AMA: Triple Whale 🐳 VP of Marketing, Jenna Crane on Storytelling

One of the most critical times to tell a great story is your sales pitch. And for that, the classic is the old world / new world framework that Andy Raskin popularized: https://medium.com/the-mission/the-greatest-sales-deck-ive-ever-seen-4f4ef3391ba0 Another valuable framework for strategic narratives is the ABT method (and, but, therefore). It distills a story down to its core elements, which you can then elaborate on: We believe that [statement] and [statement]. But, [tension/problem]. Therefo ...Read More

There are two components to get alignment on here — the playing field, and the scores. With both, the first step is creating a feature/functionality matrix for your company and its key competitors. The choice of competitive set is important — these should be alternatives that you're actually encountering as direct competitors. Along the rows, detail out all the relevant features and functionality, ideally in categories (infrastructure, product lines, support/service, etc.). The columns should be ...Read More

With any great messaging — but especially in this case — the key is articulating why this differentiator is valuable to your target audience. What standout outcomes does this proprietary algorithm unlock? What about this approach makes it more valuable to a customer than the alternatives? You may have to ask 'why would a customer care?' a few times to get to true benefits. This was the case at Klaviyo. We spent hundreds of hours trying to compellingly articulate one of the platform's most valuab ...Read More

I'm not sure if you're referring to internal attention or external attention, so I'll answer both. Internal attention The quickest way to have messaging ignored by key stakeholders is to make the messaging doc too long and verbose. Focus on short and sweet statements that capture value and differentiation in a pithy, punchy way. Your messaging will be better for it, and your cross-functional partners will be grateful for it. External attention At this point my gravestone will probably say 'messa ...Read More

There are two ways to stand out — what you say, and how you say it. What you say This is the core of positioning. Find your competitive differentiation, even though you may think everyone's solution is the same. (April Dunford has a great framework for determining whether there really is no differentiation: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/aprildunford_one-of-the-most-common-questions-i-get-is-activity-7242555636188676097-b937). If you're writing this as a PMM for one part of the product, and that ...Read More