MarketSense

The 8 Key Components of Effective Product Messaging

Over the past 2 months, we have delved into the different components of effective product messaging. This blog entry is going to help put all of the components together into a product messaging checklist that should help guide you in your work.

A similar checklist appears in my eBook Killer Messaging - 9 Mistakes that Kill your Marketing Messages

Your Checklist for Effective Product Messaging

1. Know your audience - buyer personas are a valuable tool for getting those important audience details into a usable form


2. Identify What is it? - define the category for your product so your audience can remember it


3. Identify Who is it for? - tell your audience who is expected to use your product


4. Describe What does it do - describe what problems your product solves, then the product's features


5. Support Benefits with Features - benefits are the reason one buys, features are the proof points


6. Verbalize Why should I care? - understanding your audience's intellectual and emotional motivations are key


7. Demonstrate How is it different - value propositions help you find your product's compelling differentiation


8. Write the right copy - use plain, correct language and easily readable format to clearly communicate your messages

Good marketing messagers are NOT a dime a dozen. It always pays off to take the time to do your homework, build your skills, and continually believe that you can improve.

Good luck. Let me know how you do.

Product Messaging Techniques - Improving your marketing copy

We are approaching the end of a series on product messaging techniques. At this point, I would be remiss if I didn't spend some time discussing the importance of good marketing copy.

I can hear you thinking, "I am a good writer. My marketing copy is just fine, thank you." Please do not stop reading here. I have yet to find a product marketer who can't or shouldn't improve their marketing writing - including myself.

Don't think there is a problem?

Go compare your marketing copy with your top two competitors. Pull out their messages, throw them in a spreadsheet, and compare them side-by-side. I do this on every project. You will be surprised at the similarities you will find.

I vividly recall one project where my client pointed out that their messaging had been so successful that their competitors were stealing it to use themselves. Now everyone was sounding the same. It became impossible to understand how each was different.

Rule #1: Differentiate your words

It is essential that you differentiate your words so that they cut through the glut of same-sounding, eye-glazing messaging that is out there. If you do not do this, you are doing all of your other messaging work a disservice.

So how exactly do you differentiate your words?

1. Find out what your competitors are saying and how they say it.
2. Choose words and phrases that are different from your competitors.
3. Talk like your customers. Use their vocabulary, not yours.
4. Refuse to sound like a marketer.
• Reduce the number of adjectives you use. Lose those adjective strings.
• Eliminate use of verbs and adjectives that have become meaningless. You know the ones: empower, revolutionary, new, improved, ...
• Shorten your sentences. Allow only one idea per statement.
• Add inflection, rhythm and volume to your words. This gives them life.
5. Hire a good copy writer or editor. Very few writers can objectively edit their own copy. Don't skimp on this valuable resource.

Rule #2: Not all marketing copy is the same style - or is it?

I grew up in the era where marketers wrote data sheets, white papers, glossy brochures - wonderful, beautiful prose. Back then, my marketing books were dense tomes rarely relieved by illustrations or call-outs.

That was then, this is the Internet age.

The first thing to note is that that old prose style does not work on the Internet. Do not take your data sheet, white paper, brochure content and throw it on the web. If you do, you can watch your web page bounce rates hit 100%. The web requires a different approach and a different style.

Jakob Nielsen (Web usability guru) notes that for web page writing you must use 50% less text than traditional copy. That copy needs to start with the most important message. It needs to be clean and crisp (see point above about differentiating your words). It needs to be structured for scannability.

The second thing to note is that I believe that those who consume marketing content are increasingly less attracted to the prose style. Let's be clear. I am not saying that they don't want the information that marketers tend to package in data sheets, white papers, etc. What I am saying is that they want that content to be stylized more like web page content.

This means that it is more important than ever that marketers learn how to effectively produce their messaging copy using a scannable, web page style. Web style writing is now a foundational tool of our trade.

