Company messaging is important to getting your message across, especially when your product is more complicated than baskets or Uber for basket weavers. But for many B2B companies, the problem is speaking to multiple audiences at once. When messages try to serve everyone, they often end up resonating with no one.
To identify your primary audience, review the data that supports your business goals so you can make a clear case to management. Your target audience may be different than who you and management think it is. Ask your data who buys your products most often and spends the most money.
You may have a single business client that brings in $10,000 per month, but if you also have 100 SMBs that each bring in $1,000 per month, your audience is SMBs. If, on top of that, you have a million individual creators on a free plan, your target audience is still SMBs. The right audience is not always the most fun or the most numerous. Focus on the one that generates your income.
How Squarespace focuses on its core audience
Squarespace focuses its message on the audience that generates its revenue.
What they do well:
- Close messaging.
- Concrete words.
- Quick CTA to try the product.
The message “A Website Makes It Real” speaks directly to entrepreneurs, small businesses, and solopreneurs looking to build a website. Their view is that having a website will make the business real and make it accessible to everyone on the web.
Squarespace doesn’t just sell websites to entrepreneurs. It also has a robust enterprise offering, but the same message aimed at very small businesses will resonate with businesses, especially those that have not yet invested in a modern, well-designed website.
Since its IPO in 2021, Squarespace has achieved 94% of its revenue through subscription products, and much of that revenue comes from very small business subscriptions costing between $16 and $99 per month.
The homepage has a sleek, modern design to attract non-technical entrepreneurs who want well-designed sites at low prices. While the page provides FAQs, feature lists, and social proof, it also encourages potential customers to start building their free website now. He knows his audience wants to try before they buy to see how easy it is and that those who start building on Squarespace are more likely to buy.
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Write a message to your primary audience
When writing a message to a primary audience, you need to express your value proposition clearly and in words they understand in their own context. Companies often struggle with clarity, especially as they grow, because they think they sound smarter or more sophisticated with bigger words. This is not the case.
Keep these rules in mind when writing posts above the fold:
- No jargon.
- Concrete nouns and verbs.
- Suitable for the main audience.
Look at your homepage and pretend you don’t know anything about your business. Does your homepage tell people what you actually do? Check your copy against the examples below:
| Concrete messages | Jargon-filled messaging |
| HVAC maintenance and repair | Environmental comfort professionals |
| Shipping and warehousing supplies for the cattle industry | Logistical support for the cattle business |
Follow your concrete description with the explanation of what sets your business apart – again written for the primary audience. Let’s look at the Mindbody homepage for an example.
How Mindbody Targets Its Revenue Generating Audience
Mindbody focuses its messaging on small businesses, the audience that generates its revenue.
What they do well:
- Identified and focused on their target: small fitness businesses.
- Clear, high-impact messages above the fold.
- Easy access for secondary audiences.
Depending on the size of the text, when you land on mindbodyonline.com, your eyes will turn to the main headline: “More revenue. More customers. More growth.” The next place your eyes turn is the “Run your business with confidence” line, followed by the “Get a Demo” CTA button.
In quick succession you get:
- What their product can do for them.
- How does this help do this.
- Where to go to get it now.
Of course, there is other smaller text on the page that expands on the message, but these three lines make a powerful statement.
MindBody made a clear decision to address the audience that actually makes money: small businesses. I bet if MindBody looked at its audience, more individual consumers would visit its website – but that’s not who it wants to do business with. Her income comes from helping small businesses run their fitness businesses with confidence.
MindBody isn’t completely ignoring consumers, however. There is a clear call to action for consumers to navigate to pages designed for them in the main menu area. It’s an elegant solution for directing everyone to exactly where they want to be.
Turn your message into action
All of the examples we’ve discussed so far have clear, focused messages. It’s not enough to close deals if the message is buried on the page. These examples are all:
- Put the post above the fold in the hero section.
- Include a direct CTA to what their primary audience wants.
When you tailor your message to the primary audience, put it first on the page, use font hierarchy to grab the reader’s attention (make it bigger than anything else in that section), and add the right CTA, you’ve created an audience-friendly hero section.
During the research phase, most people expect to have to do a little digging to find lists of prices, products, or features. But when you prioritize the right message and the next right action, they feel that ease and it can often feel like customer service magic. We attribute the feeling of ease that a simple sign-up or initial navigation gives us to the product itself.
How Adobe connects messaging directly to action
Adobe connects its messaging directly to the next step users want to take: understanding pricing and plans.
What they do well:
- Shortcut access to the pricing page.
- Speaking to creators as individuals and corporate departments.
Adobe’s flagship line on adobe.com, “Everything you need to create anything,” speaks directly to creators, as people in all fields purchase and influence purchasing decisions for the Adobe suite. The message is aimed at both artists and business people who consider themselves artists.
This general message almost feels like cheating: are they actually telling us what they do in real terms? I would say yes, it does, and part of Adobe’s advantage is that everyone already knows what they’re doing.
Even more interesting? The main CTA on the home page takes you directly to the “rates and packages” page. This shows that Adobe knows two things:
- People already know who they are and what they do. They don’t have to sell themselves.
- People are trying to understand how much the services will cost them.
Once on the pricing page, buyers can self-select the vertical they need. Adobe reduced the purchasing journey on adobe.com to two clicks and likely saw higher sales because it made it easier for shoppers to find and purchase the products they want.
Manage your chaos with a clear message
A clear message to the right audience, accompanied by the right call to action, makes that audience feel seen, understood, and to some extent, intelligent. These feelings of ease, simplicity, understanding and intelligence make people feel good and create positive associations with your brand. These good feelings can go a long way in building brand allegiance and generating revenue.
