Messaging

I've worked in enterprise tech for most of my career (SAP, Oracle, ServiceNow). To be honest, I think the biggest competitor that I've always come across is the status quo (doing nothing) since there

If you don't have access to a tool like Klue and need to gather competitive intelligence manually, here's what I'd do: Set up a Feedly feed to monitor your competitors' blogs, news, etc. Set up goog

For me, great messaging always starts with two things: Point of View - which articulates your perspective on the problem(s) your target market is looking to solve [why is the problem worth solving, w

You have to start with understanding your audience and your product. For the audience – understand their key business issues and pain points and for the product, understand the differentiators / value

There are 3 core areas that I ensure I have a solid understanding of before I create new messaging and positioning: Target buyer(s) & their pain points: Get a clear understanding of who my target

I'd sum up my process as: JTBD > target audience > buyer journey > market, competitive, VoC > insight > internal positioning > external messaging > GTM strategy  Expanding on the

I actually don't think this matters all that much. Messaging should be anchored in the outcomes your product delivers to your target persona, and the key differentators that make you uniquely suited t

One approach here is to re-define your market in such a way that you’re the leader of that market. That’s kind of what category creation if all about.Another approach here (again, leaning in to how yo

Per our head of PMM (Eric Petitt), it is important to think about and understand the market leader positioning because the leader often defines category expectations… as well as their weaknesses. And

You change the conversation. Positioning is all about defining a target audience and a place in their minds where you are the market leader. There’s some great inspiration in the ‘Positioning of a F

I am a believer that your messaging/positioning has to be consistent with how differentiated your product really is. Customers will quickly figure out what is marketing fluff vs. product truth anyway!

You differentiate by first creating a perceptual map that makes it easy to see how your competitors are positioned relative to each other. Use the perceptual map while creating positioning statement o

For sales messaging, I haven’t encountered anything better than “Command of the Message” which you can google.

Hmmm … this depends on what you’re launching. The most important things to understand when you’re creating any messaging is who your audience is, what is the benefit to them, and how you'll reach them

We’ve developed a few of our own frameworks over the years based on jobs-to-be-done. It’s an approach that runs counterintuitive to classic, persona-based marketing, and does so purposefully. Focusing

I usually have one or several resources of the following resources open when I'm developing a new messaging strategy. 1. Doug Kessler's "Irresistable Content for Immovable Prospects " [Slideshare] 2.

We think of messaging in three tiers and have different frameworks for each. Product marketing usually collaborates with PR and brand for Level 0 and Level 1, while we own Level 2. Level 0 Messaging:

With messaging, simpler is better. Messaging should be crisp and devoid of jargon. There are three resources I use, and the resource would depend on the project, e.g. company messaging vs. product mes

A couple to try out. Here’s a combined messaging source doc that I use every time I start working with one of our portfolio companies. Inherited from Citrix days and then adapted over time. Hope it

There are a lot of messaging frameworks out there. If you are on the hunt for templates, check out the Product Marketing Alliance or April Dunford's website (Obviously Awesome is a must-read of Produc

MESSAGING FRAMEWORK Andy Raskin broke down our Zuora messaging framework perfectly: The Greatest Sales Deck I’ve Ever Seen This messaging framework we use has 5 elements:  Name a Big, Relevant Change

The positioning framework I use was developed by my partner and co-founder when he was at Microsoft in the mid-80s. After he became a consultant I engaged him extensively over a two-year period during

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 fo

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 Appl

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 i

I have created an on-line course that takes you through positioning and messaging – they go hand in hand – step-by-step. Here is a link to the sign-in page; it is free: https://messagesthatmatter.com

Good question and I’m sure everyone has a slightly different take on this. From my perspective:  Positioning = How you solve customers needs and sit in relation to the wider competitive market  Messag

I’m so glad you asked this, because it’s actually one of my favorite topics to get on the soapbox about! :) I think April Dunford defined positioning best when she wrote, “positioning describes the s

