How to create a compelling story for technical products

This article is based on a workshop delivered by Daniel Scott at the Product Marketing Summit in Las Vegas. Catch up on this session, and others, using our OnDemand service. For more exclusive content, visit your membership dashboard.

Managing the release of multiple products at the same time can be challenging. In an ideal world, you’d have a beautifully laid-out plan with one feature release neatly following another. 

Unfortunately, that’s not always how it goes. 

In just one quarter, you might have 10 to 15 features all coming out at around the same time, while different teams all battle to find a space in the launch calendar. It can be overwhelming, to say the least. 

That's why I came up with a simple framework that allows us to create compelling storytelling, messaging, and sales and marketing collateral efficiently and consistently. This way, we don't have to reinvent the wheel every time a new feature comes out. 

I’m going to share that framework with you today, covering how to find and tell the story of a product that you're launching. I'll also be sharing seven storytelling methods you can use to make even the most complex products easy for customers to wrap their heads around.

Just a quick caveat before we get into it: This isn't about company-level storytelling, which you'll usually work on with your CEO and others. This is specifically for tier-one and tier-two product and feature releases. 

Step one: Collect the context

When the product team comes to you with their next product, the first step is to understand all the components or attributes of that product.

You may have to do some digging to uncover things like how the product was built and what technology underpins it. And, of course, you need to know about the problem it solves as well as any integrations. These could be great sources of differentiation or value for customers.

Step two: Whittle down your list of product attributes

Once you’ve listed all those vital product attributes, the next step is to hone in on the ones that align with your company's strategic value proposition and what your customers care about the most. 

From that condensed list, you should cross off, or deprioritize, the features and attributes that your competitors are already offering. 

I like to use a checklist to go through this process more efficiently. This helps me create a clear and concise version of the message we’re going to release to the market.

Step three: Tell your story!

With these key components in hand, it’s time to create your messaging and positioning doc. 

Now, let me run through an example of what this process might look like from start to finish:

1. Product attributes: Machine-learning-driven capabilities, reports based on the goals you set, and natural language querying.
2. Key selling points: See workflows, not clicks; pinpoint problem areas instantly; Let your goals drive the findings.
3. The enemy/problem: Watching recorded sessions or poring through analytics.
4. The story in a sentence: See your app through your customers’ eyes.

Once you have your story (a.k.a. your messaging and positioning), the next step is deciding how to tell that story to the market.