Has the way you frame, or talk about your product actually kept up with your product features, the reality of the market you’re operating in, or how your customer might have changed? Is it, in fact, time for a messaging make-over? Here’s a guide to evolve your USP without alienating your audience.
A lot of time and effort can be spent nailing an effective unique selling proposition (USP) – and with good reason – it deserves attention to get right. But when was the last time you checked-in to ensure its relevance? Is it time to dust off your messaging and re-consider it given new market conditions?
So what do we mean when we say ‘reconsider’?
When you started out, it was probably quite clear what problem you were solving, who your customer was and what made you different from the available alternatives at the time. This would have allowed you to neatly pinpoint the coordinates on your market positioning map, and build your USP and key messaging around it.
But, given how fast things move, (not just the underlying technology, but the language that’s used to categorise and explain it) it’s essential that you plan for the evolution of messaging to support the reality of your market positioning today. You need to ensure you’re using the right language to define and differentiate your offering – and not just jumping on the current trend terms to do the work for you (ahem, we’re looking at you “AI”).
So what’s the best way to keep your message relevant, without losing your identity or alienating your customers? For this blog, we’re focusing on positioning and messaging. (Brand identity is a whole ‘nother kettle of fish which we’ll explore later…)
Align your product & marketing roadmap
Too often a “new feature” or “new release” campaign is set into motion, but it’s built on outdated positioning and “key messaging” foundations – which could end up confusing both current and future customers.
One of the best ways to prevent this from happening is to align your messaging evolution to that of your product roadmap. This might be easier said than done, depending on how siloed your teams are, but hopefully within a collaborative environment this type of planning is embraced by engineers, product and marketing teams.
This will allow you to identify milestones where your product evolves beyond its current offering, and consider the ways that might impact your USP. Full product pivots are obvious, but an accumulation of small changes over time could still have an impact.
Plan for as much market research as you can afford to better understand the current conditions within the ecosystem you operate in (new technologies and competitors, customers, partners, politics…) and use this to inform any changes to your USP and key messaging.
However, don’t get too caught up in your world-changing promise until you have a timeline to deliver it or you risk alienating your customers. Focus on the pain points you’re addressing right now – not a few years down the track when the full vision of your idea will come to life – and take your customers on the journey with you.
Consider HubSpot’s ongoing evolution, from all-in-one small business self-service tool, to integrated marketing platform for SMEs, through to their current end-to-end, enterprise-class CRM solution…. and now rumoured to be purchased by Google!
Keep an asset audit
While it might seem tedious in the beginning, and near impossible when you’re churning out a lot of content, if you can keep a thorough asset audit it will save you a tonne of time when it comes to re-assessing content for relevancy and accuracy. You can then make faster decisions on what content needs to be retired, or updated.
Take advantage of your marketing stack where possible to simplify this task. You can keep track of what you have, view best performing content and update assets without breaking links.
Leaving inaccurate content out in the wild risks damaging all the hard work you’re doing to drive demand and precious leads.
Communicate, communicate, communicate
Last but not least, consider all the stakeholders that any change in messaging is going to impact. Investors, internal employees, ecosystem partners, media, customers… Make sure you clearly explain what will change, and why. Use this as an opportunity to use your new messaging to demonstrate organisational growth and the positive changes it will bring to each group.
Make sure to have the necessary updated supporting material for each audience too, from sales and support staff, to channel partners and media. Arm them with your new view of the world and the role your product plays in making it a better place.
Stand for something, by standing against it
As a side-bar, nothing quite builds a tribe like having a strong opinion – particularly when it’s contrary to the dull roar of bandwagon white noise. Embrace your start-up disruptiveness and call it the way you see it, and use this to inform your messaging with a difference.
Kick it!
If you find you’re on the precipice of a new chapter and need experienced support to follow it through, we can help! Drop us a line to start the conversation.