Do your customers understand your messaging, or is it confusing?

Lost in Translation: Is Your Product Messaging Speaking to Customers or Leaving Them Confused?

I sometimes play a game with my friends called “What does this website copy mean?” I pull up a list of software company websites and sit down with a few nontechnical friends. I read the website copy and ask them if they understand what they’re offering. About 90% of the time, they don’t.

A confused mind always says no.

―Russell Brunson, Dotcom Secrets: The Underground Playbook
for Growing Your Company Online with Sales Funnels

Companies regularly privilege the product build over the message of the product. In some extreme cases, an engineer thinks the product is so revolutionary that they can write the marketing copy themselves and it ends up reading more like documentation.

While this might be effective for a handful of customers, it is almost always a disastrous long-term strategy. In order to set your company and product suite up for success in the long term, you must have a messaging document that creates a cohesive story in the market.

In every line of copy we write, we’re either serving the customer’s story or descending into confusion; we’re either making music or making noise.

— Donald Miller, Building a Story Brand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen

Creating a messaging framework is similar to building the foundation of a home. Essentially, it takes the components of a positioning document and provides structure around a product offering. At the very top of the positioning statement is the value proposition, and below the value proposition are the unique benefits and pillars that support the benefits. Your

Benefits and pillars should not be confused with features, which are the product’s capabilities. Companies often make a major mistake by focusing on product features rather than product benefits. Features matter, but customers cannot remember a litany of features. They can, however, remember the benefits a product provides. It’s critical in the messaging framework to focus on the benefits to the customer rather than the new features of the product.

In my book The Launch, I’ve included an example of a fictional software company’s messaging hierarchy. It is a clear explanation of why the product exists, who it is for, and what customers can do with it. In the bottom half of the chart is a list of unique benefits that are important to customers, followed by the features and reasons that roll into that specific benefit.

A positioning framework is never just a “set it and forget it” exercise. Even if your product is successful, the market is always changing, and this requires editing your positioning at regular intervals.

To reiterate, clear and compelling messaging is crucial for any business that wants to create a lasting impact in the market. It’s not enough to have a great product; your customers need to understand exactly what that product can do for them.

And just as a strong foundation supports a home, a solid messaging strategy is essential to your product’s success. As the market evolves, so must your messaging to stay ahead of the competition and keep your customers engaged.

I offer additional positioning frameworks and templates in my first book Product Marketing Debunked.

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My latest book, The Launch: A Product Marketer’s Guide, is now available on Amazon. I also wrote the book “Product Marketing Debunked. The Essential Go-To-Market Guide” which you can purchase on Amazon.

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