How do you approach messaging for a technical audience vs for a non-technical audience?

This is a very common circumstance and can be conflated when a companies products bridge both audiences. Think of a consumer product that also has developer tool versions of their software. API's, open source etc. On one hand one core audience group simply wants to know 'will this product do what I need? whereas the other one will need a much more detailed and technical breakdown of a similar question! Similar to another question here, I would always put myself in the place of the intended audie ...Read More

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 ...Read More

Whether the audience is technical or non technical, you just need to speak their language and use their vocabulary. Using overly simple language for a technical audience won't help build credibility with that audience; using technical language with a layperson audience will just lose them in the process. As an example, I have been working on some language that's developer facing. With my PM team we've had some debates about some of our word choices. Language that is intuitive for them, isn't int ...Read More

Assuming we’re broadly talking about a technical user, and non-technical buyer here, I would focus first on learning how each makes their buying decisions. Then follow the same structure for both—why now, how we do it, why us—but abbreviate or expand each part according to that buying process. If your technical audience is deciding based on whether they like the UI—you better spend a lot of time explaining the workflow. If your non-technical audience is buying based on ROI—you better spend a lot ...Read More

Technical audiences want more feature-led messaging, and your features need to be clearly differentiated from your competitors. You should also invest in content that demonstrates the competitive advantage of your features up front. Technical audiences also typically care more about cost of implementation and maintenance. It's important tie your messaging to those benefits. For non-technical audiences, you can focus your primary messaging more on unique benefits (rather than features) and the ou ...Read More

Your messaging should speak the language of the customer. If your audience is technical, you can use the language that they are familiar with to articulate the value of your product. You don't want to go too jargon-heavy, but for example, if you're product helps streamline API management, and you are selling to IT, you're going to want to use "API" in your message. If you're positioning this same product to non-IT buyers, you might say "connect disparate systems." It's the same thing, but speaki ...Read More