AMA: Intercom Former Sr Director of Marketing, Matt Hodges on Messaging

We’ve developed a few of our own frameworks over the years based on jobs-to-be-done. It’s an approach that runs counterintuitive to classic, persona-based marketing, and does so purposefully. Focusing on customer attributes really means focusing on what you want to sell, rather than what your customers actually need. Those customers come from a variety of backgrounds, industries, and verticals, but their one commonality is their motivation, the Job-to-be-Done. I had to fundamentally change my approach when I joined Intercom. For me, the easiest way to grok the Jobs-to-be-Done methodology was by watching Clay Christensen’s famous milkshake video and understanding what “job” people buy milkshakes for. You can read more about Jobs-to-be-Done on the Inside Intercom blog here: Focus on the Job, Not the Customer: https://blog.intercom.com/when-personas-fail-you/ And, here’s a recording of a talk and podcast I’ve given in the past about how we apply JTBD to our go-to-market strategy. How to market the Job-to-be-Done: https://blog.intercom.com/marketing-the-job-to-be-done How Jobs-to-be-Done Informs Intercom Marketing: https://blog.intercom.com/podcast-intercoms-go-to-market-strategy/ As we continue to grow, our products mature, and we learn more about the problems we’re trying to solve and for whom, we’re constantly adapting our frameworks. As an example, we’ve recently created an internal document called the “Solution Guide” for each of the solutions we take to market. The guide answers the following questions: Foundations * What problem are people looking to find a solution for? * What will a solution to this problem improve for them? * Who is looking for it? * What are the keywords they are using to search for it? Solution Positioning & Messaging * What do we call the solution we provide for this problem? * Why would someone be interested in Intercom’s solution? * Which Intercom products are required to solve this problem? * How does Intercom solve this problem? * Which must-have features for this problem does Intercom have? * Why would someone want to use Intercom to solve this problem? * Who is successfully using Intercom to solve this problem? In addition, as we think about how to best position ourselves against alternative solutions (products) to the problems we solve, we make use of the 4 Forces model. You can learn more about that and our approach to comparative marketing here: The right way to challenge your competitors - Inside Intercom: https://blog.intercom.com/comparative-marketing/ Of course, there are many other, more established frameworks available to you. One thing I have heard good things about is Pragmatic Marketing (https://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/). My advice would find a framework that feels good and adapt it to your business because everyone is different. :)

Tell a compelling story. A story that resonates with your target audience. Something that speaks directly to the pain they are experiencing and/or describes a future state they want to be in. You should aim for the right balance of cleverness, clarity, and cheekiness. That balance all depends on your brand and target customer. It's easy to stand out, but less easy to stand out in a way that's a positive reinforcement of your brand. Grabbing attention is step one, ultimately you must be able to deliver on the promises and hard claims you make. There's no point spending a bunch of time, energy, and money in acquiring customers if you can't convert them. Your product has to deliver. I acknowledge that this is easy to say, but really hard to execute. :)

Great question–tough to answer without getting too specific about Intercom and what works for us based on our own situation and approach in general. But, here goes. :) For us, a product is a container for a set of mutually exclusive features that enable specific workflows to be completed. For example, our Engage product has a set of core features (available on Engage Lite) that make it possible to send targeted messages to leads and customers. Some of these features are audience targeting, auto messages (email, in-app, and push), and smart campaigns to name a few. There is an optional additional set of features available for on Engage Standard that enable more sophisticated workflow to be completed. For example, A/B testing allows you to optimize the targeted messages you are sending to leads and customers. Our products can be applied on their own, or in combination with other products, to solve different problems for different teams–these are what we call solutions. For example, Engage can be used on its own by marketing teams to onboard, activate, and upsell more customers. When combined with our Respond product, sales teams can use the same features to capture, qualify and convert more leads. FWIW, internally we're not in love with the word "Solutions" because of some of the connotations it carries with it. Additionally, like 'Products', it's also noun which can cause confusion, since you don't buy "Solutions" from Intercom, you buy "Products" which can solve different problems based on how you apply them. We're still working through this. It's not easy and I've not come across anyone who does it particularly well.

For guidance on how to build messaging, see my answer to, What are good messaging framework resources that you use?. In terms of how to validate it, I’d recommend a combination of the following tactics: * Talk to your customers: Invest time talking to and learning from your prospective and existing customers. Specifically, listen to how they describe the problems they have, the pain points they experience, and what a better world would look like for them (in their minds). * Partner with your sales team: Your sales team are on the frontlines and spend a lot of time talking to prospective and existing customers understanding their needs. Work with them to test your messaging on calls and in conversations. It’s amazing and eye-opening to simply listen in on a sales call, or watch a live chat conversation unfold, and hear/see what resonates and what doesn’t. It's so, so valuable. * Conduct user tests: We're fortunate enough to have a dedicated Research team that we can partner with to test our messaging and positioning, particularly for new product and feature launches, to validate our own assumptions and ensure the story we are telling resonates and makes sense. * Run A/B tests: To the extent you can (you need volume), run A/B tests on your primary marketing assets (e.g. ads, landing pages) to see which messages drive the best conversion and LTV throughout the funnel.

I can’t think of any one example I have received recently, but here’s my advice on what I think makes a good feature launch email: * It’s thoughtfully targeted and relevant: A poorly targeted email is about as effective as a love letter addressed “To whom it may concern” (credit: Des Traynor). It frustrates me when I get emails about a new Android app, or update to an Android app, when a business should know I use their product exclusively on iOS. Make sure your audience can, and would be compelled to, take action on the news you are sharing. * It’s clear, concise, and to the point: A great email should do three things to pique just enough interest and motivate action: tell you what’s new, show you what’s new, and tell you why you would want to use it (not how it works) There are some great tips in this post, How to send good email – opens, clicks, conversions (https://blog.intercom.com/email-101-opens-clicks-conversions) and our newly published book, Intercom on Customer Engagement (https://www.intercom.com/books/customer-engagement). Additionally, if you're not sure what you should announce and how, check out my post on the Inside Intercom blog, Prioritizing product announcements in a SaaS world (https://blog.intercom.com/prioritizing-product-announcements-saas-world/).

I'm out of time, but real quick, Patagonia and Apple are favorites of mine. They both have brands that stand for something, and they continually demonstrate their commitment to their vision in their actions. On top of that, they both have high-quality products. I believe that product and marketing are two sides of the same coin–you can't be a successful, sustainable business without one or the other.

What's the saying, "imitation is the best form of flattery"? It's impossible to prevent competitors from copying your messaging (and product to some extent even). Instead of worrying about those that are copying you, I'd instead encourage you to focus on building the best product to best solve your customers' problems and in doing so ensure you're correctly articulating the value your product can deliver in the most effective way possible way. Companies with best products AND brands are the ones that will be successful in the long-term, because they are defensible. Copy-cats won't survive because they typically cannot innovate. Focus on your customer, not them.