The Evidence Gap: Original research by UserEvidence after surveying 619 B2B buyers, sellers, and marketers.

EPISODE 7

Using Features vs. Benefits vs. Outcomes in Your Messaging

The TL;DR

Features, benefits, or outcomes – where should your product messaging zero in on?

With a sea of lukewarm messaging takes out there, here’s the lowdown from some folks who really know their stuff.

Anthony Pierri (FletchPMM), Emma Stratton (Punchy), and Chris Orlob (pclub.io) tell us where to shift your focus if you want your messaging to capture the attention of your buyers – and land really well.

What’s working in B2B marketing:

CONVERSATIONAL, CRYSTAL CLEAR MESSAGING

Speak plainly, or you might as well speak alien. Keep it simple, keep it straight, and watch visitors turn into leads.

What’s not working in B2B marketing:

MIMICKING THE GIANTS

Find strength in your niche market. When it comes to start-ups; narrow & deep will outdo wide & shallow.

The key takeaways

  • Tailor your messaging to the audience’s pain points: Understand and directly address the specific problems that your target audience is facing. Mirroring customers’ pain in messaging helps build trust and understanding. Using visual aids and credible niche targeting to resonate with risk-averse buyers is extremely effective.
  • Contextualize everything based on where your buyers are: This is the technology adoption lifecycle curve comes in handy. Messaging should be customized to appeal to different groups, from early adopters who might prefer customizable solutions to the late majority looking for pre-built, low-risk options.
  • Humanize your message: The “barbecue exercise,” a strategy to strip away jargon to create a human-oriented, relatable message can significantly differentiate a company from competitors who rely on dry, indistinct language.
  • Balance outcome and feature-driven messaging: While many believe that leading with outcomes is the most effective, focusing on the “what” and “how” makes messaging more memorable and effective. Send a balanced message that appeals to the intelligence of sophisticated buyers yet remains specific and tangible.
  • Niche-ing down can lead to bigger opportunities: Achieving relevance often means excluding a larger part of the market to focus on a specific niche. A focus on a niche market, like Tesla, led to significantly larger opportunities, a key strategy, especially for early-stage startups. This reinforces the power and potential of targeting and growing from a narrowly defined market.

The things to listen for

[00:00] Intro

[10:30] Be specific and differentiate in crowded markets

[15:35] People need a branding agency for tech

[18:24] Effective sales messaging focuses on customer pain

[25:09] Focusing on sales is challenging in this economic climate

[26:57] Product expansion leads to strategic complexity and stress

[30:37] Create content, target niche, reduce risks, and find success

[35:11] Startups can succeed by owning niche markets

[37:32] Use provocative messaging to engage pragmatist buyers

[45:19] Avoid dry business speak & write conversationally

[46:12] Encourage natural communication & simplify complex jargon

[49:43] Jargon’s value in specific contexts

The recap

Walk into the world of B2B SaaS, and you’ll hear a symphony of sales pitches, competing claims, and product promos. But who’s really listening?

This episode of The Proof Point is a crash course in creating conversation that cashes in. Join me and our guests Anthony Pierri, Emma Stratton, and Chris Orlob for the secrets that’ll ensure your message doesn’t just land – it sticks.

It’s all about striking the elusive chord between what your buyer needs to hear and what you’re proud to promote. Why parrot the platitudes when you can curate compelling, customized narratives that not only capture attention but convert it into action?

Anthony dismantles diluted messaging, warning that an outcomes-only approach can be like shooting darts in the dark – sometimes you hit the spot, sometimes you’re just piercing the wallpaper.

Chris tears into terrain untouched by most – the psychology of pain in purchase decisions. Let’s face it, making your buyers feel seen can be the difference between a ‘no thanks’ and a ‘tell me more’.

Emma doesn’t just agree – she amplifies the argument with the call to combat jargon. Don’t just stumble through statistics. Relate with realness. After all, your prospects aren’t just metrics in a dashboard; they’re humans hungry for solutions that speak to them.

Getting the message right in SaaS isn’t just a box to check in your GTM strategy, it’s the baton that bears the weight of the race. And in this episode, we’re unveiling a masterclass on how to grasp it with both hands.

Ready to roll up your sleeves and refine your SaaS messaging? Tune in for our latest episode, and get your audience to both hear your messaging and act on it.

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