Looks like this question got the most upvotes so let me start with it and try
and give as much context as I can.
At Google we had the following heuristic for marketing which was:
1.) Know the user
2.) Know the magic
3.) Connect the two
It informed our marketing overall, but especially our positioning and messaging.
You asked about both and I would actually separate the two.
For positioning it's always a good idea to start with the product and
engineering teams. They are typically the closest to the vision of the
product--who it's for/what it does/how does it do it i.e. the "magic". I often
use the metaphor that if the product is a movie, PM and Eng will typically cook
up the plot, while it's product marketing's job to deliver the narrative.
Sales is also a good stakeholder for positioning. They'll help you narrow down
the "user" details, especially in enterprise where they spend more time with
customers than anyone else in the organization. So it really behooves you to
spend as much time with sales as you can. Done right, product marketing is
sale's best friend.
So at big companies, prod, eng and sales are typically good places to start for
positioning while at smaller companies, like startups, you may want to involve
the founder and leadership team early as they have most of the datapoints. But
I'd keep the stakeholder list pretty tight overall when it comes to positioning
otherwise you'll tend to swirl and it's really important to nail positioning
first, because messaging is the by product.
Per the Google heuristic above, positioning covers the user and the magic.
Connecting the two is where messaging comes in, and that's where you should open
up the aperture when it comes to stakeholder management IMO. This is where
Demand Gen, Field, AR, PR or even support stakeholders comes in.
The reason is simple. As the product marketer, people will and should treat you
as the SME when it comes to the product positioning but will likely want to help
shape what messaging looks like at the last mile, whether that's on the web,
email copy, print ads, events and activations, or when talking to the press and
analysts. After all, they own those channels, are directly responsible for their
performance and know what typically plays well and performs--or not. The worst
thing you can do is go against the grain and be precious about a turn of phrase
or a cool tagline.
At Salesforce, we had a campaign where with partners where we thought we could
riff of the expression "being on cloud nine". Well that worked well in NORAM,
but didn't make sense in other markets where the expression was meaningless when
translated.
So when it comes to positoning, be ruthless and direct about who has input as
you don't want to swirl on that or compromise. But for messaging, take the
inputs, and to paraphrase Bruce Lee "be like water". While you shouldn't let the
substance change, you want your message to resonate.
Messaging
5 answers
Head Of Product Marketing at Upwork • February 15
Getting feedback from stakeholders is valuable to capture insights and feedback
from customer-facing teams and to foster healthy internal partnerships. That
said, positioning and messaging by consensus is one of the biggest mistakes a
product marketer can make. To avoid this, set clear expectations by defining
roles and responsibilities upfront. I suggest using a simple DACI framework and
asking everyone to agree with their respective roles when you kick off the
exercise. DACI stands for Driver, Approver, Contributor, and Informed. This post
by Thaisa Fernandes provides a good overview of DACI and a Google Docs template.
While roles vary at every company, an example of a positioning and messaging
DACI could be something like:
* Driver - Product Marketing
* Approver - CMO
* Contributors - Product, Sales, Research, Customer Support, Marketing Channel
Owners
* Informed - Brand, Copywriting
Head (VP) of Global Enablement at Benchling • March 10
In addition to product sales, I typically like to vet things out with SEs - they
are the ones demonstrating the products and weave stories as they do so - so
having them alinged in the key benefits, messaging and positioning is key.
Additionally CSG - customer success. They are the ones who have great insight
into what's working and not working for customers. And lastly, Corporate
Marketing - who ultimately own the brand - so top level messaging needs to align
well.
Customer Success or Customer Marketing teams are your secret weapon when
thinking about Positioning & Messaging frameworks and GTM strategy. Retention is
a key metric for the business, so who better than Customer Success Managers or
Customer Marketing leaders to represent the voice of the customer in your
marketing narrative? They have seen the good, the bad and the ugly and have a
more in-depth perspective with what resonates with customers, where customers
get frustrated or struggle, and why customers love your brand/product.
Director of Product Marketing at Attentive • March 13
Any client-facing teams I believe should provide feedback on your
messaging/positioning. For example, your client strategy/customer success teams
get a ton of feedback from your customers who are actually using your product
and have a great perspective on what resonates with your prospects and customer
base.
Secondly, a part of sales, but a key subset of your sales team are sales
engineers. Sales engineers have a natural way of telling a great demo story and
are boots on the ground hearing directly from prospects on what they're looking
for, what key competitors have, why they're switching from their incumbent
solution, etc. Partnering closely with the lead sales engineer on my product is
a must for me!
Finally, your marketing team. They have an invaluable perspective on how your
messaging/positioning for specific products works with your overall corporate
narrative. They should be a key decision maker when it comes to how you are
positioning your products to the market and how you're differentiating.
5 answers
Global Director, Business Strategy and Comms at TripActions • September 19
This is something I have experience doing since I was one of the first
monetization product marketers at Instagram and the first product marketer at
Slack. I'll say that it was different at both companies, so it can vary. It
really matters what your company's priorities are and what each individual is
focused on and where their strengths lie.
PMMs do not support PMs 1:1 in small companies (wouldn't that be nice!), so it's
best to be strategic about where a PMM can help fill in gaps early on. To me,
this is really at three phases: 1) defining the MVP (through an understanding of
customer needs, competitive overview, and market sizing), 2) determining if an
alpha/beta is needed and managing those, and 3) launch and post-launch support.
I also believe strongly that a PMM should help define success metrics. If it's
too early to set concrete KPIs, it's important to start building the foundation
for what you'll measure and why.
Director of Product Marketing at Appcues • January 8
One of the things I have noticed during my time at various companies is that PMs
may not get the opportunity to interact and engage with customers as much as
they like. Too many times, they are very development focused, and roadmap is led
by HiPPOs. If this is the case in your orginazation, I would make customer
engagement and understanding the primary role for a PMM. You can then take that
insight and knowledge and feed it back to the Product team, hopefully building a
strong relationship.
