Many companies build messaging top-down.
Leadership gets together in a boardroom, defines the top-level value prop, hands it to marketing and marketing translates it into copy.
The problem is that messaging that’s built top-down is built on generalized opinions about buyers rather than direct evidence and language from real buyer conversations.
This is where what I call the Buyer Proximity Principle comes in. It goes like this:
The closer your messaging inputs (i.e. the research that informs your messaging strategy) are to real buyer conversations, the stronger your strategy is. The further your research inputs drift from those conversations, the more your messaging reflects internal assumptions rather than market reality.
You can think of it like a bullseye:
At the center: direct buyer conversations. Ideally those are conversations with recent buyers, because they remember their buying journey more clearly. (That's just how memory works.) These are gold in terms of research inputs but they also slow the speed of strategy development.
One tier out: analysis of recorded sales and onboarding calls, and interviews with your frontline team. These are the people whose core job is talking to prospects and customers every day. In most B2B software and tech orgs, your frontline is Sales, Onboarding and Customer Success. This tier is the goldilocks of research inputs because it offers a good balance between speed of analysis and proximity to the buyer.
Then there’s the outer ring: inputs from leadership and product. In the types of orgs we work with, these inputs are typically furthest from the buyer, unless you have people on your product or leadership team who are interfacing with buyers daily or at least weekly. (That's somewhat rare in my experience.)
Note: Product’s input is still critically important to your messaging strategy. They typically know the product better than anyone else on the team and are the best folks to confirm accuracy. But their deep product knowledge is a double-edged sword, because what seems obvious to them may be completely foreign to the buyer.
Frontline-first messaging reverses the direction of strategy development. Instead of starting in the boardroom and working down, start with recorded calls and the people who hear what buyers actually say day in, day out. Reverse-engineer those inputs into a messaging strategy that governs marketing, sales, onboarding and long-term customer success.
Here's the thing to ask yourself: what research is your current messaging strategy built on? And how close is that research to your actual buyer?
'Til next week,
Carolyn
Before you go…
My firm (Boxcar) helps sales-led B2B software and tech companies build a messaging strategy that actually drives pipeline.
We also work with clients to operationalize their messaging strategy using AI to create high-quality, on-brand outputs. (If you’re curious about this, mention it when you reach out.)
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