Messaging

I think it’s hard to showcase messaging in an interview unless you’re specifically bringing up documented work. At HubSpot, we like to give candidates an exercise before an interview that typically ties into positioning and messaging. Oftentimes this exercise will tie back to a recently released product or feature, and we’ll ask the candidate how they would position the product and bring that positioning to life through a launch campaign. This approach has actually worked really well and taught us some new ways of approaching messaging that we hadn’t considered before. Once a new PMM comes ...

Love this question!  Obviously, always protect your employer’s confidential information. However, if you have done your work correctly, your messaging will inform all of the material and content you’ve developed. It would be reflected on your website, on your datasheets, on other public-facing content (press releases, blogs, etc.) But far more important than showing what you have produced is proving the impact that it had. Showing success metrics for messaging is one of the most difficult challenges for product marketers. One problem is that messaging success depends on the collective a...

The success is positioning is about proving that your work made your employer known for something in the market.  One of the most common ways PMMs do this is by showing how they get the company a top quadrant or wave leader spot with Gartner of Forrester respectively. Nowadays, G2 reviews and or even reviews by influential developers can help - as long as they buttress your product's differentiators.  You can also demonstrate by showing how your work let do growth in a certain business segment. For example, did your repositioning help the company move from a nice tool to more of a pla...

When I am looking for messaging and positioning validation from outside the org, I find that people engage more with a story than with a static framework. And as far as stories go, everyone much prefers pictures to reading dense Powerpoint slides! To that end, putting together a solid "marketecture" is a great place to start. This allows you to paint the picture of not just your product, features and functions, but you can also start assigning value and differentiated messaging to each of them. I find this especially helpful with current users/customers. They know the technical details (i....

There is a process to messaging and I think many folks are overly focused on the last step which is the final translation to words. I actually think this piece is the simplest of all the steps so I don't spend a lot of time looking at documented work when I interview product marketers. What's really important to me is understanding how a candidate thinks about and navigates the process itself. How does someone internalize the needs of the customer and market dynamics. In many ways, this is more about understanding how someone synthesizes data (both qualitative and quantitative) and builds e...

Make sure you talk about the process! That includes:  * What was the existing state when you started (i.e. messaging didn't exist, it did exist but it was falling flat / was outdated, etc.)?  * How did you go about developing the messaging (i.e. what inputs did you use)?  * How did you test and/or validate it with customers / prospects? * How did you socialize it and get buy-in internally? How did you roll it out?  * How was it received in the market? (Can be anecdotal if needed, but of course ideal to have actual quantified impact)  * What was the most difficult aspect of i...

This is a great one! It's also something few people do well in an interview setting. It's a bit challenging to do verbally, but if you think it through in advance, you can be prepared when the opportunity presents itself. The first thing - the success of your positioning in an interview setting is best shown through anecdotes and specific details. Just like in real life, it's very hard to say "my positioning increased our pipeline by 15%." That's a complex calculus, and not easily justifiable. Instead, tie it to a story. For example, "we made this adjustment to the message for this audie...

This is such a good question There are many ways to demonstrate success of messaging/positioning work 1. Talk through the process - Explain your approach to developing messaging and positioning. Talk about the customer interviews you did, the drafts you wrote, the messaging pillars you discarded and why, the frameworks you followed, the internal sales validation you did, the product deep dives you sat through, the brainstorming sessions and workshops you led, the customer testing you observed and the internal roadshows you led. Talk about how your brought stakehol...

I have done many messaging projects for both developer and non-developer audiences. The process is the same regardless of audience: understand the personas and their needs, develop a unique value proposition that meets those needs, create key messages. The differences come in the content of the messages and language used.  It's true that developers are not at all tolerant of "fluffy" messaging. But neither are other buyers. You need to do enough research and deeply understand your buyer's needs (and your product!!!) so that your messages are credible, compelling, and relevant. Write and ...

No one likes being marketed at, but, when done well, we typically don't mind being marketed to. Generally speaking, we've found there's far more nuance to this dichotomy than simply drawing a line between audiences. I've also noticed many companies shift away from the divided messaging approach (i.e., dedicated landing pages for developers or non-developers) toward a single page that speaks to both features and values. Since we can't reasonably control 100% of who lands on a given piece of content or webpage, a rough set of guidelines for meeting the needs of both audiences might be to: *...

