AMA: Asana Director of Product Marketing, Eileen Huang on Messaging

Alignment across the org is critical to having strong internal and external messaging. I take these steps to gain org-wide alignment: 1. Identify executive/key stakeholders & goals * Determine which executives will be part of the development process, which will be informed, and the elements they feel are critical to convey * Understand the goals of the teams that will use your messaging and the components they need for their work streams 2. Support messaging with data * Research the latest market trends relevant to the target audience, how the audience is responding to those trends, and the competitive landscape * Gather input from internal research teams and subject matter experts 3. Keep stakeholders in the loop * Check in regularly with stakeholders throughout the development process and share key insights that shaped the messaging 4. Launch and support * Share messaging in a live setting to generate excitement for the story and answer questions that are top of mind * Go on a roadshow and attend team meetings to dive deeper into the story * Host office hours to support teams using the messaging to guide their work streams

Al has been instrumental in streamlining the way I work and how I personalize messaging. Top ways I use AI to streamline operations: * Generate summaries on meetings * Write status updates * Create follow-ups for next steps How I use AI to personalize content: * Deep dive into market data, persona pains and priorities, and competitive analyses * Surface relevant frameworks and templates appropriate for specific marketing channels and audiences * Refine content to reflect my company’s tone and brand Using the right prompts and training AI to deliver what you need is a critical step. Check out these simple tips that you can implement right away!

There are many ways to structure messaging and positioning docs. Effective frameworks usually contain these key components, which I’ll share with an example from a recent launch: * Target audience * CIO and executive IT * Market trends (why now) * With AI on the rise, the office of the CIO is responsible for creating an AI strategy that supports their employees’ experience while maintaining data security and privacy. * Value and differentiators * “Build the right foundation for AI by securely integrating work data” * “Deploy AI confidently with safeguards & transparent controls” * “Surface intelligent insights to deliver greater ROI at every level” * Proof points and use cases * Customer and analyst highlights from Zscaler and IDC

Once messaging is developed, internal teams use it in a number of ways including: * Marketing: Webinars, emails, web refresh, social, blog posts * Sales: Pitches, collateral * Press, analyst, and investor relations: Previews and debriefs * Executive leadership: Internal socialization and external pitches As product marketers, we can support our cross-functional teams by translating messaging into formats that would be most beneficial for our teammates, including one-pagers and pitch decks.

When deciding between which offerings to surface in messaging, I consider these factors: * Target audience: What do they care about and why? * Differentiators: What does our solution uniquely offer? * Customer sentiment: What are users most excited about? The answers to these questions help me hone in on the value I’d highlight to pique the curiosity of potential customers!