In conclusion, changing these old habits isn't easy. I encourage you to:

1. Take some courses or read some books on effective web copy writing


2. Start using these techniques yourself


3. Back-up your newfound efforts by using an expert web copy editor


4. Use web statistics and other feedback mechanisms to test how well you are doing

Product Messaging Techniques - How is it different?

A buyer's job is to find the best solution to their problem. They will often research a variety of alternatives. As part of the way they process information, their brains will immediately start recognizing similarities and differences between offerings. Your product messaging should help the buyer quickly understand what makes your offering stand out.

In other words, how is your product different? And how does that difference make your product better than the alternatives.

Have you noticed that these days feature lists and benefit claims are all starting to sound the same? It is fairly obvious that similar products would deliver similar benefits to the buyer. Yet, marketers are hesitant to quantify those benefits, so all claims start sounding the same. For this reason, it is imperative that your product messages call out how your product is different.

Does your product use a different approach? Is your product sold with a different business model? Is there a specific feature that delivers a benefit of greater value? Is it about capabilities, service, or relationship? Whatever it is, your product messaging must draw attention to your difference.

This means that you must understand how your product compares with the competition - point by point.

Who is the competition?

Is it a product?

Is it a service?

Is it a internal organization?

Or is it simply doing nothing?

Sometimes the competition is more than one of these options. In that case, you must offer product differentiation for each alternative.

Your success hangs on your differentiation's fit and impact. By "fit" I mean how well the differentiator fits with the buyer's problem. By "impact" I mean the value the differentiation delivers.

Importance of Objectivity

When you work for a great company which has a great product, it is easy to be subjective in your evaluation of your differentiation. However, subjectivity creates blind spots. Your business cannot afford blind spots.

Sometimes your buyer has totally bought into your brand (like Apple or Sony). In those situations, your blind spots could also be the buyer's blind spots.

However, it is more likely that your buyer is going to take an objective approach. The Internet makes it easy for them to find and lift up rocks - those rocks under which you think you have hid your company secrets.

You need to understand the good, the bad, and the ugly about your product. You need to make sure that the value of the good outweighs the cost of the bad and the ugly. And you need to make sure that somewhere in that value is enough differentiation to separate your product from the competition in the buyer's mind.

The customer value proposition is a disciplined approach that helps you identify your value differentiation objectively. Learn more about value propositions in my free eBook The Customer Value Proposition.

Draw Attention to your Differentiation

Once you understand your offering's positive differentiation, you need to call it out early in your product messaging. This isn't something you should make your buyer dig for. It should not be buried in lists of benefits, values, and features.

Tell a story about it. Make it stand out. Place it prominently on your marketing copy and on your web site home page.

Product Messaging Techniques - Why should I care?

Over the past month, I have been blogging about the basic elements necessary in product messaging. A lot of what I have discussed is pretty cut and dried. In this post, I am going to talk about the technique that separates average product messages from the ones that truly connect with the buyer.

Today we will focus on persuading the buyer why they should care about your product.

In just about every purchase (even business purchases), emotion plays an important role in the final decision. The answer to the question "why should the buyer care" is about creating that emotional connection with the buyer.

To do this, the marketer must understand 3 things:

1. Benefits the product offers

We always talk about those benefits from the customer's perspective.
2. Value the product offers

Not all benefits are of equal merit. Values assign worth to each benefit.
3. Buyer motivations

This is the total buyer context that drives their need and interest in your product.

Now, benefits and value aren't just pulled out of thin air. They are developed using a disciplined approach. In this approach, we seek to understand how the product delivers quantifiable benefit experiences for the buyer. That approach is built into something called the customer value proposition. (If you are new to value propositions or just want a quick refresher, read my new eBook The Customer Value Proposition.)

The third component - buyer motivations - is developed in your buyer persona.

What we want to do in our messaging is to convince the buyer both logically and emotionally that many of their voiced and unvoiced motivations will be addressed by purchasing and using our product. We need to observe, consider, and integrate like great sales reps. Because buyer motivations are so key, let's spend some time exploring what makes a buyer motivation.

