4-Question Diagnostic Quiz: Does your messaging need treatment?
It’s pretty common for tech companies selling into biopharma to suffer from positioning maladies. We’re techies and scientists! Left-brain people by nature. Positioning and messaging requires a good dose of right-brain energy. By not treating messaging maladies soon enough, however, you won’t generate a sufficient volume of high quality leads. If your positioning doesn’t succinctly convey WHAT you offer TO WHOM and WHY it matters, it needs treatment asap.
This diagnostic will tell you where you stand. Be honest!
This is a primary symptom of WORDINESS. Wordiness usually includes lofty, vague terms that don't directly say what the product does.
Treatment for WORDINESS includes SIMPLICITY and SPECIFICITY. Directly say what your product does, and revise it down to the fewest number of words.
Focusing only on your product is common for NAVEL GAZING. If the messaging goes on and on about your offering, this doesn't connect with your prospect's world sufficiently. Typically this is a result of start-up messaging when identity and product are still forming.
The treatment for NAVEL GAZING is PERSONA-DRIVEN messaging. Researching and deeply understanding what your prospects care about in their full day-to-day will make it so you connect with them on their most pressing concerns as it aligns with your solution.
When we assume that folks will figure out how to engage with us, that's commonly a result of PASSIVITY. Passivity is common in biotech tech messaging, and results in a lot of rewording of the same product features in different ways hoping one will inspire follow up.
The antidote to PASSIVITY is a confident BRAND PERSONALITY. Once you've defined how and where you want to engage with prospects, you can actively interact with and encourage specific actions through various marketing channels.
Messaging requires regular attention or else it suffers from being OUTDATED. If you're shipping new features regularly, not only is your messaging not covering those, it might lag your evolved full value.
Treatment for OUTDATED includes ATTENTION. With all that's involved in launching, it's easy to run out of attention for the core positioning update. But eventually you'll be really underselling your offering if this more meaningful integration of value isn't addressed.
Your messaging needs urgent help. By this point you're probably experiencing confusion or frustration about:
- inbound leads
- why prospects compare you to certain competitors
- how to get deals to move more quickly
Although messaging treatment feels like it's a lot of work, addressing this underlying positioning will not only help with the external presentation but also align everyone internally. Messaging revamp should clarify what to focus on, and who to focus on engaging.
Although there's no need for a full revamp yet, have a core team go through to find ways to:
- simplify language
- put users first
- emphasize true product differentiators
- include multiple ways to engage with the product
Then monitor quarterly to see if lead generation becomes problematic in the future to address any ailments that may arise.
You're messaging is resonating because it:
- connect with prospects on what they care about
- describes specifically what's unique and valuable about your product specifically
- has a brand voice, look, and feel that doesn't blend in
- provides multiple ways for prospects to engage with the product and brand
Keep doing what you're doing!