Explorez tous les épisodes du podcast Said Differently: A Show About B2B Storytelling

Now that AI coding help is speeding product release cycles, it can be hard for Go-to-Market Teams to keep up. Product marketers are grappling with how often they should be refreshing messaging stories, making decisions about what's important to communicate, and thinking through how frequently their customers and their target market in general can absorb this new pace of change.

In this episode of Troupe's B2B storytelling podcast, called Said Differently, two guests join host Jennifer Sikora to bring their product marketing expertise to bear on how to best navigate this challenge: Michele Nieberding, Head of PMM at Optiversal, and Tamara Grominsky, Founder of PMM Camp.

Key episode chapters by topic:

03:22 = Specific examples of how the panelists have felt this pace of AI-accelerated product release velocity.

08:39 = What about companies who aren't yet applying AI to accelerate product, how should they position themselves?

10:23 = What this means for planning product launches, rethinking the elements, pacing, and rollout. Plan around the idea of "book chapters" or "tv episodes", not sentence-by-sentence releases.

16:27 = The opportunity for Product Marketers to 'shift left' and get ahead of the release story, to think more strategically about the narrative thread and direction for buyers and users.

20:44 = Helping customers and users absorb the pace of updates.

26:46 = Applying the tools, like Troupe, to measure messaging that's working and the importance of maintaining your "north star" in your go-to-market story. 

33:14 = Practical advice for Marketing teams on what the best framework or tactics are to apply in this new normal of faster product release pacing.

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

There are a number of markets that a business may serve, or operate in, where regulations can impact the way you shape the story you bring to market, even as specific as the words used. Examples: Healthcare, insurance, financial services, even legal services. In this episode of Troupe's podcast SAID DIFFERENTLY, we hear from product marketing leader Hannah Pickering of HealthEquity as she talks about how she meets the challenges to build an effective messaging plan and to keep that on track amidst the explosion of AI-generated content.

Key moments from the conversation:

3:23 = Bringing a message to market in a regulated industry. Specific examples of cases she has encountered and what she had to adjust and keep in mind when making messaging choices for the story. 

9:25 = The differences in getting a solid messaging framework in place in a B2B2C go-to-market motion. First, there are more guardrails to abide by. Second, there are more stakeholders involved in the process including compliance, legal, and in certain industries clinical or scientific teams. Third, the process must bring in the right input at the right time.

12:30 = Question the wording and be the “interpreter”: Nuance around language and the meaning of words. How not to get overly complicated and confuse your potential audience yet not select words that don’t work in the context of your market.

14:46 = Managing the explosion of AI-generated content: How has this changed the approach of monitoring content “in the wild” and why this keeps her up at night. Bringing people into the messaging process so they are more likely to use it with consistency and adherence. No more “my messaging vs. your messaging.”

19:18 = Activating a feedback loop with your team, so you can iterate the messaging to continue to improve it and react to changes in the market, buyers, and competitive moves. How Troupe is a solution that can help with the measurement of messaging.

22:51 = In a B2B2C situation, how do you think about the hierarchy of message, so you are striking the right balance in the buyer’s lens vs. the end-consumer’s lens? She looks for what’s universally important to both, while also still developing messaging for both groups.
27:13 = Having more personas to understand when in a B2B2C environment also requires you to think about the offering more on “human-focused” terms. 

Learn more about how Troupe helps companies keep track of how aligned their messages in interactions and content are with what they should be saying: https://www.troupe.ai/use-cases

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

In this episode of Troupe's B2B messaging and storytelling program, we speak with senior product marketing executive Ali Hanyaloglu about how product marketers can find a leadership path landing in the C-suite, if that's the goal. A multi-recognized Top 100 product marketing influencer by the Product Marketing Alliance, Ali brings to the discussion his lived experience moving from the sales organization into a PMM role -- and ultimately to vice president seniority. 

The episode covers key topics:
** How can Product Marketers be properly recognized and find advancement when the role is still so misunderstood?
** What are examples of a work environment and mindset where PMMs can flourish?
** Why is quantifying the impact of Product Marketing crucial to advancing professionally and to improve the strategic perception of the function?
** How should Product Marketing see its relationship with the CEO and even with the Board of Directors?

