How do you match messaging to product goals?

1 Understand your product goals

Before you start writing or designing your messaging, you need to have a clear understanding of what your product goals are and how they relate to your business objectives and customer needs. Your product goals should be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART), and they should answer questions like: What problem are you solving for your customers? What value are you delivering to them? How do you measure your success? How do you differentiate from your competitors? Having a well-defined product goal statement will help you focus your messaging on the most important aspects of your product and how it can help your audience.

2 Define your target audience and segments

Once you have your product goals, you need to identify who your target audience is and how you can segment them based on their characteristics, behaviors, needs, and preferences. Your target audience is the group of people who are most likely to benefit from your product and become your customers. Your segments are the subgroups within your target audience that have different pain points, motivations, expectations, and objections. By defining your target audience and segments, you can tailor your messaging to address their specific problems, desires, and questions, and show them how your product can solve them.

3 Create your value proposition and positioning

Your value proposition and positioning are the core elements of your messaging that communicate what your product is, who it is for, and why it is better than the alternatives. Your value proposition is a concise statement that summarizes the benefits and value that your product delivers to your target audience. Your positioning is how you want your product to be perceived and remembered in the market and in relation to your competitors. To create your value proposition and positioning, you need to identify your unique selling points (USPs), your competitive advantages, and your customer testimonials or proof points. You also need to consider your tone of voice, your brand personality, and your emotional appeal.

4 Map out your customer journey and touchpoints

Your customer journey is the path that your target audience takes from becoming aware of your product to purchasing it and becoming loyal advocates. Your touchpoints are the points of contact or interaction that you have with your audience along the journey, such as your website, social media, email, ads, blog, etc. To match your messaging to your product goals, you need to map out your customer journey and touchpoints, and identify the goals, challenges, and opportunities for each stage. For example, at the awareness stage, your goal might be to generate interest and curiosity, your challenge might be to overcome skepticism or indifference, and your opportunity might be to educate and inspire. At the decision stage, your goal might be to persuade and convert, your challenge might be to overcome objections or doubts, and your opportunity might be to showcase and demonstrate.

5 Write and test your messaging

Once you have your customer journey and touchpoints mapped out, you can start writing and testing your messaging for each stage and channel. Your messaging should be clear, consistent, relevant, and compelling, and it should match your product goals and your audience's needs and expectations. You should also use different formats and media to deliver your messaging, such as text, images, videos, audio, etc., depending on the channel and the context. To test your messaging, you can use various methods and tools, such as surveys, interviews, focus groups, A/B testing, analytics, etc., to measure its effectiveness and impact on your product goals. You should also collect feedback from your customers, prospects, and stakeholders, and use it to refine and improve your messaging.

6 Optimize and iterate your messaging

Matching your messaging to your product goals is not a one-time activity, but an ongoing process that requires constant optimization and iteration. As your product evolves, your market changes, and your customers' needs and preferences shift, you need to update and adapt your messaging accordingly. You also need to monitor and track your messaging performance and results, and use data and insights to identify what works and what doesn't. By optimizing and iterating your messaging, you can ensure that it always aligns with your product goals and resonates with your target audience.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?