Helping a new unicorn tell a bigger product story

Product Messaging | Sales Messaging

Outreach is the market-leading sales engagement platform and one of the fastest growing tech companies in N. America. A newly-minted unicorn, the company set aggressive growth targets across enterprise business, new industries and verticals. To help achieve these goals, Punchy partnered with Outreach's product marketing team for a Messaging Strategy engagement.

"Messaging is the foundation of everything we do. If you get that wrong, it doesn’t matter what else you do. Punchy brought simplicity and a point of view to our messaging that have become pillars for our marketing and sales teams.”

Jordan Greene, Director of Product Marketing

Challenges

Pitch the product in a bigger way

Outreach created the Sales Engagement category, which was only recognized and understood by a small segment of tech companies. They needed to show people what this category meant, and how it could benefit their organization.

Shift perception from a sales tool to an enterprise platform

Outreach was widely perceived as a prospecting tool for Sales Development Reps within SaaS companies – not the enterprise-grade customer engagement platform they had become. They needed help telling a bigger story about their product’s strategic value to an organization.

Simplify the messaging for new audiences

Outreach needed to simplify the benefits and features of their sophisticated technology. Their technical messaging worked with a small segment of tech-savvy buyers, but went over the heads of wider audiences. It made prospects think the product was too complicated or “more than we need.”

"We wanted our messaging to do a better job of speaking our customers’ language. Punchy helped us see our product under a different lens, so we could explain it in the best way possible.”

Solution

Built a story around Outreach’s customer (not just features)

This enabled Punchy to develop a messaging hierarchy around what truly mattered to prospects and customers.

Aligned & galvanized internal teams in a workshop

Punchy facilitated a one-day workshop with leaders from Sales, Product, Customer Success and Marketing teams. Blending findings from customer interviews and group exercises, the team workshopped ideas for Outreach’s messaging and positioning. By the afternoon, everyone had aligned on a general direction for the story.

Articulated Outreach’s “Why”

During the workshop, we drew out Outreach’s “why” or driving purpose: to make life easier for salespeople. This resulted in a new stake in the ground for Outreach -- Sell Easier -- which captured the essence of why the company exists. This emotional approach was new for the company.

Developed an authentically different brand voice

The sales tech space was awash with salesy lingo. But that didn’t fit Outreach, a thoughtful and intelligent organization that cared deeply about helping salespeople. We defined Outreach’s voice as helpful, genuine and inspiring. This simpler, more human language enabled them to stand out in the market.

“It was great to have Punchy talk to our customers and present their perspective during the workshop. Punchy showed us how to take these customer insights and actually do something with them.”

Results

Consistency across marketing & sales activities

The messaging framework serves both marketing and sales teams, ensuring Outreach tells a consistent story to the market.

Everyone aligned — & excited — about one story

After the workshop, teams felt excited and included in the story -- and excited to bring it to life in their own departments.

Differentiated Outreach from competitors

The new messaging tells a very different story from Outreach’s competitors, solidifying their defensible place in the market.

"Punchy brought crispness, simplicity and a point of view to our messaging. It was nice to see how excited product, sales and marketing got around the message."

"When you’re a company having many conversations in many mediums and channels, how do you sound like the same organization? How do you sell with a story that resonates at scale across different dimensions?
"Now we have that core story. This is how we tell it, these are the words we use, this is why it matters — it’s the only way to succeed as a company.”