That being said, I agree with Judy in that every company is different so it is
important to understand where the gaps currently are, and how PMMs can add
value. It is easy to take on work that Product feels that they are responsible
for, so rather then having that battle later on, it may be best to start with
filling the gaps and taking on further responsiblity as you build trust.
Head Of Product Marketing at 3Gtms • March 2
Philosophically, I think it comes down to the "what" (both), the "why" (PMM) and
the "how" (PM). The interesting part is the ways in which the "how" and the
"why" inform each's take on the "what" when collaborating.
When it comes to that "what" I think, in general, PM has the domain expertise on
functional aspects of it, while PMM defines it from a business need perspective.
Head of Marketing at Skedulo • December 16
I believe PMM should own how we articulate the value of our products or
solutions to the market. That would include enabling internal teams with clear
messaging and positioning and owning how we take the product to market. My
expectation is that PM would own the technical documentation of the product and
the enabling of internal resources on how the product works technically.
Obviously this is pretty high level and there are a lot of resopnsibilities
underneath this that would require ownership. I'd recommend you work closely
with your product counterpart(s) to document ownership and align on what PMM
owns vs. PM. You can then use that document as you bring on new PMs and PMMs
into your organization.
Product Marketing @ Twilio Segment at Twilio | Formerly Amazon • March 15
The approach will typically vary depending if the startup is pre or post PMF.
Pre-PMF you need to be pretty open to a broad set of workstreams falling under
PMM. It will also depend if you have a wider marketing team or not. PMM can
often help define what other marketing roles are required. When hiring a PMM
team pre-PMF it's first worth thinking about how you're going to structure the
team; will it be around product features or workstreams e.g. Competive intel,
lifecycle, messaging, etc. or geography. For post-PMF you'll usually want to
align closer to the product team.
6 answers
Operating Partner at Unusual Ventures • February 6
There’s basically one big one and that’s focusing too much on product/benefit
and not enough on fitting the narrative into how a customer views their world,
their priorities, and setting the table for the new world. There are all kinds
of tools for salespeople to essentially become a consultative partner to their
customer - Command of the Message, Challenger Selling, etc. As marketers, we
don’t really have a single framework to help us build a narrative in the way
that these sales frameworks do.
The net of the issue is that we don’t stay focused on answering the 3 big ‘why'
questions that a rep needs to answer to close a sale: 1) why buy anything, 2)
why buy now, and 3) why buy you. The idea is that if your messaging/story can
answer these three questions better than your competition, customers will buy
from you.
Over the past couple years, I’ve been working with a couple dozen startups here
at Unusual Ventures and see the same problem at play with our founders. So, I
wrote a new messaging guide that we’re going to be publishing (for free) called
“Three Why Storytelling ”. It’s a simple storytelling framework that nets out 6
steps to crafting a story that wins customers:
Why Buy Anything
1. Start with an authentic founder insight
2. Align on shared view of impact
Why Buy Now
3. Connect problem to business urgency
4. Show current solutions to be ineffective
Why Buy You
6. Frame new approach to solve the problem
7. Prove unique offering and value
Is this rocket science? No. You’ve probably seen each of these concepts in
various forms all over. But this framework strives to simplify and codify the
building blocks of a story that, when laid out together, form an airtight,
irrefutable narrative that is purpose-built to lead customers to your solution
as the best choice.
By the way, if I had to pick one ‘Why’ that is most underrepresented in
messaging, it is most definitely Why Buy Now. We are conditioned to think in
problem/solution terms. But the reality is that there are two types of problems
- big problems (we’re moving from on-premises software to SaaS) and urgent
problems (my business units are going around my IT team and signing up for SaaS
apps like Dropbox and Concur, cutting us out of our core function!). Big
problems are market-focused while urgent problems are customer-focused.
Companies that obsess on Why Buy Now typically have a solutions marketing
mentality that starts with the customer initiative and works back to product vs.
the other way around.
Here’s the draft .pdf of 3 Why Storytelling. Would love any feedback!
Vice President of Marketing at Albertsons Companies • February 13
I love this question. Over the course of my career, I’ve seen inexperienced and
experienced product marketers (including me) commit a variety of messaging
capital “sins”.
Here is my list of the top 3 messaging capital “sins” to avoid:
1. Starting with the WHAT
This is perhaps the most common mistake marketers will make and also the one
that will most negatively impact the stickiness of your message. Due to their
close relation with product, product marketers will often develop a message
around what the product is or what the product can do. This is what I call
‘product/feature-centric messaging’. This type of messaging tends to be more
mechanical and spec-oriented and does not emotionally connect with the intended
audience. Studies have shown that when it comes to purchasing and decision
making, human beings more often use emotions rather than logic. This is why you
need to start with the WHY. Why should the audience care about your product or
brand? Why is your product or brand capable of solving their problems,
fulfilling their wants and satisfying their needs? Companies that have a brand
or product message that starts with the WHY are often rewarded with higher
customer loyalty and can generate up to 5x times more revenue than their direct
competitors. This is what I call Solution-centric or Customer-centric messaging.
Here’s a great TEDx talk by Simon Sinek on why great leaders, great inventors
and great brands always start with the WHY.
2. The idea that “one size fits all”
I’ve seen it over and over again, when product marketers assume that everyone
will understand their message, even if they have, indeed, started with the WHY.
This happens because of one of two reasons. Reason number 1: “Assuming the
market is homogeneous”. This assumption can leave out large sections of the
intended target population. Assuming everyone behaves and feels the same will
make your message generic and less memorable. Reason number 2: “Assuming
everyone is your audience”. Often, product marketers driven by business
objectives want to target the entire market assuming that everyone has a need
for the solution they are trying to position. Regardless of the reason, one way
to avoid these mistakes is to carefully develop a marketing research plan. This
research should uncover insights about your target audiences, validate or
discredit your assumptions and ideally, test your messaging and value
propositions. The ultimate goal should be to understand that the market is
heterogeneous in nature and that you should be building persona-based messages.
