- 11
- Episodes
- 2
- Ratings
- Bi-weekly
- Cadence
- 2026
- First episode
About Better Messaging
Messaging shouldn't feel this hard. If you’re staring at a complex product, an oversaturated market, and a mountain of conflicting opinions from stakeholders, you aren’t alone. Whether you’re a founder trying to find your voice or a marketer struggling to align multiple buyers, the "messy middle" of messaging is where most brands get stuck. On Better Messaging, Emma Stratton, author and B2B messaging expert, is pulling back the curtain on how to turn technical complexity into clarity. Drawing from a decade of experience partnering with hundreds of tech companies, from seed-stage startups to global household names, Emma shares the practical frameworks and real-world lessons needed to make people actually care about what you’re building.
- Publisher
- Punchy
- Category
- business · business
- Language
- en
- Explicit
- No
- First episode
- 29 May 2026
- Latest episode
- 14 Oct 2026
Latest episodes
11 episodes in the feed.
14 Oct 2026
How to Get Leadership Onboard with Messaging
Great messaging needs more than a strong idea. It needs leadership and marketing to be aligned on what the company wants to say and why. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) chats with (https://www.linkedin.com/)Amanda Yoho (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-yoho/), President and CEO at Proformex (https://proformex.com/), about messaging through the lens of leadership and how marketers can work more effectively with executives throughout the process. Amanda shares what may be driving leadership feedback, why CEOs sometimes push for certain language or changes, and how understanding the context behind those decisions can help marketers build stronger alignment. The conversation explores when to bring leadership into the messaging process, how to clarify what kind of feedback is actually needed, and why executives need to recognize the weight their comments can carry. Amanda also shares lessons from her own experience working with marketing teams and what both sides can do to avoid late-stage changes and unnecessary rounds of revisions. If you’ve ever struggled to get leadership on board with messaging or keep marketing and executives aligned throughout the process, this episode offers a practical look at how both sides can work together more effectively. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (02:28) Amanda’s personal vendetta against buzzwords (03:46) Translating technical complexity into simple messaging (06:08) The “actionable insights” buzzword everyone overuses (08:19) Getting leadership on board with jargon-free messaging (11:49) Why CEOs and marketing teams clash on feedback timing (15:03) The weight of a CEO’s offhand comment (16:17) Bringing leadership into the process early vs. late (18:49) The “One Thing” LinkedIn campaign that won a client (22:11) Shifting market perception with a bold product launch If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Amanda Yoho: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-yoho/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-yoho/) Learn about Proformex: https://proformex.com/ (https://proformex.com/) Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/)Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
30 Sept 2026
The Science Behind Storytelling and Better Product Messaging
Storytelling has become increasingly important in B2B marketing, but many companies still struggle to define their narrative, communicate their value, and stay aligned across teams. When product, marketing, sales, and leadership each tell a different version of the company story, even strong messaging can quickly become diluted, confusing, and forgettable. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) speaks with Elliott Rayner (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottrayner/), Fractional Head of Storytelling at OWOW Agency (https://owow.io/), about the science behind product storytelling and why great stories are ultimately about transformation. Elliott explains the difference between messaging and narrative, sharing a simple framework built around three questions: what value does your product create, who cares most about that value, and why are you best positioned to deliver it. The conversation also explores why storytelling is emerging as a strategic business function, why marketers should spend more time understanding customers instead of outsourcing their thinking to AI, and closes with a practical framework for stronger messaging built around human connection, conflict, and a compelling turning point. If you’ve ever struggled to make your messaging more memorable, align your company around one clear story, or explain why storytelling matters to the business, this episode offers a practical and science backed way to approach it. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (01:38) Why storytelling keeps coming back into fashion in business (03:01) Storytelling is a moment of transformation (04:50) From Adidas product teams to teaching storytelling (07:04) Great storytellers don't know they have a process (08:14) Why product marketers are the best-positioned storytellers in any company (09:20) Messaging vs. narrative and why most companies have one but not the other (12:13) The 19% alignment stat and how misaligned is your company's story? (16:58) Why great storytelling is saying less via the TikTok 3.3-second rule (25:32) How AI is making execution cheap but meaning more valuable than ever (30:21) The 3 chemicals of great storytelling If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Elliott Rayner: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottrayner/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/elliottrayner/) Learn about OWOW Agency: https://owow.io/ (https://owow.io/) Learn about Elliott’s book, “Product Marketing: The Story Engine”: https://maven.com/productstorytelling/o/3c5611 (https://maven.com/productstorytelling/o/3c5611) Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/)Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
16 Sept 2026
Juggling Multiple Audiences In Your Messaging
B2B tech marketers face an overwhelming number of voices when trying to write messaging. From multi-stakeholder buying groups to competing priorities between enterprise and SMB targets, the pressure to appease everyone usually results in beige, generic messaging that appeals to no one. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) breaks down why trying to write a magical headline for everyone is a myth, and why narrowing your audience is actually your greatest positioning advantage. She shares practical strategies for identifying your A-plus customers, the raving fans who see the highest value in your product, and explains how to optimize your messaging specifically for them. From finding the core champion within a complex buying group to executing a phased approach when moving upmarket, Emma gives you the playbook for trading broad, forgettable messaging for high-impact specificity. If you’ve ever felt terrified that narrowing your focus means leaving money on the table, this episode will show you how getting specific actually builds a stronger path to revenue and makes your brand stand out from the crowd. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:58) Why B2B tech messaging gets so complicated to write (03:03) Proving why specific messaging always beats generic messaging (04:40) Debunking the myth of the magical all-appealing headline (06:57) Overcoming the fear and scarcity mindset of narrowing your audience (09:48) Narrowing your messaging is actually an act of positioning (13:46) Learning how to identify and optimize for your A-plus customer (22:43) Identifying your buying group champion and managing audience shifts (30:23) