Your messaging is 💩 and you know it

Messaging has been my jam for 2+ years.

But I only realized how crucial it was in 2020: I was a solo marketer trying to work on the homepage of a DaaS (Desktop-as-a-service) startup and I was responsible for the messaging.

First mistake I did? Not talking to customers ❌

Second mistake? Didn’t tested or tracked our messaging performance ❌

Since then, I almost became somewhat of a messaging expert, but I wanted to understand how other PMMs felt and were dealing with their messaging.

This newsletter is all about messaging and message testing.

Let’s see what 63 product marketers have to say about it

1️⃣ Stakeholders meddling is the #1 enemy

The feeling when you finish your messaging strategy is one of the best one.

But the thrill doesn’t last, because it’s a team sport—and your teammates are like me watching MMA (I will comment on it but I don’t know what the fuck I’m talking about).

And it’s even worse when you have a CEO that has a gigantic ego and think their product is special.

But there’s other issues regarding messaging challenges.

Whether it’s internal politics (fun) or figuring out ways to prove it’s effectiveness, it’s an going project on our todo and we don’t always have the resources to do it well.

This survey prove me one thing.

I suck at creating surveys Product marketers are great at messaging.

But they either lack influence, resources or the knowledge to do it properly AND to test it continuously.

2️⃣ 40% of PMMs have no format process to test their messaging

This one was a surprising stat, but there’s nuance to it.

35% are testing it ad hoc, so they are being reactive, and only 25% have a formal system in place.

No system means that you’re letting feedback be all over the place, and that’s not very cash money of you. Let’s face it, your VP of sales will have a fun time breaking down all of your hard work if you don’t bring data into the mix.

Data trump opinions, other stuff like this happens:

And that’s exactly what happened when I was working on our homepage as a solo startup marketer.

I created a beautiful messaging document, and then got to work on the website.

A second later, support, devs, sales, and all of the farmhouse had things to say on it. And on top of that, I needed to make it rank on the first page of Google 🙄

That’s why you need data, because everyone in marketing (or product marketing) has an opinion.

But with numbers, you remove the gut feeling from Rohn, the VP of Sales that want you to add 450 more words to explain in details what he can’t on a discovery call (yeah I’m still mad)

3️⃣ The average self-rating of messaging is 66%

Speaking about numbers, I’ve also asked product marketers to self-rank their messaging score.

And we got 3.3/5 a 66%, yikes! (very similar to my college average grade)

I don’t think we’re to blame, because everyone was able to explain why they gave it that grade, the main reasons being:

• Need to optimize and improve more

• Inconsistent and internal challenges

• Lack of positioning and differentiation

• Strong but need testing and validation

Anyway, we’re compelled to work with different teams on messaging, but at some point or the other, it end up getting torn to shreds.

Here’s are the answers on what would make it a 5.

If you want to check out more on this micro-report on messaging, check out Gab’s post here.

(Gab here): I’m working on a framework to help PMMs test their messaging, without breaking the bank. Register on the waitlist if you’re interested to get it at the end of the month:

Message Testing Framework Waitlist

🎙RECAP Episodes (with the Misfits ❤️ picks)
Check our best episodes recap from this season 💀

Season 3 is now over and we’ve already had 🔥 conversations with guests for the next season. No episodes until March 6th but in the meantime, here’s our favourites episodes of this season:

Zach: Finding your special sauce as a Fractional PMM w/ Megan Pratt

Eric: How to get mad respect from your colleagues w/ Jarod Greene

Gab: From Jack of All Trades to Niche Mastery in PMM, w/ Rob Kaminski

Check them out while we’re prepping for the next season 👀

SAVE THE DATE FOR S4

And that’s a wrap on season 3 with your favorite PMMisfits. We fooled you once and said we’re killing the pod.

Since we know you can’t take that type of heartbreak again, stay tuned while we take a little break.

After that, we’re launching Season 4 on March 6th, 2025 🎙️💀💀