3. Lost in translation
Global product marketers can be biased towards their local market. Often times,
given the nature of where they are located or which market is the biggest,
product marketers tend to craft messages around specific needs and wants that
are not always relatable elsewhere. As I mentioned before, a good narrative is
based on clear needs and wants that should have been uncovered through research.
Assuming that the needs of one market are the same in another can be a
catastrophic mistake. There are a lot of examples of successful companies that
failed in specific markets because of this assumption. For example, one of the
reasons Walmart failed in Germany, was because they had a belief that every
western country has the same culture as theirs (USA). In America, it’s not
uncommon for retail assistants to be chatty and friendly with the customers, and
so Walmart decided to train its German employees with the same talk tracks as in
America, and this, of course, did not go over well with Germans.
The problem with most US-based businesses is that once the message goes
international, not enough thought is paid to how the intent will translate –
literally or figuratively. There are several examples of campaigns that, when
translated, produced humorous, and in some instances, catastrophic results. One
of the most memorable ones is when Coors translated its campaign tagline, "Turn
It Loose," into Spanish, where it is a colloquial term for having diarrhea.
Here’s a link to the 20 most epic lost in translation marketing mistakes.
Head of Product Marketing at Retool • April 16
Messaging is hard to get right. At its best, messaging is a clear and simple
distillation of who you are, what you do, and why it matters. But in my
experience, there are a few common themes that lead to missing the mark:
1. Trying to connect with too wide an audience. No messaging, no matter how
clever or well-written, will resonate with every audience. The act of trying to
make it work for every buyer persona, every company size, and every industry
eventually leads to generic messaging that might broadly apply but is no longer
impactful. Great messaging requires focus.
2. Developing messaging by committee. In an ideal world, your CEO, sales team,
and customers would all be perfectly aligned on what messaging you should use.
But in practice, this is rarely the case. Many teams will naturally resort to
creating “Frankenstein” messaging that tries to marry everyone’s preferences…and
it almost never goes well.
3. Trying to fit in every last detail. Think about buying a car. For those of us
with a long commute, you might care most about gas mileage. A salesperson might
try to also sell you on the backup camera, entertainment console, and sunroof,
but those don’t solve your biggest problem—getting to work in a cost-effective
manner. So now instead of looking more impressive, the car seems bloated,
expensive, and irrelevant. Too much detail often works against you.
Director, The Jay Hurt Hub for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Davidson College • April 28
* Not leading with empathy – shouting about what your product is/does without
putting it in the context of the users’/buyers’ actual problems and stating
what business value/impact your product/solution will have for them.
* Using jargon or hollow words/phrases like: integrates/integrations, seamless,
easy to use, innovative, etc.
* Or using hyperbole – best, only, greatest, etc – without backing it up with
data or some other qualitative validation
* Copying competitors or starting from what competitors are saying and then
backing into how you're different vs. starting from your own market research,
determining how your company/portfolio/product are unique in a way that you
can validate with data and being BOLD about your differences and why they
matter for a specific audience.
Director of Global Product Marketing at Theta Lake • February 28
It's not uncommon to see a blurring of capabilities and benefits.
With companies that are very product focused and have an(often justified) zeal
for their offering's capabilities, I have seen features/capabilities presented
as benefits. This can also be the result of not really thinking about the buyer
enough, and what their real problem/challenge is. It's a result of inside/out
type thinking.
Co-Founder at Messages That Matter • March 14
Here are some of the common messaging mistakes I've encountered working with
clients and monitoring the positioning strategies of companies in all the major
B2B software markets:
•Failure to differentiate;
•Long sales cycles due to market confusion; i.e., copycat messaging;
•Multiple benefit claims that compete against each other for prominence and
effectiveness;
•Claims that fail any reasonable test of credibility;
•Marketing campaigns fail because the message does not matter to the target
audience;
•Spending hours debating what to say in the next marketing campaign;
•The product marketing and marketing teams can’t keep up with the demand for
lead generation programs and campaigns because it takes forever to launch a
campaign;
•Lack of understanding about what will resonate with the target audience.
11 answers
Vice President Product Marketing / GTM at Wrike • April 9
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 that way? Then you can charge a premium price relative to
your competitive alternatives (and understand that you'll be more successful
with customers where this matters to them).
Are you the new market entrant that needs to steal share from encumbants. You
might not have 100% of the features as the other guy, but you deliver the 80/20
of what customers are looking for at a much lower price. You won't be able to
win every customer that needs all the bells and whistles, but you'll win deals
where customers just need - 'good enough'.
If you focus on pricing to the value that you deliver and can demonstrably show
that customers achieve 5-10X more in value than they spend on your solution,
then don't focus too much on what your competitors are doing price wise. It's
not good for you or your market.
Head of Product Marketing at Symphony Talent • October 20
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 / organization's differentiators are strong
enough, you can pull out of commodification and back into value pricing.
Lastly, I have to say that when I've seen a pricing and packaging exercise done
most successfully, it's been a cross-functional process that includes PMM, Sales
and Product. The insights from these other teams is invaluable and cannot be
underestimated.
Head of Product Marketing, Platform & Commerce at Atlassian • August 4
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.
Sr. Director, Product Marketing at Productboard • December 14
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.
Director of Product Management - Pricing & Packaging, CXP at Twilio | Formerly Narvar, Medallia, Helpshift, Feedzai, Reputation.com • February 21
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 different compared to available alternatives?
And based on your answers to these questions is how you will create the packages
and pricing in context of your product's positioning.
Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Meraki at Cisco Meraki | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • April 12
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 customer wants or needs to buy and can be closely tied to
brand positioning. You can communicate "we're easy to work with," or "we give
you ultimate flexibility" through how you package your product.
For many enterprise buyers, though, the price is the last piece that they'll
consider. Yes, you'll be asked about it up front, but your ultimate goal is to
prove that you'll provide them the most value or the best solution to their
specific problem, not just the best price. Your pricing and packaging should be
an extension of your overall positioning, not the lede.
A great example of this is what we built at Tellme Networks. One of the first
SaaS platforms (before SaaS was a thing, and really before "cloud" was a common
term for a software delivery model, we were disrupting the toll-free/IVR market
with a cloud-based speech platform. Remember 1-800-Fandango? Yeah, that ran on
Tellme. One of the most fun apps I've ever had the pleasure to design.
But our pricing: overall, our value prop to our customers was "a better customer
service experience drives higher automation," and millions of dollars of ROI
annually. Part of the position of "why cloud?" related to port efficiency -
instead of managing dedicated port capacity in a call center that went unused
70% of the time, we could perfectly flex to load. Our pricing and packaging
reflected this. It was utility-based pricing, and companies only paid for the
minutes they used. This was completely different than any other model, but it
was how we made that pillar of flexibility and capacity concrete.
Senior Director of Product Marketing at Drift • May 2
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 determine your monetization strategy. This strategy
will be your north star - letting you say no to any recommendations that don't
align to your strategy vs evaluating those that do.
Packaging is a strategic job. Pricing is more about the math, margins, etc. But
they way you bundle aka package your products, has tremendous implications to
how your customers perceive your product and evaluate you as a partner. Most
buyers want transparency and simplicity.
My biggest learning is that you should make your packaging -- from how you
present it on your website to your order form, as simple and clear as possible.
That will help you build trust with your buyers/customers and differentiate from
the competition (especially those that have tons of add-on/sneaky pricing).
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 can regularly keep
track of any changes.
Product Marketing Lead - Spend Management at Brex | Formerly Klaviyo, Square, Intuit, PepsiCo, Heineken, Mondelez • October 25
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 position in the market. For example, an enterprise package typically has
yearly vs. monthly subscription options. Knowing how your target customers buy
your product category and how competitors price and package their products can
help frame your pricing strategy.
If your company chooses to create an alternative model to the rest of the
industry, assess the incremental costs and resources required to train your GTM
teams and educate prospects and customers on your pricing model.
Director of Pricing & Packaging Strategy at Gong • November 9
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 excrutiatingly precise details that make it
worth the extra cash
OK but that's an easy example. What about Mercedes vs. BMW?
The first thing is: both companies have an incentive to keep their prices high
vs. Toyota (this is actually a huge point!).
In fact the Mercedes GLC vs. BMW X3 are only $150 different (though the Mercedes
ranges higher for custom add-ons).
Otherwise they degrade the luxury premium price.
Second: Mercedes vs. BMW largely comes down to a few features (e.g. styling,
finish quality, space, fuel economy) since most of the engine power and add-ons
are tablestakes at that level.
So what does this all this mean, especially if you have a close competitor?
1. Don't kill your market by racing to the bottom on price (too many examples
to list sadly)
2. Having a price close to your competitor - even if they're slightly superior
- can actually drag you up to their level!
3. Communicate your positioning with your price - if you're a superior product,
don't be afraid to show it in the price!
Co-founder of Grow+Scale at Grow + Scale • March 7
Pricing will be one of the elements of how your brand is perceived.
Priced low - you might be thought of as an early-stage startup who doesn't have
product/market fit yet or isn't confident in their solution,
Priced high - clearly the confidence in solving an issue is there and it usually
correlates with the perceived image of the company.
I always like to think of real-life physical examples and then translate them
into a software solution. Someone who buys a $10,000 watch or a designer bag, is
treated like a VIP. Every little detail in the physical store is impeccable and
is there to create an ambiance of what that product represents.
On another side, Gap and Walmart have self-served/browse-through retail racks
where you dig through piles of clothes often marked with big font price signs
screaming discount and value for money.
Or another obvious one - how does getting a coffee at Dunkin Donuts differ from
getting a single-origin cappuccino from a local roastery? The product has a
similar effect from the utilitarian standpoint but a completely different
perspective and context.
How this correlates to the software?
1) Solving a business pain point for a high-ticket B2B client would garner a
high price point because of the value it gives. Everything on the website should
be congruent on problem-solving and building trust with your prospect -
branding, content, journey, social credibility etc...
2) Look at the competition. What are their pricing structures? How does your
product or service differ from theirs? Do you offer more value, better
onboarding, and better experience? You can take the competitors as a baseline
and adjust the price tag based on the differentiation factors
3) Your win/loss analysis and conversations with your actual clients? What kind
of software are they buying apart from yours? What kind of problem are you
solving for them? For example, if your solution enables sales teams to be 2x as
efficient and could garner between 4x revenue to the bottom line then you can
pull their numbers and see what their potential ROI would look like if they used
your product.
For example, if your B2B software solution costs $100,000 per year, but it helps
bring an additional $1M at the end of the year, everyone would sign off on that
deal.
2 answers
Global Partner Marketing Director at ServiceNow • January 17
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 are so many influencers and
decision-makers in an enterprise tech sales cycle.
Here are the main sources I use to keep informed on what's going on in the
market.
* Stratechery - great podcast on all things tech
* WSJ + Bloomberg - I pay for both of these to stay informed on what's going on
in the world
* LinkedIn - I follow relevant/interesting people to stay informed of what's
top of mind for them
* The Information - great resource and newsletters to stay informed on what's
going on in tech
* Earnings calls - listen to your competitors' earnings calls. I consider these
marketing events where the CEO and CFO are positioning their company to
institutional investors.
* Community - most companies have both internal and external communities/teams
- have found this to be the best way to get a quick answer about a specific
feature/function
I don't work as closely on competitive intelligence since I moved into partner
marketing a couple of years ago. Even if you aren't comfortable doing the work,
there are likely other people in your company with product strategy/bizops
titles who likely have some additional info on win/loss analysis, that can help
inform positioning and messaging.
There are also many third-party firms that also do a great job of sharing
competitive intelligence through customer interviews as well.
