The marketing stack has become a popular topic over the past decade. Traditionally, when people talk about it, they’re talking about all the martech that underpins modern marketing. But there’s a different stack. One that’s more important…
CRM. MAT. Social listening. Audience research tools. List building applications. Social publishing. Digital ads management. And now, I suppose, generative AI and AI agents. These are all the components of the typical marketing stack.
This stack is important, but it’s tactical. These are the tools we can use to amplify our message into the market. And figure out what’s working. But they’re only useful if we’re pointing them in the right direction.
Communicating the Right Message
Fundamentally, effective marketing is about delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. It always has been, and it always will be. Getting to the right message is equal parts art and science. Strategy and tactics. Rigor and intuition.
To sort through this, I find it useful to frame it as a “marketing message stack.” This stack reads bottom to top and looks like this:
- POV – Your unique perspective on those issues.
- Issues – The business problem(s) the service exists to solve.
- Benefits – The benefits to a client of those features.
- Features – The features of that service.
- Service – The fundamental service you are providing (what you’re selling).
Most firms market at the bottom of the stack. They waste all their valuable resources describing their mousetrap in all its glorious detail. They pump out credentials decks, service line cut sheets, team bios, and project profiles. They inundate prospective clients with lots of information about what they do and who they’ve done it for. The goal is to make their firm “top-of-mind” for clients who have a project just like or similar to the ones the firm has completed in the past.
The most successful firms market at the top of the stack. They focus on the key issues their clients are struggling with. They lead with a strong, differentiated POV on how clients can solve those issues. And they do both relentlessly.
- POV – The most successful firms market here…
- Issues – And here
- Benefits
- Features <– Most firms market here…
- Service <– Or here.
Maybe an Example Will Help…
I conjured this example out of thin air, but it’s loosely based on a real-world firm that just happened to be top-of-mind when I was thinking about this. I suggest reading from bottom to top.
POV (unique perspective)
- Picking the right software isn’t about features and functionality. It’s about understanding how your people use technology to achieve your most critical business priorities.
Issues (key client business problems)
- Major software companies are dropping support for their legacy systems forcing enterprises to migrate to new solutions.
- Many of those legacy systems are deeply entrenched in their businesses; migration is costly, difficult and fraught with risk.
- New cloud- and AI-native systems offer better ways of working but must be fully vetted for the enterprise and will require significant change management to adopt.
Benefits (kenefits of those features)
- Lower likelihood of a bad software decision.
- Higher likelihood of a successful software implementation.
- Higher adoption and alignment across the business.
Features (key features of the service)
- 30+ years in business
- 1,000+ successful selections and implementations
- A proprietary data set mapping business needs to software selection criteria
- Detailed methodology for software selection
Service (what they’re selling)
- Software selection and implementation guidance.
To be clear, many of the messages at the bottom of this hypothetical stack are good ones. They should be part of this firm’s marketing message. But they shouldn’t necessarily be the lead messages. Nor the ones on which it might put most emphasis.
Why Do I Say This?
I know what you’re thinking…” but, Jason, don’t I want to be known for what I do?”
- “We’ve led more Salesforce implementations in the financial services space than any other firm.”
- “We’ve designed more ambulatory care centers than anyone else … we’re experts at that.”
- “We know the ins-and-outs of manufacturing better than any firm. All our people are ex-operators.”
Yes, you do. You want to get those messages across. But you don’t want them to be the lead message. What happens if…
- Salesforce is disrupted by an upstart AI-native CRM platform…
- Healthcare systems shift their investment priorities…
- The manufacturing resurgence we’ve been promised simply doesn’t materialize.
Five Benefits of this Approach
When you market at the top of the stack, great things happen. It enables you to:
- Position around your beliefs, which have greater longevity than your solutions.
- Connect with clients at a philosophical level, leading to greater price elasticity and deeper client relationships.
- “Own” the client issues you solve, which enables you to flex the way you solve them as the market changes.
- Become known for the things clients care most about, which enables you to enter the relationship as a trusted advisor.
- Preserve flexibility and options over time.
One of the things I’ve learned over my 20+ years doing this is that when your marketing leads with your POV, good things almost always follow.