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

Positioning is the foundation of how buyers understand you and the problem you solve for them. Unfortunately, it's often confused with branding, messaging, product-market fit, or even copywriting. And for B2B companies, there's a growing need to bring AI into your positioning story as well. 

In this episode of Troupe's SAID DIFFERENTLY show, positioning expert Katey Mokelke of Firebrick Consulting talks about what she's learned doing more than 100 positioning engagements for B2B tech organizations -- and advice she gives in these areas:

• What is positioning?
• What events or dynamics might trigger a need to revisit your positioning?
• What are symptoms that your positioning is a problem?
• How to make AI a meaningful part of your go-to-market narrative
• Who should "own" positioning and its success for your organization?

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

There's a renewed focus on press and media relations as AI-driven search and answer engines increasingly help us all research, compare, and shortlist new products and services. In this episode of Said Differently, the Q&A show about B2B messaging and positioning sponsored by Troupe, we talk to Evan Boyer who is founder/CEO of Leaders PR after a lengthy career serving B2B and B2C clients from start-ups to scale-ups to global brands. Our discussion covers these pressing topics:

• Adapting your go-to-market story so that it attracts media interest
• Scorecarding how well you hit key messages in media coverage
• What today's sources of "trusted" content look like and how that plays a role in AEO/GEO
• Structuring your PR program around goals vs. "just get me coverage"
• Using PR to make it more likely that AI generative answer engines will find you and include you in their results

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

This AI-focused episode of the B2B go-to-market storytelling program was taped in person at the Raleigh offices for Troupe, with guests Alison Murdock, who is CEO of the agency 1021 Creative and founder of Trusted CMO, alongside Julie Bryce, who is working as a consultant for Trusted CMO and is a former CMO and Chief Commercial Officer in the B2B tech space. The conversation focuses on their real-world experiences with AI applied to helping companies refine their storytelling and messaging strategy. They discuss where it can be an exceptional partner in those efforts and where you need to manage risks. They also offer that the use of AI to help with go-to-market messaging may also help build a stronger alliance between marketing and sales, especially when you're able to truly measure messaging impact with a solution like Troupe. 

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

In this episode of SAID DIFFERENTLY, the show focused on B2B story and messaging success, our guest Constantine Limberakis -- founder of Liberis Consulting and a former industry analyst -- talks about the importance of Marketing, and specifically Product Marketing, having credible knowledge of the market, buyer personas, and category they are targeting. Does it mean they need to be subject matter experts? Not necessarily... but he speaks with host Jennifer Sikora about the huge payoffs when you comfortably understand your solution so that you can strategize, ideate, produce, and measure effectively. 

Topics in the discussion include:

• Making sure Marketing isn't an afterthought or credibility void
• How to close the domain knowledge gap and why Product Marketing bears responsibility
• Specific examples from their past experiences
• Understanding the nuances of different geographic markets and segments
• The importance of measuring what's working and using that data to course-correct

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

To survive, every company must find product-market fit. To sustain growth, they must ensure message-market fit is making that possible. In this episode of SAID DIFFERENTLY (the show focused on B2B messaging success), our guest Chad Butz -- a VP of Product Marketing -- emphasizes the importance of evolving your go-to-market messaging at different stages of your company's life. He and host Jennifer Sikora focus on key topics: 

What do we mean by message-market fit?

• How does this relate to "crossing the chasm" as you move from early adopters into mainstream buyers?
• How do you know if the issue is product-market fit or message-market fit -- what are some key signals? Chad shares examples from his past experiences.
• Examples from Chad's previous experience that illustrate how this plays out in real-world situations
• How can you best monitor your story's performance in the market so that you know sooner (vs. later) when it's time to refresh?

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

In this episode of SAID DIFFERENTLY, the show focused on B2B story and messaging success, our guest Maureen West discusses the art and science of managing product launches -- big and small -- to ensure successful communication in the market. Maureen and host Jennifer Sikora dive into a number of topics related to product launches including:

* The types of launches and how to "matrix" their importance
* The key internal stakeholders who should help determine the messaging associated with your launch
* What to do before, during, and after to increase your chances of that launch having messaging success
* What to do if the message isn’t resonating as hoped, how soon do you adjust?
* Thinking of the overall “umbrella” positioning of your portfolio and your company, as you release new features in various products at different times
* Reacting to a competitor’s launch - do you or don't you?