The best way to approach product marketing is to become intimately familiar with your personas. Having said that - remember also that developers are human beings. As such, when at work - they value (each prioritizing individually of course) the same things that everyone else does: - success at your job/the task at hand - finding the right code for the right goal - productivity and the ability to solve immediate issues as fast as possible - debugging easily; identifying points for improvement in your code - quality of output - clean and efficient code - collaboration - working smoothly...

It depends on the competitive dynamics in your market. Are you the market leader or a new emerging alternative? What are the important buying factors in your market and with your buyers? Is price a primary buying consideration (hint: it often is not unless you make it that way)? It's always important to understand how direct competitors and/or alternatives are tackling pricing. You need to determine what your differentiated value is and how you want your brand represented in your market.  Are you the premium, high quality fully featured solution? Do your customers and the market see you ...

A truly successful pricing and packaging exercise can't be completed in a vacuum which means competitive positioning must be included in the discussion. The main reason is that you don't want to create EXACTLY the same pricing and packaging approach as your competitors but you also need to be aware of how customers are already being asked to buy. In addition, the competitive positioning will help to determine if the product has already moved to a commodity or is still being priced and packaged in a value-driven approach. This last piece is particularly important because if your product / or...

Your pricing inherently reflects the value of your products, and since competitive comparisons will inevitably come up in deals, you have to translate all your competitive research and market understanding into a compelling set of content and enablement for your Sales team so they can sell the "value"/better position your priducts throughout the life of your deal. If this happens primarily when pricing is being discussed, I'd argue that it's a much harder to successfully navigate.

Positioning (which by definition is competitive positioning since it carves out a place in the market where you are the clear winner) is your strategy. It defines who you're for and how you'll win.  As a result, not only pricing and packaging but your marketing strategy, product roadmap, partnership strategy, etc are designed to deliver on that position.

The truth is most pricing problems aren't pricing problems. In fact, they are rarely pricing problems. They are just the causal impact of poorly understood and/or communicated positioning of a product leading to a lack of conviction and a whole host of downstream issues. Pricing cannot be set without the Positioning being clearly thought through.pricing is intimately connected to Positioning.  Knowing the positioning will help you answer the following questions: 1. Is your product a 'tool/widget,' or is it a 'platform'? 2. Is it a vitamin or a painkiller? 3. How is it uniquely differ...

Pricing and packaging are positioning. They're the most concrete way you are defining the value and TCO of your solution relative to the pain a customer is feeling. But it's important to remember that they're only one tool in your toolbox.  Pricing relative to competition can signal a premium product in a commoditized market. Or it can indicate a value-driven sale as a disruptor. Certainly free or freemium is the most aggressive disruptor approach (though not always the most successful).  Packaging is a layer deeper and is a great way to demonstrate that you understand how your custom...

They go hand in hand. You need to keep a pulse on your competitors pricing & packaging so that you can adjust or create promos/spiffs to support your sales team when needed. That said, you don't buld your pricing & packaging process based on the competition. You should undersand the market - conjoin anaylsis, willingness to pay, price elasticity, value metrics your buyers assign your product and capabilities that are seen as table stakes versus a broad or niche value driver. You should use this market data (buyers, customers, competitors etc) and your short term business goals to determi...

I think competitive is one aspect of overall pricing and packaging, but it shouldn't solely dictate how you price or package your product. There are exceptions of course, and if your competitor is the defacto market standard then aligning it more closely to competitors is likely necessary.  Overall, focus your pricing and packaging on your customer, target segments, and unique differentiation. Then ensure it's not wildly off from competitors. A tool like Klue or Crayon can also help you track when competitors make updates to their pricing page (if there is one public-facing), so you c...

Your pricing and packaging are components of your competitive positioning - the way you group features or the value metric you use to charge a SaaS fee helps frame your offering to your target audiences. For example, suppose your packages serve different audiences with differentiated needs. In that case, your competitive positioning requires packaging that clearly states the positioning, benefits, and features each audience desires from your product category. Pricing is equally essential to positioning your offering competitively, as your value metric and pricing tiers will help set your...

