How to Create a B2B Brand Message from Scratch (That Actually Works)

As a fractional brand marketer, I usually get called in when the CEO finally admits: the messaging’s not working—and no one on the team knows how to fix it. Sales are down. The website’s confusing. Everyone’s quietly pointing fingers.

Why? Because messaging isn’t a one-and-done.

When I was in-house as VP of Marketing, I learned fast: if we didn’t constantly test our story, we’d get left behind.

A brilliant marketer once told me, “If you’ve been at a company more than six months, you’re part of the problem.” It stuck.

Buyers adapt. Preferences shift. Problems evolve.

And if your messaging doesn’t evolve too? You’ll wake up with a beautiful brand that no longer converts.

Here’s how to build a message that stays relevant—and keeps performing.

TL;DR

• Start with customer data—not assumptions
• Do voice of customer research with fresh prospects
• Get stakeholder buy-in early
• Build a framework your whole team can use
• Test before launching
• Revisit regularly—messaging has a shelf life

Why B2B Brand Messaging Is a Dealbreaker (Or Dealmaker)

Marketers already know brand matters. But for those still unsure: 90% of B2B buyers choose the brand they had in mind at the start of the sales process.

Still, many brands underinvest in messaging and overcorrect into product-centric marketing. The result? Generic noise.

Consider the data:

• B2B brands that connect emotionally earn 2× more revenue
  
• 75% of B2B buyers want content to help them think through problems—but 93% say most brand content is too product-focused
  
• 45% of B2B marketers haven’t done customer research in the past year
  

And let’s not forget:

“64% of B2B buyers make purchase decisions based on shared values with a brand.” – Harvard Business Review

That’s a bigger emotional connection than most B2C brands get.

The risk of a bad B2B decision is personal: budgets wasted, stakeholders embarrassed, reputations at stake. No wonder only 16% of business leaders feel their website supports revenue goals (according to Sitecore).

Start with Customer Data: Your Messaging Strategy Depends on It

When a new CMO announces a rebrand and new website on day one, people roll their eyes. And for good reason.

It’s not that a rebrand is a bad idea—it’s usually long overdue. But after just a few weeks, no one understands the buyer, product, or customer journey well enough to lead it.

Start here instead:

• Interview key stakeholders and frontline reps
  
• Analyze firmographic patterns: industry, size, technology, personas involved
  
• Layer on cost data: acquisition, onboarding, support
  
• Evaluate profitability, not just sales success
  

That last part is where most teams go wrong. High-revenue deals don’t always mean healthy customers. Want a deep dive? Check out Doug Bell’s interview on defining the ICP.

Do Voice of Customer Research (Not Just NPS Surveys)

Yes, surveys are helpful. But most ask the wrong questions.

They measure service satisfaction, not product value. And customers don’t want to blame their favorite rep—so they stay polite, not honest.

You need interviews. Real ones. With real feedback.

Talk to:

• Current customers
  
• Recently churned customers
  
• Prospects who look like your ICP but haven’t bought yet
  

Listen for:

• Emotional language
  
• Pain framing
  
• The actual job they’re trying to get done
  

🔥 Pro tip: Use their words. They make perfect headlines and meta descriptions.

For a full guide, check out our article here.

Run a Brand Messaging Workshop (With the Whole GTM Team)

This part is messy—and necessary.

Messaging starts in marketing, but it can’t stay there. If sales doesn’t pitch it, CS doesn’t reinforce it, and product doesn’t believe it… it dies in a slide deck.

Interview your key stakeholders and ask them about their view of ideal customers, personas, and the language they use. Pull in frontline representatives and leaders and sell them on the value of an excellent brand message. Then schedule meetings with all of these people and get them to participate in a group exercise where they help develop the ICP, personas, competitive details, and language your company will use.

The most effective approach I’ve seen was a virtual group exercise coordinated around a Miro board (although any accessible visualization tool will work). The marketing lead invited key stakeholders and asked them to provide input about critical messaging variables:

• Company profiles
• Personas 
• Pain points expressed in the voice of the customer
• Competitive differentiators

What made it effective? Team input, messy collaboration, and data layered with instinct. Each session of input was followed by group debate and discussion.

One messy, opinionated working session beats weeks of quiet misalignment. The output? A message your entire GTM team helped shape—and will actually use.

Build a B2B Messaging Framework Your Company Can Actually Use

We’re big fans of the six messaging pillars:

1. Purpose – Why do we exist?
2. Perception – How should our audience describe us?
3. Personality – What’s our tone and vibe?
4. Position – Who do we serve and how are we different?
5. Promotion – What’s our value pitch?
6. Value Proposition – What problems do we solve (better)?

Skip the fluff. Map each pillar to real customer needs and product outcomes. If your messaging team can’t explain it to sales in under 5 minutes, it’s not ready.

Test Your Messaging Before You Burn Your Budget

We’re huge fans of testing. (We build websites, but we love a good landing page first.)

When you’re creating B2B marketing messaging, don’t be afraid to pilot the messaging in campaigns and landing pages before you overhaul your website and throw out the old pitch deck. 

Collaborate with inside sales and account executives who use outbound sequences. Get their feedback and show them how you incorporate it into the final message.

Follow the data and leverage your call recording data (through providers like Gong or Apollo) to figure out whether you’re moving the message in the right or wrong direction.

Revisit and refine

Once your message is live, watch your KPIs like a hawk.

If pipeline dips, if win rates fall, if buyer behavior shifts—revisit. Update. Tighten.

Pro tip: Study our guide to diagnosing ineffective messaging to stay ahead of the curve.

Your Brand Message Is Not Just a Tagline

Your brand message is the connective tissue for everything—website, ads, sales decks, onboarding docs.

It should be simple. Repeatable. Instantly recognizable.

And most importantly:

It should sound like your customer wrote it.

Get your message right, and marketing accelerates growth. Get it wrong, and you’ll end up selling despite your message—not because of it.

Put in the work. It’s worth it.