Marina Ben-Zvi

I’ve found the top 3 sources of competitive research to be: * Peer review sites. G2 and other review sites are the best source of information because it comes straight from the users. Even though most reviews will be positive, pay close attention to the low star reviews and what customers say in the dislike section within the positive reviews. This is where you’ll find your kill points. * Competitors’ content. Deep dive into what they post on their website - videos, guides, documentation, case studies, blog posts, etc. Some competitors disclose all the technical details and showcase their product, while others are more secretive. But if you do some digging and Google searches you’ll uncover what you need. * Sales feedback. Reps are talking daily to prospects who are evaluating your competitors, and prospects often share a lot of information, including competitive sales decks, pricing, product weaknesses, etc. And don’t stop with the sales teams, others within your company know people who work at competitors or hear information from their networks. I highly recommend having a competitors Slack channel to share and collect competitive intel from across your company. * Bonus: win-loss interviews. Here prospects will provide a detailed assessment of how you stack up vs the competition if you just ask and keep probing. Analyst or other market reports are useful, but biased. Secret shoppers are another interesting strategy, but it isn’t scalable and the information becomes quickly outdated. Glassdoor reviews from employees also sometimes disclose interesting information. Then once you have your research do a SWOT analysis to identify competitors’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats and then turn it into actionable battlecards and competitive plays.

There are a lot of great frameworks out there and they all have common elements. I recommend reviewing a few and customizing to what’s relevant and actionable for your company. I like to include: * our differentiated POV * positioning statement (internal-facing) * tag-line * brand personality * value pop * 25/50/75 word descriptions * 3 messaging pillars with core message, use case, business benefits, and proof points under each * high level persona descriptions and messaging by persona Competitive positioning needs to be at the heart of your messaging. It's the key input that you build your messaging around. Positioning is the strategy and messaging is the execution — the words and narratives that bring your competitive positioning to life and have it land with your personas.

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.

To determine the competitive position in which you’re a clear winner and have unique strengths, try the following: * SWOT analysis * Competitive map plotted against two axis of the main attributes/values that matter to your CUSTOMERS, not your company * Customer/Company/Competitor values venn diagram to identify your unique value points (where company and customer overlap), where its a draw (all 3 overlap and where copy-cat messaging stems from), where you lose (where customer and competitor overlap), and the value points that don’t matter (company and competitor overlap) Before getting started be clear about your ICP and Personas and fill in these frameworks vs the competition based on how your target audience would rate you vs them. Perception is reality, so even if you have the best capabilities but your personas can’t tell the difference or it’s not important to them, don’t focus on it. This is where a lot of companies stumble.

This is a great question because without a framework for competitive intel you’ll get overwhelmed and lost in the noise. Here’s a few tips to get started: 1. Define and tier your competitors. Every industry is saturated and you can’t track every competitor or alternative that your sales team comes across. Bucket your competition into tier 1 (who you’re always going head-to-head with), tier 2 (other common players you come across in deals), and up-and-coming competitors to keep an eye on. Keep the tier 1 list short and manageable since that’s where you’ll focus most of your energy. You likely already have a good idea of which competitors fit into which bucket, and you can run a SFDC report to confirm the competitive set and see the trends in your competitive mix. 2. Determine your competitive assets for each tier. Will you have battle cards, regular competitive news roundups, trainings on competitive plays, etc? Aligning with your sales team and other teams who’ll be using your competitive intelligence on what will be useful for them. Be clear about what you can support for each competitive tier. And think about what kinds of competitive intel you need for each audience (SDRs, AEs, product, etc). These inputs will help determine what competitive information you need to collect. 3. Set your cadence. While you want to keep competitive intel and resources fresh, PMM has a lot of other priorities. Set expectations on how often each type of competitive asset will be refreshed. 4. Invest in a Competitive Intelligence platform such as Crayon and Klue. RSS feeds are useful, but you still need to sift through all that information. CI platforms not only aggregate all the relevant data but also help you filter it, organize it, and immediately insert it into battlecards, competitive Slack channels, and anywhere else that information needs to go. 5. Block off an hour weekly to review the competitive updates, share relevant information with your team, and incorporate the intel into assets as needed. Keep in mind, that while it seems like there’s so much new information daily, most of it is noise. The big updates you need to know will immediately rise to the top, especially if you’re using a CI platform.