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

What causes Sales and Marketing to get out-of-step on the message that is delivered to the market? And what problems does that cause for the business? In this episode of Said Differently, Scott Heimgartner -- who is a long-time, in-house B2B tech product marketing leader and later a principal consultant for Liberis Consulting -- joins us to talk about why trust is one of the major root causes of this misalignment, why he believes Product Marketing needs to own the problem-solving when this happens (and own prevention), and steps to take to bring these GTM teams to a more unified storytelling place.

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

It has long been a challenge to determine exactly what metrics and KPIs Product Marketing should "own." Win rates are one, but also somewhat debated and controversial. Deliverables-based metrics, such as number of analyst mentions and 'managing product launches,' aren't really measuring outcomes as much as work. In this episode of Said Differently, Pendo co-founder and CEO/founder of the 24 and Up startup studio Eric Boduch joins us to share his perspectives on how the measurement of Product Marketing is on the cusp of evolving and maturing -- and how this means only good things for PMMs and their future path to CMO seats.

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

In this episode of Said Differently, a video series focused on B2B Storytelling and Messaging, we welcome former Chief Marketing Officer of Visier and Pendo, Jake Sorofman, who has also spent time as a Gartner VP and analyst. Jake talks about the critical importance of successful messaging and why the C-suite, especially the CEO, should care deeply about this. Jake shares why he believes great messaging is a top growth driver, second only to having solid products. And he suggests how Marketing leaders should navigate messaging and its prioritization with the CEO.

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

Why Product Marketing in B2B Must Shift Left to Drive More Value

In this episode of Troupe's Said Differently podcast, the show about B2B messaging and storytelling veers into more strategic territory. Product Marketing is so much more than crafting messages, managing launch plans, and developing content. Guest Tom Crist, who is a principal at product marketing consultancy Fluvio Marketing and an ambassador for the Product Marketing Alliance, talks about their team's survey finding and report about how PMMs can close the revenue gap by being brought in earlier.

Key moments in the conversation:

03:41 = Product Marketing still struggles with a misunderstanding of its role. Tom acknowledges it’s not often taught in business curriculum programs and that a consumer-brand product marketer still looks different than it does in tech and B2B.

07:45 = To that end: how do you hire and manage a Product Marketing role you don’t really understand? Tom says the expectation for this position should not be to staff a glorified content creator or project manager, but someone who can understand the customer deeply and bring that knowledge back to product and GTM strategy.

10:55 = Fluvio’s report on the "PMM Revenue Gap: Why Product Marketing is Often Measured Too Late to Matter." Product Marketing still often left out of the early decision-making process around what to build, for who, why and the goals, because they aren’t valued for expertise on the buyer.

15:22 = Difficulty of a product marketer to move into that strategic influence role if there are founders in that role or someone else who has historically held that territory. The report found that bringing data and insights to the table significantly outpaced other reasons for earning that seat.

18:24 = Practical things that PMMs can do to shift left. On his list: Take the time to conduct the market and buyer research. Seek segmentation characterized by useful specificity that can inform demand generation campaigns.

23:19 = Emphasis on the metrics for PMMs, which is the output, what you are measuring. There’s been a hesitation to standardize PMM KPIs due to attribution complexity, which Fluvio highlights in their report, and solutions like Troupe are putting data metrics around measuring messaging impact.

30:05 = What are the traits of a ‘superstar’ PMM that you would hire today, what experience and characteristics do they have? Knowing the domain of the market and buyer you’re targeting, and if you don’t have it, what is your process and work in getting to deeply understand it. Need to also understand all the elements of the entire PMM umbrella, not be highly specialized in just one piece. Also being an internal champion for your role and your strategic opportunity.

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

How Do You Define and Measure the Emerging Role of Chief Storyteller?

