How the LIFT model can help you to fix the messy middle of your brand

If you’ve not heard me talk about it already, let me first introduce the messy middle. 

It’s where brilliant brands go bad.

It's where even the most exciting attractions, experiences and tourism brands can lose their way.

It's that fuzzy bit between what you do and what your customer actually wants. Where your offers are good-but they're not landing. Your messaging is clever, but no one's clicking. Your brand sounds smart, but doesn’t feel right.

Sound familiar?

There’s a proven tool that can help you shine a big old spotlight on what’s getting lost in translation: enter the LIFT Model.

What is the LIFT Model?

Created by the team at WiderFunnel, the LIFT Model is a framework that helps you optimise conversions by evaluating your messaging and UX through six key lenses:

1. Value Proposition

2. Clarity

3. Relevance

4. Distraction

5. Urgency

6. Anxiety

   
   

The LIFT model

It’s usually applied to landing pages and website optimisation but it’s also gold dust when applied to your messy middle.

Let me explain…

Using the LIFT Model to Clean Up the Messy Middle

Your brand strategy isn’t just about what you say. It’s about what lands with the consumer. So let’s run the LIFT Model through the messy middle filter:

1. Value Proposition: What Are You Really Selling?

Too many brands talk about what they do instead of why it matters. If your homepage, campaign or sales deck doesn’t make the value clear in 3 seconds or less, you’re losing people - sometimes for good.

🟣 Ask yourself: Are we making it blindingly obvious what people get from us? Or are we hiding behind industry-speak and internal goals?

2. Clarity: Are You Speaking Human?

Jargon, long sentences, or clever-clever puns that no one gets? That’s messy middle chaos. Clear beats clever every time.Just because you think you should be leveraging English Tourism Week because you’re a visitor attraction, doesn’t mean that it’s the right thing to do or that your customer cares.Be true to what you do, why and what the value is.

🟣 And remember to ask yourself: Could an 8-year-old understand what we do and why someone should care?

3. Relevance: Does It Matter Right Now?

Situational relevance is the heartbeat of any great brand strategy and something I talk about almost as often as the messy middle. If your messaging doesn’t meet your customer where they are, you’re throwing darts in the dark.

🟣 Ask yourself: Are we addressing today’s needs, trends, emotions? Or just what we want them to care about?

4. Distraction: What’s Getting in the Way?

Too many CTAs. Competing headlines. Eight fonts. A tone of voice that changes from page to page. These aren’t just design issues - they’re conversion killers.

🟣 Ask yourself: What’s cluttering the path to action? Get rid of a load of noise. I find this hard so I feel your pain but you’ve got to be brutal.

5. Urgency: Why Should They Act Now?

Tourism and experiences often sell joy-but forget to give people a reason to act quickly. That dreamy ‘someday’ vibe won’t convert now or ever.

🟣 Ask yourself: What trigger are we giving them to move now?  For more about trigger thinking, have a look at the talk I did for the British Tourism and Travel Show on Trigger Thinking.

6. Anxiety: What’s Making Them Wobble?

Is your pricing vague? Does your website feel DIY? Are reviews buried deep? All of this adds low-level friction that turns interest into uncertainty.

🟣 Ask yourself: What’s making people hesitate?

Your conclusion is this.

Clean the Middle, Lift the Brand

The messy middle is where momentum dies or magic happens.

By using the LIFT Model to audit your own content, journeys and messages, you start to spot the unseen gaps-the confusing bits, the dull bits, the trust-breaking bits. And when you clean those up? You don’t just lift conversions, you lift connection, clarity and community.And that my friend, breeds sweet loyalty.

Need a hand with that? That’s literally what I do. You can book a free 30 minute, no stress but all the ideas call by finding a slot with The Plot that suits you.