AMA: Monzo Director of Product Marketing, Susan "Spark" Park on Storytelling

In order to ensure alignment (not total agreement but alignment), leading with facts to identify the differences is the most important. The facts are usually gathered via Competitive Intelligence and Audience understanding of their needs. The product should have a clear, fact-based perspective of the value propositions that differentiate from the competition and solve the audience's need. The easiest facts to differentiate are on price, and capabilities/specifications. The harder differentiators to prove are not fact-based. These are things like ease of use, support, trust and things that are all opinion based, and this is where finding alignment can be harder. But can be done. This is where it's important to do the research, and get customer feedback, especially qualitative if possible, to validate that value propositions that are not based on "facts." If you're having trouble driving alignment, most likely it's because most of your value propositions and differentiators may be based on things that are hard to prove with facts. If that's the case you need customer validation. So I would recommend a customer feedback push on the value propositions or an alpha/beta to verify the differentiators, and that customers agree. After that, it will be easier to drive alignment because you will have research backing to move forward. Also, if possible, I'd urge the product team to go back to the product and see if you can add in fact-based value propositions prior to launch to have true differentiators in the power of the product. Then you can drive must-faster growth because you'll rely less on what the people "believe" and can show with the specifications/capabilities of the product that it will be the best in market.

Divide the facts vs. opinions of their existing value proposition, and then see where you can deliver a better product and/or story for the particular audience. If you don't have the facts of the proprietary technology and the capabilities are hidden, you can go after a strong story for a particular audience. I think the best example of this is Google Search vs DuckDuckGo. Google Search vs DuckDuckGo is a strong case study of how positioning can work for a certain audience vs. a proprietary algorithm or deep technology. DuckDuckGo chose a story, a message of privacy and streamlined browsing without advertising as their differentiator, for an audience that was worried about their data being used for advertising. While Google still has dominant share, they process 100M+ daily searches are have a strong story for their why, and why they exist in a world with Google Search. They exist for the privacy-centric internet searchers. You may not be able to win the whole game, but what part of the game and with who can you win? Focus on that message and story and try to win that audience as much as possible.

This template was passed around Meta and Reality Labs often to distill the top points to anchor positioning. To get to this simplicity for each target audience is essential. I call it the "Angle" in my 5A Framework for GTM. I love this because it's also like a fun mad libs exercise, and if you can make it this simple, you have the start of positioning options. ANGLE/POSITIONING [X] is (Internal Positioning) Because unlike (Competitive Set) [x] provides (value prop) So that you feel (Emotional Benefit) Because we have/do/enable (Proof Points in Priority Order) If you can, the next stage is to take these Angles/Positioning and turn it into multiple messaging options that can go through user testing. Generally there should be a key angle/positioning for the product across a target audience. The messages can be diverse, but the positioning should be a constant.

1. Develop a facts-based point of view, including audience research and competitive intelligence. You're building a case for why the story is compelling to the audience, not just your senior leadership. If you don't have this, senior leadership (like all people) will go with their gut or feeling to how to deliver a strong story. Have a point of view and be ready to debate it. 2. During the debate, don't cave. If you believe in the positioning, try to advocate for it, and take feedback to improve it. I've seen senior leaders argue points more to ensure that the view is strong and has sound logic. So stand your ground, argue the case. 3. Ensure you incorporate feedback and advance the positioning. If there are arguments and tweaks based on pro-active feedback, keep it and document it, and keep a paper trail of decisions. Ensure/remind when decisions have been re-argued and try to move the positioning forward to agreement vs being stuck in circular conversations. It will be a journey, but bring stakeholders along on the journey and it will be better for everyone.

Did the story change behavior? That will be the key judge on if the story was successful. How do you tell if the story changed behavior? 1. Ensure a clear understanding and size of the target audience. 2. Ensure there is a clear behavior change to track. 3. Create a baseline of what that audience currently does who has not been exposed to the story yet. 4. Measure the rate of change/switching behavior of the audience after they've been exposed to the story and product. 5. Validate that the behavior is retentive, and not just top line (ex: converting for the free trial). Hopefully the switching behavior metrics are things like bought the product, subscribed or some sort of business-bearing metric that can show the contribution to the company as well.