Motivations come in a number of forms.

• Needs - something the buyer feels is necessary to improve a situation


• Pains - underlying issue that causes the buyer discomfort


• Challenges - realities that stretch the buyer without causing pain


• Goals - tactical and strategic milestones the buyer wants to achieve


• Ideals - moral, career, personal characteristics buyer wants to attain

Buyers will look for products that satisfy their existing needs and eliminate their current pains. Sales reps often talk about this as "identifying the buyer's pain points". The higher the degree of pain, the more motivated the buyer will be to find a solution to it. It is fairly easy to get a buyer to talk about their needs and their pains.

Challenges, goals, and ideals tend to be unspoken motivations. Take the IT Manager who must decide between an IBM product and a product from a start-up company. The saying goes, "No one was ever fired for choosing IBM." For that new IT manager whose challenge is to impress his boss and whose goal is to become CIO, these motivations will play an important part in the company and product selection. He/she may be willing to take more risk and go with an unproven company with a superior offering.

But for the IT manager who has a family of 4 with a baby on the way, his/her challenges and goals may lean more towards a safer, proven, turn-key solution. He/she can't afford to spend long hours overseeing an incomplete product. A poor product selection could cause him/her to be fired.

You can see the emotional power in each of these different motivations. For this reason, when the marketer crafts the "why care" product messaging, he/she needs to go beyond the easy-to-read surface pains and needs. This isn't just about words, though. The product experience must support these more motivational claims.

In marketing messaging, the most persuasive message is that combination of logical matchmaking and emotional persuasion. Product messages that connect and persuade will carry the buyer much farther along in their buying process with you.

So, take the time to build those buyer personas and develop those value propositions. They provide everything you need to craft the product messaging that convinces the buyer why he/she should care about your product.

Product Messaging Techniques - Feature versus Benefit

My last product messaging post discussed how a product marketer introduces his/her product to the prospective buyer. In that post, I discussed the role of product features in the product messaging.

In doing so, I avoided an important discussion: the distinction between a product feature and a product benefit. It is critical that product marketers understand this distinction because it affects the effectiveness of their messaging.

Let's start by defining some terms in the context of product messaging.

A product feature is a "prominent part or characteristic" of a product (taken from Webster's dictionary).

A product capability is a "facility or potential for an indicated use or deployment" of a product (taken from Webster's dictionary).

A product benefit is an advantage or value a buyer will realize for a product.

Product features describe intentions or capabilities of the product. For example,

1. The jacket is brown, hooded, and water repellent.

Here the features are: brown and hooded. The capability is water repellent. (The feature for water repellency might be the specification of a coating or fiber weave that enables this capability).

2. The car comes with leather seats, a moon roof, alloyed wheels, and GPS.

Here the features are: leather seats, moon roof, alloyed wheels, and GPS. If we described GPS as a navigation system, this term would better identify the system's capability.

3. The easy-to-install software enables you to read and edit Microsoft documents on your handheld device.

Here the features are: for your handheld device. The capabilities are easy-to-install, and read and edit Microsoft documents.

Because they are product-oriented, features tend to be written in the jargon of the company. To be more effective, they should be written in the language of the buyer.

Product benefits, on the other hand, present the value and advantage the product (and its features) offer to the buyer or user. They should always be written from the buyer or user's point of view. They are never written from the company's (which makes the product) point of view.

When a buyer or user looks at the product benefits, they should immediately understand how the product can enhance their life. Let's relate the benefits to our products from above.

1. Our jacket provides a higher degree of protection from poor weather conditions.

The higher degree of protection is the benefit from the hood and the water repellency.

2. The car surrounds you in style while practically helping you get to where you need to go.

Here the first benefit is "surrounded in style" based on the features: leather seats, moon roof and allowed wheels. The second benefit is "practically helping you get to where you need to go" based on the features: it is a car and it has GPS.

3. The software allows you to remain productive when your personal computer is not immediately accessible.

The productivity benefit comes from being able to work with Microsoft documents from your handheld device.

Now that we understand the difference between features and benefits, let me ask you a question. As a buyer, which of the two is going to connect with you first?

For the vast majority of buyers, it is the benefit. Why? Because the benefit speaks your language. The benefit is about you and your experience with the product. The benefit directly relates to your motivations for purchase. Features can only do this indirectly.

That doesn't mean that features have no role in our messaging. To the contrary, they are also essential. As I mentioned in my last post, features provide supporting proof points. They make the benefits believable. In addition, later in the buying process, features become an important factor in selection. They help the buyer find the closest fit for their problem.

Let's summarize.

1. Know the difference between features and benefits.


2. Support the benefits with features that enable them.


3. Lead with benefits for buyers early in the buying process.


4. Follow-up with feature details to support buyer selection later in the buying process.

Product Messaging Techniques - What does it do?

When creating product messaging that describes your product, there are three approaches the product marketer can take. One of these approaches is by far the predominant one in use today. Curious about which one you are using? Before I bias you, how would you respond to the following question:

When we describe our product, we
a) mostly discuss the capabilities of the product
b) mostly define the problems the product can solve
c) tie product capabilities to problems the product solves

As a sanity check, you may want to take a glance at your company web site and see whether the product content there supports your response.

Today we are talking about the product messaging component that answers the question - "what does your product do". If you have properly set the stage in the earlier "what is it" messaging element, your prospect will arrive at this level in your messaging ready for more detail.

The "capabilities" approach maps to choice "a". We tell our prospects what our product does by describing its capabilities. We present the different features of the product. (i.e. It slices. It dices. It butters bread.) This approach is very "us" focused. It is about how we (the company) perceive our offering. It relies on the buyer to relate those capabilities to his/her specific problem.

The second approach maps to the "problems" response (choice b). We demonstrate what our product is useful for by describing the problems it can solve. (i.e. It cuts thinner slices more consistently than can be done by hand. It saves time in ingredient preparation. It minimizes food waste.) This approach is very buyer-focused. It demonstrates how our product delivers value to the buyer. Unlike the pure "capabilities" approach, it does not require the buyer to relate our product's features to their needs.

The third approach marries the two approaches. It maps specific product "capabilities" to each of the buyer's "problems" that can be solved by the product. When this approach is used, the capabilities serve as proof points in the solution the product offers. This gives them a strength and purpose that is much more compelling.

So which approach is predominantly used by marketers today? I believe it is the pure "capabilities" approach. We see product spec sheets in a variety of forms on product pages. We also see them as the primary mechanism for describing products in on-line stores. Their value is to provide succinct details about the product for the buyer. There is a time and place to provide product specifications. However, it is usually much later in the buying process.

In most buying situations, the buyer starts with a problem that needs a solution. They will do some discovery to try to understand what type of products (i.e. our "what is it" messaging element) might solve their problem. The easier the product marketer makes it for the buyer to match their problem with a type of product and then reinforce that with their specific product, the better their chance in engaging the buyer.

If the buyer starts with the problem, doesn't it make sense that our product messaging must tackle that first too?

What is the chance that the buyer will dig through all of our product's features and be able to find and recognize the solution to their problem?

However, solo "problem"-oriented messaging isn't the best approach either. A statement that your product solves a problem without corroborating evidence (think features as proof points) leaves the buyer skeptical.

Both problem-oriented messaging as well as capability-defining messaging is critical to your marketing and sales efforts.

When your capabilities are used as proof points to your problem-based messaging, you get the best of both worlds.

So, why then do marketers hesitate to specify the problems their products solve? I believe that one reason is because marketers fear that messaging "problems" limits their product's full potential use. The marketer thinks, "what if I miss a problem? Then a buyer won't consider our product." This is like the flip side of a capabilities-only approach.

