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How to scale messaging across multiple products and audiences

Your team knows what you sell. You've defined your positioning. And you have a decent handle on your ICP.

But when someone opens a blank doc to write homepage copy, sales deck content, or a nurture email, they stare at the cursor of doom. Writing every word feels a negotiation between what you know, what your stakeholders told you, and what your customers want.

Here's what's actually happening: You're trying to create copy without the architecture that makes copy possible.

Most teams think messaging is a writing problem. It's not. It's a systems problem.

Last week, Lisa—a subscriber—sent me a question that made me think about how this is gettting more and more relevant with the complexity of our current market. She works for a B2B bearings manufacturer with a complex structure—two parent brands, multiple product lines under one of these, and three distinct buyer types. She needs to create positioning and messaging docs, but can’t figure out how many she needed or how to organize them.

(thank you for the great questions Lisa!)

"This could range anywhere from 4 to 20 documents," Lisa wrote. "I want to make sure I'm organizing everything in the most logical, useful way possible."

The way I read it though isn’t about document count, but about understanding the system itself.

Because once you see how positioning, messaging strategy, and copy work together as connected layers—and what each layer is actually for—you start making sense of the complexity.

The Message-Market Fit hierarchy

Every message your company puts into the world sits on top of three distinct layers:

Positioning (Layer 1): Your strategic foundation. This defines where you play, who you serve, and what combination of capabilities makes you different. It's your ground truth—the thing that makes your approach unique in the market.

Messaging Strategy (Layer 2): Your narrative architecture. This translates your positioning into a repeatable story your team can use across every touchpoint. It connects your internal truth to your buyer's world.

Copy (Layer 3): Your delivery mechanism. This expresses that story through clear, structured words designed for how people actually read, think, and decide. Copy is where clarity meets usability.

Each layer builds on the one below it. Strong copy requires strong messaging. Strong messaging requires clear positioning.

Skip a layer, and everything above it slides around.

What happens when you skip the middle layer

Here's the pattern I see constantly:

A team runs a positioning workshop. They document their competitive alternatives, distinct capabilities, differentiated value, and best-fit customer. They ship a clean positioning canvas and move on.

Then marketing needs to write the homepage. Sales needs to update the deck. Product needs to explain the new feature. Customer success needs to articulate value during onboarding.

Everyone starts from the positioning doc and writes their own version of the story.

Marketing focuses on the vision. Sales pitches the features. Product explains the roadmap. Customer success talks about workflows.

The company loses narrative coherence. Prospects hear different promises at every touchpoint. And no one can figure out why the message isn't working.

The problem: They jumped from Layer 1 (positioning) straight to Layer 3 (copy) without building Layer 2 (messaging strategy) in between.

How the three-layer system solves complex messaging challenges

Lisa's bearings manufacturer question shows exactly why this matters.

She needed positioning and messaging docs for a complex ecosystem: two parent entities (manufacturer and distributor), multiple product brands, and three totally different ICPs (OEM engineers, MRO buyers, regional distributors).

Here's how I would approach her situation:

The three-layer system makes the structure obvious:

Layer 1: Positioning Canvas (one per strategic entity/sub-brand)

The manufacturer entity needs its own positioning. So does the distributor. Each distinct product brand that competes in a different market category or offers unique differentiated value needs its own canvas.

This gives her 4-8 positioning documents defining the strategic foundation.

Layer 2: Messaging Playbooks (one per ICP × entity)

Each ICP interacts with these brands differently. OEM engineers care about specs and compatibility. MRO buyers prioritize availability and speed. Regional distributors need partnership terms and margin.

I would create messaging playbooks that translate the core positioning into language each audience understands—their pain points, their decision criteria, their proof needs.

For Lisa, this would create 9-15 messaging playbooks. But they're not reinventing the position. They're just “translating” it.

Layer 3: Copy (draws from Layers 1 and 2)

Now if, in Lisa’s shoes I’d write a product page, sales email, or trade show booth copy, I could pull from the relevant positioning canvas and messaging playbook.

The copy will be different for each asset and channel—adapting to context, angle, and voice—but you don't need separate strategic docs because you're pulling from the architecture above it.

The SaaS parallel: Same system, different industry

Say you're a CRM platform with three product tiers (startup, growth, enterprise) serving three audiences (sales leaders, rev ops, and C-suite execs).

