Nipul Chokshi

CMO, Fourth

Content

What is your overall process when developing a messaging platform from scratch?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • 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 y......Read More

1489 Views

What is your advice for startup platform category creation? Where have you seen the most success in terms of channels for this type of creation?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

In my experience, category creation requires two things at the start: * 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 solution......Read More

1161 Views

What internal messaging efforts have helped you shift your company's mindset from a product company to a solutions or platform company? What worked the best? What mistakes did you make?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

I found that making the shift to “solutions” or “platform” requires becoming more business outcome focused in terms of your messaging. Rather than speak to individual user-level features/benefits (e.g. “the app launches 2x as fast”) you want to speak to the business impact that it delivers (e.g. ......Read More

1070 Views

Founding a new category vs moving into one you've created - We've you've been in business 2-5+ years - how do you go about performing a category switch? (Complete rebrand, new site, email outreach, etc.)

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

Assuming the right answer for you is to indeed switch categories (and I’d really make sure to get this answer right), I’d recommend by laying out your point of view on the market problem, why it needs to be solved, and your positioning (ability to solve that problem in a unique way). I’d also be......Read More

740 Views

What are some common Messaging mistakes you see Product Marketers make?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

* Several things come to mind here: Messaging is too generic: you’ve not done a good job of really identifying the audience and understanding what they care about in order to develop a specific message * Messaging doesn’t “provoke:” the objective of a message is to get your audi......Read More

687 Views

How do you approach messaging and positioning when your product isn't the market leader?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • 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 thi......Read More

659 Views

What should you do if a competitor has already defined the product category in which you compete?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

Depends - if you’re able to differentiate enough to be a #1 or #2 player in the market, stick with the current category. I would, however, start to amp up the thought leadership so that you can influence the category more going forward so you can start to play your own game. Not knowing more det......Read More

564 Views

How much effort is it to market products that create new categories? As in time and touches vs. existing products.

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

I’ve found that category creation is always more time and resource intensive than competing in an existing category. When creating a new category, you’re doing a lot of education about how companies can recognize the fact that they have a problem, why they need to prioritize (and budget for) solv......Read More

558 Views

When creating a category how important is it to have a new title to sell into? Can you create a category with an existing role as main user?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

I don’t think it’s super critical for there to be a “new role” when creating a new category. When I was at Yammer, for example, we defined the “Enterprise Social Networking” category but made it a must have for various existing roles in an organization (VP HR, COO, VP Sales, etc.). What you’ll f......Read More

556 Views

How do you "defend" your category in a way that serves the buyer?

Nipul Chokshi

Fourth CMO • September 8

You do need to walk a fine line between highlighting that fact that you’re unique while acknowledging the other choices customers have. There are a few considerations here - * As part of the category creation story, consider highlight some trends in the market (or shifts in user behavior) t......Read More