AMA: Snorkel AI Director of Product Marketing, Molly Friederich on Messaging

I generally anchor to the time-horizon and the purpose. Borrowing from April Dunford, positioning is "context setting for prospects." Once you've established your positioning (which takes time, especially if you're pre-product market fit!), you need to be consistent over a relatively long timeframe, think 3+ years. Positioning answers the value you deliver to your ideal customer, through what differentiated capabilities, and in contrast to what competitors within a particular category. Messaging ...Read More

While I often bristle when people call out that technical audiences don't like being marketed to (the implication being other personas like fluff marketing?!), I absolutely believe that core differences in how personas evaluate solutions matter. To build trust in the value of AI/ML features, here are a few ideas that come to mind: Given the amount of hype in the AI/ML space, customer proof becomes even more powerful. Showcasing concretely how users have used your solution, their goals, and the i ...Read More

I'll answer how I get to creative value props for developer-focused products, I hope that helps! Be unfailingly curious about who your persona is—developers are incredibly diverse, so you need to dig into the nuance of your target's unique motivators, goals, beliefs... Capture this detail and use it to inspire the core message. Take inventory of the messaging in your space. Understand what it's like to be your target persona in a sea of messaging that they encounter each day. If your core value ...Read More

To measure market messaging, I focus on resonance, clarity, and differentiation. Whenever possible, I use a mix of qual and quant strategies to get data, but in my experience, even a handful of qualitative interviews with target personas provides a treasure trove of insight. What matters most is getting outside the metaphorical building to really pressure test what can often be strongly-held internal opinions.  Measuring sales messaging is also best done as a mix of qual and quant. I'm fortunate ...Read More

Cross-posting and building on a similar answer! Borrowing from April Dunford, positioning is "context setting for prospects." Once you've established your positioning (which takes time, especially if you're pre-product market fit!), you need to be consistent over a relatively long timeframe, think 3+ years. Positioning answers the value you deliver to your ideal customer, through what differentiated capabilities, and in contrast to what competitors within a particular category. Messaging operate ...Read More

First I'll say that once you've achieved product-market fit, the core positioning and messaging shouldn't be wildly dynamic. Creating meaning in the market demands repetition and credibility over time.  To know whether a product or new capability warrants a change the messaging, I'd consider whether it's a fundamentally new value, or whether it adds to existing value. For example feature X might be really powerful for benefit Y, but if benefit Y has been a long-standing pillar of your messaging, ...Read More

As a product marketer, our most important role is setting the core messaging strategy and positioning. This means having a clear and intentional view of who you're targeting, what you need to convey, and how they should feel / what they should do after encountering your message. From a cross-channel or integrated marketing standpoint, the "roots" of the tree are here, and are critical to achieve the consistency required for messaging to make an impact. As content branches out across channels, th ...Read More

Curious to see if others have had great experiences they'd like to share in the comments, as I haven't explored many bespoke message testing SaaS offerings!  I've largely relied on simple survey tools like SurveyMonkey and solutions like Intercom or HotJar to gather data. I am really curious about more tailored solutions, largely for the efficiency they offer by being focused messaging tests. Having a single solution that measures how prospects enage with content and has proven strategies for wh ...Read More

For rapid message testing, I'll rely on channel metrics that we've set baselines for in the past. Ideally you're able to identify message tests as experiments with explicit goals, for example, to increase demo request conversion. Cross-posting an answer to your related question: To measure market messaging, I focus on resonance, clarity, and differentiation. Whenever possible, I use a mix of qual and quant strategies to get data, but in my experience, even a handful of qualitative interviews wit ...Read More

I'll answer how I get to creative value props for developer-focused products, I hope that helps! Be unfailingly curious about who your persona is—developers are incredibly diverse, so you need to dig into the nuance of your target's unique motivators, goals, beliefs... Capture this detail and use it to inspire the core message. Take inventory of the messaging in your space. Understand what it's like to be your target persona in a sea of messaging that they encounter each day. If your core value ...Read More

I've used a few different panel providers for large-scale segmentation studies, messaging feedback, and more. I won't call them out by name here, but I'll suggest things to look for as you evaluate options:  How well can they recruit against your unique market, and how will they make sure to meet their targets? What will it cost to meet your goals?  When responses come back, how do they filter out bad responses, and what visilibity will you have to the data coming in (before you're out of field) ...Read More