Summary

Growth often brings complexity — across products, audiences and channels. What once felt clear gets tangled in competing messages. Clarity isn’t about doing more; it comes from a single value narrative that ties your offer to customer needs. When teams share that picture, priorities align and buyers recognise outcomes faster.

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Our Perspective

What this means for leaders navigating growth, change or transformation in their organisation.

The Buyer Reality

Buying no longer happens in a straight line. People compare notes in private channels, shortlist quietly, and only step forward when they’ve already shaped the choice. Forrester reports that 92% of business buyers begin their journey with at least one supplier already in mind. That means your story is competing long before your team is invited in.

The consequence is simple: messaging must earn its place in the unseen half of the journey. It needs to carry enough clarity and conviction to set context early, then hold together across channels when your teams are not in the room.

Message As Value

Treat messaging as your point of view on value, not as a page of claims. When it defines the business problem you exist to solve, and the conditions under which you solve it best, it starts guiding choices: what you ship next, where you focus, and how you prove outcomes. The gain isn’t prettier words; it’s better decisions made faster.

Most organisations we work with discover that once a shared value narrative is agreed, debates narrow, duplication drops, and sales conversations shift from features to consequences. This is what creates a throughline from leadership intent to buyer confidence.

Choose One Narrative

A single, well-argued value narrative travels further than a bundle of micro-messages. It should be specific enough to exclude, and strong enough to align product, marketing, and sales around one commercial truth.

• Anchor to the urgent, costly business problem your customer owns.
• Spell out what changes when you’re chosen: time saved, risk reduced, growth unlocked.
• Define the boundaries: who you’re for, and where you don’t compete.
• Quantify adoption and time to first outcome, using plain language.

6sense notes that buyers are typically about 70% through their process before they engage a seller, which is why that narrative must do heavy lifting before any meeting happens.

Make It Operate

Consistency is a leadership choice. The message only creates value when it becomes the default way your organisation speaks, sells, and demonstrates proof. That demands simple tools and visible standards.

• Establish a message hierarchy with approved language, examples, and common objections.
• Build a proof spine: short customer stories, clear before-and-after outcomes, and honest implementation expectations.
• Train for application, not recall: role-play the message across industries, roles, and deal stages.
• Govern lightly: review monthly, update quarterly, and remove duplications.

When leaders back this operating rhythm, messaging stops drifting and starts compounding. Over time, you earn the right to set the frame of the problem, not just respond to it. And in markets shaped by early, quiet decisions, that shift determines who gets considered at all.

Sources:

• The 2023 B2B Buyer Experience Report | 6sense — 6sense
• Based on Forrester report: B2B buyers choose vendors before the buying process begins — Forrester

Further Resources

1. Humanising B2B Messaging to Build Trust
2. Messaging and Positioning: The Strategic Link
3. Key Metrics for Assessing Messaging Effectiveness

No two brand journeys are the same — connect with us if you’d like to test where your next step might lead. Let’s talk.

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