Imagine your B2B SaaS messaging as your star salesperson, tirelessly pitching your product 24/7. But what if their pitch isn’t resonating? Your growth could stagnate, opportunities slip away, and competitors gain ground.
When this happens, it’s time to bring in an expert—an external messaging and positioning agency. With a fresh perspective, these agencies can inject new ideas and recommendations, ensuring your message truly resonates with your target audience.
Recognizing when to seek agency help is crucial for your company’s success. Here are five signs that indicate your B2B SaaS company might need a messaging agency – a specialist who can sharpen your pitch, amplify your voice, and propel your growth.
Sign #1: You’re Unsure Who Your Ideal Customer Is
Effective messaging starts with a laser focus on your ideal customer. If you can’t clearly define your ideal customer profile (ICP), your messaging will be diluted and miss the mark. Here are some signs your ICP needs sharpening:
- Vague Target Audience: You’re trying to appeal to everyone, which means you’re not truly resonating with anyone. Your messaging lacks the specificity needed to address the unique pain points and motivations of your ideal customers.
- Overly Broad Market Segmentation: You haven’t narrowed down your target market enough. You’re casting too wide a net, wasting resources on segments that aren’t a good fit for your product.
- Ineffective Marketing Campaigns: Your marketing efforts are falling flat because you’re not speaking directly to the right people. You’re missing opportunities to connect with those who would truly benefit from your solution.
Remember, clarity is key. A well-defined ICP allows you to tailor your messaging, speak directly to your ideal customers’ needs, and ultimately, drive better results from your marketing and sales efforts.
Cascade Client Example
We recently worked with a SaaS company that believed both Marketing and IT were equally important to target in their messaging. However, ICP research revealed that they were not equally important audiences. Marketing leaders actively seek out martech solutions, while IT acts as the gatekeeper and enabler. Thus, we recommended our client focus primarily on marketing.
What marketers cared about most differed from IT professionals. Marketers despised buzzwords and acronyms, which our client unfortunately had a reputation for overusing. Instead, they wanted more emphasis on creativity and content creation, which our client excelled in. Since creating content that converts is the number one priority for marketers, we recommended our client highlight these aspects in their messaging.
Both marketing and IT participants wanted messaging that focused on business outcomes (the end state) without getting too fixated on technological details (the how). Otherwise, they won’t be able to get the C-suite to sign off on the solution. And ultimately, the C-suite signs off on marketing purchases. If the messaging doesn’t clearly and plainly state the business outcome, it will be harder for marketing leaders to get buy-in from the executive office.
Gaining clarity into the roles that each persona played in the decision-making process, as well as what resonated most with each, was crucial to our client developing messaging that would speak to the appropriate people at the right time.
Sign #2: Your Value Proposition Is Weak or Nonexistent
Your value proposition is your brand’s promise to your customers—the clear, compelling reason why they should choose your product over the competition. It’s a cornerstone of your positioning in the market. If it’s unclear, weak, or indistinguishable from your competitors, your growth will suffer. Here are some signs your value proposition needs strengthening:
- Difficulty Articulating Your Differentiators: You struggle to succinctly explain what sets your product apart. Your unique benefits and advantages aren’t clear in your messaging.
- Blending In with the Crowd: Your brand lacks a distinct identity, and your messaging sounds generic and forgettable. You’re not standing out in a crowded marketplace.
- Losing to Competitors: If potential buyers don’t have a clear reason to choose your solution, they’ll likely opt for competitors who have articulated their value more effectively.
A weak value proposition is a significant roadblock to growth. Partnering with a B2B messaging agency can help you uncover and articulate your unique value, making your brand stand out and attracting the right customers.
Cascade Client Example
When entering a new market, companies often discover that their existing value proposition no longer resonates with the new audience they are targeting. For instance, we recently assisted a client in expanding into the B2B space from B2C. Our research revealed that the term “personalization,” a strong selling point in B2C, actually raised privacy concerns among B2B buyers and was perceived as overused in the customer experience space.
