Messaging Mix-Ups and How to Avoid Them

Messaging is the story we tell about our product. But how do we know if we’re telling the right story? To talk about your product, you need to learn from the audience you serve, while never losing sight of the bigger picture your market provides. Christian & Meghan will share their observations on product messaging best practices and red flags to avoid; plus, they’ll explain why the best messaging is often the simplest. They’ll also attempt to message their own lives, as inspired by quotes from comment section fights and the great Humphrey Bogart. 

 

Revisit our episode with Peep Laja of Wynter for more insights on product messaging and how to get better, faster feedback on its effectiveness. 

 

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community. 

 

Takeaways: 

• Positioning is the north star that guides your product decisions; it’s the foundation that leads to good messaging. 
• Successful messaging allows you to share specific messages with the different personas in your audience. 
• Good messaging isn’t just clear about who you are; it says who you are not. 

Things To Listen For: 

 

• [1:30] Messaging our own lives with internet quotes and actor mottos
• [5:00] The power of pumping brakes, on Twitter and in real life 
• [7:30] Positioning is the most truthful description of what your product does
• [8:30] Messaging is born from positioning, organized around benefit pillars
• [9:00] Focus on messaging your top three benefits or differentiators 
• [10:00] Why positioning tends to be more challenging than messaging 
• [11:00] Positioning doesn’t have to be pretty; it just has to be true 
• [12:00] Why the exact same message won’t work for your entire audience
• [14:00] The attributes of good messaging: clarity & a distinct voice 
• [14:30] Great messaging requires more than a fun tone; not everyone can be Dollar Shave Club…
• [15:00] …but B2B companies also aren’t sentenced to being boring 
• [17:30] The paradox of claiming a niche
• [20:00] Good messaging is hard to identify; that’s what makes it good.
• [21:00] Examples of early-stage messaging from Clay and Ozone
• [25:00] Why analogies and metaphors are so powerful in messaging 
• [28:00] Red flags and common traps to avoid when messaging your product