Common Messaging Mistakes and the Error That Undermines Everything

Key takeaways

The root messaging mistake is leading with your language instead of the buyer's.

Start with one question. What problem did the buyer have before finding you, in their own words?

Recognition beats translation. Headlines in buyer language clear the hardest hurdle, believing this is for them.

The fix is listening, not a rebrand. Sales calls, support tickets, and advisory boards already contain the language you need.

After decades of helping technology companies communicate their value at O'Reilly Media, Sharon Cordesse has seen every messaging mistake in the book. But when I asked her on Magnetic to name the most common one, the mistake she encounters more than any other, her answer was immediate and specific. In more than 16 years of B2B content marketing, I've watched the same error undermine more campaigns than every other mistake combined.

I won't spoil her exact words. You need to hear them in context. But the theme she identified sits at the root of almost all B2B messaging failures. The gap between what companies think their audience cares about and what the audience actually cares about.

What is the most common messaging mistake in B2B?

The most common B2B messaging mistake is messaging around what the company is excited about instead of what the buyer is worried about. Teams lead with product language, roadmap priorities, and internal jargon, forcing buyers to translate the copy into their own reality. Most buyers won't bother.

How to talk to your buyer instead of yourself

It sounds obvious. Of course you should message around what your audience values. But in practice, most organizations are so close to their own product, roadmap, and internal priorities that they unconsciously project those priorities onto their messaging. They lead with what they're excited about, not what the buyer is worried about.

Whether the symptom is jargon-heavy copy, features-first positioning, or benefit statements that sound generic, the underlying problem is the same. The company is talking to itself instead of talking to its buyer. It's also the fastest explanation for why your content isn't converting.

The question most marketing teams can't answer

Sharon has coached teams out of this pattern throughout her career, and her approach is refreshingly direct. She doesn't start with frameworks or brand positioning exercises. She starts with a simple question most marketing teams can't answer clearly. What is the specific problem your buyer had before they found you, and how are they describing that problem in their own words?

Not your words. Their words. The distinction is everything, and it's the same discipline that anchors real B2B buyer persona work. A persona document full of demographics but empty of verbatim problem language is decoration.

Why buyer language beats product language

When your messaging uses the language of your product team, you create a translation exercise for the buyer. They have to read your copy and mentally convert it into their reality. Most won't bother. But when your messaging uses the language the buyer already uses to describe their own challenge, you create instant recognition. They feel understood before you've pitched anything.

Buyers reward that substance over polish. In Edelman and LinkedIn's 2025 B2B Thought Leadership Impact Report, 71 percent of hidden buyers said thought leadership is more effective than traditional marketing materials at demonstrating a vendor's value, and 86 percent favor perspectives that challenge their assumptions rather than validate their thinking. Content built on the buyer's real problem language does both. Product brochures do neither.

Why this is fatal in demand generation

This matters most where attention is scarcest. In demand generation and content marketing you have seconds, not minutes, to establish relevance. If your headline describes a problem the buyer is already thinking about, in the words they'd use to describe it to a colleague, you've cleared the hardest hurdle in marketing. Getting someone to believe this is for them.

That's why a documented positioning and messaging strategy has to be built on customer language, and why teams that skip it end up testing their way out of a message that was never grounded.

How Sharon coaches teams to avoid messaging mistakes

Her method is practical and doesn't require a six-month brand overhaul. It requires the willingness to step outside your own perspective and genuinely listen to how customers talk about the challenges you solve. Pull up your last five sales calls. Read your support tickets. Sit in on a customer advisory board. The language you need is already there. You just have to stop overwriting it with your own.

This discipline runs through everything Sharon shared on Magnetic, from marketing to technical audiences to selling to different buyer motivations to her challenger brand strategy from the early Apple days. The through line is the same. Earn the right to be heard by proving you understand the listener first.

Watch the full conversation

For marketing leaders, this clip is a gut check. For individual contributors writing copy, building campaigns, or preparing sales decks, it's a framework you can apply immediately.

And if you've ever looked at your own website and felt the messaging was missing the mark without being able to articulate why, Sharon names the problem and hands you the fix. Watch the clip, then open your homepage in a new tab and read it with fresh eyes.

Want an outside read on whether your messaging speaks buyer or product? Book 30 minutes with me.

Frequently asked questions

What is the most common messaging mistake in B2B?

Companies message around what they're excited about instead of what the buyer is worried about. They lead with product language, roadmap priorities, and internal jargon, forcing buyers to translate the copy into their own reality. Most buyers won't bother.

How do you fix product-first messaging?

Start with one question. What specific problem did your buyer have before they found you, and how do they describe it in their own words? Pull the answer from sales calls, support tickets, and customer advisory boards, then rebuild your headlines and copy in that language. Recognition beats translation.

Why does buyer language outperform product language?

When messaging uses the words buyers already use to describe their own challenge, it creates instant recognition. They feel understood before you've pitched anything. In demand generation you have seconds to establish relevance, and a headline in the buyer's words clears the hardest hurdle in marketing, getting someone to believe this is for them.