Director of Product Marketing at IRONSCALES • March 3
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 google alerts to you're notified when they are mentioned (this might
get overwhelming if there are a lot of competitors)
* Follow competitors on social media
* At least quarterly, you should do a deep dive where you go through their
entire website to see how their messaging is changing, what they are hiring
for, what events they are going to, and what new assets have been published.
--This will give you clues into the direction the competitor is moving to
* Ask your reps about what they're hearing, especially if they recently
won/lost a deal to a competitor
* Conduct Win/loss interviews
* Talk to customers (case study interviews)
4 answers
Head of Marketing at Atrium • September 8
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, what are
the key steps in solving the problem, what kind of tech solutions will help
you to solve the problem].
* Positioning - which articulates your unique value proposition for your target
market
These two things inform the messages you want to deliver for each audience in
your campaign [buyers, users, analysts, internal sales reps, partners, etc].
When it comes to developing the messages themselves, the process I follow
generally includes brainstorming with key internal stakeholders (depending on
whether this is company-level messaging or product-level or campaign-level- this
may include the exec team, product team, sales/ customer team, etc.) with the
objective of developing as many candidates for messaging as possible.
From there, we’ll winnow it down to two to three top contenders and create
assets that will enable me to test out the messages with the market [e.g. sales
presentation slides, landing page, etc.]
Head of Product Marketing at Symphony Talent • October 20
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 drivers so you can craft a
message that connects your product as a solution for your audience’s pain.
It’s also incredibly important to have a high-level understanding of the
competition and their messaging so you can differentiate there as well. As you
become more familiar with the industry and your org’s product offering as it
compares to competitors, this becomes much easier, but should be revisited with
every new launch. If you are successful, you’ll notice that your competitors
will start to use your verbiage and messaging as their own. This applies to
products too.
Beyond that foundation, there are two additional rules I stick to for messaging:
Use the power of 3 and always provide proof. My messaging gets used a lot by our
executives for our bi-annual updates, which means I need to keep my content
brief but memorable so I stick to the power of 3 – three messaging pillars,
areas of differentiation or impact – you choose, just keep it to 3. And last –
always provide proof. This can be examples of how your product is innovative or
a customer story or an analyst quote, etc. You need to be able to back up what
you’re saying.
Vice President, Product Marketing at Momentive (SurveyMonkey) • December 8
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 buyer is (budget, motivation to buy, purchase blockers) and what their
pain points are (as it relates to the problem space your target buyer is
looking to solve)
* Product knowledge: What features and functionality are we delivering and how
does that translate into a unique value proposition and set of customer
benefits
* Competitive landscape: What similar offerings exist in the market today and
how does our offering differentiate
From there, I leverage a messaging framework that leverages the learnings from
above and includes details on the following:
* Target Audience(s)
* Market Trends
* Problem Statement
* General customer challenges / pain points
* Elevator pitch
* Key solution benefits (supported by features) -- I always keep these to 3-4
main ones!
* Competitive differentiation
* Customer evidence/proof points (if available)
I usually go through several rounds of edits after receiving feedback from key
internal and external stakeholders (though I typically keep it to key messages
when seeking external feedback).
Senior Product Marketing Manager at LinkedIn • February 27
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 above, here's how I've approached building out messaging for an
entirely new product line & audience:
1. Start by seeking to understand the relevant jobs to be done in your space &
align on the whitespace you can uniquely solve for
2. Hypothesize and validate the target audience you want to go after (who has
the most pain when it comes to this job?)
3. Understand the target audience's journey when it comes to the JTBD
4. Deeply understand the market trends, competitive players, and voice of the
target audience through research
5. Identify & assert your guiding market insight (usually comes out through
research)
6. Develop internal positioning (data, differentiate, value prop)
7. Develop external messaging (short form, long form, reasons to believe /
product proof, narrative)
8. Develop GTM strategy (channels, tactics, timing)
6 answers
VP of Marketing at Rimsys Regulatory Management Software • August 4
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 to deliver those outcomes. That
doesn't change based on your market position.
Where this could come into play is when you talk about successes you've
achieved. As a market leader you can talk to the your breadth of customers,
market share, analyst ratings, etc. as proof points. As a challenger, you paint
you customers as forward-thinking innovators who are taking a different approach
as seeing better outcomes as a result.
Head of Marketing at Atrium • September 8
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 you’re unique in the value you
provide) is to emphasize how you’re enabling your customers to think differently
about solving their problem and innovate their way to business success.
Product Marketing at Glassdoor • June 3
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 when a challenger tries to play
catch up to the market leader, the copy-cat will die over time because they are
not adding value. The recommendation then is to pick a tighter target audience
and a differentiator that will “de-position” the market leader. Your strengths
should call out their weaknesses.
Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • July 15
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 Follower’ chapter of
‘Positioning’ by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Worth reading, but to paraphrase one
example, 7-Up didn’t try to compete with Coca-Cola and Pepsi in the category
of‘soda.’ They competed with the sub-category of ‘cola’ within the ‘soda’
category, positioning themselves as the ‘Un-Cola.’ While I’m not a huge fan of
the name, it successfully defined a niche that 7-Up could be the leader in, and
then focused on talking about why cola isn’t so great after all.
Here's an example of how you would translate that to the B2B space: Let's say
you can’t compete with the market leader in service offerings. But you can take
the position of the top ‘self-service software’ — and then focus your marketing
on why it’s unattractive to pay an arm and a leg for someone else to use the
product for you.
Sr. Director, Security Product Marketing at Microsoft • October 7
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! So - even if your product is not the
market leader but your research tells you that you have a killer product - i'd
suggest being aggressive with the messaging and positioning and taking the fight
to the competition! On the other hand - if you are entering a new segment with a
'v1' version of a product that you know is not very competitive yet, i'd lean a
bit more towards reflecting the vision of the product/strategy vs. capabilities
of the product itself in the messaging/positioning.
Co-Founder at Messages That Matter • February 24
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 options. Eliminate those that fail to
differentiate. The winning positioning statement is unique, believable and
important - it expresses a benefit that solves one of the target buyer's most
pressing problems.