There’s no one-size-fits-all framework for messaging—it has to be tailored to the business, the audience, and how it will be activated. I have a loose message framework I use and modify for every company and business need whether it’s foundational company messaging, a sales play, or campaign messaging. The key as you’re going through the message creation process is to keep activation and make sure you’re providing the types of message inputs that will be actionable for your go-to-market teams. As a general approach: 1. Start with discovery to answer the the "Who, Why, Why Now, and What" Messaging starts with insights, not assumptions. Gather qualitative and quantitative data on customers and the market to understand who we’re speaking to, what matters to them, and who we’re trying to win them over from. * Who – Begin by getting clear on the ICP and target personas. The more specific you are the more focused and effective your messaging will be. You can’t be all things to everyone. * Why – What’s the most pressing problem the customer needs solved? Why should they care? * Why Now – What market trends or pain points make this urgent? * What and How – What is our solution? How do we deliver on pain/need in a way that’s unique and provable? 2. Build a Messaging Framework Depending on whether I’m crafting company, product, or feature messaging, adapt this general framework and synthesize the insights from discovery to hone the messaging * Target Audience – Who are we speaking to? Their roles, pain points, motivations, and buying triggers. * Market Context & Trends – What external forces (industry trends, competitive shifts, regulatory changes) are shaping this space? * Core Value Proposition – A single compelling sentence that articulates why we are different and valuable. * Customer Pain Points – The top challenges our audience faces that our product directly addresses and the negative consequences. * How We Solve It (Better) - How is our approach better than alternatives (not only direct competitors) * Messaging Pillars – 3 key themes that reinforce our value and differentiation. * Solution & Benefits – How our product solves those pain points and the tangible benefits it delivers. * Customer & Product Proof Points – Real-world customer success stories, analyst rankings, positive business outcomes, and product features that validate our claims. * Use Cases – Specific scenarios and competitive advantages that show why our solution is the best choice. 3. Test, Validate, Refine * Talk to customers, prospects, and analysts (interviews, surveys, focus groups). * Get feedback from internal teams (sales, marketing, product, execs). * A/B testing it in-market (ads, landing pages, sales scripts, outbound emails). 4. Activate and Iterate * Train sales and marketing teams on how to apply the messaging and then track confidence levels. * Embed messaging into marketing campaigns and content - Messaging isn't copywriting, but to ensure messaging alignment across channels provide examples how the messaging can come to life across channels. * Monitoring performance (e.g., ad CTRs, demo requests, sales call effectiveness, win rates). * Iterating based on real-world feedback. Remember messaging is an ongoing process—it evolves as customer needs, market trends, and competitive landscapes shift. A strong messaging framework provides structure, but the real impact comes from deep customer insight, validation, and continuous refinement.

Messaging development is highly cross-functional—while product marketing is the driver, success depends on strategic input, customer insights, validation, and cross-team adoption from stakeholders. Bringing in the right stakeholders from the start ensures that messaging isn’t just well-crafted—it’s well-adopted. The right stakeholders to involve depend on the altitude of the message (i.e portfolio vs product level), audience, and go-to-market motion, but typically it includes: * Product leadership to ensure messaging aligns with the product’s capabilities and roadmap and highlights differentiation. * Sales leadership to capture insights into customer/prospect needs and pain points, objections, and what resonates in the field. Solution engineers/consultants provide added depth of insight into customer needs and use cases. * Customer success and support have direct access to customers and are a wealth of knowledge into customer pain points and common friction points post-sale. They also shed light on the degree to which your product is delivering on its promises. * Marketing teams to highlight what’s performing well in the market and then ensure messaging consistency across channels. * Execs depending on the scale of the initiative will be the approver and will ultimately activate the story externally. * Analysts for the voice of the market, buyer needs, and validation. One of the biggest mistakes in messaging development is designing it by committee. Remember, the key to success is ensuring the customer remains at the center of the messaging—not internal opinions. While feedback is critical, the role of product marketing is to synthesize—not simply aggregate—inputs around what matters to customers and iterate to make the messaging clear, concise, compelling, and effective. To drive alignment while avoiding consensus-driven messaging, the key isn’t just bringing these stakeholders into the process but also structuring their involvement effectively. Begin with a clear project plan that sets project stages, timelines, expectations on roles and responsibilities across stages upfront. I often use a DACI framework to make it clear product marketing is the Driver, the marketing leader (or other exec) is the Approver, key stakeholders (product, sales, customer support, and marketing) are Contributors, and others marketing functions are Informed. Then break down messaging development in phases: first, conducting discovery through research, competitive analysis, and internal stakeholder interviews. The discovery process is key for building early buy-in, making it easier to align teams down the line. Then, limit drafting and iterating with a small core team before socializing the messaging more broadly with the wider set of stakeholders through structured reviews. Finally, let stakeholders know upfront how the messaging framework is intended to be used and what’s needed from them to effectively activate it across the organization. Their role doesn’t end with providing input and feedback. This also help with buy-in and to motivate them to be invested throughout the process.

