How to Develop Strategic Messaging and Positioning

How to Develop Strategic Messaging

By Myk Pono

LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mykolaponomarenko Medium - https://medium.com/@myxys Twitter - https://twitter.com/myxys Article: How to Develop Strategic Messaging and Positioning

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Why care about strategic messaging?

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Why care about strategic messaging?

➔ Product/market fit also means message/customer fit

➔ Fundraising and investor decks

➔ Sales

➔ Marketing






Product/market fit also means message/customer fit






Is your messaging effective?






Effective Messaging = Simple + Consistent

Internal Evaluation(sales, marketing, product, customer support etc.)

What do we do?1 sentence company pitch

What problem are we solving?1 sentence problem pitch

How are we different from our competitors?1 sentence competitive pitch

Why should customers buy from us?1–3 bullet points of values we provide for customers

External Evaluation(customers, prospects, industry experts)

Why did you buy our product?

What problems were you looking to solve?

How do you use our product?

What do you like most about our product?

What do you like least?






What is strategic messaging?






Strategic messaging communicates product value to the customer by describing the

solution to a problem.






The Golden Circle (by Simon Sinek)

Why? = The PurposeWhy do you do what you do?

What do you believe?

How? = The ProcessHow do you achieve and realize WHY?

What? = The ResultsWhat do you do? The results of WHY.






The Golden Circle of Strategic Messaging

Why?Vision - why organizations do what they do.?

How?How companies organize their vision and value.?

What?What strategies, channels, and format organizations use to deliver

their message?






The Biggest Strategic Messaging Mistakes.






The Biggest Strategic Messaging Mistakes

➔ Message should be consistent

➔ Brevity and simplicity leads to clarity

➔ Define, don’t assume

➔ Avoid superlatives and buzzwords

➔ Don’t change the message too often, preferably never

State of the art

Best in class

World class

Leading






How to design strategic messaging.






The Process of Designing Strategic Messaging

Step 1: Pick Target Customer & Messaging Framework

Step 2: Discovery

Step 3: Build Target Customer Profile

Step 4: Identify Value Categories for Each Target Customer Profile

Step 5: Summarize Details Under Each Value Category

Step 6: Design Top Tier Messaging

Step 7: Review / Get Feedback / Iterate






Step 1: Pick Target Customer & Messaging Frameworks

FIT / Profile PAIN Behavior

Company Profile

Revenue Daily activities

Size Goals

Industry / Vertical Responsibilities

Persona Profile

Role in buying cycle Success Metrics

Title Challenges

Function Budget

Team Size

Technology Stack






Positioning Messaging

Tagline / Headline

Slogan

Positioning Statement

25-word description

Target Customer(buying personas)

Business function

Titles

Role in the buying process

Value Messaging

Value category Value #1 Value #1 Value #1

Value statement

Value bullet points

Product features

Proof points / Metrics






Tagline / HeadlineCatch phrase or product category definition. Ex: Best-in-class Marketing Automation Software (Marketo)

SloganShort, memorable phrase/statement that summarizes the company's strategy.Ex: Drive Revenue with Accounts that Matter (Marketo)

Positioning Statement How your product/company/brand brings value to customers in ways different from competitors.

25-word description One sentence company description.

Business function Business functions or departments involved in the buying process.

Titles Titles of your target customers involved in the buying process.

Role in the buying process What role an individual plays in the buying process.

Value category Describe the value provided using two or three words.

Value statement One sentence value statement.

Value bullet points Value broken down into a few smaller items.

Product features Identify the exact product features that correspond with a particular value.

Proof points / MetricsHow success of delivering this value to customers can be measured, case studies of the customers with similar pains that were solved with your product.






Step 2: Discovery

➔ Interview sales reps

➔ Interview the product owner and customer success managers

➔ Listen to prospects (shadow sales calls)

➔ Interview the last 5-10 lost prospects

➔ Interview the newest 5-10 customers

➔ Interview customers that have been customers for more than 1 yr

➔ Interview industry experts / analysts

➔ Review competitive messaging and 3rd party sources






Step 2: Discovery

Interview sales reps

➔ Ask them to identify a target customer

➔ Ask about the easiest deals they’ve closed

➔ Ask about the biggest deals they’ve closed

➔ Ask about the toughest deal they’ve closed

➔ Ask about a recently lost prospect and the reasons

➔ Ask them to state the pain that most customers have

➔ Ask what questions they ask prospects to identify their pain

➔ Ask what customers they have the best relationship with (these are the customers you will be interviewing later)






Step 2: Discovery

Interview the product owner and customer success managers

➔ Focus on questions that help you understand how customers talk about the product

➔ Ask how the product team describes the product and what’s on the product roadmap

➔ Ask customer success team about customer goals and the most common support questions






Step 2: Discovery

Listen to prospects (shadow sales calls)

➔ Record what questions prospects ask

➔ Record what objection prospects raise

➔ Note how they talk about their problems/pain and record how they describe your product

➔ Notice what competitors customers mention

➔ Record how your sales reps talk about the product and what questions they ask

➔ Note what use cases your sales reps are using






Step 2: Discovery

Interview the last 5-10 lost prospects

➔ Ask why they decided not to buy

➔ Ask what needs and pains they were looking to solve

➔ Ask what hat competitor (if any) a lost prospect decided to buy from

➔ Ask if they are they happy with their current solution

➔ What was a deal breaker? What was the main reason to choose another product?






