Positioning and messaging: The crux of the narrative
Every story has a good and bad lens. It's finding what matters in the context.
I love stories that connect and I love truly well positioned narratives. Easier said than done, says everyone in the world of product marketing. Let’s uncover the hidden traits that make it good or bad in the eyes of product marketers.
In customer differentiation, I shared our team’s framework that helped us propel from words to the story arc to the $$$ narrative.
Once our buyer personas are established, we work on what we love to do — messaging and positioning. I've consolidated both messaging and positioning into a single framework to be the central source of truth for all product marketing efforts, from content development to launch and enablement to press releases and announcements.
A single voice of the market and the customer is necessary to build a cohesive and consistent theme for the story arc. And that ownership lies with the PMM to be the steward and advocate for the market and the customer.
Q1. What does Good Positioning and Messaging look like?
Each time, I am amazed by the collective responses, so sharing a few other examples of good positioning and messaging.
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Q2. What does Bad Positioning and Messaging look like?
From examples like Blackberry and Blockbuster, these are brands that missed the mark for connecting with the audience. Each one is too broad and does not resonate with the core story arc. It fails to bridge the gap between what is and why should customers care. What’s in it for them and was far from the market shifts.
There are products and solutions that make big promises and claims. They confuse the target audience on what to expect. This is not helpful either.
Positioning and Messaging: Heart and Soul of Product Marketing
Have you ever wondered what makes a good positioning and messaging? I have and we uncovered some traits and patterns on what makes a good to great positioning and messaging. Guess what, its rooted in the core principle of knowing your customer. And as simple as that sounds, it means a lot of work to get to the essence of product marketing - the persona an…
Q3. The million $ question: why do our customers choose us over the competition? How do you approach this today by understanding the market, customer, competition?
When you're thinking about positioning and messaging, there are two factors to consider. For positioning, you have to know who it's for. Is it for your decision-maker persona or your influencer persona? You might end up with one positioning statement each.
When thinking about messaging, it's important to understand where in the buyer journey they are. Are they in the awareness, consideration, or decision phase? When you message is just as important as what you message.
Q4. Could you share best practices on setting Timeline and Expectations when you embark on a positioning and messaging refresh?
We designed this document for a diverse audience, which meant our team was no longer solely holding onto the information, hence removing some administrative access. It also ensured that all of the teams were using the same language when talking about the product and solution.
Putting together your copy blocks right here in this document is a huge time-saver. You can then share this information easily with other teams within marketing or across the product org.
It's just as important at a small startup as a large Fortune 500 company — knowing how to tell your product's story in 25, 50, or 100 words is very powerful.
Q5. Closing: 2023 & The Future
What do you think the future holds for positioning and messaging?
With a strong and cohesive story arc and narrative, we can shift the story from what is to what could be and paint the future vision for our customer’s success.
Whether you are in a crowded marketplace or a unique niche segment, find your voice and create the advocacy champions that will champion your story.
Here are 2 examples of messaging and positioning that translated into our creative narrative in action. This is our story that matters.
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Services Lifecycle
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Join us on August 29 for our PMM Talks with amazing panelists on positioning and messaging.