11 answers
Vice President Marketing at Ouster • July 18
For sales messaging, I haven’t encountered anything better than “Command of the
Message” which you can google.
Global Director, Business Strategy and Comms at TripActions • September 19
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. This is a great read if you’re
just getting started (and something I make my new hires
read): https://medium.com/startup-grind/people-dont-buy-products-they-buy-better-versions-of-themselves-2ce85fdb5ff1
In general, the framework is only as important as the message you’re trying to
deliver. Play around with what works best for you and the people you work with.
Don’t be too beholden to the process.
Head of Marketing, Confluence at Atlassian • October 31
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 on customer
attributes really means focusing on what you want to sell, rather than what your
customers actually need. Those customers come from a variety of backgrounds,
industries, and verticals, but their one commonality is their motivation, the
Job-to-be-Done.
I had to fundamentally change my approach when I joined Intercom. For me, the
easiest way to grok the Jobs-to-be-Done methodology was by watching Clay
Christensen’s famous milkshake video and understanding what “job” people buy
milkshakes for. You can read more about Jobs-to-be-Done on the Inside Intercom
blog here: Focus on the Job, Not the Customer:
https://blog.intercom.com/when-personas-fail-you/
And, here’s a recording of a talk and podcast I’ve given in the past about how
we apply JTBD to our go-to-market strategy.
How to market the Job-to-be-Done:
https://blog.intercom.com/marketing-the-job-to-be-done
How Jobs-to-be-Done Informs Intercom Marketing:
https://blog.intercom.com/podcast-intercoms-go-to-market-strategy/
As we continue to grow, our products mature, and we learn more about the
problems we’re trying to solve and for whom, we’re constantly adapting our
frameworks. As an example, we’ve recently created an internal document called
the “Solution Guide” for each of the solutions we take to market. The guide
answers the following questions:
Foundations
* What problem are people looking to find a solution for?
* What will a solution to this problem improve for them?
* Who is looking for it?
* What are the keywords they are using to search for it?
Solution Positioning & Messaging
* What do we call the solution we provide for this problem?
* Why would someone be interested in Intercom’s solution?
* Which Intercom products are required to solve this problem?
* How does Intercom solve this problem?
* Which must-have features for this problem does Intercom have?
* Why would someone want to use Intercom to solve this problem?
* Who is successfully using Intercom to solve this problem?
In addition, as we think about how to best position ourselves against
alternative solutions (products) to the problems we solve, we make use of the 4
Forces model. You can learn more about that and our approach to comparative
marketing here: The right way to challenge your competitors - Inside Intercom:
https://blog.intercom.com/comparative-marketing/
Of course, there are many other, more established frameworks available to you.
One thing I have heard good things about is Pragmatic Marketing
(https://www.pragmaticmarketing.com/). My advice would find a framework that
feels good and adapt it to your business because everyone is different. :)
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. Andy Raskin's "Promised Land " pitch [Medium]
3. Donald Miller's "Storybrand " template [Blog] - I recommend you buy his book
for it to fully make sense
I also developed my own product messaging framework which I use to
audit/teardown existing a company's existing messaging.
I would recommend using it if you know your messaging isn't working but you
can't really pinpoint where or why. It's been a useful way for me to evaluate
where a client's messaging falls apart, and it's definitely something you can
bring a cross-functional team together to do on your own.
Director of Brand and Product Marketing, Twilio.org at Twilio • July 16
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: Highest-level company messaging, found in press releases,
first sales decks slides, the “about us” section
* Mission — Your battle cry; why you wake up and work every day
* Vision — Where you’re going if your mission is successful, aspirational and
inspirational
* Audience — Who you sell to (be as specific as possible)
* Key Values — Three key value propositions that you provide for your audience
(should focus on differentiators to your business)
* Category — The market category you fit into (or are creating)
* Description — Incorporates these elements into a short description or
elevator pitch. This is often thought of as your “boilerplate.” Everyone at
your company should be able to recite this and be on the same page. (This is
easier said than done)
Level 1 Messaging: Highest product-level messaging, found on the website, sales
decks, analyst briefing decks
* The flawed way the world works today
* The consequences of this approach
* The market trend making these consequences dire now
* The world after your product
* The benefits of your approach
* Customer proof
Level 2 Messaging: Lower-level product messaging, found on per-product web
pages, one-sheets, case studies, and in product-focused demos
* Product name
* Solution family
* Tagline
* Description
* Audience (company size, roles)
* Customer current approach and problems
* Negative business consequences
* New product approach and benefits
* Outcomes with new product
* Use cases
* Customer anecdotes
Founder & Chief Marketer at TRUSTED CMO • January 28
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 messaging:
* Mother story: write a 3-4 narrative about your company. What is the change
that inspired its creation and your vision for the future state? I am a huge
fan of this because you can tackle narrative, mission, and values at once.
* I also use a "Mad Lib" format that many PR/comms people use:
* _____ is a _____ (your company name, what you are/do)
* for _________ (who is it for)
* unlike ______, _______, _______ that only offer ______ (competitors, your
takedown of them)
* And then a simple matrix like my buddy Myk Pono posted on Medium.
Pro tip: Keep your messaging in a Google doc or similar. Note the date you've
made updates and where that text is located.
Operating Partner at Unusual Ventures • February 6
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’s helpful!
The second one is one I've been working on for a year and am sharing with the
Sharebird community before publishing for feedback. The core idea is that I've
that that a lot of messaging focuses too much on product/benefit and not enough
on fitting the narrative into a broader context of how a customer views their
world, their priorities, and setting the table for the new world. Interestingly,
there are all kinds of tools for salespeople to essentially become a
consultative partner to their customer - Command of the Message, Challenger
Selling, etc. As marketers, we don’t really have a single framework to help us
build a narrative in the way that these sales frameworks do.