A good question - there are many definitions around. What matters the most is to align your own organization with those definitions. Here are the definitions we agreed on in my organization: Value P

At HubSpot we have a “master” positioning guide that exists for every core product and is shared on a central wiki that everyone can access. This positioning guide helps inform the work of marketers,

Generally, product marketing creates messaging guides for new products, features, pricing, campaigns, company positioning, etc. While develop the messaging guide, we typically solicity input from oth

I mentioned in another post that I have come up with a structured process for messaging development. with my team of product managers and product marketers, I work through a series of questions that

In my view, the whole point of messaging guides is that they are shared as widely and as openly in your organization as possible. We actually keep a "launch tracker" document (google sheets file) that

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

What I’ve learned from great leaders who are able to inspire and motivate is to gain consensus before you walk into the room. This is pretty much how I have shared messaging guides internally to ensur

We are still working on refining our process here, however, our usual process is to attend the commercial team all-hands to notify them of any new messaging guides and materials and then we record a m

I have my clients create a team responsible for positioning a B2B product and seeking input and feedback throughout the process from key stakeholders - especially sales. Once the team is confident tha

What's the saying, "imitation is the best form of flattery"? It's impossible to prevent competitors from copying your messaging (and product to some extent even).   Instead of worrying about those tha

You can't stop competitors from copying your product messaging.  That will always happen in highly competitive markets.  But organizations can focus on building differentiated products.

Two great answers already submitted for this one. I would just add that it's a good signal when they copy your messaging. That means it's good. Keep talking to customers as their needs evolve and evol

Great question! But I'm going to blow up your premise right away: You can't prevent others from copying you. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, right? So instead of telling you how to dam up

I’d focus mainly on all the things you can do to stand out: Make your visual layout, pricing and customer experience unique to further differentiate your offering from competitors. The messaging is t

This is an important question that points to the relationship between brand and product marketing in context of competitive strategy.Short answer, I wouldn't optimize around the competition -- as ther

This is one of my favorite challenges when you're developing brand positioning and you can apply to a singular product area, as well. You can't prevent them from copying messaging -- but you can estab

If you are taking advantage of the power of consistency and repetition, you need not worry if your competitor copies your product messaging. Since your target audience will associate your company with

Going to cop out on this one a little bit (all the parts are important!) and just tell you how we did it at HubSpot. There are many ways to slice it but our approach has worked really well for us. We

If I had to pick one thing, it is your core value proposition. Everyone should understand what your solution/benefit statement is. We use this format "We help you, so you can..". Secondly, everyone sh

There's very little I can say that someone like April Dunford hasn't said better and I find her approach relevant across b2b (where she developed it) and b2c. The following homework is required, in my

The most important aspects of product positioning are to have a thorough understanding the customer and the competition. Your positioning statement expresses a benefit that solves a pressing customer

These are all interrelated. Messaging: Includes value propositions, your story, and pitch. Also includes things like naming, alternatives, and taglines. Value Proposition: These are the top benefits

Thanks, Diana.  I see Messaging as a broader element and which can be broken down into: - Corporate / Brand messaging - Segment messaging - Solution or Product Messaging As for Pitch and Story, I ag

This is a great question. As product marketers, I think we often confuse this terminology, and due to the common use of these terms it amplifies the perception they are different. From my point of vie

Interesting! I'll take a stab at it.My sense is that all of these fall under the parent bucket of messaging and positioning. Value Proposition is a subset of messaging that refers to the benefit of th

Very straightforward question, with anything but a straightforward answer. They are each distinct... with roughly an 80% overlap with one another. The biggest differences are whether they are buyer-sp

I like this kind of question because so much time is spent at work getting humans to agree that we're talking about the same thing. My particular answers are less important than creating a shared lexi

[Warning] Extremely Opinionated Zone starts now :) Value Proposition answers the question of whether buying your product is a good value exchange for the customer/prospect. The pain you are reducing