The truth is that your product is probably only really good at a few things. Your product solves a few problems best. This has to be your messaging focus. Don't dilute your messaging with a bunch of things your product could do in a mediocre or acceptable manner. Buyers don't want to settle for mediocre. They want to feel like they are buying the best.

Answer the "what does it do" question by opening with the problems your product solves best. Support that discussion with the evidence of features that they will use to solve their problem. By doing this, you differentiate your product from the competition and create a persuasive argument for purchase.

Product Messaging Techniques - Who is it for?

In my product messaging entry two techniques ago I talked about the importance of developing personas. A persona encapsulates insight into your audience. If you have more than one audience, you will need more than one persona. If you have created that persona, you know who your product's audience is.

In the previous product messaging technique, I discussed how you identify your product for maximum memorability. The result is a short, categorized sentence or two that answers the question "What is it?"

The next step in your product messaging is to answer the question "Who is it for?" In this step you make it clear who is the intended audience for your product.

I often find product messaging missing this important ingredient. I am not sure whether it is a simple omission or a decided choice. Unfortunately, the result is the same. Whoever reads the product messaging doesn't know who the product is for.

Let's understand why not knowing who the product is for is detrimental to your goals. If you do not specify the audience for your product, your audience cannot include themselves in the group.

Why?

Because they don't know what that group is. If your audience doesn't see themselves in the group, that means they see themselves outside the group. And if they are outside the group, they aren't an interested party. This is probably not the effect that you want.

Let's talk about the "everyone who is interested" audience. To be honest, I wish I didn't have to talk about this topic. However, I have seen it used quite widely in the start-up world. If you are in marketing and hear this phrase, you should be running in the other direction... or gearing up for battle.

There is no such audience as "everyone who is interested". You cannot effectively design a product for "everyone who is interested". You cannot effectively message your product to "everyone who is interested". (Review technique #1).

In my experience, "everyone who is interested" equates to "we don't have a clue". If that is the case, product messaging is the least of your problems.

So, if you have done your persona work, do call out who the intended audience is for your product very early in your product messaging. You can even incorporate it into your "what is it" definition.

If you haven't done your persona work, in Monopoly game speak: go back to "Go" and do not collect $200.

Product Messaging Techniques - What is it?

Once you have an understanding about your audience via personas, you are ready to start work on your product messaging. Your first task in product messaging is to describe your product. Your goal in defining the product for the audience is to answer the question "What is it?"

The first mechanism we use to describe our product is by assigning it to a category. Our product is a type of "...". This mechanism is not a suggestion. It is required. If you do not tell your audience which category your product is in, their ability to remember it goes way, way down.

Categories provide two advantages:

1. They provide a filing location in the brain. The brain can quickly attach a relationship between the category and the product because the category exists.


2. The category provides a richness of existing information for immediate understanding. All of the attributes previously understood about that category now apply to your product.

SIDEBAR:

In certain situations marketers may determine that they want to create a new category. By new category I mean a category that is significantly different from any existing categories. I don't mean sub-categories such as fluoride toothpaste which is a sub-category of toothpaste.

However, new category creation is risky unless you truly have a unique invention. When you create a new category, you have to spend significant effort on defining and describing that new category. All of those associative characteristics that come with an existing category have to be created and installed in your audience's memory. Your audience must be able to easily recall the category along with its full meaning. That doesn't happen overnight. Our brains build connections over time. The more time, the more expansive the characteristic connections.

This means that inherent in the new category introduction is a lag in memorability, meaning, and further association. By further association, I mean that until the category is well situated in your audience's mind, it will be difficult to relate your product to it. Until the category is rich and memorable, your product is not going to be recalled. This is why new category creation is risky.

By introducing both your product and the new category at the same time, you create a time lag in recognition and understandability.

END SIDEBAR:

Once you establish the category, you can elaborate. However, you must select your adjectives carefully. Hyped, over-used, general words (revolutionary, improved, powerful, ...) don't get any memory space. They are essentially meaningless and are ignored by your audience. What your audience wants is short, sweet detail. It is your job to give that to them succinctly.

