5 Misconceptions About B2B Product Messaging
This spring, I spent a significant amount of time coaching B2B product marketers on how to create compelling product messaging. These teams—and the marketing executives who lead them—know that product messaging is the critical first step in building a successful go-to-market strategy. Yet at the same time, I have found that many marketing organizations lack a shared understanding of what product messaging is and isn’t. They struggle to improve because they don’t know what “good” looks like. Not surprisingly, their work does not have the impact they hope for. Sales teams ignore it. Copywriters produce unusable copy because they don’t understand it. Product teams create parallel messaging exercises because they think their product team just doesn’t get it.
Here are five common misconceptions that I often hear, even from seasoned marketing executives.
1. Product messaging is clever copy.
Everyone wants to find that perfect phrase that will convince buyers to engage and convert. That’s the sphere of copywriting, and it’s hard work, but it’s not the same hard work that goes into product messaging.
Product messaging is…
Clear
The length it takes to explain a concept
Self-explanatory to the every person in the target audience (not just the techie)
Serves many purposes
Clever copy is…
Concise
The length that fits in the marketing deliverable(s)
May include shorthand understandable to the target audience
May include shorthand understandable to an “inside audience” within a target audience
May include clever shorthand as a wink and a nod to a very specific audience
Fits into a single campaign or deliverable
If you (or your stakeholders) demand product messaging and copy that are one and the same, one of two things will happen:
The messaging will easily populate your product’s web page, but it won’t get used when your buyer engages with your sales team and starts a serious evaluation.
The stakeholders will start down a never-ending spiral of messaging reviews as they argue over the meaning of each single word. Nothing will ever get finished.
2. We can build good product messaging without talking to customers.
There are a lot of smart product marketers out there, but even they haven’t figured out how to body-swap with customers. The best way to see the world from your customers’ viewpoint is to talk to them throughout the messaging process. Otherwise, you’re making educated (or not so educated) guesses about what’s important to them, how they view their problems, and what they look for in a solution.
3. Product messaging should tell my buyers everything they need to know to buy my product.
B2B buying has become a lot more complex. On average, product messaging must resonate with a buying group of 6-10 decision makers and earn these people’s attention across a more self-directed buying journey.
It’s tempting to cram your messaging full of answers to every buyer’s question or objection; but by doing so, you risk confusing and alienating your buyers. You don’t want to make it their job to find your unique value propositions among a plethora of features and facts. It’s your job to explain why they should care.
Your messaging—with 3-5 strong value statements that fit within the capacity of your buyers’ short-term memories—should stay front and center, giving them a reason to pay attention and dig into your plethora of features and facts.
4. We need different product messaging for each buyer persona.
Buyer personas are a really useful tool. They document your understanding of the individual personalities that play a role in your buying process and also identify where you can reach them with your messages. However, different personas must come together as a group in the typical, consensus-driven B2B purchase. Clear, consistent product messaging that speaks to their common needs and shared purpose can help move them through their journey. Without a common messaging foundation, overly specific persona-based messages can drive them away from consensus, not towards it.
5. We need to keep changing our messaging because our buyers are always changing.
Core product messaging should not change at the same speed as your email subject lines, PPC headlines, or celebrity hair colors (see above, copywriting vs. product messaging). Product messaging does need to keep up with changes to your products, buyer behavior, the competitive landscape, and more.
There’s no magic frequency at which you should refresh your messaging, but you want to balance the need to stay relevant (and the best choice!) with the need to stay believable. If your messages are constantly changing, it’s harder for customers to trust them.
Of course, that doesn’t mean that product messaging is something you finish, deliver, and put away. There are always opportunities to ask questions, form new hypotheses based on customer and competitive inputs, and test new messaging with your community.
What misconceptions do your marketing stakeholders have about product messaging? Reach out to me because I want to know!