AMA: Canva Head of Product Marketing, Charlotte Norman on Messaging

The first 90 days is such an exciting and sometimes overwhelming time in a person's career.  The best way to set up for success in 90 days is as follows:  Day 1 - 30: Learn, learn, learnThe first task I complete (and subsequently ask my newbies to complete) is an end-to-end product audit. The goal of this exercise is for newbies to learn the product and marketing flows inside out, from the perspective of one of our customers (ie. not looking up internal docs of what the flows are meant to be). W ...Read More

Positioning is about showcasing how you solve your customer's needs in a unique and beneficial way.  I firmly believe that you can not create strong messaging if you have not completed an audit of your competitor's messaging. I typically use the following framework to audit competitors:  Competitor framework: Company name  Tagline  Positioning statement  Core benefit  Problem solved  Messaging pillars  Once completed I’ll map on a 4 x 4 the key territories the competitor sits in and where our co ...Read More

Testing, iterating, and optimizing with your core audiences is the key to successful positioning:  Talk to your customers and prospective customers to see how the messaging resonates with them and if it helps them understand the benefits of the product Mockup product flows, or marketing touchpoints with the new messaging and test this with customers  Use websites like usertesting.com to see how people react and respond to the messaging  Cross-reference your messaging with subject matter experts  ...Read More

I believe there are three crucial things that need to be outlined in order for a successful launch:  Why are we doing the launch: what are the key metrics, objectives and customer benefits of doing it Who's the core team working on the launch How are we measuring success post-launch?  Why are we doing the launch? If you don’t have a clear understanding of why you’re doing the launch and how you’ll measure success, then you’re setting yourself up for failure. A launch without core objectives and ...Read More

Good question and I’m sure everyone has a slightly different take on this. From my perspective:  Positioning = How you solve customers needs and sit in relation to the wider competitive market  Messaging = How you bring your positioning to life in market  I like to think of messaging as the tactical way that your positioning comes to life. Your positioning is your foundation and the messaging is the particular angle you’ll take when launching a campaign. Messaging will be used to creatively brin ...Read More

I do believe in having a north star to help guide all your messaging. Having a clear brand and positioning DNA which is the overarching narrative for your entire company, will help ensure there’s consistent messaging across the entire business and that all positioning is helping tell your company's bigger purpose and mission. Your company’s messaging DNA should be the foundation from which you build your product positioning. You can use your brand DNA foundation as a north star to guide your fea ...Read More