# Worked example (synthetic)

A complete audit for a fictional brand, **Cadence** (a scheduling app). Everything here is invented to demonstrate the method and the quality bar. It is illustrative only. Never carry Cadence's content, claims, or quotes into a real audit.

**Intake given by the marketer:** "I just took over marketing at Cadence. Here's the homepage hero, the pricing page, the sales deck we send prospects, and our LinkedIn bio. Audit our messaging. I need to know what to fix before I touch anything."

Assets and audiences:
- **Homepage hero**, buyers (small-business owners)
- **Pricing page**, buyers
- **Sales deck**, buyers (mid-market ops leaders)
- **LinkedIn company bio**, mixed or general

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# Messaging Audit, Cadence
*Prepared by [new marketing lead] · 2026-07-12 · Assets audited: 4*

## 1. Executive summary
Cadence has a warm, consistent voice and a clear audience on its buyer-facing pages, but its core promise contradicts itself. The homepage sells simplicity for solo operators while the sales deck sells power for growing ops teams. There is no stated differentiation anywhere, so nothing explains why a buyer picks Cadence over the two competitors it names. The single most important fix is deciding who Cadence is for and what it uniquely promises them. Almost everything else is downstream of that. This audit covers four assets and does not assess visual design, SEO, or in-product copy.

## 2. Scope
- **Assets audited:** Homepage hero (buyers), Pricing page (buyers), Sales deck (mid-market ops leaders), LinkedIn bio (general).
- **Not covered or not accessible:** Full site (only the hero was provided), email sequences, in-app copy, paid ads.

## 3. Extraction matrix

| Element | Homepage hero | Pricing page | Sales deck | LinkedIn bio |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Value proposition | "Scheduling that just works, so you can get back to your day." | "Simple plans for simple scheduling." | "The scheduling engine for scaling operations teams." | "We help teams run on time." |
| Positioning statement | (absent) | (absent) | "Built for ops leaders who've outgrown spreadsheets." | (absent) |
| Brand promise | "It just works." | (absent) | "Enterprise-grade reliability." | (absent) |
| Target audience | Solo owners / very small teams | Small teams | Mid-market ops leaders | "Teams" (unspecified) |
| Key benefits | Saves time, no setup | Affordable, no surprises | Automation, integrations, SLAs | On-time delivery |
| Differentiation pillars | (absent) | (absent) | (absent) | (absent) |
| Proof points | (absent) | (absent) | "Trusted by industry leaders." | "Loved by thousands." |
| Tagline / boilerplate | "Cadence, scheduling that just works." | "Cadence, scheduling that just works." | "Cadence: the operations scheduling engine." | "Cadence keeps teams in sync." |
| Tone & voice | Warm, plain, reassuring | Warm, plain | Corporate, capability-led | Warm, upbeat |
| Primary CTA | "Start free" | "Choose a plan" | "Book a demo" | "Learn more" |

## 4. Consistency findings

> **Value proposition, Contradictory.**
> Homepage: "Scheduling that just works, so you can get back to your day." Sales deck: "The scheduling engine for scaling operations teams."
> The brand promises effortless simplicity to solo owners and power and scale to ops teams. Two different products to two different buyers. This is the root problem.

> **Target audience, Contradictory.**
> Buyer pages target solo owners and small teams; the deck targets mid-market ops leaders. This isn't a legitimate audience split (same buying motion, same funnel). The brand hasn't decided who it serves.

> **Tagline / boilerplate, Drifting.**
> "Scheduling that just works" (site) versus "the operations scheduling engine" (deck) versus "keeps teams in sync" (LinkedIn). Three different one-liners. A reader wouldn't recognize them as one brand.

> **Tone & voice, Drifting.**
> Warm and plain on buyer pages; corporate and capability-led in the deck. This tracks the audience split above. Resolving the audience will likely resolve the voice.

> **Differentiation pillars, Absent.**
> No asset states why Cadence beats an alternative. The deck implies competitors exist ("outgrown spreadsheets") but names no point of difference.

> **Positioning statement, Absent (except deck).**
> Only the deck attempts one. The buyer pages have no stated position.

> **Proof points, Absent or unsupported.**
> "Trusted by industry leaders" and "Loved by thousands" appear with zero specifics.

## 5. Gaps
- **Missing element, Differentiation pillars:** no stated point of difference in any asset.
- **Missing element, Positioning statement:** absent on all buyer-facing pages.
- **Unsupported claim, Proof:** "Trusted by industry leaders" (deck), "Loved by thousands" (LinkedIn), no names, numbers, or results.
- **Undifferentiated claim, Value prop:** "scheduling that just works" is a claim any scheduler could make.
- **Audience mismatch:** buyer pages versus deck assume different readers for the same purchase.

## 6. Priority fix list

| # | Fix | Rating | Why it matters | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Decide the core audience and value proposition (simple-for-solos versus power-for-ops) | Contradictory | Root cause; blocks every page, deck, and campaign until resolved | High |
| 2 | Articulate differentiation, why Cadence over the alternative | Absent | Nothing gives a buyer a reason to choose; blocks positioning and sales | Medium |
| 3 | Unify the tagline and boilerplate across assets | Drifting | Cheap coherence win once #1 is set | Low |
| 4 | Attach real proof to claims, or cut the claims | Unsupported | Current proof is empty and erodes trust | Low to medium |

## 7. Your Strategic Take
- **Which buyer is the real one?** Speed versus scale is a strategic bet only the team can make. The audit surfaces the conflict, it doesn't decide it.
- **Are the "industry leaders" real?** If named customers exist, this becomes a fast proof fix. If not, the claim should be cut. A human confirms.
- **Is "outgrown spreadsheets" the actual competitor?** Confirm whether the real alternative is spreadsheets, a named rival, or doing nothing. It changes the differentiation work.

## 8. Next step
Resolve the audience and value-proposition decision first (a positioning workshop is the right venue for the strategic bet in #1), then codify the corrected value prop, pillars, and boilerplate into a single messaging platform. This audit stops at the diagnosis. It has not changed anything on Cadence's live assets.
