Messaging for B2B tech marketing starts with positioning, not the other way around. Get positioning right and messaging gets much easier. And when we focus on value over features, and make customers the heroes of the story, we create marketing that generates interest and intent.
You nailed your positioning—fantastic! Now it’s time to turn positioning into B2B tech marketing messages your audience will notice and understand.
If you’re still figuring that out, hit pause and check out my step-by-step guide: How to Position B2B Tech Solutions.
And a quick heads-up: It’s easy to go overboard and overwhelm people with too much info. Don’t. Just provide enough to spark interest and get them to ask for more. Keep it clear, relevant, and, most of all, useful.
Think of messaging as a conversation starter. It connects, educates, and builds brand reputation.
Sticky content gets attention and makes people care. Skip the fluff and get to the point.
Let’s not drown our audience in technical jargon or overcomplicated product-speak. We want people to immediately understand our value, not work for it.
One of the best movie lines that encapsulates this is from Denzel Washington in “Philadelphia.”
Focus on clear, simple sentences that get the point across quickly. And remember, we’re not just listing features and benefits. We’re putting the spotlight on our differentiated value—what our solution does that no one else can. Speak directly to customers’ pains, fears, and motivations, using language that anyone can understand.
A good example is Slack. Initially, their messaging focused on specific features like “team communication” and “chat platforms.” When they shifted to “Where Work Happens,” Slack became known as a workspace, connecting more with the collaborative needs of teams rather than just chat functions. This change allowed Slack to create messaging that resonated with a wider audience of businesses, from startups to large enterprises, and helped them become a dominant tool in business communication.
The simpler the message, the faster and better it sticks.
When creating marketing messages for B2B tech, make the customer the hero. They saw something special in your stuff. Find out what that is. Ask them… yes, it is really THAT simple.
Customers will tell us what to say and how to say it. Once we get in tune with them, we can create marketing messages that mean something to them.
That is relevance—and relevance generates interest, intent, and growth.
Not to brag, but one of my favorite examples of this is the work I did for BELLIN Treasury. Their primary challenge was effectively communicating their unique value to the US market. Their German positioning, “Treasury das glücklich macht” (Treasury that makes you happy), didn’t capture the spirit BELLIN aimed to establish with potential customers. “Treasury That Moves You” created the emotional connection for English-speaking markets, going beyond mere functionality and growing the business 4x in four years.
For more on this story, check out the BELLIN Case Study.
It’s a good idea to create boilerplate marketing messages for B2B tech companies. It’s easy to get lost in our tech and boilerplates help ensure consistency and clarity across all channels.
They lay the foundation for every conversation we have with customers, partners, and even with ourselves. They ensure we’re always aligned and speaking with one voice, no matter the context.
Here are some templates to consider when building a boilerplate toolkit:
Remember to always validate any messages against your positioning—never the other way around. Always start with positioning. If you need to change your messaging, you will need to go back and update your positioning first.
If you need a template to work through your boilerplates, check out Page 5 of my Brand Playbook.
A brand pyramid helps organize our messaging by starting with the details and working up to the bigger picture. It keeps everything aligned, from features to our overall brand personality and tone.
Build it starting from the bottom and move up one level at a time:
A brand pyramid is a bird’s eye view of how our messaging connects at every level.
If you need a template to work through your brand pyramid, check out Page 6 of my Brand Playbook.
At the end of the day, creating sticky marketing messages for B2B tech companies means simplifying, staying relevant, and making sure to communicate value for your audience.
Since we’ve already nailed our positioning, we can use that insight to translate what make us unique into clear, relevant messages that connect with our audience and make them care a lot about the stuff we make.
Customers will tell us what they need to hear, so listen, stay consistent, and create messaging that supports every conversation, from elevator pitches to brand stories.
Messaging that communicates our value gets noticed, remembered, and acted on.
Keep it simple, keep it real, and always lead with value.
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Cheers!
This article is AC-A and also published and discussed on LinkedIn. Join the conversation!
