Few business leaders wake up thinking, “Is our marketing messaging working?” But many wake up wondering, “Why aren’t we generating more leads and closing more deals?” 

There’s a strong, direct connection between those two questions. And as one B2B company recently discovered, a subtle shift in messaging can make a big impact on lead generation and revenue growth. 

Why B2B Messaging Matters 

First, let’s define messaging: It’s how you communicate the value that your company or product delivers to your ideal buyer. Marketers use terms like “value proposition” and “brand pillars” to describe messaging, but in layman’s terms it’s about articulating what you promise to deliver to buyers and how it benefits them, then backing it up with tangible proof. Messaging permeates all your marketing, from your website to blogs, guides, email campaigns, sell sheets, social posts, PR, and more.  

The trouble is that B2B companies tend to focus their messaging on product features and technical details. That’s not surprising, since the internal staff most likely to have input into the marketing direction often come from a product or sales background. It’s easy for them to get caught up in the belief that WHAT the product DOES is the most important message to convey to a prospect, especially for complex products and services.  

Yet, think about WHY a buyer is looking for your company or product in the first place: They want to solve a problem or eliminate a pain point. When a B2B buyer uses an AI-powered search tool, that’s what their questions revolve around. 

They ask: “How can I generate technical reports faster and with fewer errors?” (Not, “How can I find a technical report writing platform with cool auto-formatting features.”) 

Or they ask:  “How can I get the best possible deal when it’s time to sell my company?” (Not “How can I find an investment banker that uses a methodical process for selling a business?”) 

It’s a Strategic Balancing Act 

Getting B2B messaging right is all about placing the emphasis where it counts. Messaging that attracts the right buyers to and through your revenue funnel focuses primarily on the business results they want to achieve. Some of your product features might be great supporting points that prove you can solve the buyer’s problems. But those features shouldn’t come first, nor should they dominate the conversation. 

Admittedly, getting the messaging balance right can be easier said than done, because it almost always meets with objections. For example, sales and product teams often view the offering’s features as the most important differentiator…but that’s rarely the reality. 

In digging in, they miss an important point: Companies that demonstrate they understand their buyer’s challenges—and can solve them—win the business over those that rattle off a laundry list of product or service features.  

What Results-Focused Messaging Looks Like 

In marketing, “showing” is always better than “telling.” So the best way to illustrate how a shift in messaging can drive better results is through an example. 

One of our clients provides cold chain engineering services to pharmaceutical and biotech companies that sell drugs requiring special handling while in transit. (Think: A drug that needs refrigeration or a medication that comes in a fragile, pre-filled syringe.) Their buyers want to get new drugs to market soon after approval, with high integrity, but they need to meet stringent regulatory requirements for testing their transportation plan. Our client solves that problem with sophisticated validation and advisory services. 

Since it’s a complex product and subject, some marketers might lean toward lots of technical detail about how it works. Instead, our team tapped into the buyer’s emotions and what they seek when they partner with a cold chain engineering company: A good night’s sleep. 

These companies spend billions of dollars and many years on R&D, before their product is even ready to go the FDA (or comparable agency outside the US) for approval. To say that a lot is riding on their ability to clear every hurdle along the way is a major understatement. Yes, they need a reliable provider with all the technology and capabilities to validate their transportation plan. But mostly, they want peace of mind.  

This insight drove a shift in messaging that yielded outstanding results. 

Giving the Buyer a Good Night’s Sleep 

The resulting “Good Night’s Sleep” campaign didn’t ignore the scientific evidence these buyers need. It simply made it a supporting point to the main idea: You’ll get the peace of mind you need to rest easy, if you choose our transport validation service. The campaign included emails to re-engage inactive contacts, along with articles, a guide, and a video, all promoted via LinkedIn posts and ads.  

Unexpected visuals of people tossing and turning in bed stood out from the typical marketing that targets functional leaders in the pharma industry. So did headlines like, “Is your cold chain keeping you up at night?” The campaign assets drilled down into what a good night’s sleep means in this context: confidence that your drug products are delivered safely and timely, your cold chain is sustainable, and the process validation itself meets regulatory requirements and reduces compliance risk.  

The technical details weren’t lost in this messaging shift. They were just wrapped in the context of solving the buyer’s problems and eliminating their pain points. 

The Numbers Say it All 

The campaign ran from late October through year-end, traditionally the slowest time for engagement for this client. The results prove that a subtle messaging shift can make a big business impact. 

• Compared to the same period the previous year, leads increased 23% and sales qualified leads (SQLs) rose 42%. 

• The client’s closed won value jumped by 38% for the same period, driving revenue growth. 

• The email portion of the campaign scored all-time-high open rates and enabled the company to re-engage with dormant contacts. 

• One contact commented, “Your team has been putting together great content… Educational and helpful. Great tone to develop trust in your SMEs and brand.” 

Getting Your Messaging on the Right Track 

A strategy-led fractional marketing agency can help you shift your B2B messaging and generate more leads that turn into closed deals. In fact, that’s one of the many ways Marketri drives predictable revenue growth for B2B companies. 

Our Fractional CMOs refine a company’s messaging to ensure it focuses on the outcomes the buyer wants to achieve, not the features the business wants to tout. And we don’t just assume we know what buyers want: We talk to them to get an unbiased view. Our team pairs the findings of those interviews with other research and data, then develops positioning and messaging that demonstrates the business can solve buyers’ problems and deliver tangible value.  

By creating messaging that is relevant, engaging, and resonates with the ideal buyer, Marketri accelerates lead velocity, supercharges new business pipelines, and drives top-line growth. 

If you run a growth-minded B2B company and you’re seeing lackluster results from your marketing, schedule a call with Marketri. We’ll help you pivot from marketing technical features to proving you can solve your buyer’s problem and deliver the outcomes they seek.