points is enough. - You know who will read this post. - You have tried or lived through what you want to say. The solution must be yours. ## Steps 1. **Pick one idea seed** Pick exactly one idea for this post. Stuffing four or five messages into one post confuses readers, so save the other ideas for other posts. 2. **Describe the reader in their own words** Write down who will read the post and how they name their own problem. For each expert word, ask: "Would my customer say this word?" If not, swap it for the word they really say. 3. **Name the pain** Pick one pain tied directly to this idea, at a real-life level where readers see themselves. Write it at three levels: the outside is the problem anyone can see, the inside is the feeling shown through a picture without naming the emotion, and the root is a wrong belief. 4. **Write your own solution** Write a point of view, a formula or a process taken from real experience. Keep it as it is, even if it is rough. Write it yourself before you ask AI or search Google. 5. **Write the result readers get** Write what readers can do or understand after they finish reading. Without a clear result, readers have no reason to stay. 6. **Squeeze it into one sentence** Combine the four answers into one single sentence: what pain the reader is stuck in, what your solution is, and what result they get. That sentence is the core message. ## Example :::note[A made-up example] This example is built to make things easy to picture. It is not a true story. It is for someone who teaches home baking, has just started selling an online course, and posts regularly but gets no customers. ::: | Question | Answer | |---|---| | The reader, in their own words | A baking teacher who describes the problem as "I keep posting and no one asks to buy." | | Outside pain | Posts every week and gets lots of likes, but almost no messages asking to buy. | | Inside pain | Every morning, opens the phone, scrolls down to the inbox and sees it is still empty. | | Root | Believes that the more posts you make, the more customers you get. | | Your own solution | Each post answers just one question that customers really ask before they buy. | | Result | Customers send a message asking to buy after they read a post. | | **Core message** | **Inbox still empty: make each post answer exactly one question customers often ask, and they will message you to buy.** | ## Check your core message Read the sentence you just wrote and ask three things. Each "no" has its own fix. - **Does it have only one main idea?** If it has two, go back to the step where you pick an idea seed and split it into two posts. - **Can someone outside your field understand it without an explanation?** If not, go back to the step where you describe the reader in their own words and change the words. - **Could another post online say this exact sentence?** If so, go back to the step where you write your own solution and add your own experience. When all three pass, that sentence is the core message of the post and the compass that keeps the post on track. ## Common mistakes - **Stuffing four or five messages into one post.** The post gets longer but leaves nothing behind, and customers don't know what to do next. Split it into several posts, one message each. - **Using expert words.** You are used to reading in-depth material, so it's easy to share in that language. Translate it into the words customers really use. - **Telling every personal story.** Customers only care about what bears directly on their problem. Keep only the stories that touch the pain you chose. - **Naming the pain without showing a result.** Readers feel understood but see no way out. Add a specific result. ## Common questions Why not post my long material as it is? Long material holds a lot of valuable experience, but if you post it as it is, the post wanders and readers get sleepy because nothing in it speaks to them. On the other hand, if you force yourself to be short from the start, the feeling gets lost. The problem is not how long your material is but how you package it before you share it. What difference does a core message make when AI content is everywhere? A post without a core message only adds more noise. Customers don't understand what you want to say, what they need to do, or whether their pain gets solved. Keeping one single message through the whole post helps readers remember it more deeply. My solution is still rough. Should I share it? Yes. A solution is never simply right or wrong. It is only sensible and best, or not, in each situation. Even if it is rough or takes the long way around, it is your real lesson. Readers value a real path and real experience more than a perfect but empty result. Why write my solution myself before asking AI or Google? A solution with your personal stamp on it is where your post differs from the flood of mass-made posts. If you leave it to AI or look up the answer on Google before you start writing, your solution will look like everyone else's. Trust the knowledge you have built up and write it out from your own experience. ## After you have a core message Once the context, the message and your own solution are packed together, you no longer have to swim through a pile of messy drafts. When it is time to write, you just open that box and write from it. ## Next steps - [Sort a post into the right funnel stage](/docs/know-trust-love/guides/sort-post-by-stage) — Sort a post into the Know, Trust or Love stage based on what customers are asking or need from that post. - [The Know stage of the content funnel](/docs/know-trust-love/concepts/know-post) — The Know post is the first point of contact in the funnel: where readers discover you and want to read on. - [The Trust stage of the content funnel](/docs/know-trust-love/concepts/trust-post) — The Trust post follows the Know post with small, hands-on steps, so readers make a result themselves. Source: https://cuongthach.com/docs/know-trust-love/guides/create-a-core-message/index.mdx