AMA: Shopify Senior Product Marketing Lead, Stephanie Kelman on Messaging

The best messaging needs to be closed-loop, meaning that it is used throughout all of the areas of business and receives regular feedback. Product marketing needs to be the owners and drivers of this messaging. * It starts with a solid messaging framework. Make sure your cross-functional teams have buy in to this messaging and are aligned. This will make it easier to carry it throughout the company. * Another sure bet way to get your messaging used throughout various teams is to craft the sales assets and supporting tools, or be a strong contributor to this work stream. In my experience, a product marketer is successful at creating closed-loop product messaging when they are the crafters of the messaging and enablement material that is used by other teams. * Finally, create feedback loops with these various teams. Create regular cadences for when you will check in to learn if the messaging is resonating with the intended audience. These feedback loops are most successful when they are easy to access. My favorite is a dedicated slack channel or monthly office hours. Make sure you're asking cross-functional team members exactly what is working and what is not working. Did they close a high value deal this month? Great! Which messaging points or benefits resonated the most with that particular customer?

The most effective approach to rolling out messaging that internal GTM teams will use is to bring them along on the journey with you. It's important to build trust and show them that you have validated the messaging through market and customer research. * Make sure your messaging framework is already locked down and your close cross-functional partners are aligned (i.e. product). Your specific product messaging needs to be in line with the overall company or product positioning. * Meet with your GTM teams and internal stakeholders to talk them through how you crafted and validated this messaging. * Show them that you are the expert on messaging your product because you’ve spoken first-hand to your customers and done in-depth market research. * If your internal teams feel like the messaging has been validated by customers and aligns to the company’s messaging, it will help them get on board. * Get their buy in, ask them what they think, get their thoughts, make it an open conversation. * Finally, the best way to ensure teams use your messaging is to create impactful assets for them to use. This can include pitch decks (internal and external), sales one pagers, talking points, campaign briefs, etc.

Crafting compelling messaging for features that your competitors already have can be difficult since it's hard to find a competitive advantage in this instance. When I'm in this situation, I bring the messaging back to the product's overall competitive advantage and hone in on the unique benefit that it provides. It's important to always communicate a benefit or outcome with your messaging, even if it's the same feature that your competitors already have. I also find it helps to get specific about how your feature drives the desired outcome. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to create a competitive edge against your competitors.

I get it - it is so hard to avoid using cliche terms. These words are front and center in our marketing vocabulary but we all know that they are watered down and abused by the market. * Is the cliche actually true? If your product really is the industry leader or the best in the world and you have the data to back it up, then go big with that. For most of us, that just isn’t the case and customers know that. * Get closer to the customer - When I’m stuck on cliche terms, I go back to my customers. It is marketing gold if you can get your customers to tell you, in their own words, the benefits and advantages they experience with your product. Using words and phrases that are closer to how your customers think will resonate better with them. * Just say the thing - If your product is seamless, what makes it seamless? What is the benefit of it being seamless?

There are several ways to get quantitative data on your messaging using online testing tools and A/B tests. However, you need time and volume to get an accurate read and marketers rarely have either. I recommend you get scrappy and find ways to get an initial pulse on some messaging - it doesn’t have to be a science. * Online user testing platforms that make this so fast and easy. Wynter is my favorite. It’s cost effective and fast, especially for smaller companies. * Low lift A/B tests - You can do an A/B test with emails. Performance metrics such as click through rate and engagement will help you determine which messaging resonates best. * Sales insights - Work with your sales team to test different messaging through sales assets and live calls. * Customer insights - Set up some low lift customer interviews. They will tell you what resonates with them.

Yes! There is a template attached to the AMA that I use with my team at Shopify. You can also create your own with these guidelines in mind. * Separate your audiences * Write a really strong main value proposition for each audience. This is the main message you want to get across. Make sure it is outcome and benefit focused. * Support your main value proposition with 3-4 pillars. * Each supporting pillar should have a few messaging points to explain how the product helps users achieve this outcome. * Add data proof points and customer testimonials to really drive it home.

My team re-looks at messaging every 3-6 months. It's important to keep messaging fresh, relevant, and accurate with small tweaks. With that said, don't feel like you need to reinvent your messaging every time. Here are some signals to know it's time to review and tweak your messaging: * New feature release * Competitor insights * Market shifts * New customer learnings * Campaign kick off * Big marketing moment * Data insights from previous campaigns If you're struggling with product market fit or poor campaign performance, then it's probably time to realign your messaging and positioning. Make sure you're gathering your data and customer insights before you do this.

I agree there is value in getting ahead of the market and positioning your new, amazing product early in its lifecycle. This can also be risky if use cases and backend infrastructure are not solid yet. One of the most costly mistakes with messaging is the smoke and mirrors effect. You want to build trust early on with your audience. Don't dupe them and don't make any promises that aren't possible with the product. You need social proof and use cases to message your product confidently. Another risk with messaging a product too early in its lifecycle is that you probably haven't had a chance to validate your messaging with your audience yet. If it's necessary to start messaging this product early, be honest that this is only the beginning and there is more to come. Lean into the idea that you're looking towards your audience to be pioneers with this product and dream up new use cases.

My team manages the sign off process by putting key reviewers and stakeholders names at the top of the brief to check off after they have reviewed the content. Make sure your key stakeholders are already aligned with your high level messaging framework and then other projects should flow nicely through the approval process. * Include positioning and messaging in every brief - whether it’s for a campaign, GTM, or case study. * Everyone should be aligned with the positioning and messaging before the copy is crafted. * The messaging for a specific campaign or feature launch should align to your high level positioning and messaging. * Show examples of how specific messaging could come to life on a webpage or in an email. This is especially helpful for stakeholders who are not in marketing.

