AMA: Workato Vice President of Product Marketing, William Davis on Messaging

There are a few different messaging and persona frameworks I have used for different purposes. Here are a few of my favorites.  Positioning Statement - this is typically the foundation of any product/GTM positioning.  [Target Customer] For: describe who you're targeting your product at [Statement of need or opportunity] Who: describe the pain or opportunity you're offering the target market [Product name is a product category] List your product name and the product category it belongs to [Statem ...Read More

Here are two. Positioning Statement - this is typically the foundation of any product/GTM positioning. [Target Customer] For: describe who you're targeting your product at [Statement of need or opportunity] Who: describe the pain or opportunity you're offering the target market [Product name is a product category] List your product name and the product category it belongs to [Statement of key benefit] That: describe the benefits of your product for the target customer [Competiting Alternative] U ...Read More

You can't change messaging every quarter...it won't stick and you'll lose credibility internally/externally.  Generally, you'll want any strategic messaging you put out to last 18 months. I think updating once per year or in certain cases every 2 quarters can also work depending on the circumstances. There is a lot of heavy-lifting required to do it right both to come up with the messaging but also to roll it out effectively so limiting frequency is important or it will be a huge time/resource d ...Read More

A few thoughts on this one... I would focus less on whether your message is a certain length or tone but is the messaging serving the purpose as it aligns to your business objectives. I talked a bit about how to measure whether your messaging is working a bit earlier so take a look at that answer to determine how to measure the effectiveness of your messaging.  From a messaging perspective, we always strive for brevity eventhought it's challenging...how can we slim down what we're trying to say ...Read More

Yes, persona messaging is a must always. I question I answered earlier has the framework I typically use for personas and an overall messaging structure.  Vertical messaging can be required if your company targets specific industries - finance, pharma, etc.  If your working with a horizontal product then my experience is that vertical messaging should be applied in campaigns and content targeting those specific verticals leveraging relevant customer examples in those industries as customer evide ...Read More

One thing I try not to do is share content or messaging without walking the person I want to get feedback from through the context and purpose live on a call/zoom. Sending something over for feedback without the right context can be disastrous...especially if they share with others and expand any confusion/dissent to others.  I will typically walk them through a google slide or doc with what we're trying to move towards and then offer them the opportunity to provide feedback live or in the doc o ...Read More

I think you should always consider what's happening in the market when defining any sort of messaging. What's gaining traction? What's causing you to win/lose deals? What growth opportunities are opening up?  This must factor in competition. How is your messaging differentiated from the competition but also aligned to where the market is headed? What are you saying that might play up the weakness of your competition?  Competition should always play a factor because with messaging you're trying t ...Read More

When moving your messaging from product-centric to solutions-centric, you're going to bring in experts in the solutions you're trying to organize around. Whether that be industry, departmental or some other orientation, you will need the people who live and breathe these domains to ensure the messaging/content you develop resonates.   There can also be individuals that act as sales overlays or technical field resources to provide a level of domain expertise in customer conversations that will he ...Read More

Changing messaging needs to be considered very carefully. You can't change messaging every quarter because you'll never get the adoption you're striving for and if the message changes too frequently then you may also lose credibility.  That being said, your messaging is never fully "done". You should get core messaging to a point where you feel it's ready to roll out internally/externally and then constantly look at what needs to be adjusted as time passes. Small tweaks can happen but an overall ...Read More

When looking at the effectiveness of the messaging behind a product, I have always tried to focus on what are we trying to achieve with the messaging? How does the messaging tie back to overall business objectives?  Answering that question can then help guide you to how to measure the effectiveness of the messaging.  If the product messaging is focused on expanding the scope of the product or the market you're targeting, then you'll want to look at things like ASP and if there is an expansion of ...Read More