AMA: Oracle Former Director, HCM Product Marketing, Sarah Lambert on Messaging

There are a lot of messaging frameworks out there to choose from, but I take a bottom up approach: I start with the differentiators and proof points and then build my elevator pitch, value prop statements and long descriptions from those foundational components. I also use the rule of 3 for my differentiators and proof points. If you find yourself with a laundry list of differentiators or proof points, start looking for similiarities among those components to create larger "buckets" so that your ...Read More

I would suggest practicing by creating your own messaging frameworks for some of your favorite products or companies be they B2C or B2B. This should help you to start to think through the different proof points and differentiators because you’ll already be aware of the competitive landscape and how they’re message.  Another approach is to try to reverse engineer the messaging for a company you’re already following. Take their current messaging and put it into your messaging framework to see 1) i ...Read More

A truly successful pricing and packaging exercise can't be completed in a vacuum which means competitive positioning must be included in the discussion. The main reason is that you don't want to create EXACTLY the same pricing and packaging approach as your competitors but you also need to be aware of how customers are already being asked to buy. In addition, the competitive positioning will help to determine if the product has already moved to a commodity or is still being priced and packaged i ...Read More

This really depends on the channel: For websites and demand gen, you can always use A/B testing to determine what works, but for messaging further down in the funnel, tracking interactivity with different content on your website is helpful and then even further down the funnel are customer presentations and demo scripts. Here it's helpful to have a good relationship with Sales to ask for constant feedback on what is resonating with customers and what isn't. Keeping track of win loss rates can al ...Read More

You have to start with understanding your audience and your product. For the audience – understand their key business issues and pain points and for the product, understand the differentiators / value drivers so you can craft a message that connects your product as a solution for your audience’s pain. It’s also incredibly important to have a high-level understanding of the competition and their messaging so you can differentiate there as well. As you become more familiar with the industry and yo ...Read More

This is a tough one but I would suggest doing a messaging framework for each product and then the platform as whole. This will help to determine what the true value of the platform might be - is it purely that you have the products together in one place or are you mitigating risk by integrating them in a single platform? Are these products talking to each other? Or is it the integrations that make it special? Why should customers care? What about your platform is making their lives easier? If yo ...Read More

There’s an old saying: PR is the coverage you pray for and Marketing (Advertising) is the coverage you pay for. With PR messaging, the limitations to what can be said and what will catch the media’s eye are vastly different than the ways marketing can share a similar story. In my experience, PR is also more of a medium for analysts and the industry vs marketing as a medium for buyers to learn more about the offering.  In addition, marketing has the opportunity to tell a wider story through multi ...Read More

Each channel has its own parameters for success be they length of message, medium or tone. I tailor my cross-channel message based on the channel audience and length but always connect back to the overarching messaging framework. The need for consistency in messaging - and reiterating the message - is particularly important across different channels as it starts to build a stronger relationship with the buyer / influencer. If you're constantly changing your message across channels then you creat ...Read More