If you're an investor or CEO of a scaleup, you probably hear at every board meeting or in general that you have a pipeline problem—it's a top-of-funnel issue. We don't get enough leads, or our pipeline is flat. If we had more leads, we'd close more business—a linear relationship, right? As the CEO, you could communicate that to investors, or the CEO might get that narrative from the CMO / CRO.
You may need to reframe the problem. It could be that you have a messaging problem. Write that down and think about it. Challenge your current thinking around how strong and compelling your messaging is to your audience. In short, the issue often lies in your messaging—it's not that people aren't seeing it; they don't feel compelled to act.
I have learned that many companies respond by doubling down on marketing spend or feeling like they need to add more channels or do more (classic: let's do more outbound). They start running more ads, email campaigns, or attending more events, all with the idea that revenue will follow if more people hear about the product. It's tempting to think the problem is just reaching—but it's not. The real issue is whether your messaging lands with the people you need to convert. More exposure won't fix a message that isn't clear or compelling.
Let's say you're running LinkedIn ads targeting decision-makers at tech companies. Your ad gets a ton of impressions but no meaningful clicks or conversions. Why? The messaging is too generic—it's either talking about your product's features or repeating industry buzzwords without addressing the core pain point your customer is dealing with.
For example, you might say, "Our platform integrates with all your tools." That's fine, but does it address why the customer cares? Not really. What needs to be added is the connection to their problem. They may be struggling with wasted time managing data across platforms, and that integration could save them a few hours a day. That's what they care about.
Rather than focusing on increasing awareness, start by refining your message to hit exactly where it matters. Be specific about the problem your audience is trying to solve, and lead with that. And remember, it's anchored in the real reason people buy—they don't buy a workflow tool; they buy time and convenience.
For example, instead of the generic messaging above, say something like:
"Wasting time jumping between apps? Our platform cuts admin time in half by integrating all your tools into one view, so you can focus on scaling your business."
Now, you're speaking directly to an audience frustrated with inefficiencies in their tech stack. You've connected the value of your product to a specific pain they feel, which makes it much more likely they'll take action.
Action action action.
Here's what you can do today to make sure your messaging is as sharp as it needs to be:
1. Review your last five marketing emails, ads, or sales collateral – Do they focus on your customer's problem, or are they just talking about what your product does? Edit each one to lead with an apparent problem your audience is dealing with and how your product/service solves it. The goal is to be short, compelling, and simple enough to understand. Is the message strong enough to challenge someone to take action? Think hard about that one.
2. Interview your customers – Ask your best customers why they use your product and what pain points it's solving for them. Use their words to refine your message—nothing beats matching customer languaging to make your messaging specific and relevant.
Here are two great questions to ask*:
1. Why did you buy NOW?
2. Why did you choose US?
If you ask these questions during onboarding, post-contracts, or even a few months after closing, you'll get amazing insight that can be incorporated into your messaging.
3. Simplify your call to action – Make sure your messaging creates action for the prospect because your message creates the feeling of action. Whether booking a demo or scheduling a call, please don't make your audience think too hard about what to do next. At the same time, think about your messaging to get the prospect to "the next step" that seamless and persuasive messaging. Don't try to sell everything "all at once." Think of your messaging as building next-step layers in the sales funnel.
By focusing on your customer's real problem (it seems so damn obvious, but often we forget this because we know getting clear on your messaging is super hard). Then, clearly show how you solve it and build the "root cause" issues into an interesting POV, so you'll create messages that drive meaningful results without wasting your marketing budget.