Step 2: Discovery

Interview the newest 5-10 customers

➔ What did they think about your product prior to purchase?

➔ How did they hear about you?

➔ What problem did they want to solve?

➔ What are the biggest challenges they are facing?

➔ Would they recommend your product?






Step 2: Discovery

Interview customers that have been customers for more than 1 yr

➔ Why do they use your product?

➔ How often do they interact with your product?

➔ What do they like most/least about your product?






Step 2: Discovery

Interview industry experts / analysts

➔ Understand how analysts segment your market

➔ What criteria do they use to rank vendors in your market?

➔ What value / need do analysts see as critical?

➔ Who is the leader in your category? And why?






Step 2: Discovery

Review competitive messaging and 3rd party sources

➔ Create a short list of direct competitors

➔ Review their messaging and how they talk about their products

➔ Identify what advantages and disadvantages your product has compared to competition

➔ Research industry blogs and Quora to see what type of questions and topics people care about in your industry







FIT / Profile PAIN / Behavior

Company Profile

Revenue >$5M Daily activities Strategy, planning, management

Size >200 employees Goals User growth & revenue

Industry / Vertical Non tech companies, hospitality, banking, finance

Responsibilities Overseeing marketing

Persona Profile

Role in buying cycle Influencer, buyer / decision maker, end-user

Success Metrics Revenue / customer

Title CMO, CDO, VP of Engineering Challenges Grow mobile presence

Function Marketing Budget >$1M

Team Size <10

Technology Stack Salesforce, Adobe







Target Customer(buying personas)

Business function CMO / Chief Digital Officer Engineering IT Operations

Titles CMO / VP of Marketing / Mobile PM

VP of Engineering / Dir of Eng / Dev Manager

VP of IT Ops Manager

Role in the buying process Economic buyer End-user / Decision maker Tech evaluator / Influencer






Step 4: Identify Values for Each Target Customer Profile

Economic Buyer: CMO / CDO / Line of Business

Value 1: Revenue / Engagement / Retention

Value 2: Customer Satisfaction

End-user / Decision Maker: EngineeringValue 1: Faster Development Cycles

Value 2: App Quality and Performance

Influencer / Tech Evaluator: IT operationsValue 1: Visibility

Value 2: Mean-time-to-resolution







Tagline / Headline

Slogan


25-word description

Target Customer

(buying personas)


Titles CMO / VP of Marketing / Mobile PM VP of Engineering / Dir of Eng / Dev Manager



Value Messaging

Revenue / Engagement / Retention

Faster Development Cycles

Visibility

Value statement

Value bullet points

Product features







Target Customer

(buying personas)


Titles CMO / VP of Marketing / Mobile PM VP of Engineering / Dir of Eng / Dev Manager



Value Messaging

Revenue / Engagement / Retention Faster Development Cycles IT Operations

Value statement

Value bullet points

Product features


Value Messaging

Customer Satisfaction App Quality and Performance Mean-time-to-resolution

Value statement

Value bullet points

Product features


Step 4: Identify Values for Each Target Customer Profile

Tips:

➔ Great quality is not a value.

➔ Amazing customer service is not a value.

➔ Cheap price is not a value.

➔ Easy integration is not a value.







Value Messaging

Revenue / Engagement / Retention Faster Development Cycles Visibility

Value statement

Value bullet points

Product features


Value Messaging

Customer Satisfaction App Quality and Performance Mean-time-to-resolution

Value statement

Value bullet points

Product features








Tips:

➔ Keep your tone and style conversational.

➔ Assign every product feature to a value.

➔ Bullet Points help you deconstruct value statements.

➔ Proof points and Metrics help customers measure the progress towards perceived value.






