Enterprise Vendors Need More Than One Sales & Marketing Pitch: Messaging Platforms 101

 

  • If you are marketing and selling a consumer product skip this post.  If you are in the enterprise market, pay close attention :)

 

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  • Who should use messaging platforms?   All enterprise sales and marketing professionals. 

 

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  • When should messaging platforms be used?  When you need to solicit multiple prospects in the same company who differ by job function and title.

 

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  • Why should messaging platforms be used?  A one size fits all marketing message does not resonate as well as role based targeted messages.

 

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  • What is the marketing communications goal of messaging platforms?   Describe for each prospect’s job function the relevant pain you address, how you address it, benefits delivered, and how you are unique in the market.

 

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  • Is this a new concept?  Absolutely not, however, I have observed that this concept has either been lost or forgotten by many tech firms.  There is way to much feature speak and/or one size fits all marketing messages.   Further it is important to also add your distinct competitive advantage in with pain, benefit, and features.  (VCs / Board of Director Members, each company you invest in should be able to clearly articulate messaging platforms for at the very least senior business buyers and technical evaluators.  If they can’t articulate it the technology will not have sufficient commercial appeal.)
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  • Here is an example:

 

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  • XYZ Company is selling product "A" to varying levels of customers in different job functions and playing different roles in the buying cycle.  i.e. One is an Evaluator, another a Recommender, another the Decision Maker, still others are Influencers, etc. Enclosed are two examples of  messaging platforms. 

 

 

  • The first example is designed for C level business leaders acting as final Approvers or Decision Makers.  Notice the pain points are strategic level concerns.  You must therefore communicate the benefits of your offering not in technical terms but in terms of how you address strategic needs.

 

 

  • Examples of C level pain points are strategic in nature; profitability, earnings per share, morale, culture, competitiveness, etc.
  • Your product’s top four benefits should be communicated in the specific way they address each stragic level pain point for C level players.  Features then explain how the benefit is derived. Lastly a message platform should include a description of your distinct competitive advantage or how you are the only vendor who provides xyz.

 

 

  • I suggest creating a 4 x 4 matrix where Pain Point, Benefit, Feature, and Distinct Competitive Advantage are the Collumn headers.
  • Here’s an example of the first two collumns.  To this you would add the specific features that deliver the benefits and how you are unique.  Since this messaging platform slide is for C level audience the communication needs to be non technical and business level.

 

  • Pain Point
  • Benefit
  • Profitability  (EPS, Productivity, Revenue, Costs)
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  • Product A helps improve the Productivity of your PC Users
  • Competitiveness  (I/P theft, Consumer Fraud)
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  •  Product A helps protect your Intellectual Property and maintain your Competitive Edge
  • Cost Effective Compliance (SOX, PCI)
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  • Product A helps avoid costly Regulatory Non Compliance
  • Culture  (Values, Morale, Work Environment)
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  • Product A helps Preserve Your Company’s Values

 

 

  • The second example below is designed for IT Staff or Managers who are acting as Evaluators and Recommenders. The pain points and benefits are of an operational nature and differ from those of C level executives. If you communicate strategic benefits to a person with operational pain your message will not be effective. You are not connecting with their pain and your message will not resonate specific pain. On the other hand technical features and benefits resonate well at an operational level.

 

 

  • Pain Point
  • Benefit
  • Job Security:
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  • Product A’s design ensures that your implementation minimizes risk and maximizes user satisfaction.
  • Keeping up with Project
  • Load
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  • Product A does the work of four alternative solutions making your life easier.
  • Staying within internal IT Standards
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  • Product A is built on the IT standards you currently support.
  • Software Bugs and Support Issues
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  • Product A has been designed to minimize code complexities and has been thoroughly tested in your industry.

 

 

  • The best way to discern the top pain points of the different role players involved in your selling / buying cycle is by speaking with customers. While an improvement over "one size fits all" pitchs, when creating messaging platforms Marketing still has to generalize at a particular role level. Therefore it is important that each Sales Professional tactfully check Marketing’s assumptions against the reality of their Prospect’s needs. Asking Prospects open probe questions to identify key issues related to their project should result in plenty of information with which to allign your features and benefits.
  • Good selling