The Messaging Gap: Why B2B Teams Feel Behind

Every year, I speak with dozens of clients about their messaging. And every year, I hear the same refrain: “We’re behind.” Whether it’s new buyers, changing regulations, shifting tariffs, or the latest genAI model, something is always changing — and messaging is always out of date. The problem isn’t just that they need to update the message. The challenge is that when buyers ask sellers questions for which they don’t have a good response, the sellers do their best to answer but lack a unified voice. Buyers then end up bearing the brunt as they hear one message from a seller, another from marketing materials, and still another from the product expert with whom they love to engage. B2B marketers face an enormous challenge to adapt messaging to meet evolving buyer expectations. Are they equipped with the right processes to do so?

Buyers Are Overwhelmed And Underserved

Today, 71% of buyers note that providers talk more about their own solutions than they do about buyer needs. And 55% of technology decision-makers agree that the content they get from providers doesn’t deliver enough differentiation to help them understand who they should choose. Marketers are failing buyers who are trying to make a purchase decision in an evermore complicated and challenging market. There are too many options, there’s too much information, and it’s all discordant.

The result of this marketing frustration and buyer mayhem? Messaging that doesn’t resonate or differentiate and definitely isn’t responsive. Today’s most effective messaging isn’t just well crafted; it’s agile. Responding swiftly to evolving buyer needs and market dynamics gives marketers a crucial edge.

Introducing The Forrester B2B Buyer Messaging Cycle

That’s why my colleague John Buten and I created the Forrester B2B Buyer Messaging Cycle. Designed to address these challenges, this model helps marketers move fast without losing focus. By using this repeatable, collaborative process, teams can create differentiated, resonant, and responsive messaging in a fraction of the time they would otherwise.

Its strength lies in its agile and iterative approach: starting small, testing early, refining often, and aligning relentlessly. When teams focus only on what’s needed, they can accelerate and ensure that messaging stays relevant and resonant with evolving buyer needs.

The new messaging cycle is designed to enable product and portfolio marketers to incorporate AI into their process. It prioritizes alignment on desired outcomes and messaging strategy to give engines specific direction. Marketers can use AI to expand messaging iteratively for more granular use cases while ensuring consistency and fidelity to the initial direction. Best of all, it enables you to respond to market events and rapidly update granular messaging.

The world is moving fast. Don’t let outdated messaging processes hold you back. Get ahead of the curve by reading our new reports, Introducing The Forrester B2B Buyer Messaging Cycle and Inside The Forrester B2B Buyer Messaging Cycle. You can also join me and John Buten for a live client webinar on October 15 where we will delve into how to make your messaging processes feel more like this!

Photo by Javier de la Maza on Unsplash