Messaging Foundations: How to Beat Writer's Block

It’s three weeks until the end of the quarter, you still have to hit your sales quota, and you have your email open with a fresh new target list. *Enter* Writer's block.

We’ve all been there. Whether you're mid-campaign or starting from scratch, sometimes you're not sure where to start, let alone figure out how to convince your prospects in 5 seconds and one line of copy to have a meeting with you.

A little pro-tip from our team: Go back to the basics.

Simply take a step back and jot down a value statement. What value do you provide for your target audience? The following formula can be used to help you refine yours:

WHO: Who are you targeting?
PROBLEM: What problem are they facing?
SOLUTION: What is your solution to that problem?
VALUE: What value does your solution provide?
IMPACT: What positive impact has this resulted in?

Now throw that into a short statement…

VALUE STATEMENT: For [WHO] who face [PROBLEM], [YOUR COMPANY] is a [SOLUTION] that can help them [VALUE]. Similar companies have [PROOF] with [YOUR COMPANY].

If you nail this, you’ll have 90% of what you need to craft outbound messaging that will get you meetings. We promise.

Let’s take a look at some examples:

Slack's value statement

Slack, like most software companies, has several different buyer personas. For each of these buyer personas, the company’s value statement looks a little different. As will yours! Be sure to jot down a value statement for each of your buyer personas.

Here’s an example of what the company’s value statement for startup customers could look like:

WHO: Founders of early-stage startups
PROBLEM: Maintaining high team productivity
SOLUTION: A collaboration tool for teams
VALUE: Makes work simpler and more productive
IMPACT: Generate more results, in less time

VALUE STATEMENT: For founders of early-stage startups who need to break down communication silos and maintain high productivity, Slack is a collaboration tool for teams that makes work simpler and more productive. Similar companies have generated more results in less time with Slack.

Apollo's value statement

At Apollo (meta, we know, but bear with us) one of our buyer personas is recruiters. Here’s an example of what our value statement looks like:

WHO: Business Development Directors at Mid-Market Recruiting Agencies
PROBLEM: It takes them forever to reach out to hiring managers at companies
SOLUTION: All-in-one engagement platform
VALUE: Find hiring managers with active job postings and get their email / reach out in seconds
IMPACT: Save hours every day

VALUE STATEMENT: For Directors at Mid-Market Recruiting Agencies who waste hours reaching out to hiring managers, Apollo is an all-in-one engagement platform that can help them find prospects with active job postings and reach out in seconds. Recruiters save hours every day with Apollo.

In this example our “who” isn’t just about the type of company we’re reaching out to. Instead, we’ve written this value statement to a very specific Apollo buyer persona. The more specific you can be in your value statements and who you are writing them for, the more effective your messaging will be.

To summarize, below are 3 key tips for getting your value statement right:

1. Narrow-in on the problem you solve: Your buyers are likely facing multiple problems that you can help solve. Pick one - the most important one to them.
2. Write for each buyer persona: Don’t try to write a value statement that speaks to multiple buyers. Jot down one for all of your top personas.
3. The more specific, the better: Don’t shy away from getting as specific as possible with the persona you are writing for.

The bottom line - keep it simple, keep it targeted.