Remember, there will be plenty of time to take an interested audience through your product in greater detail. Your purpose in the initial product messaging is to help the audience decide that they are interested.

The Anatomy of a Persona

In my last post I introduced the persona mechanism as the encapsulation of meaningful knowledge about an audience. Personas can be used in a variety of situations: for product design (user persona), for marketing creative development (buyer persona), and for product messaging (buyer persona, influencer persona).

The purpose of a persona is to identify those meaningful traits that distinguish one audience from another. Here are the components I use when developing personas:

1. Demographics

Demographic characteristics include: gender, age, marital status, income level, location and education.

2. Psychographics

Psychographics characteristics include: personality, values, attitudes, interests and lifestyles.

3. Bizographics

Bizographic characteristics include: industry, seniority, functional area, role, responsibilities, knowledge and risk.

4. Motivation

Motivational characteristics include: needs, goals, pains, ideals and challenges.

5. Relationships

Relationship types include: individual, directed, collaborative, competitive, contentious, subordinate, superior and consensus.

6. Behavioral Type

Behavioral types include: methodical, spontaneous, humanistic and competitive.

It is important when creating personas to select those traits that are shared and meaningful. By shared, we mean those traits that are common amongst all members of your audience. Meaningful traits are those that have relevance to the connection we want to establish with our audience.

Remember, our goal in creating personas is to better understand our audience. For this reason, we need to dig beyond surface-level traits to those traits which drive behaviors in our audience.

For instance, if you were creating a persona for a high level executive, one important characteristic is that he/she is very busy. Underlying that busyness are other traits: their expertise is in high demand, they attend too many meetings, they need to be in control, they desire a better work-life balance, ...

Imagine what directions and approaches each of these attributes might suggest in your messaging. Knowing that executives are busy isn't enough to create compelling messages. Understanding underlying motivations and behaviors are the real jewels in your personas.

Product Messaging Techniques - Know your Audience

The fundamental principle behind good product messaging is having a very good understanding of the audience you are talking to. I find that when I have trouble messaging a product it is because I don't really understand the audience well enough.

Here are the top 4 reasons why you need to have a good understanding of your audience before you start working on your product messaging.

1. There is no such thing as a generic audience.



Therefore, there should be no such thing as generic messaging. By generic messaging I mean messaging that is equally applicable for all audiences. Generic messaging just can't connect effectively with the people you are trying to reach and convince.

2. Each audience has its own language.



To connect with your audience you need to speak their language. This means that you need not to speak your own company's language. This isn't easy. We are steeped in our own company's jargon and way of speaking. It is difficult to change languages. Good messaging incorporates the words and phrases your audience uses which creates a basis for common understanding.

3. Each audience has its own motivations.



Different audiences have different motivations. If your messaging isn't addressing those audience motivations that stimulate action, your messaging isn't doing its job. Good messaging shows how your product meets your audience's most pressing needs.

4. Each audience has its own set of critical information needs.



There may be messaging overlap among different audiences. However, if your messaging isn't meeting the essential information needs of the audience, you won't persuade the audience to move forwards in their buying process.

The next thing you need to consider is the role played by the audience you wish to speak to. Different roles require completely distinct messaging approaches and needs.

• Buyers

The buyer is the one who controls the buying process and ultimately makes the decision.

• Influencers

The influencer is someone who helps guide the product decision in a particular direction. Influencer's goals can often be at odds with the buyer's.

• Users

The user may or may not be involved in the decision-making process. Their need may initiate a product search by the buyer. Their adoption of the product may affect future purchases.

I like to use personas (buyer, influencer, user) as the mechanism for encapsulating audience knowledge. They help me focus on the audience attributes that are most important for my messaging. Personas enable me to put an individual face on my audience. They make it so much easier to devise those messages that will compel the audience to act.