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Frances Liu

AMA: Instawork Head of Marketing, Frances Liu on Messaging

September 1, 2021 @ 10:00AM PT

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  1. What messaging and persona framework do you use and how much of competitive positioning do you cover in Messaging?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    I borrow from the typical ones mentioned on Sharebird (the box one? mind's failing me here) and modify them based on what I'm messaging. 

    Re: competitive positioning, I break it down by 3 segments at a high level and against key value props how we stack up. 

    • Who are incumbents
    • Top direct competitors
    • Adjacents in the space

    I try not to get too much in the weeds on features so we focus on benefits. Detailed comparisons are more used as sales enablement.

    2,665 Views
    2 requests

  2. How do you and at what stages do you test your messaging?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    I find it helpful to test along the way and continue testing once it's released broadly. Unsurprisingly, we work closely with customer-facing teams, advisors, and internal teams as a starting point and work with them to roadtest. I'd love to say there's always a deliberate process, but sometimes you don't have the time to do so. For instance, last year with the pandemic, we had to very quickly expand into a new vertical and operating in an unknown environment. So we relied more on customer valid ...Read More

    689 Views
    5 requests

  3. How would you recommend Product Marketing Managers improve their messaging skills?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    As others have mentioned, practice. It's hard to find the extra time, so here are some ideas:

    • Try different frameworks to refresh on basics
    • Find reasons to tag-team a refresh. I've used it as part of onboarding new marketing folks
    • Compare with PMMs at other companies. I'm grateful to have coworkers and friends to talk shop (plus kudos to Sharebird!)
    • Read fiction. Sounds corny, but it non-work related way to tap that empathy muscle
    824 Views
    2 requests

  4. How do you get to creative, consistent and differentiated messaging?

    Do you believe in brand positioning/purpose as a north star for messaging?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    To build consistency, it's critical that everyone in the company believes and uses the brand positioning and mission. For example, at Instawork, our CEO walks through it at every all-hands and uses a recent customer example to highlight how we've delivered (or failed to deliver) on our value prop. It also informs our plans, so what we build aligns with the overall company promise. Where we can differentiate is how we message to a particular audience. Being a labor marketplace, we work with both ...Read More

    599 Views
    3 requests

  5. What are some common Messaging mistakes you see Product Marketers make?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    It can be hard to keep messaging simple and poignant. It takes time, revs, and validation. There's pressure to get it perfect right off the bat. Or people sit and forget. Let it evolve over time. 

    Something I've learned is how valuable it can be to tap the emotional benefit. It's still important to have rational data points so they can justify the decision, but a great story compels. 

    609 Views
    2 requests

  6. What is the best way you've found to coach a new product marketer on creating messaging?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    It depends on the person's prior experience, but the core skills are around: research/insights, building personas, building the messaging framework.

    And a general coaching rule is: tell, show (via examples from other companies or here), and do (often). 

    We're at a growth stage where there's so much work to be done, so new marketing team members have to learn as they do. But to set them up properly, we'll create a more structured plan and build in more time.

    481 Views
    2 requests

  7. What is messaging?

    Frances Liu
    Frances Liu

    Opus Solar VP of Marketing and Customer Success | Formerly Instawork, Upwork, Apple • 4y

    Messaging is articulating why and how your product/service matters. It's a unifying tool for teams so we continually show value to our customers.

    I've learned to appreciate a simple tool like a messaging doc. Without one, it takes longer to onboard new employees, harder to wrangle the cats. Business turns wonky.

    1,639 Views
    1 request