It's important. When it comes to marketing, impact is the thing we’re all trying to achieve at the end of the day. If you don’t measure impact, you don’t know if your messaging is resonating with your target audience. If your audience isn’t engaging with your messaging and marketing assets, your overall KPIs and goals will suffer. With that said, I know it’s tough to measure impact as a product marketer. * Test your messaging on the sales floor or on a call with a customer. This is an efficient and scrappy way to know if you’re hitting the mark. * Check your email open rates and click thru rates. Marketing engagement is a good signal to see if your messaging is resonating with your audience. * Track your high level KPI. For my team, that is usually product adoption. Did the customers who interacted with your email, web page, or webinar end up adopting the product?

The best way to resolve conflicting opinions from key stakeholders on messaging is to test and validate your messaging with your target audience. If you have data, even qualitative data, you are much more likely to get key stakeholders aligned on messaging that is actually driving impact. With that said, I realize testing is easier said than done and not always available to all product marketers. Get scrappy here. I always say that a PMM's super power is the voice of the customer. You should know your customer better than any stakeholder and feel confident expressing your point of view because you know its rooted in the customer's point of view. I would use a similar tactic when resolving conflicting opinions. It also helps to really understand why each stakeholder feels strongly about specific messaging. In many cases, founders or product leaders see the benefits of their product differently. Often times PMMs get stuck in a messaging bubble and it helps to see the different angles after dissecting conflicting opinions.

My favorite product marketing mentor always gave me the best advice to ensure my messaging was differentiated. What is the one thing you can say that your competitor cannot say about this product or feature. If another company's name can easily be swapped out with your own, then your messaging is not differentiated enough. Get specific with data proof points to create solid evidence to support your messaging and build differentiation. If you aren't sure what makes your product differentiated from the rest of the market, talk to your customers. Ask them what improvements or benefits they've discovered using your product.

The best approach for messaging a technical audience is to lead with clear and concise language. Avoid any language that is vague or ambiguous. Technical audiences can spot marketing lingo from a mile away and you will lose trust with this audience very quickly if you try speaking to them the same way you would a non-technical audience. Here are some tips for messaging a technical audience: * Say the thing. Don't bury the lead or use too many adjectives. Just say the thing. * Lead with features and performance * Use language that is familiar to them * Let a technical partner or peer tell your message with a case study or testimonial quote. A technical audience with have more trust with a peer than a marketer. * Hone in on the benefits and metrics that are important to a technical role (development time, performance, cost of implementation) * Use cases and specific applications are key! Technical audiences want to know exactly how the product will solve x, y, and z.

I love this question because I love using customer quotes and data proof points to craft impactful messaging. You are already in a great position to create a strong sales enablement asset. If it’s only 2 pages - you need to keep things short and succinct. This isn’t the place to write a full case study (but I would do that later if you have time and link to it from this asset). 1. What is the big message that you are trying to get across? This should tie back to your main value prop for your product. 2. Use a single strong data point in your header to drive this message home. Don’t be afraid to be straightforward about the competitor if you have the data to back it up. For example - “Users switched to Product A from Competitor and grew their customer base by an average of 35%.” 3. Add some sub copy or a short paragraph that describes how users grew their customer base. You can lead this paragraph by stating the problem users are trying to solve, why they couldn’t solve it with the competitor, and then describe how your product helps them solve it. Which features did they use? Are there other qualitative outcomes they experienced too? 4. List out additional stats. You can use bullet points to list out these data points in a concise way. It would be really impactful if you used these stats to highlight your supporting value props. For example - increased revenue, time saved, etc. Make sure the stats feel cohesive in terms of theme or metric. 5. Remember, this is a short, punchy sales asset, not a full case study. Avoid big blocks of text. 6. Customer quotes - pepper these in after a section of text or a stat to help drive home the message. For example - if you have a customer quote validating how the user grew their customer base, add it after your header/intro paragraph. Customer quotes need to stand out from your text. You can use a different font size and put a box around the quote.

Trying to position your product as competitive when in reality it’s on par with the market can be so tough. This is especially true if you’re crafting messaging for a new product that hasn’t reached its full potential yet or if your product inherently has table stake features without a true competitive edge. In these situations, if you are really trying to be competitive, you need to lean on other attributes that can carve a differentiated angle in the market. Think about what it is that attracts users to your product or platform in the first place. For example - do users love your platform because it’s easy to use and has great customer service? In reality - not every product needs or can be positioned competitively if the differentiating advantage just isn’t there yet. You can still craft beautiful messaging that leads with benefits, even if these outcomes are expected by the market. This is a good time to really dig into your users needs and market insights to help influence the product roadmap and create a true competitive advantage. Sometimes it’s best to wait until you have competitive features before you take it to market in a big way.

It is the perfect time to iterate and optimize your messaging after you receive strong performance metrics and client feedback. This information will either validate your competitive advantage or highlight a new value prop that your clients clearly resonate with. Once you feel like your value props and messaging hierarchy (i.e. which points are the most important) align to the performance metrics and client feedback, you can use the data to beef it up. Your messaging framework should have a section for proof points. This is where you will add your performance metrics and client feedback. The client feedback should be in the form of a testimonial quote that has been approved by the client to use in marketing material. When you start using your messaging to craft webpages, sales assets, email campaigns, you can add the performance metrics right into your value prop to create an impactful headline. Example - “Clients increased revenue by 55% with Product A.” The customer testimonials can supplement this as well to provide social proof to your audience.