The net of the issue is that we don’t stay focused on answering the 3 big ‘why'
questions that a rep needs to answer to close a sale: 1) why buy anything, 2)
why buy now, and 3) why buy you. The idea is that if your messaging/story can
answer these three questions better than your competition, customers will buy
from you.
Over the past couple years, I’ve been working with a couple dozen startups here
at Unusual Ventures and see the same problem at play with our founders. So, I
wrote a new messaging guide that we’re going to be publishing (for free) called
“Three Why Storytelling”. It’s a simple storytelling framework that nets out 6
steps to crafting a story that wins customers:
Why Buy Anything
1. Start with an authentic founder insight
2. Align on shared view of impact
Why Buy Now
3. Connect problem to business urgency
4. Show current solutions to be ineffective
Why Buy You
6. Frame new approach to solve the problem
7. Prove unique offering and value
Is this rocket science? No. You’ve probably seen each of these concepts in
various forms all over. But this framework strives to simplify and codify the
building blocks of a story that, when laid out together, form an airtight,
irrefutable narrative that is purpose-built to lead customers to your solution
as the best choice.
By the way, if I had to pick one ‘Why’ that is most underrepresented in
messaging, it is most definitely Why Buy Now. We are conditioned to think in
problem/solution terms. But the reality is that there are two types of problems
- big problems (we’re moving from on-premises software to SaaS) and urgent
problems (my business units are going around my IT team and signing up for SaaS
apps like Dropbox and Concur, cutting us out of our core function!). Big
problems are market-focused while urgent problems are customer-focused.
Companies that obsess on Why Buy Now typically have a solutions marketing
mentality that starts with the customer initiative and works back to product vs.
the other way around.
Here’s the draft .pdf of 3 Why Storytelling. Would love any feedback!
Sr. Director Product Marketing, Insights, Copy & Content at Bluevine • March 23
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 Product Marketers).
In general, a messaging doc should be the single source of truth and act as the
building block for any external-facing language used in your marketing. Also,
it's likely that you won't always be there to walk folks through the document,
so it should be as clear and self-explanatory as possible.
With that in mind, I like to include the following in a messaging document:
- Customer insights
- Product details
- Value proposition
- Key messaging idea
- Key benefits
- RTBs
- Dos and Don'ts (usually informed by your legal team)
Product Marketing, Senior Director at Replicant | Formerly MobileCoin, Zuora, Hired, Oracle, Responsys • April 13
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 in the World
* Show There’ll Be Winners and Losers
* Tease the Promised Land
* Introduce Features as “Magic Gifts” for Overcoming Obstacles to the Promised
Land
* Present Evidence that You Can Make the Story Come True
Another good messaging framework Andy Raskin breaks down well is a keynote by
Elon Musk
Elon’s framework also has 5 elements:
* Name the enemy
* Answer “Why now?”
* Show the promised land before explaining how you’ll get there
* Identify obstacles—then explain how you’ll overcome them
* Present evidence that you’re not just blowing hot air
At Zuora, we use a version of both of these frameworks in all our messaging.
POSITIONING FRAMEWORK
Positioning also has its own framework. Notable resources are “Crossing the
Chasm” by Geoffrey Moore and “Positioning” by Al Ries.
A positioning statement has 7 elements:
* For [target customers]
* Who [statement of need of opportunity],
* The [product name]
* Is a [product category]
* That [statement of key benefit].
* Unlike [primary competitive alternative],
* Our product [statement of primary differentiation].
ELEVATOR PITCH FRAMEWORK
A elevator pitch has 4 sentences:
* What the customer is trying to do
* Highlight the pains of trying to get there
* Why this pain is happening
* How we help
Good overall book Kyle Christensen, Zuora’s CMO, recommended to me is “Made to
Stick” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath. Lots of good frameworks on making sure your
ideas stick! I read it 10 years ago and I'm actually reading it again right
now.
Co-Founder at Messages That Matter • February 13
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 which we positioned more than 15 B2B
software products, fine-tuned the framework and continued to do so once we
founded Messages that Matter in early 2001.
The framework is simple, logical and helps you create the ideal positioning
statement for your B2B product. All you do is answer seven questions outlined
below, and test options using a set of criteria to determine the positioning
statement that best makes your product stand out from the competition.
A positioning statement is a short, declarative sentence that expresses a
benefit that solves a pressing target audience problem. It becomes the theme for
all your marketing communications so getting it right is critical.
Here are positioning statement examples:
· Microsoft® Forecaster is the fast, affordable way for you to gain control of
budgeting and planning.
· Kit Software helps maximize the value of your commodity trading operations.
· Messages that Matter works with you to create a position that makes it easier
for buyers to buy.
You’ll be able to answer the seven questions with confidence by doing your
research. You’re ready to get started once you know your target audience’s most
pressing problems, how your competitors are positioned and challenges in the
sales cycle.
START BY ANSWERING FOUR FUNDAMENTAL QUESTIONS
The process begins by analyzing how prospects might respond to your offering.
The answers to four fundamental questions provide this analysis.
1. Who is the target buyer?
You’ll answer the rest of the questions from the perspective of the No. 1 target
buyer you’ve selected. Remember a tie for the No. 1 spot will muddle the rest of
your positioning effort.
2. What problem does our offering solve?
You can’t successfully position your offering unless you know the answer to this
basic question: “What is my target prospect’s most pressing problem?” Notice
that this question asks about THE problem, not problems. Although it may be
tempting to think of your offering as a Swiss Army Knife, don’t, because it’s
doomed to fail.
3. How do prospects solve that problem today?
If your offering solves a bona fide problem, then customers already have a
solution. You need to know how they currently solve the problem.
4. Why is our offering a better solution to that problem?
Your goal is to position your offering as a better solution to an existing
problem. Remember that cutting edge technology often fails to provide a better
solution for more than a small fraction of a target market. Admitting to this
requires honesty.
