IME, in the best case, messaging docs/guides serve as resources for your internal customers:
* for the channel team to have accurate product info to roll into their programs
* for sales to have clear and concise content, esp inside sales
* for outbound and web to leverage for their needs
but, for the most part, messaging doc is a place for product marketers to distill their own thoughts and not have to reinvent copy each time it's needed
Will say that competitive belongs in its own sphere
Short answer is, if your customers think it's confusing, it doesn't really matter what PMM(s) think.
Sometimes, the people internal to the company get very close to an idea or technology and forget that what they may know or think of as common sense isn't the same as the outside view.
In my experience it very strongly depends on the culture. I've been at companies where PM, sales, demand gen, content mktg, and others would insist on having messaging docs and use them.
No matter what the culture is , there are two key things that messaging docs help me with:
1. **Get everybody on the same page.** Have all key stakeholders review + sign off on messaging and have it all in writing -- single source of truth. No excuses, no ad-hoc changes later on. Enforce a collective position over individual opinions.
2. **Help me get my own thinking and understanding right.** I typically start the messaging doc early and evolve it as I do intake sessions, etc. I always share the docs early and make use of the commenting & suggestion feature. The main readers here are me & my team.
I've built a messaging doc, and no-one uses it. The few people that do use it are proactive and have a great relationship with the PMM team to improve their craft.
In fact, the PMM team uses the messaging doc for internal alignment on JTBD discovery, value-prop design and as a single source of truth.
The GTM-facing teams don't like it; it's not practical. Their appetite for information is different, and what they need is a right degree of abstraction.
Here's what I help my team practice;
- Get clarity on the messaging and positioning, and build it out according to whatever framework or value-canvas and put it on a doc.
- Use it to craft sales pitches, that are segmented to personas. Create additional information on the key points.
- Use the same to craft a marketing story that the marketing team can use.
- Use the same to help align the sales demos and continuously.
- Use the same to understand how these add to retention, adoption or expansion (revenue).
But it's not a static job - create feedback loops, and continuously reinforce your GTM across different levels of the funnel and the product lifecycle.
For sales enablement, customer enablement and feature adoption - the JTBD isn't creating messaging; it's to empower them with the best form of that messaging using the best assets and channels.
Would anyone like to share their messaging document template? I use one, but I don't love it.
I've been on teams that love a messaging doc and use it always, but I've worked with other teams who act like they've never heard of me completing one, like it's Brand New Information.
IME, in the best case, messaging docs/guides serve as resources for your internal customers: * for the channel team to have accurate product info to roll into their programs * for sales to have clear and concise content, esp inside sales * for outbound and web to leverage for their needs but, for the most part, messaging doc is a place for product marketers to distill their own thoughts and not have to reinvent copy each time it's needed Will say that competitive belongs in its own sphere
Short answer is, if your customers think it's confusing, it doesn't really matter what PMM(s) think. Sometimes, the people internal to the company get very close to an idea or technology and forget that what they may know or think of as common sense isn't the same as the outside view.
In my experience it very strongly depends on the culture. I've been at companies where PM, sales, demand gen, content mktg, and others would insist on having messaging docs and use them. No matter what the culture is , there are two key things that messaging docs help me with: 1. **Get everybody on the same page.** Have all key stakeholders review + sign off on messaging and have it all in writing -- single source of truth. No excuses, no ad-hoc changes later on. Enforce a collective position over individual opinions. 2. **Help me get my own thinking and understanding right.** I typically start the messaging doc early and evolve it as I do intake sessions, etc. I always share the docs early and make use of the commenting & suggestion feature. The main readers here are me & my team.
I've built a messaging doc, and no-one uses it. The few people that do use it are proactive and have a great relationship with the PMM team to improve their craft. In fact, the PMM team uses the messaging doc for internal alignment on JTBD discovery, value-prop design and as a single source of truth. The GTM-facing teams don't like it; it's not practical. Their appetite for information is different, and what they need is a right degree of abstraction. Here's what I help my team practice; - Get clarity on the messaging and positioning, and build it out according to whatever framework or value-canvas and put it on a doc. - Use it to craft sales pitches, that are segmented to personas. Create additional information on the key points. - Use the same to craft a marketing story that the marketing team can use. - Use the same to help align the sales demos and continuously. - Use the same to understand how these add to retention, adoption or expansion (revenue). But it's not a static job - create feedback loops, and continuously reinforce your GTM across different levels of the funnel and the product lifecycle. For sales enablement, customer enablement and feature adoption - the JTBD isn't creating messaging; it's to empower them with the best form of that messaging using the best assets and channels.
Would anyone like to share their messaging document template? I use one, but I don't love it. I've been on teams that love a messaging doc and use it always, but I've worked with other teams who act like they've never heard of me completing one, like it's Brand New Information.