How Laura Kaminski rewrote a product narrative from scratch

Messaging is a team sport, but when an exec makes comments on copy, the team goes into a spiral. It’s a slow creep to how we’ve gotten here, but there are signs.

A product ships capabilities the existing narrative never accounted for. Sales discovers that customers prioritize different problems than marketing has been emphasizing. A segment that wasn't originally in the plan becomes the most valuable buyer. Over time, the narrative drifts from market reality.

Narrative problems emerge when what the company is saying no longer matches what the market actually cares about. What worked at launch may no longer work in a crowded market. When deals are lost not because the product falls short, but because the story doesn't land, it's a signal that the narrative foundation needs to be revisited. 

The default response is to layer new messaging onto old positioning. However, the better approach is to ask whether the foundation itself needs rebuilding. Why? The biggest reason is to improve how clearly the company communicates the value of its product in competitive situations. 

Now the hard part

What comes next is what legends are made of. Those times you’ll look back and think, “Wow, we built that!” The full process takes approximately eight weeks and represents the sweat and tears of product marketers who have been there with you. 

This is not about running a small messaging workshop, and it is different from creating a narrative for a new product or market entry. 

The goal is to identify what customers care about now, build a narrative around that evidence, and get it into use across customer-facing teams. 

Stage 1: Conversation inventory and coding

Before developing a narrative hypothesis, gather customer conversations and identify the themes customers independently voice.

The goal is to understand how customers describe their problems, what they are trying to accomplish, and what they use instead of your product.

How to operationalize

1. Gather conversation data. Start with a representative sample from the past three to six months. Aim for around 20 or more interactions across three sources:

• Sales discovery calls
• Product advisory sessions or customer reference calls
• Support escalations and implementation conversations

If you don't have recorded conversations, see the troubleshooting section below.

2. Capture the customer's language. Document exactly how customers describe the problem. If a prospect says, "We're losing visibility when quality issues hit the field," record that language as-is. Don't translate it into the company's internal terminology yet.

3. Identify the alternative. What are customers doing today instead of using your product? It may be another vendor, but it could also be a spreadsheet, a manual process, or doing nothing. Understanding what customers are willing to leave behind can be more revealing than knowing why they want something new.

4. Capture the desired outcome. Look beyond feature-level outcomes such as faster reporting or better data. What business or operational result are customers trying to achieve? They may want to prevent margin erosion, catch issues before they compound, or reduce the risk of a costly mistake.

5. Cluster the themes. Once you've documented the conversations, look for recurring patterns. Which problems appear across multiple customers? Which alternatives come up repeatedly? Which outcomes matter most?

What you're looking for

Narrative signals that appear independently across multiple conversations, without being prompted. Three to five conversations expressing a similar problem can be a useful starting signal, though the strength of the pattern depends on the sample and the consistency of the evidence. The output is a set of customer-backed themes that can inform competing narrative hypotheses.

Stage 2: Hypothesis formation and pressure testing

With the conversation themes mapped, develop competing hypotheses about the problem the company should lead with.

The objective isn't to find the most compelling story in a workshop. It's to determine which narrative is best supported by customer evidence and which the product can consistently deliver against.

How to operationalize

1. Form two or three competing hypotheses. Each should start with a different customer problem or desired outcome. For example, a company might consider:

• Visibility: Preventing surprises when quality issues emerge.
• Efficiency: Eliminating manual workarounds.
• Margin protection: Recovering value that is currently leaking.

These are different narrative directions, not simply different headlines for the same message.

2. Test each hypothesis against customer language. Can you point to three to five conversations where customers explicitly described this problem? Can you use their actual phrases to explain it, or does the idea require significant translation into marketing language?

The closer the hypothesis stays to how customers describe their problem, the stronger its evidentiary foundation.

3. Examine the competitive alternative. If this is the problem customers care about, why are they using their current alternative? What would need to change for them to move? This can reveal barriers that narrative alone won't overcome.

4. Pressure-test with internal experts. Bring in product, sales, solutions, and customer success to assess whether the product delivers on each narrative claim. Keep the questions specific:

• Does the product reliably deliver this outcome?
• Are there situations where the promise breaks down?
• What needs to be true about a customer's situation for this outcome to matter?