Instead, we found that a superior customer experience would be the key to differentiating their brand and fostering strong account relationships. This insight was invaluable for our client’s product and customer success teams, and it became a central message in their marketing and sales materials.
Sign #3: Your Messaging Isn’t Resonating
The clearest sign you need help with messaging is when it simply isn’t resonating with your target audience. Here are a few specific symptoms:
- Low Engagement: Your content is falling flat. Social media posts go unnoticed, blog articles attract few readers, and email campaigns see dismal open rates.
- Poor Lead Conversion: Your website traffic is high, but your conversion rates are abysmal. Visitors aren’t compelled to take the next step, indicating your messaging isn’t effectively conveying the value of your product.
- Stagnant or Declining Sales: Despite your marketing and sales efforts, your numbers aren’t budging—or worse, they’re declining. This suggests your messaging isn’t creating enough interest or driving purchase decisions.
- Lack of Brand Awareness: Your brand fails to make a splash in your industry. People simply don’t recognize your name or understand what makes you unique. This is a clear sign your messaging isn’t reaching the right people or isn’t memorable enough to stick.
Sign #4: You Lack the Resources or Expertise In-House
Crafting compelling messaging requires specialized skills and resources that might be missing from your in-house team. Particularly if your marketing team has experienced a period of high turnover or layoffs, you may see gaps in expertise, especially in specialized areas like messaging and positioning. This can be apparent through:
- Overwhelmed Marketing Team: Even with a full team, your marketers might be stretched thin, juggling multiple projects and deadlines. This can leave little bandwidth to focus on developing and executing a comprehensive messaging strategy.
- Inconsistent Content Creation: Without dedicated messaging guidance, your content can become sporadic and lack a cohesive voice. This inconsistency creates a disjointed brand experience for your audience.
- Lack of Specialized Skills: While your team might excel in other areas like digital marketing or project management, they might lack the deep knowledge and experience needed for effective messaging and positioning.
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, it’s a strong sign that you could benefit from partnering with a messaging and positioning agency to fill these gaps and elevate your brand’s communication.
Cascade Client Example
We recently worked with a small startup that lacked a dedicated marketing team. They needed assistance developing a messaging framework and translating it into website copy, sales decks, and consistent blog and social media content. Lacking these specialized skills in-house, they turned to a B2B messaging agency to bridge the gap.
Sign #5: You’re Targeting Too Broad of an Audience
Trying to appeal to everyone often means you’re not truly resonating with anyone. When your target audience is too broad, your messaging becomes diluted and loses its impact. This can manifest in a few ways:
- Generic Messaging: Your marketing materials and communications lack the specificity needed to address the unique pain points and motivations of different customer segments.
- Inconsistent Value Propositions: The key benefits you emphasize vary depending on the channel or platform, creating confusion about what your product truly offers.
- Mismatched Sales and Marketing: Your sales team’s pitch doesn’t align with your marketing messages, leading to a disjointed customer experience.
If your messaging feels scattered and unfocused, it’s time to narrow your audience and tailor your communication accordingly. A B2B messaging agency can help you identify your ICP and develop targeted messaging that resonates with each segment.
Elevate Your B2B Messaging with a Specialized Agency
As the adage goes, “It’s hard to read the label when you’re inside the jar.” Sometimes, gaining clarity requires stepping outside of your own perspective.
This is especially relevant for B2B SaaS messaging, where internal teams may be struggling to gain the objective perspective needed to truly connect with their target audience. So here’s your homework: take a step back and honestly assess your messaging efforts. Are you showing any of the warning signs we’ve discussed? If so, it’s time for a change.
Partner with Cascade Insights to gain a fresh, unbiased perspective on your brand and your customers. We’ll help you create messaging that cuts through the noise, connects with your audience, and drives meaningful results.