Explore every episode of the podcast Better Messaging

Messaging shouldn't feel this hard.

If you’re staring at a complex product, an oversaturated market, and a mountain of conflicting opinions from stakeholders, you aren’t alone. Whether you’re a founder trying to find your voice or a marketer struggling to align multiple buyers, the "messy middle" of messaging is where most brands get stuck.

On Better Messaging, Emma Stratton, author and B2B messaging expert, is pulling back the curtain on how to turn technical complexity into clarity. Drawing from a decade of experience partnering with hundreds of tech companies, from seed-stage startups to global household names, Emma shares the practical frameworks and real-world lessons needed to make people actually care about what you’re building.

What to expect:

• Practical Frameworks and actionable strategies to simplify your value proposition
• Real-Life examples of what works (and what doesn’t) in the B2B tech world
• Expert guidance and answers to the biggest questions surrounding positioning and copy

Stop second-guessing your words and start driving results. Subscribe now and let’s make it punchy.

Ever felt like a brand was speaking directly to your soul? That’s the magic of real, relatable messaging.

In this episode, host Emma Stratton reveals how messaging - when it's real, human, and punchy - can elevate your marketing. She shares the story of a bank headline that seemed to read her mind, demonstrating how tapping into authentic emotions and everyday struggles can make your brand truly memorable. Say goodbye to dry, corporate speak, and start connecting with your audience on a deeper human level.

If your messaging feels a bit flat, this episode is for you. Tune in as Emma explains how to break through the noise and craft messaging that truly resonates.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(02:38) A bank headline that hooked Emma in

(04:47) Why B2B sounds so dry

(07:29) What makes emotional messaging stick

(12:47) How relatable messaging works
(16:11) The Say It Like You Would at the BBQ Exercise

(22:31) Talk to your customers to inspire relatable messaging

If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today!

Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ 

Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Getting internal buy-in on messaging can be one of the hardest parts of the work.

Join Emma Stratton as she shares how to build alignment across a diverse group of stakeholders without getting stuck in endless opinions and feedback loops. She walks through her process for bringing the right people in, using customer insights to guide decisions, and helping teams respond to real examples rather than abstract ideas.

If you’re trying to get everyone on the same page around new messaging, this episode will give you a practical place to start. 

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(02:07) A story about getting a big team aligned
(05:21) How to build a cross-functional messaging team
(08:52) Get clear on the goal of the messaging
(11:09) Talk to sales, study the market, and hear from customers
(13:31) Use working sessions to show real options
(18:56) When the messaging problem is really a strategy problem
(20:54) How to handle pushback and fear
(25:25) What to do when alignment does not happen

If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today!

Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ 

Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

In this episode, Emma Stratton explores why so many tech companies end up with “naming debt” after giving every product its own unique, branded name. She explains why naming gets emotional, why clever names often create extra work for buyers, and why descriptive names usually make a product portfolio clearer, simpler, and easier to navigate.

If your product menu is starting to feel like a word salad, this episode will help you rethink your naming approach. Tune in as Emma shares why simple, descriptive product names can build more clarity for buyers and more flexibility for your marketing team.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(02:11) What naming debt looks like

(03:58) Why naming gets so emotional

(05:47) What makes descriptive names work better

(09:06) How clear product names help buyers

(12:02) Why naming needs a system

(13:54) Three reasons to keep names simple

(17:15) How product names compete with your brand

If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today!

Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ 

Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Messaging can miss when it’s too technical, too vague, or sitting at the wrong level for your audience.

In this episode, Emma Stratton shows how to put messaging altitude into practice. Building on the previous episode, she introduces two simple prompts, “So what?” and “But how?”, that help you adjust a message when it feels too technical, too vague, or too far removed from what your audience actually cares about.

Emma explains how “So what?” can raise the altitude of a message by moving it from features toward clearer benefits and value, while “But how?” can bring a vague message back down to something more specific, concrete, and believable. If Episode 3 helped you understand altitude, this episode will help you use it to diagnose what feels off and find the right level for your message.

In this episode:
(00:00) Intro
(00:41) A marketer with a value proposition problem
(02:53) What “message altitude” actually means
(05:15) The signs your messaging is too technical
(07:11) Using “So what?” to raise altitude
(08:23) Turning technical features into executive-level value
(12:46) The opposite problem: messaging that’s too broad
(15:33) Using “But how?” to get more specific
(18:38) Matching altitude to your audience
(22:12) Finding the messaging sweet spot

New to altitude? Start with the previous episode, where Emma breaks down the concept and explains why the right level matters: [LINK HERE]

If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today!

Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/
Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/

Ever written messaging that looked good on the page but still didn’t land? The problem might be altitude.

In this episode, Emma Stratton introduces the concept of messaging altitude, or the difference between broad, high level messaging and specific, technical messaging. She breaks down why messages that sit too high can feel vague or overpromised, while messages that sit too low can get buried in details before your audience understands why they should care.

Using examples across different audiences, Emma shows why the strongest messaging usually sits somewhere in the middle, where it meets your audience at their eye level. If you loved this episode, be sure to check out the next one, where Emma gets into putting altitude into practice with two prompts you can use to find the right level for your message.

In this episode:

(00:00) Intro

(01:03) What altitude means in messaging

(01:53) Why vague messages fall flat

(03:30) Finding the message that feels just right

(04:30) How messaging gets too high level

(06:30) How to make the value clear

(08:00) Make technical messaging easier to understand

(12:30) When to take your message higher

(15:30) When to get more specific

(20:00) Meet your audience at eye level

Loved this episode? Be sure to check out the next one where we get into putting altitude into practice.

If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today!

Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ 

Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/

Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/