Really depends where you stack up in the competitive ranking.  Let's say there are three products: Mercedes, Toyota, Pontiac. The price reflects the package. That's why Mercedes are $50k and Toyotas are $25k.  Mercedes has premium leather and a host of other items "included in the price" to justify that price discrepancy.  When you're Mercedes, you double down on 1) the experience at every touch-point of being a customer (vs. at Toyota they're not giving you white-glove necessarily when you bring your car into the shop) 2) brand affinity or the luxury it communicates and 3) the ...

Hi - yes - I definitely recommend sharebird's resources. I also love a few books on positioning. First the classic book here is from Al Ries and Jack Trout and it's called "Positioning: The Battle for your Mind." I also recommend "Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It" by April Dunford

I've read a couple of great books on building messaging. The two I enjoyed the most were: The Aha Moment by Andy Cunningham. She has worked with some of the most iconic brands in tech (including Apple during Steve Jobs' heyday). She provides a great framework for understanding what she calls "your positioning DNA." And she not only presents her concepts in a very straightforward way, but she also supplements them with lots of great stories from her experiences. Storynomics by Robert McKee and Thomas Gerace. This is a book that gets detailed regarding the anatomy of good stories, and h...

Yes, there are plenty resources out there for you to continue to sharpen your toolset and learn from others in the community as well. Here are some of my favorites  1. Listening to podcasts - Women in Product Marketing by Mary Sheehan is by far my favorite. She brings on a host of Senior PMM's in their field to discuss topics from messaging, positioning, pricing, getting into PMM, GTM strategy etc.  2. Following thought leaders on Linkedin - Here is a nice list of thought leaders - https://www.productmarketingalliance.com/60-product-marketers-leading-the-way-in-2022/  3. Spend time...

There are a host of good training options out there. Sharebird is a good place to start and you can google alternatives as well. I mentioned a few books earlier on as well - Al Ries and Jack Trout and it's called "Positioning: The Battle for your Mind" and "Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It" by April Dunford. Other than that it really comes down to experience. Just do it and get better and better at it as time goes on.

Almost everything I learned about messaging I learned by watching other companies who do it really well. These can be similar players in your space (even competitors), or even products/brands you really admire. What are the things that they talk about that help them stand out, and how can you apply it to your own product/industry?  I've also read a few good books on messaging, which I address in another question below!

There are a host of good training options out there:  1. PMM Alliance - They have a comprehensive set of courses, content and how to guides that I have found extremely useful  2. Sharebird - another great place to start. Here you can get real industry expertise and resources from folks in the field  3. Podcasts - Women in Product Marketing by Mary Sheehan, Product Marketing Insider are a couple of my favorites.  4. Obviously Awesome: How to Nail Product Positioning so Customers Get It, Buy It, Love It" by April Dunford. 5. Another best practice I like to follow is actually spending tim...

First of all, I feel your pain! With the company moving fast, it can sometimes feel that your messaging is always playing catch up. In cases where your product and business evolve quickly, I recommend anchoring your messaging on the elements that remain most constant: * The market trends around you * The top pain(s) your audience feels * The top use cases your company solves If you work for a mobile attribution company, your product might change every day. But the growing number of digital touchpoints (trend), difficulty connecting all of the dots (pain), and the desire to effecti...

Above all, meet your company where it is. If you’re a small team just getting started, you’re likely going to have nail a brand identity and core message, and then be flexible as you evolve from there. If you’re part of a 500 person marketing team, you’re going to navigate some different challenges related to step-wise refinement of your messaging. A few tried & true rules here: 1. Define & Know your Core Nouns  2. Assign them value props and core messages of 25, 50, and 100 words 3. Establish clear ownership for #1 & #2, and make a company ritual around reviewing and adopting noun...

Brilliant question. If developed correctly, your messaging pillars should be evergreen (i.e. should not change on a dime) from campaign to campaign. Ultimately, your messaging pillars bring to life the core value your product/service delivers to customers and hence should be foundational. As you release new product features, think about how they ladder up to your core messaging pillars (aka the value you deliver to customers) and map them as such.  Here are some best practices to ensure you get maximum traction from your messaging and that there is consistency across how channel marketer...

