Messaging

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. 

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

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.

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.

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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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.

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! 

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. 

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.

* 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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. 

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.

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.

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!

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. 

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.

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)

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.]

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.

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).

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) 

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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. 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. 

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. 

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

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. 

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! 

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)

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. 

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.

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 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.

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. 

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.

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. 

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

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.