AMA: Salesforce Senior Director, Product Marketing Launch Strategy, Jodi Innerfield on Messaging

There are a lot of stakeholders. Are you ready for it? * Product Managers: I like to start with a PRD (product requirements document) to really understand what's in the product, the jobs to be done, how a user uses the product, and what the benefits are. This is the baseline for the first messaging iteration, and then I review and tweak with PM from there. * Sales: Once I have something to get reactions from, I bring it to sales teams. They're in front of customers every day and will be able to gut-check the language and how much it may resonate with customers. * Customers: Customers are your best message testers. It's always a good idea to have some go-to customers you can reach out to and get feedback from. If you don't have that, try focus groups or surveys (but these can be costly!) * GM and PMM/Marketing Leadership: Once I've done a round or two of feedback and revisions, I bring it to my exec stakeholders for feedback. Ideally, I've done a first pass with leadership so we're all on the same page, but at this stage I'm seeking final review and approval.

Your messaging should speak the language of the customer. If your audience is technical, you can use the language that they are familiar with to articulate the value of your product. You don't want to go too jargon-heavy, but for example, if you're product helps streamline API management, and you are selling to IT, you're going to want to use "API" in your message. If you're positioning this same product to non-IT buyers, you might say "connect disparate systems." It's the same thing, but speaking to the right audience. If you have one product that could speak to multiple audiences, who is your primary audience? That should probably dictate your message. Or if you have a product that targets a non-technical, LOB buyer, but you know the IT department is involved in the buying process, have your messaging target the non-technical buyer, but have resources that are detailed and technical enough for IT.

There are two big "reasons" to refresh messaging: your product changes, or the market changes. When your product changes or you add new features, that's a pretty clear time to make sure your messaging reflects the latest benefits and values for your customer. Changes in the market will impact your customer's perspective and willingness/desire to purchase your product. For example, pretty much every B2B and B2C company changed its messaging during COVID as priorities shifted and lifestyles changed. Economic downturns often drive messaging shifts, emphasizing cost-savings and ROI. Your product may have seasonality that requires a different message at different times of the year: Holidays if you're B2C, tax season if you're an accounting software, for example. Finally, there may be times in your own company's calendar that make for logical "refresh" points--sales kickoff, a big conference, basically opportunities where you'll be putting your message in front of a large group of people and you want to make sure it still resonates and is accurate--that's a great time to refresh your messaging.

Messaging should focus on the benefits you deliver to a customer, not the features. When you focus on benefits, you can start truly differentiating based not just on the "things" your customer can do with your product, but also on the "why" behind your company and your product overall. If you're focused exclusively on messaging based on features, you open yourself up to comparison from competitors. Focus instead on the value your products deliver to your customers, and you have more room to differentiate, showcase your company's unique POV and how you help your customers be successful.

When I was at a small startup we would use email subject lines, webpage copy and CTAs, and paid media banners to test our message. It's a quick and cost-effective way to A/B test what resonates with your customers. You should also always talk to your sales teams and see if your message/narrative resonates. They are the ones talking to customers all the time, and should be able to gut check what would resonate. And last but not least, talk to your customers! Customers are your best message testers.

Quantitative testing is probably best done as an A/B test. Some ideas: * Email subject lines: Weave your messaging into subject lines and compare open rates * CTAs: Use messaging for CTAs on web or email compare CTRs (click-through rates) * Webpage copy: Try A/B testing webpage headlines and see which drives higher click-through rates and lower bounce rates * Display ad copy: Test different messages on display ads and test CTRs * Social copy: Same as above, but for organic or paid social Basically, anything you can A/B test and put two different messages in market will help you get some quantitative metrics behind your message.