
Whether you are working on your marketing strategy or developing a go-to-market plan to launch a new product, service or a business, spending time on developing strong marketing messaging is critical. You can have the most innovative technology offering on the market, even have a first-mover’s advantage; but if you do not have a powerful marketing message, your sales will struggle, revenue won’t grow and your customers will be left wondering - and what does your product do exactly.
And this isn’t what you want.
What you want are powerful marketing messages that connect you with your buyer personas and help you sell and market effectively.
So what is a marketing message?
A marketing message is simply a message about your brand and product that communicates why you exist, what your product does for your customer and why they should buy from you and not your competitors.
Marketing messages are conveyed to customers through various pieces of content along buyer's journey -
Email campaigns
Social Media posts
Ads and Promotions
6 elements to keep in mind as you develop marketing messages to your customers -
Your goal with your messaging is to help your customers see your value, cut through the noise, get your customer's attention, help them make buying decisions easily and quickly and see why you are their best option.
Here is what you need to keep in mind -
Be Customer-centric
Be Clear
Speak to your Buyer Personas
Be Relatable
Be Human
Pay attention to your Competitors
1.Customer centric - Your product or service makes your customer’s jobs and lives easy. It helps them achieve their business outcomes. This is why they buy from you. So your messaging should be reflective of what you do for them and how you help. If you only talk about your product’s features (you can talk about them later as they progress through the buyer’s journey via your content), you will not be serving your customer’s interests well and thus your message won’t be effective.
Example - Notice how Adobe Commerce addresses its target audience on their homepage and let's them know how their ecommerce platform helps.

2.Clarity - Ambiguity is never your friend when it comes to messaging. Your goal isn’t to confuse your customers, instead to educate and inform. So you want to be clear in communicating your value to your prospective and current buyers. No long sentences, only well-written, to the point and brief messages (1 sentence) will do.
Example: Notice how Shopify clearly describes what they can do for their customers. There is no room for confusion.

3.Speak to all buyer personas - There is a place for talking technical, but when it comes to marketing messages, they have to appeal to a broader audience. You see on the buying committee you have cross-functional stakeholders. Besides IT, 80% are operational members. So your marketing message should speak to all. Using simple, easy to understand, everyday words is key.
Example: Notice how Fabric is able to communicate well with all audiences in an easy to understand manner.

4.Relatability - Part of taking a customer-first approach is speaking the same language as your prospects and customers. Not only does this make it easy to relate but it let’s them know you understand them and their business. Technology investment is expensive, in terms of both cost and change. What your customers are looking for is not just to buy the product or service but an invaluable partner who can guide, coach and advise them through digital transformation. Using a familiar jargon is one way to demonstrate that you get how they think and what they need.
Example: Notice how Adobe Commerce speaks to its customers and let's them know they understand what is important to them - Build digital experiences, launch, manage and scale business.

5.Human - Sales and marketing has always been about fulfilling customers expectations and needs. But today’s hyper-personalized and relevant era requires you to take a human approach when crafting marketing messages. You want the messages to evoke emotions and actionability. When considering expensive technology, buyers are seeking - value, trust, security, ease, speed and confidence. They don’t want to make mistakes and look bad at their jobs. When you include these in your messages, it creates a deeper sense of connection over - features, ROI, technical specifications etc.
Example: Notice how Elasticpath is promises ease of use and speed in their marketing message.

6.Pay attention to your Competition - Look at your competitor's messaging can help you identify gaps and how you can capitalize on them in your messages. It can help you craft better messaging and most importantly it can help you differentiate yourself and stand out.
Example: Look at all the examples above. They all have the same product - ecommerce platform, yet they appeal to their B2B and B2C audiences in different ways.
Creating compelling and powerful marketing messaging is challenging and can take time to get it right. Once you have crafted your messages, it's critical you test its effectiveness.
What you are trying to determine is - Is your marketing messages resonating with your audience? Are your customers moved towards action?
You could use - Social media metrics, Website analytics, Content and Email Marketing analytics, Heat Maps, A/B testing to determine how you are faring.
Comments