Internal teams should identify constraints and edge cases, not rewrite the hypothesis to fit the company's existing language. A product may deliver against a narrative angle even if the company has never described itself that way.

5. Select the primary hypothesis. Choose the direction most directly supported by customer conversations and most consistently delivered by the product. Supporting angles can address different personas or use cases without diluting the central narrative.

If the product only delivers the promised outcome for enterprise customers, or requires extensive data cleanup first, qualify the narrative or refine the target segment.

What you're looking for

A narrative direction that is supported by customer evidence, relevant to the intended audience, and defensible based on what the product actually delivers.

Stage 3: Narrative architecture

Once the primary hypothesis is selected, the work shifts from deciding what matters to organizing the story. This is where teams often default to product architecture: here's the platform, here are the modules, and here's what each one does.

A customer-centered narrative follows a different structure: here's the problem you face, here's what changes, and here's the outcome.

How to operationalize

1. Build around the customer's before and after. Start with the undesirable state, using the problem and workaround in customer language. Then explain what changes with your product and why that change matters. Note: The product's capabilities support the story and aren't the story itself.

2. Adapt the narrative to different personas. A CFO may care about financial exposure, while a VP of Operations cares about preventing disruption. Both should recognize the same core problem and outcome, but the supporting evidence and details should reflect their priorities.

3. Identify what's non-obvious. What would surprise a customer who is accustomed to the existing alternative? For example, if your product enforces contracts at the point of order while an alternative reports violations afterward, that distinction changes when the customer can act. It may be the most important part of the narrative.

4. Establish narrative guardrails. Define what the narrative must not claim. Guardrails might include avoiding unsupported superlatives, unqualified outcome guarantees, exaggerated AI claims, or language that implies a problem is solved when the product only reduces friction.

These guardrails protect the narrative from becoming a liability. They distinguish a compelling story from a defensible one.

5. Draft the core narrative in customer-centered, outcome-first language. For example:

"Manufacturers lose negotiated margin when orders don't comply with contract terms. Enforcing contracts at the point of order, rather than reporting on violations afterward, helps prevent that erosion before it compounds."

Compare that with:

"Our platform helps manufacturers maximize margin through contract enforcement."

The first starts with a problem and explains why the product's approach matters. The second starts with the product and a broad benefit claim.

What you're looking for

A narrative that customers can recognize themselves in, that explains why the problem matters before describing the solution, and that connects the product's capabilities to a meaningful outcome.

Stage 4: Validation and adoption

A narrative rewrite isn't complete when the team agrees on the words. It's complete when customers understand the story and customer-facing teams use it. 

Note: This is where many rewrites falter. For example, the narrative is strong, but sales continues using the old language, website copy doesn't change, or onboarding decks still lead with features.  

How to operationalize

1. Validate with fresh conversations. Before broad rollout, test the narrative with five to ten customers or prospects who weren't involved in developing it. Present the new framing and ask:

• Does this describe a problem you recognize?
• Is this how you think about the problem?
• What would you add or change?
• What feels unclear or overstated?

Listen for whether people recognize themselves in the narrative, understand the problem it addresses, and ask questions that reveal gaps. If the framing doesn't land, revisit the hypothesis before rolling it out.

2. Explain the shift to sales and customer success. This shouldn't be just another messaging deck. Explain what changed and why. Customer conversations revealed that a particular problem mattered more than the company had assumed. The new narrative reflects that evidence.

When salespeople understand the reasoning behind the change, they have a better basis for using the narrative in real conversations.

3. Align customer-facing materials. Update the website, sales collateral, demos, onboarding materials, and enablement content to lead with the new narrative. The exercise often reveals where the story hasn't fully taken hold. If a page claims to lead with outcomes but immediately returns to a list of features, the narrative priority isn't reflected in the experience.

4. Establish a check-in. Review how the narrative is showing up in discovery calls, win/loss conversations, and customer advisory sessions. Are salespeople using the core framing? Do customers recognize the problem in the way the company describes it? If not, determine whether the narrative needs refinement, the team needs better enablement, or the underlying hypothesis isn't resonating.

5. Build in iteration. The core narrative should remain grounded in the customer problem, but its supporting angles may evolve as the product, customer base, and competitive landscape change. Revisit the evidence regularly rather than allowing the narrative to become legacy positioning.