Messaging is never truly perfected—it’s proven. If you’re waiting for perfection before putting it in front of customers, you’re waiting too long—the market may have shifted, competitors may have evolved, and your audience’s priorities may have changed. Instead of aiming for perfection, the goal should be to gain validation—customer proof that messaging resonates, and drives desired action. Said another way, your messaging is “perfected” when it’s been tested & validated in the market and has had the appropriate approvals/alignment from key stakeholders. The strongest indicator that messaging is effective is when it’s landing with customers, i.e. customers naturally repeat it back in their own words. They nod along and build on your messages. Listen to sales calls (Gong or live), conduct customer interviews, message test across channels or on Wynter, and/or look for qualitative signals that our messaging is influencing how buyers think about their problems and our solution. Ultimately, done is better than perfect. The sooner you get messaging into the hands of sellers and marketing channel owners, the sooner you’ll get real signals on what’s working and what needs refinement. I find sales and marketing teams are usually eager to test messaging that’s still in progress because they’re eager for fresh material. It’s a win-win. When you get to a point where messaging is simple, concise, and compelling, and if it resonates with customers, drives market results, and is consistently adopted internally, then you know you’ve landed on something that works. But even then, the best messaging isn’t static—it evolves with your market, your product, and your customers. 

Messaging effectiveness is as much about internal and external activation as it is about developing compelling messages that lands with customers. Too often, messaging falls flat because it’s treated as a one-time deliverable rather than an ongoing process to enable the organization to apply it effectively. Ensuring the sales team is effectively versed to use the right messaging with the right customers is a combination of enablement, reinforcement, and feedback loops. Messaging isn’t just a document you hand off—it needs to be embedded in how sales teams engage with prospects, reinforced over time, and continuously refined based on real-world feedback. Start by making messaging practical and actionable. Instead of simply sharing a messaging framework, translate messaging into materials that align with the sales team’s workflow— sales slides, talk tracks tailored for discovery calls, email templates for outbound prospecting, battlecards to tackle objections, and customer stories that demonstrate key value points. The goal is to make messaging not just something they read but something they can use effectively in conversations. Training and reinforcement are also key. Have a dedicated enablement session with role-playing exercises where reps practice articulating key value propositions. Then, reinforce messaging in ongoing sales enablement. And make sure you have sponsorship from sales managers who play a crucial role in reinforcing messaging in their team meetings and 1:1s. Finally, ensure messaging is a two-way conversation, not just a top-down directive. Sales teams are on the front lines, and their feedback is critical in refining messaging so that it land with customers. Set up regular feedback loops—whether through ongoing syncs with sales leaders, quick Slack surveys on what’s working, and listening to Gong or other call recordings to hear how messaging is resonating in real-life sales conversations. The best indicator that messaging is effective isn’t just sales saying they like it—it’s seeing them use it successfully to drive more meaningful customer conversations and close more deals. If reps are struggling to articulate value, it’s often a sign that messaging needs to be clearer or that more enablement (or messaging refinement) is required.

Love this question, because if sales doesn’t use your competitive intel then what’s the point of investing time at the expense of your other competing priorities. A few things I recommend: * Work with your sales leaders and sales enablement (if you have sales enablement) to determine the best format, channels, and cadence for competitive intel. Make sure it’s easily accessible since reps won’t waste time searching for it. What works best depends on your sales team and their preferences. * Make it actionable and easily digestible. For the most part reps don’t need in-depth capability comparisons, they need quick talking points - kill points, objection handling, quick customer win stories vs the competition, and proof points. Those talking points and sales plays should be the focus of battlecards and trainings. * Speaking of trainings, competitive intel isn’t simply about creating assets like batlecards or market roundups. Have live competitive shareouts or training sessions where you review sales plays vs key competitors. Make these interactive by bringing in reps who’ve won vs the competition to share their learnings and encourage discussion. * Beat the drum. Just because you shared competitive intel in Slack and other channels doesn’t mean it gets noticed and adopted. Reps are busy. Continue to remind them and lean on sales leaders to remind their teams about the valuable competitive resources they have available. And have a regular cadence for sharing competitive insights and holding competitive play sessions since the competitive landscape is always evolving. Like with anything - pilot, learn, and iterate. The first iteration won’t be perfect. Get feedback on what is and isn't working and continue to improve on it.