THE THREE “WHAT” QUESTIONS
Using your knowledge of the prospect’s key problem and your product’s ability to
respond to that problem, you can categorize your offering. Categorization
enables potential buyers to quickly understand how they might benefit from your
offering. The following “what” questions help you converge on a potential
positioning statement:
5. What is your product? (Product category)
B2B prospects need to recognize your product category, otherwise confusion
reigns. Ideally, you can place your product into an existing category or one
that represents a natural evolution.
6. What does your product do? (Product description)
A short description of your product’s functionality can help prospects imagine
how people in their organizations might use the product. But a description alone
won’t get to the heart of the matter.
7. What does it deliver? (a benefit and our product position)
Marketers frequently make a critical error by confusing what a product or
solution does with what it delivers. Naturally, prospects need to know the
advantages of your offering. But they won’t purchase until they can understand
the benefits. Why make prospects figure it out for themselves? Make it short,
simple and sweet — by telling them in your positioning statement.
THE FOUR CRITERIA
After working through the framework described above, you will have developed
several potential positioning statements. At this stage, four criteria can help
you assess the viability of the various statements. For each statement, ask if
it is:
1. Important
2. Believable
3. Unique
4. Useable
This assessment helps you identify the positioning statement that will best
stimulate market awareness and demand. Let’s consider these criteria in more
detail.
Important
A positioning statement must respond to a prospect’s primary problem. By doing
so, the statement creates confidence in your ability to offer a desirable
solution, as well as a sense of urgency in the prospect’s mind.
You can test the importance of a potential positioning statement by asking a
simple question “So what?” If the answer produces a higher-level benefit
statement, you haven’t yet found the most important benefit.
If you continue asking “so what?” you will ultimately arrive at one of three
benefits. For business-to-business offerings, these are volume, share and
profit. Since these benefits may not be believable, drop back to the answer to
the previous “So what?” question.
Believable
An effective positioning statement recognizes prospects' inherent skepticism by
avoiding exaggerated or meaningless claims. Effective communications “ring true”
by referencing existing market conditions; they support your company’s brand
identity and signal that you understand the prospect’s concerns.
Unique
Positioning always occurs in a competitive environment. Therefore, a positioning
statement must state a benefit made by no other competitor. When you make a
unique claim, two results occur. First, you raise a significant barrier to
competition. Second, you increase the desirability of your offering. These two
outcomes can significantly impact sales volume, market share, and profitability.
Usable
A positioning statement provides a foundation for changing market behavior
through marketing communications (e.g., advertising, website, public relations
and direct marketing). Therefore you need to be able to use it in all types of
marketing communications and sales presentations. You can create sample
marketing materials (press releases, e-mail blasts, website content, etc.) to
test for usability.
Summary: Once you have answered the seven questions, and come up with several
positioning statement options, use the four criteria to decide the best option.
The winner is a positioning statement that is unique, useable, believable and
important – it expresses a benefit that solves one of the target buyer’s most
pressing problems.
4 answers
Chief Marketing Officer at Ada • May 10
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
Head of Marketing at LEVEE | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • October 7
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 how these building block fundamentals
used by writers can be used for both brand and product messaging in the
corporate world. It's very rooted in the psychology of storytelling and is also
filled with lots of great case studies and real-world examples.
Director of Product Marketing at HubSpot | Formerly Intuit, American Express, Sage • November 8
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 on other websites - Some website I have come to love over time are
Airtable, Asana, Snowflake, Zendesk, Gong, Drift, Dropbox, Evernote etc. Here's
a good list of good B2B website examples and what makes them great as well
3. Spending time in the field with actual customers - listen to how they talk
about their challenges, goals, aspirations and passions. What they like spending
time doing and what they don't. Ask specific questions on how your
product/service helps them, what they would do otherwise and take notes on the
specific words and language they use to describe the value your product brings
to them
4. Listen to Gong calls or shadow your sales/Customer success teams - to hear
first hand on how your sellers sell your product/service, the slides and pitch
decks they use, and their words and language. Pay attention to what resonates
with customers, and what doesnt. Listen also, to how prospects describe their
problems.
Co-Founder at Messages That Matter • February 24
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/learn-positioning-online/
The framework covered in the course was created by my partner when he was at
Microsoft, and has been enhanced over time. I have taught the framework to
product marketing professionals throughout the world.
3 answers
Head Of Product Marketing at Canva • May 19
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
Messaging = How you bring your positioning to life in market
I like to think of messaging as the tactical way that your positioning comes to
life. Your positioning is your foundation and the messaging is the particular
angle you’ll take when launching a campaign. Messaging will be used to
creatively bring your product's position in market to life.
Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • July 15
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 specific market you intend to win and why you are uniquely
qualified to win it.”
I'll add my two cents which is that strong positioning means identifying and
deeply understanding the most strategic target audience(s) you want to acquire,
and picking out a place in their mind where you are the clear winner. All your
marketing actions are then designed to successfully achieve that position in
that target audience’s mind, influencing them to consider and adopt your
product.
Positioning shapes the brand strategy, pricing, naming, product roadmap,
partnerships strategy, marketing/advertising campaigns, and more. Which means
that positioning is the lynchpin of marketing strategy. If you have weak
positioning, even the best marketing execution in the world won’t be successful.
So if positioning is the strategy, messaging is the execution. It’s how you
articulate and communicate your positioning, bringing it to life in a way that
resonates with the target audience. The focus is on the language — how you
describe your unique position in the market, phrasing it in a way that:
* Clearly articulates your unique differentiation
* Uses language that the target audience easily understands and/or uses
themselves
* Makes the prospect think or feel positively towards the product/company
Director of Product Marketing at Backbase • February 22
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 Proposition is a simple statement that describes the overarching
promise of a product, service or company. In other words: what your offering
is.
* Positioning is a more elaborate form of Value Proposition highlighting
benefits and differentiators to a specific market segment/persona --> why it
is relevant to your target buyer and how do we position it consistently
towards them.
* Messaging is an outline of narrative that defines how we communicate a Value
Proposition to the market --> How we want to talk about it. Guides the
creation of creative briefs, copy and content.