As a freelancer and consultant, one of the areas I'm most frequently asked to help with is product messaging and website copy.  There are things in digital marketing that from an outsider may sound much more difficult - such as marketing automation, paid search, or re-targeting, but I'm telling you, those things are a cakewalk compared to writing 1000 words about a product, especially one that you help develop or that you are close to.

I believe there are several reasons why product owners - even marketers - need to bring in an outside perspective before writing their product messaging.

1. Alice in Wonderland Syndrome

Alice in Wonderland syndrome is a neuropsychological condition that affects ones ability to see anything the way it truly is.  Often, it's associated with size distortion, where some items appear bigger than they should, and others smaller.

Now, I don't actually have clients that have this condition, that I know of.  But, I use it as a way to explain how a product can look to the people inside the company, who have been working on it day in and day out.  Some features may be considered mundane and basic, simply because they were easy to conceive and create, while other features importance may be blown out of proportion because the team had to work tirelessly to get them right.

An outside perspective, from someone trained in brand messaging, will help overcome this.

2. Perspective

Ever have someone ask you what your company does, you explain it, and they give you a funny look and a polite nod? They furrow their brow and say something like "ahh hah", and then change the subject?

I haven't figured out why yet, but I've found that it's hard for someone on the "inside" to write copy, or even describe their products and services, from the purchaser's point of view. 

A good messaging writer can help you move past feature-level benefits (our red button is redder than the competitors, that's why they buy us!), and forward into the REAL value propositions that come from your product, such as time-savings, money-savings, or higher-quality outputs.

3. The Illusion that People Will Care

I cringe every time I have to say to a client, "nobody really cares about your product or your company."  I'm currently working on a way to phrase this better with the same impact.  But it's true!  That is UNLESS you can demonstrate how your product/business will benefit them.  Until that point, that lightbulb moment with a consumer or prospect gets the benefit, any message you spit out will fall on deaf ears.

This is because we, as consumers, train ourselves to ignore marketing-speak.  We even skip over entire sentences and paragraphs if our brains give us the learned signals that those words won't help us right here, right now.

A digital branding writer can help you to overcome "marketing-speak" and get to the lightbulb moment with your prospect in all messaging.