AMA: Quizlet Director of Product Marketing, Caroline Walthall on Messaging

At the end of the day, A/B testing messaging in the wild will get you the furthest, fastest. There are several ways to do this. You can argue for some test budget to test messages in paid ads. Especially if you’re planning on using this messaging for brand marketing or demand gen, it makes sense to validate it via the channels you plan to use. You can also A/B test messaging on your site itself if you get high enough traffic to run your tests relatively quickly. Most companies have A/B testing t ...Read More

When messaging in a known category, there are two ends of the spectrum: differentiate or blend in. The best approach is usually finding some blend of the two. As marketers, we’re often taught to focus on our “UVP” (unique value proposition) or “USP” (unique selling proposition), but there are absolutely times when the desire to show up as a “special snowflake” can end up making it hard for consumers to grasp what it is you’re offering. To balance this, you may consider using naming and messaging ...Read More

I'll give a spicy answer here. Build your own messaging framework. Sure you can borrow from things you see online, but you'll learn a lot about what feels essential to include when you work through the process on your own. Frameworks only get you so far. You have to know what you need for your particular launch, your company, and your stakeholders. I rarely use the exact same messaging framework, but I usually include a few consistent things: One headline message summary. Three value prop pillar ...Read More

I think it's important to consider your both your conviction level and your interest and need to defend your messaging choices. Sometimes it's worth shipping changes without quantifying the exact impact because you know it's the right thing to do. Most of the time, however, if you're intellectually honest with yourself, you aren't so certain. Testing can be huge for clarifying the most important insights which helps you build a solid foundation for your messaging that is data-backed and defensib ...Read More

It’s likely no secret that generative AI can be a helpful thought partner and writing sidekick to any PMM. If you haven’t started experimenting with ways to integrate it, there is no time like the present. In the last few months, I’ve been loving using the “Copywriter GPT” on ChatGPT to ask for lists of alternatives to basic messages that I like the idea of, but not the sound of. What’s so great about this, is that you can reinvest the time savings you gain in copywriting and copyediting further ...Read More

It depends how many cycles you can afford to spend, but my ideal flow is a five-step process: Draft positioning strategy and possible positioning angles Draft creative copy with the support of AI tools, colleagues, and copywriters Test different succinct messages against each other in a market survey, ideally using a methodology like MaxDiff Revisit your Strategy and Messaging Framework, with the full marketing funnel in mind Test messages in product or in ads I covered most of these steps in ot ...Read More

I don’t have a magic bullet for this, because it can be a real challenge to align all your stakeholders ahead of a launch. At the end of the day, there are few habits you can learn to make things run smoothly: Make sure you have a clear DACI framework with an executive sponsor to back you up. Ideally, product marketing is empowered to drive and own messaging. Oftentimes your head of marketing will be the approver, but keep in mind every organization will be different. Decide who is consulted and ...Read More

A few rapid fire thoughts on writing clear and compelling messaging: Start by writing your messages in simpler plain English and don’t worry too much about how it sounds yet Ask yourself, “so what,” and “who cares?” Does it pass the sniff test? If not, make sure the message taps into at least one value prop or benefit that matters to your target customer If not, make sure the message ties to an insight you know about your users If not, ask yourself if that feature or product or positioning angle ...Read More

A few years ago, we had a bit of long-running internal debate about whether our target audience was more interested in “customization” or “guided study.” There was a product philosophy that we should offer guided options as much as possible to reduce friction. While that premise made sense, we often heard that the students who actually converted to our subscription offering, Quizlet Plus, were motivated by the promise of being able to create, customize, and modify their content, and also the way ...Read More