In this episode of Troupe's podcast SAID DIFFERENTLY, fractional head of storytelling for OWOW Agency Elliott Rayner digs into the increased attention being given to crafting and bringing winning stories and narratives to market. Elliott has authored books and runs workshops applying his specific framework that helps to align teams from the outset so that your messaging isn't just consistently practiced, but is connected to commercial outcomes.

Key moments in the conversation:

02:07 = Buzz around creating roles and teams for storytelling, but how do you define the role and its responsibility. 

06:21 = Connecting your story and messaging to commercial success.

08:31 = Lessons from B2C applied to B2B dynamics, especially with information overload and shrinking attention spans. 

11:10 = His go-to framework with three components for helping teams reach an improved and confidently-aligned narrative to tell the market. 

16:04 = Head of storytelling can't just be externally oriented, but needs the trust and buy-in of the teams.

18:21 = How solutions like Troupe can help "prove it" with the data that measures and improves alignment and shows the connection to pipeline and revenue outcomes.

21:20 = Is this a full-time role or just an area of ownership for an existing role? Elliott sees two possible paths for the role, either an evolution of the brand role or it will have more of an emphasis on narrative and its consistency.

23:49 = How does the new world of AI accelerating product feature-shipping velocity impact the shelf life of messaging and your narrative?

For more resources, visit Elliott's website for his free ebook "Product Marketing: The Story Engine" and more: https://www.productnarratives.com/

Finding winning messages with Troupe: https://www.troupe.ai/stories/product-news-winning-messages

#messaging #storytelling #chiefmarketingofficer #productmarketing #b2bmarketing #marketingstrategy #positioning 

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

#messaging  #startups  #founders  #b2bmarketing  #entrepreneurship   #b2bstrategy 

Messaging at the Early Stages: Lessons From and For B2B Startups

In this episode of Troupe’s podcast show SAID DIFFERENTLY, the focus is on messaging challenges and opportunities at the early stages for a B2B company. With guest Deirdre Mahon, who is VP of Marketing at startup venture studio super{set}, she and host Jennifer Sikora (advisor to Troupe) discuss their experiences and lesson learned working at and advising pre-seed companies.

The conversation is filled with their real-world examples of how to evolve the founder’s way of telling the story to the market; finding the market feedback signals that help you adjust your message; the risks in thinking about creating a new solution category too soon; and more.

Key timestamps in the episode:

02:30 = Differences in thinking about messaging at early stage vs. more established companies
05:22 = Evolving the founder’s way of telling the story
06:24 = Daily GTM feedback standups
08:10 = Preventing knee-jerk, premature messaging changes; What is the insertion point to lead to conversion; finding patterns
13:36 = The allure and distraction of wanting to do category creation, lessons learned
19:50 = Examining if it’s time to adjust messaging, looking for the outside-in signals
23:21 = Messaging strategies around “building in public” – how to stay authentic and effective

Read more from Troupe's blog about how to make new messaging succeed: https://www.troupe.ai/stories/why-new-messaging-fails-and-how-to-make-it-succeed

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

We've all experienced "cold" marketing or sales messaging from a company or their representative. Many of us have even been responsible for creating and/or delivering such messaging. You know it when you experience it: It feels clinical; just-the-facts; hard to relate to; and often like a giant deposit of information. It's even worse when it is rife with word salad.

Our guest on this episode of Troupe's Said Differently program, Leilani Garrett, is on a mission to bring "radical empathy" to work cultures. She's a speaker, workshop facilitator, and published author who has harnessed her long experience as a sales executive and client services manager for some of the largest software brands in the world.

In this discussion, Leilani talks about applying empathy to the messaging that B2B companies bring to market in order to develop pipeline, sales, and growth. Topics covered:

• What is "radical empathy" in the context of a working environment?
• Why is so much of our messaging lacking the human touch? How did we get here?
• How can we start to bring empathy into our B2B storytelling: what are some practical examples?
• Real stories from her background that were strong "lessons learned" -- including the pitfalls of over-preparation
• Specific actions you can take to increase empathy across your interactions and content

You can download the "Radical Empathy Playbook" for free from her website at: https://www.leilani-garrett.com/

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

Turning your company's messaging and go-to-market story into a slide deck sounds easy enough... but for anyone tasked with that job to be done, it's anything but easy. That's the topic in this episode of Said Differently, featuring guest Mikey Mioduski who founded boutique agency GhostRanch Communications and more recently Story Camp as a smaller-scale learning retreat focused on presentation skills-building. Mikey has been focused on slide development and perfection for more than 15 years, and brings some great practical advice and perspective for anyone wrestling with building the ideal deck.