What you're looking for

Evidence that customers recognize the problem and salespeople use the narrative naturally, without being reminded. The narrative has moved from an internal exercise into how the company explains its value in the market.

Common pitfalls to avoid

Mistaking customer feedback for customer narrative

When customers say, "I need better visibility," that's a statement of need, not yet a narrative. The next question should be why visibility matters and what the customer needs to be able to do as a result.

Letting internal expertise override customer evidence

If internal teams dismiss a customer-backed hypothesis because "that's not how we think about the product," the disagreement is worth investigating. Internal expertise should help establish what the product can credibly deliver, not determine what customers should care about.

Building for the wrong segment

A narrative that resonates with enterprise CFOs may miss the mark with mid-market operators. Be explicit about the audience the narrative is intended to move, and confirm that the evidence comes from that audience.

Writing in marketing language instead of customer language

If you can't point to customer conversations that support the way you're describing the problem, revisit the wording. Operational language is often more revealing than polished but abstract benefit statements.

Treating the narrative as static

Markets, products, and customer priorities change. Regular check-ins with sales and customer success help keep the narrative connected to market reality.

Troubleshooting: What if you don't have enough customer data?

The framework depends on customer conversations. If that evidence isn't readily available, address the gap before jumping into hypothesis development.

If you have no recorded conversations:

Generate them. Ask sales to conduct discovery calls with target buyers, explicitly listening for problem language, competitive alternatives, and desired outcomes. Twenty to thirty calls can provide a useful starting sample, though the time required will depend on the number of people conducting them and the complexity of the market.

If sales calls exist but aren't accessible:

Start with what you can obtain. Support tickets, win/loss notes, advisory recordings, implementation debriefs, and customer emails can all contain useful customer language. These sources won't always provide the same context as a live conversation, but they can help identify patterns.

If you have limited data:

Start with a smaller sample, such as 10 to 15 interactions, and be clear about the limitations. If patterns are inconsistent, gather more evidence before selecting a narrative. If the problem is clear but the evidence is thin, use the next round of conversations to test whether the initial signal holds.

Getting buy-in and setting realistic expectations

The strongest business case for a narrative rewrite isn't simply better messaging; it's improving how clearly the company communicates the value of its product in competitive situations.

Start with where the problem is visible: deals lost to competitors where the product met the need, but the competitor's story resonated more. If win/loss data identifies positioning clarity as a factor, use that evidence. Avoid assuming every competitive loss is a narrative problem.

Connect the work to outcomes executives already track. Is the sales cycle longer than expected? Do buyers struggle to understand the value? Does onboarding reveal a gap between what customers thought they were buying and what the product delivers?

Position the work as a bounded effort, not an open-ended strategy exercise. An eight-week plan can include customer conversations, hypothesis testing, narrative development, validation, and initial adoption. The scope should be clear, as should the decision points.

A major product launch, sales kickoff, or shift in target market can provide a useful deadline. The narrative rewrite becomes part of preparing the business for a specific commercial moment, rather than an optional messaging refresh.

How to measure impact

Narrative impact is rarely captured by one metric, and changes in sales outcomes are difficult to attribute to narrative alone. Use a combination of adoption signals, customer feedback, and commercial indicators.

Sales adoption. Review a sample of discovery calls or demos. Are salespeople using the core narrative to explain the customer problem and outcome? If not, determine whether the issue is enablement, relevance, or clarity.

Customer recognition. Ask customers and prospects whether the narrative reflects how they understand the problem. Do they recognize their situation in the framing? Do they use similar language when describing the challenge themselves?

Competitive win rates. Track outcomes against specific competitors where narrative clarity has been identified as a factor. Compare results over time, while accounting for other changes that may influence win rates.

Sales cycle and evaluation progress. Look for changes in how quickly prospects understand the value proposition and move through evaluation. Shorter conversations aren't automatically better, so pair cycle data with qualitative feedback about clarity and buyer confidence.

Proposal and collateral language. Review whether proposals and customer-facing materials lead with the problem and outcome, or immediately revert to features and capabilities.

Avoid promising a specific revenue increase as the direct result of a narrative rewrite. Instead, define the business case using the company's own baseline data. If win rates improve or sales cycles shorten, estimate the commercial impact while being transparent about other factors that may have contributed.