Layer 1: Positioning

• Core platform positioning (shared foundation)
• Enterprise tier positioning (if it solves different alternatives and offers distinct value)

Layer 2: Messaging Playbooks

• Sales leaders × product tiers they care about
• Rev ops × relevant tiers
• C-suite × relevant tiers (emphasizing strategic value vs. tactical benefits)

Each playbook takes the same positioning and translates it into that audience's language, using their pain points and decision criteria.

Layer 3: Copy

• Homepage pulls from core positioning + primary ICP messaging
• Enterprise page pulls from enterprise positioning + C-suite messaging
• Rev ops landing page pulls from positioning + rev ops playbook

You're not creating 20 versions of your story. You're creating one position per distinct value proposition, then systematically translating it for the audiences who need it.

Why understanding the system makes execution easy

When you see these three layers as a connected system—not isolated documents—a few things become clear:

Your positioning lives at the strategic level. It defines your unique combination of capabilities and the value that creates. You need one positioning canvas per entity or sub-brand that competes differently in the market.

Your messaging lives at the audience level. It translates your positioning into narrative that resonates with specific personas. For complex situations, you need one playbook per ICP that has fundamentally different pain points, decision criteria, or proof needs. For simpler products, one Messaging Framework with appendix Value Prop Canvases per ICP is enough.

Your copy lives at the context level. It delivers your messaging in formats designed for how people read and decide, where you engage with them. You write it from the layers above it.

This is how your message can scale without fragmenting.

When your positioning is strong and shared, your messaging strategy becomes clearer. When your messaging strategy is documented, your copy becomes easier to write.

The thing nobody tells you about complex messaging

Whether you're a bearings manufacturer with a multi-brand ecosystem or a SaaS platform with tiered products and diverse buyers, the system stays the same.

Positioning defines your difference. Messaging translates it into story. Copy delivers it in context.

Once you understand how these three layers work together—and what each layer is actually for—the final product comes easy.

Even for complex products.

Because you're no longer writing copy in a vacuum. You're executing a system.

One more thing: What if your situation is simpler?

Lisa's bearings company needed a complex, multi-layered documentation system because she's managing two parent entities, multiple product brands, and three distinct ICPs.

But not every company faces that level of complexity.

If your product is more straightforward, meaning one core offering, maybe a couple of pricing tiers, and a primary ICP with some variation—you don't need 15 messaging playbooks.

Here's what you need instead:

One Positioning Canvas that defines your market category, competitive alternatives, distinct capabilities, differentiated value, and best-fit customer. This is your strategic foundation.

One Messaging Framework that translates that positioning into your complete story system—your value stack, strategic narrative, sales pitch variations, key messaging pillars, and brand voice guidelines.

Appendix: Value Proposition Canvas per ICP to expand your messaging for each audience variation. This captures their specific pains, implications of those pains, your solution, the benefits they care about, their jobs to be done, and example value prop copy.

The Value Prop Canvas lives as an appendix to your main Messaging Framework. It's the same system, positioning, messaging strategy, copy, just organized more simply because your go-to-market is less complex.

The principle stays the same: understand what each layer is for, document it systematically, and your copy becomes easier to create and scale.

Whether you need 4 documents or 15, the system works. You just apply it at the right level of granularity for your situation.

Need help implementing it? Let’s see if we can help you.

DISCOVERY

How to discover—and message to—your ideal customer profile (using synthetic research)

I joined Nils on UX Design to WIN in Business to unpack how AI and synthetic research are changing the way we understand users and shape messaging in B2B SaaS.

​

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How synthetic user research bridges the gap between user needs and product design
• Why empathy engineering matters (and how the PATH Framework helps build it)
• How to test messaging variations using AI-driven personas
• Real-world examples of applying synthetic research in B2B SaaS
• What the future of AI looks like for user research and message testing

Listen on Apple Podcasts • Spotify • YouTube

The product leader’s guide to buyer psychology

I sat down with Hannah Clark for The Product Manager podcast (by CPO club) to talk about how AI is changing how people decide.

Learn how to:

• Market to both humans and AI agents
• Think beyond funnels and into “answer engines”
• Build products that speak to real buyer psychology

→ Check it out here

RESONANCE

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Have a great weekend!

Cheers,

Chris

Chris Silvestri Founder & conversion alchemist

🙌🏻 Let’s be friends (unless you’re a stalker)

When you're ready, here's a few ways I can help

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