With host Jennifer Sikora, the discussion covers a LOT of ground in 30 minutes:

• How he and his team approach a new client project to convert messaging goals into a solid first call deck
• Striking the right balance of content on any given slide vs. talk track
• Building the story – conceptually and literally: Thinking through a narrative arc and sequence
• Being memorable vs. trying to say everything. Focusing on a core, central “big idea” to ensure that's the recipient's takeaway
• Preventing slides that look good "on paper" but don’t execute well in delivery
• Measuring if the slides are working, adoption levels, and Troupe’s opportunity to bring those insights
• What to do about those who don’t want to use slides
• Keeping it a conversation, not a lecture, by baking in interaction and discovery points
• His goals for Story Camp – helping attendees become better presenters and honing the craft of presentations.
• “Lightening round” questions about his slide preferences.
  
  Credits:
  Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
  Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
  Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

What happens when you apply behavioral change model thinking to your content strategy? That's the topic with guest Scott Stransky, founder and content lead at Thrū Content, in this episode of Troupe's Said Differently program. As Scott describes, bringing in a more human-oriented framework means you get content that is focused on the buyer's mindset -- especially in terms of stage of readiness to take actions to change their situation. During this discussion, he talks with host Jennifer Sikora about:

• Shifting from (and co-existing with) a linear sales funnel content approach to a persona-readiness philosophy
• Practical ways this manifests in content development and tailoring
• Why value storytelling and ROI metrics need a rethink in order to drive more engagement and relevance to the audience's role
• How his team has built an AI model to help them accelerate role-based strategy work for clients
• The importance of measuring content's contribution towards revenue progress and amplifying new content ideas that prove their power

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundm...

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

In this second part of Troupe's SAID DIFFERENTLY show's extended conversation with Brett Queener -- currently a managing partner at Bonfire Ventures -- we get his perspective on the importance of GTM messaging from his position as a board member and investor in his many portfolio companies. Brett talks about:

**The framework he takes his founders through as an exercise to sharpen their messaging
**Among all the levers for growth that are available, how to identify signals that it's your GTM story that needs to be addressed
**Why you should take an honest look at your messaging every 30 days, especially in the face of faster product innovation and competitors' moves
**When does story become a board-level concern?
**The persistent misunderstanding of the Product Marketing role and why doing it well is crucial to strong market positioning and GTM storytelling -- and how AI can help bring much-needed insights and persona-based personalization

You can catch part one of our conversation with Brett in the previous podcast episode, where he talks about lessons learned from the early days of his leading Salesforce's go-to-market entry into the CRM market.

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.

As more companies bring AI solutions to the market, what can we learn from the past when other major technology shifts happened? Looking back on the time when solutions moved from on-premise hosting to cloud-based/SaaS "on demand' is a great lesson -- and we talked to one of the leaders from that era of GTM story shift. 

In this first part of an extended conversation with Brett Queener -- currently a managing partner with Bonfire Ventures -- we hear from his time as a top marketing and revenue executive at Salesforce who was there during their "no software" campaigning. He recalls how they approached a highly competitive situation vs. the CRM leader at the time, Siebel. Brett shares his top take-aways from that period and how that shaped the way he advises companies today as a board member.

You can also view Part 2 of the discuss, during which Brett talks about messaging from the standpoint of being an investor and board member: https://youtu.be/Bx9m237TiTE

Credits:
Troupe.ai for sponsorship: https://www.troupe.ai
Graphic and production support: 24 and Up
Music: https://pixabay.com/users/backgroundmusicforvideos-46459014/

Said Differently is sponsored by Troupe, the AI hub for messaging success. You can watch the video versions of these podcasts on our YouTube playlist.