Lawson Abinanti

About

Lawson is a positioning and message strategy development expert with extensive hands-on experience in B2B software and technology markets. He started his career as a journalist. Since the mid-80s, Lawson has worked in B2B software in a variety of ......more

Content

What are good messaging framework resources that you use?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • 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 t......Read More

468 Views

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

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • 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, ......Read More

355 Views

Do you use any specific frameworks for your messaging/positioning? If so, which and how does the process look like?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • March 23

I use and teach a positioning framework that was developed by my partner while he was at Microsoft. We have evolved and enhanced it over time, and I have taught the framework to more than 1,000 marketers and product marketers worldwide. The positioning framework addresses several problems comm......Read More

331 Views

Would you have any great external resources about becoming better at messaging that you can share?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • 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 whe......Read More

309 Views

What are the most important parts of product positioning? How do you get the rest of the company aligned on positioning?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • February 9

The most important aspects of product positioning are to have a thorough understanding the customer and the competition. Your positioning statement expresses a benefit that solves a pressing customer problem, and needs to be unique – you are making a claim no other competitor is making. The mo......Read More

283 Views

What are some strategies that you've used to share messaging guides internally and ensure commercial team alignment?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • February 13

I have my clients create a team responsible for positioning a B2B product and seeking input and feedback throughout the process from key stakeholders - especially sales. Once the team is confident that key stakeholders have bought into the message strategy, the final step is to get management app......Read More

256 Views

How do you keep competitors from copying your product messaging so that your value prop stays differentiated?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • February 13

If you are taking advantage of the power of consistency and repetition, you need not worry if your competitor copies your product messaging. Since your target audience will associate your company with anyone making the claims you own through extensive use, copycat competitors contribute to your a......Read More

247 Views

What are the most common messaging mistakes you see product marketing teams making today?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • 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 ben......Read More

240 Views

What's the best way to ensure that messaging evolves at the pace of the company while still maintaining some consistency? Should I give up any hope of running a campaign that lives more than a few weeks?

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • August 16

Definitely not! Customer problems drive your positioning and messaging so unless the problems change, you should stick with your current messaging. It takes at least a year to claim a position in your market, and once you own it, stick with it for an extended period of time. This assumes custo......Read More

234 Views

How do you drive alignment across the exec team on messaging

Lawson Abinanti

Messages That Matter Co-Founder • March 16

The final step in the positioning framework I use and teach is to get management approval for the proposed positioning and messaging. There is a standard presentation my clients use to present the evidence that helped them converge on the proposed position. It includes: - A list of targ......Read More