I've written about this in detail on my blog here, so I'll summarize my thoughts below! Messaging and positioning work is never complete, so always treat your positioning doc as a living document that will evolve with your business. The framework I like to use involves starting with jobs to be done: Step 1: Start with the ‘jobs to be done’ What: Define the ‘jobs’ your product can be ‘hired’ to perform Why: As Peter Drucker once said, customers don’t buy products or features, they buy benefits. Jobs-to-be-done helps you look at your product from your customers perspective, making i...

I have used several different messaging frameworks, but one that we are leveraging quite a lot these days is the Jobs to be done framework, accompanied by durable, evergreen messages that are centered around our key customer personas and their pain points. In this framework you start by:  1. First, Understanding your ‘who’ (aka your key buyer personas) - who they are, what are their goals, their challenges, what keeps them up at night and what pain points they are most struggling with. We get super detailed here, with understanding how our buyers make software purchase decisio...

My first question is: what's the reason for not relying on your revenue org? Is there a lack of trust, challenges with prioritization, or something else? The best, most differentiated positioning means nothing if it's not being used throughout the customer journey – and since the majority of marketing orgs are focused on driving leads to a sales team, that messaging better be consistent at every stage of the marketing funnel. I view our sales partners as essential in building, validating, and activating our messaging.  Since much of the intel we gain from sales teams is rooted in the pre...

This is a great question! Given messaging is such a subjective topic - it's super important to quantifiably test and iterate on it to ensure it lands well in the market. Here's a few strategies and tactics you can use to quantifably test it:  1. During the process of creating the messaging, work with your market research team to test aspects of the messaging with prospects and customers. This can be both qualitative tests where you test specific aspects of your pitch and differentiated value or quantitative tests of words or descriptors you use. 2. Solicit early feedback from Sales an...

* Create a template that includes the guidance always * Only add as much detail as you need based on the other available product documentation  * Always indicate the value for all features inside the RN * Have a PMM review the RN * Consider additional doc efforts to provide the relevant marketing language as well 

You need to listen to people, share positioning work as it develops and be iterative. If you just show up with a messaging strategy without involving leadership in the formulation you are most likely going to get pushback because everyone thinks they know what we should be saying to the market. But if you take time to listen to people, and shape the messaging in response to their feedback people will be much more likely to agree. It goes back to that old adage that you should never show up to an executive meeting presenting something for the first time - shop it around beforehand. The same ...

The short answer is customer validation. The best messaging is what comes out of your customer's mouth so spend time learning from your customers and informing your base messaging. But even after you validated your messaging, test it. Run a/b tests in digital, email, and other channels to show you what's resonating, and use this data-driven insight to continue to refine your messaging. Bring all of this data to your executives to create the needed alignment. 

Building strong messaging, aligned across executives and stakeholders can be done using 3 key tactics. First, include and cite trusted datapoints, both qualitative and quantiative, from third party sources as well as directly from your target audience/customers. Second, enlist input from trusted experts in your field. Analyst briefings have been enlightening in my experience and documenting their feedback as a source helps reinforce the market perspective. And finally, face the feedback from key exectutives and stakeholders head-on. I approach this step formally, by sharing a document citin...

To align executives and stakeholders, and receive their buy-in, you have to tell them where your brand is going before you say how to get there. Concerning your question, you need a solid Communication Strategy, which is made of two parts: * Copy Strategy and * Media Strategy. The former states, in strategic terms, what Benefit your brand offers, the Reason Why the benefit is what customers want, and the Acceptance of customers of your copy strategy. The latter details how to bring the copy to the target (customers). Given that marketing without numbers is just fiction, every str...

This response is for messaging alignment (not alignment on all marketing activities).  - Build a comprehensive messaging framework. A good framework captures buyers, pain points, overall positioning, value pillars, differentiators and reasons to believe/proof points etc. Usually a lot of alignment can be gained by simply agreeing on the assumptions I often find confusion and misalignment is on the altitude of messaging that execs are expecting. Some execs expect a more feature centric messaging ,while some insist on value outcomes. Some want to hear the "What does your product do" whi...