AMA: New Relic Director, Product Marketing, John Withers on Messaging

Your messaging should show up everywhere, including within any of the following marketing tactics you may choose to employ: Internal Internal announcements (eg, Slack, other field comms) Enablement sessions and related materials External Customer email(s) Blog(s) Web Press release Social posts Videos Field marketing Webinar Events etc But one of the biggest challenges of messaging is driving consistency, especially as you navigate multiple rounds of feedback. That’s why it’s crucial to be discip ...Read More

I’m going to split my answer into two parts, using the following (loose) definitions: Positioning: An internal-only description of what the product is, who it’s for, the problems it solves (with key benefits), and how it’s differentiated from the competition. Messaging: The language you use in the market to convey the value of the product. Messaging First, I can’t overstate how important it is to always be open to feedback about your messaging, and to be willing to update it (even after it’s bee ...Read More

It depends. But first, let’s align on the purpose behind all of this work: We want to drive conversion, simple as that. And by conversion, I mean: We want users (or buyers) to take some action, such as reading a blog post, signing up for a webinar, talking to an AE, demoing the product, and ultimately using the product (PLG) or signing a contract (SLG). We get people to take these actions by piquing their interest about a better way for them to do their jobs. This is actually a really interestin ...Read More

I’m going to expand my answer to include the entire GTM strategy as well as the product strategy itself.  For a mature company, I can think of at least a couple of scenarios that would require taking different approaches. For this answer, I’m going to focus on the scenario where you expand into adjacent markets that serve similar teams where there are efficiency gains to be made from tools consolidation. There are many examples of this (including Salesforce, where I used to work), but I’ll focus ...Read More

Broadly speaking, as it relates to messaging adoption, there are two categories of stakeholders: Sales and everyone else. Let’s start with “everyone else,” which is far simpler. Messaging adoption should be programmatic and simple: You draft messaging, get multiple rounds of feedback, have it signed off, and then use it as the basis of everything you and your stakeholders produce (eg, launch comms, web, blog, PR, etc). Your organization likely has a well-defined messaging framework that serves a ...Read More

First, let’s start with the following premise: Behavioral science tells us that the vast majority of decisions are made using emotional factors (Customer Brand Preference and Decisions: Gallup's 70/30 Principle, 2022), even when decision-makers think they’re making data-driven, rational decisions. Oftentimes, data is used after someone has made up their mind in order to justify their decision (often unwittingly).  So I believe firmly in appealing to emotional benefits. It’s why we often refer to ...Read More

PR and AR are really important GTM channels, and having strong leaders/ICs in both of those functions is crucial to reaching customers and prospects with the right messages and GTM strategies. Unfortunately, too many times I’ve seen PR and AR treated as an afterthought. Instead, you need to work closely with both functions well in advance of a launch to have sufficient time to develop the right approaches and to adapt to the input you receive. PR Expertise: Understands the idiosyncrasies of vari ...Read More