Podcast: SAID DIFFERENTLY

Catch episodes of our podcast/videocast focused on B2B messaging and go-to-market storytelling and the expert guests who help us dive in. Available on all major podcast platforms plus on YouTube!

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Ep. 16 · Messaging at the Early Stages

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

Ep. 15 · Why Empathy Means a Stronger Messaging Connection

We've all experienced "cold" or robotic 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

Ep. 14 · You Don't Hate Slides. You Hate Bad Storytelling.

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.

Ep. 13 · Role-based Storytelling in a Funnel-focused World

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

Ep. 12 · An Investor and Board Member's View of Messaging and GTM Story

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

Ep. 11 · Lessons Learned from Salesforce's Early GTM Story

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.

Ep. 10 · A Leadership Path for Product Marketing

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?

Ep. 9 · Market Positioning vs. Messaging - and the AI Factor

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?

Ep. 8 · Earned Media's Outsized Role in the AEO/GEO/SEO Era

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

Ep. 7 · Using AI for Messaging Help - Opportunities and Risks

This AI-focused episode of the B2B go-to-market storytelling program was taped in person at the Raleigh offices for Troupe, with guests including: 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. Can it also build a stronger alliance between marketing and sales, especially when you're able to truly measure messaging impact with a solution like Troupe? See what they think in this lively conversation.

Ep. 6 · Product Marketing Must Bring the Subject Expertise

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

Ep. 5 · Finding Both Product-Market Fit and Message-Market Fit

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?

Ep. 4 · Building Product Launch Stories That Stick

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?

Ep. 3 · Trust Drives Messaging Alignment for Sales and Marketing

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.

Ep. 2 · Is Product Marketing Ready to be Measured?

It has long been a challenge to determine exactly what metrics 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.

Ep. 1 · The CEO's Stake in Messaging Success

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 analyst for marketing solutions. Jake talks about the critical importance of successful messaging and why the C-suite, especially the CEO, should care deeply about this. Jake considers great messaging second only to having great products. He offers suggestions on how Marketing leadership should navigate messaging prioritization with the CEO.