Value Messaging


Value statement (Revenue) Minimize revenue at risk by proactively monitoring transaction success rates

(Engagement) Improve user engagement by correlating behavior and operational metrics

Iterate faster by reducing time to detect, diagnose, prioritize and resolve bugs, errors, and crashes

Gain end-to-end visibility of your mobile app performance, including the impact of backend servers and 3rd party API calls

Value bullet points - Revenue growth/loss due to app performance and performance issues- Engagement loss due to app crashes and performance issues- App downtime = business downtime- Slow user base growth due to slow app performance and crashes

- Long product development and QA cycles: devices, networks, OS; - Less time in QA = Faster Product Releases- Rapidly identify the root cause of issues- Reduce the time to detect, triage, diagnose and resolve experience problems- Quickly resolve crashes through stack traces and user flows- OOTB support for new device and OS releases - Prioritization of issues based on - scale of impacted users - revenue at risk

- Measure performance impact of 3rd party systems/SDK/APIs- Management tool integrations: monitoring tools, alerting consoles - Internal API endpoints (ex: server talking to a mobile app)- Mobile app "last mile" visibility (data traffic from cloud to device)- Integrated: REST APIs- End-to-end view of mobile to backend servers performance

Product features - Transaction monitoring - Breadcrumbs + how user flow cause crashes & exceptions + visualize API issues in context + what actions lead to transaction failures- Multiple OS & Device support- Root Cause determination

- Cloud Service API Monitoring - APIs and service monitoring


- Daily Active Users- Revenue / DAU- Avg. app downtime- Abandonment Rate- Customer Lifetime Value (LTV)- Retention Rate- App Adoption Rate

- Avg. time of a release cycle- Avg. # of Support Requests

- App Time- Availability- Alerts








Tagline / Headline Catch phrase or product category definition. Ex: Best-in-class Marketing Automation Software (Marketo)

Slogan Short, memorable phrase/statement that summarizes the company's strategy.Ex: Drive Revenue with Accounts that Matter (Marketo)

Positioning Statement How your product/company/brand brings value to customers in ways different from competitors.

25-word description One sentence company description.

Tagline / Headline (examples):

Metadata.io - Demand Generation on Autopilot

Marketo - Best-in-class Marketing Automation Software

Intercom - Customer Messaging Platform







Slogan (examples):

Marketo - Drive Revenue with Accounts that Matter.

Drift - Your best leads are already right in front of you.

Slack - Where work happens.

Positioning Statement (example):

Salesforce - not software!

Slack - anti-email / email killer.


http://time.com/4092354/how-e-mail-killer-slack-will-change-the-future-of-work/






25-word description:

Company {does} (value) to {help} (target customers) with (problem).

Examples:

Marketo provides the leading engagement marketing software and solutions designed to help marketers [TARGET CUSTOMER]

develop long-term relationships with their customers — from acquisition to advocacy [VALUE].

Zendesk builds software for better customer relationships [PROBLEM]. It empowers organizations to improve customer

engagement and better understand their customers [VALUE].

Intercom is the first to bring messaging products for sales, marketing & customer service to one platform [VALUE], helping

businesses avoid the stiff, spammy status quo [PROBLEM] and have real conversations that build real connections.







Tagline / Headline

Slogan


25-word description

Target Customer

(buying personas)


Titles CMO / VP of Marketing / Mobile PM VP of Engineering / Dir of Eng / Dev Manager VP of IT Ops Manager


Value Messaging


Value statement (Revenue) Minimize revenue at risk by proactively monitoring transaction success rates(Engagement) Improve user engagement by correlating behavior and operational metrics

Iterate faster by reducing time to detect, diagnose, prioritize and resolve bugs, errors, and crashes

Gain end-to-end visibility of your mobile app performance, including the impact of backend servers and 3rd party API calls

Value bullet points - Revenue growth/loss due to app performance and performance issues- Engagement loss due to app crashes and performance issues- App downtime = business downtime

- Long product development and QA cycles: devices, networks, OS; - Less time in QA = Faster Product Releases- Rapidly identify the root cause of issues- Reduce the time to detect, triage, diagnose and resolve experience problems

- Measure performance impact of 3rd party systems/SDK/APIs- Management tool integrations: monitoring tools, alerting consoles - Internal API endpoints

Product features - Transaction monitoring - Breadcrumbs + how user flow cause crashes & exceptions + visualize API issues in context + what actions lead to transaction failures

- Cloud Service API Monitoring - APIs and service monitoring

Proof points / Metrics - Daily Active Users- Revenue / DAU- Avg. app downtime

- Avg. time of a release cycle- Avg. # of Support Requests

- App Time- Availability- Alerts

Step 7: Review / Get Feedback / Iterate

➔ Present new strategic messaging

◆ To stakeholders and top managers

◆ To small functional teams

➔ Get feedback

➔ Iterate and adjust






How to implement new messaging in organizations.






Implementing New Strategic Messaging

➔ Update your sales playbook

◆ Sales scripts

◆ Pain / problem diagnostic questions

◆ Competitive cards

➔ Marketing

◆ Content marketing strategy

◆ Ads

◆ Website copy






Learn more:How To Develop Strategic Messaging and Positioning (includes resources)

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