Give Your Messaging a Powerful Punch

There are messaging traps that most companies, especially B2B companies, especially B2B tech companies, fall into. Some of it has to do with the curse of knowledge—the cognitive bias that occurs when we assume that others have the same level of knowledge as we do on a given subject. Some of it has to do with the fact that we see the overly technical messaging of other companies and think we have to write the same way.

In Emma Stratton’s Make It Punchy: How to Write Simple Tech Messaging That Wins Hearts, Minds, & Markets, she breaks down where we’re failing in our tech messaging and how to release ourselves from the trap. I highly recommend it to anybody in leadership, sales, or marketing.

If you want to stand out from the B2B crowd and be clear about the impact your products or services have, Stratton’s book shows you how. Based on the messaging work I’ve done, here are the lessons I’d like to shout from the rooftops.

FEELINGS, NOTHING MORE THAN FEELINGS

Stratton spends quite a bit of her book focusing on the strategy behind messaging. Before you think about putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard), there’s a lot to think through about who you’re selling to and what their lives are like. And not just their work lives. In B2B sales, we often lose sight of the fact that we are selling to people—messy, feeling-filled, busy people. You have to get to the bottom of what they care about, what’s causing them pain, and what they really want.

As Stratton plainly puts it, “…It’s easy to forget the simple truth that nobody cares about your product until you give them a damn good reason to.” It is up to you to come up with the messaging that connects the dots between your product or service and the things your buyers already care about.

This reminded me of a client I worked with who was selling a platform that improved customer experience by making it easier for their clients to see all customer information and interactions in one place. They used the phrase “360-degree view” throughout their messaging. It’s an apt description of what they were providing, but nobody is sitting at their desk, frazzled and pulling their hair out, lamenting that they wish they had a 360-degree view. Maybe, “I wish I didn’t have to look at five screens to get the information I need,” or “I can’t help my customers when I can’t see the right information about their accounts.” But “360-degree view”  was a phrase that my client had come up with to describe the solution to the problem. It wasn’t how my client’s customers were describing what they needed, which was an issue. Their messaging wasn’t connecting the dots. They weren’t speaking the language of the customer.

Stratton recommends specific questions you can ask to get down to the real pain points and desires of your customers.

• What are their smack-in-the-face challenges?
• What wakes them up at 2 a.m. in a cold sweat?
• What are their goals on the horizon?
• What are their deep-down desires?

And she recommends answering these questions using both a professional and a personal lens, because “every ‘work’ problem has a ‘life’ impact, too.” She also recommends answering these questions the way someone would if they were at a BBQ. You know, like a person, sharing their feelings with another person.

HERE IS YOUR EXPLANATION OF BENEFITS

Stratton’s book is so useful because she provides readers with the questions they should be asking as well as formulas for creating effective value propositions and benefit statements. She also provides simple explanations of what a value prop is and what she means by “benefit.”

“Your value proposition is a statement that clearly articulates the ultimate value customers can expect from your solution.” This should be a clear statement that a sixth grader can understand (remember readability?). Still need some help? Try filling in the following statements to get to your value prop.

• Now you can _____.
• Imagine if you could _____.
• Ultimately, you’ll be able to _____.

“Benefits,” she explains, “are something your customer can do, be, or feel. Still not sure how to phrase it? Try these fill-in-the-blank statements.

• [Describe benefit] so you can [larger goal or outcome].
• Stop [before] and start [after].
• You can [superpower 1], [superpower 2], and [superpower 3].

Stratton also provides before-and-after examples to show how things like BBQ-appropriate language help your messaging.

Instead of: “The platform is purpose-built to accelerate the identification, diagnosis, and resolution of issues across complex IT environments.”

Try: “See, find, and fix issues quickly across your IT landscape.”

But wait, doesn’t that sound too simple? That’s the point! It should be simple. Your messaging is the first thing people see. They’re busy, and they’re not going to bother to work through your explanation of what you do.

Part of Maestro’s consulting work includes providing messaging audits for our clients. In one of my early messaging audits, I provided simplified messaging for what problem the client solved. I was prepared for pushback on the simplicity. Instead, one of their salespeople thanked me for putting it in easy-to-understand terms. She said she now had a better understanding of what they did. She worked there, and she was struggling with the message. Imagine how prospects were feeling.

LET’S CIRCLE BACK TO JARGON (SEE WHAT I DID THERE?)

For all that is holy, please stop using jargon. We have somehow gotten ourselves into this endless cycle. A 2021 study found that half of workers find business jargon annoying or really annoying, while at the same time, 38% of workers feel pressured to use jargon to fit in or appear competent. What are we doing?!

I’m guessing that when this study was done, people were considering the jargon that is used within their workspace. They hate their own jargon. Just think about what this means for another industry’s jargon. You may be using words that people don’t understand, or that could be interpreted in more than one way. In Stratton’s words, “Jargon hides the real value of your product.”

Keep in mind that we’re talking about messaging. If you sell SaaS, you may have more detailed, technical collateral that goes to your customer’s IT team. But in your overall messaging, the first thing people see, there’s no reason for it.

Not everybody can be best-in-class, but anybody can use the term, so it means nothing. Not everyone is truly disruptive. Instead of “leverage,” try “use.” Instead of “utilize,” try “use.” Instead of “capitalize on,” try “use.” Why are we looking for so many words for use?! Use is a perfectly good word!

Stratton’s book is full of more suggestions for how to make your message stand out, how to determine what your messaging will focus on (because you can’t share everything), and how to leverage and capitalize on your new messaging to tell a story. (Kidding! Just use it like a normal person.) It’s a great, quick guide for how to approach your organization’s messaging and reach your customers effectively. Kind of a 360-degree view of messaging, I guess you could say.

If you’re interested in a messaging audit or messaging workshops, reach out to mastery@maestrogroup.co.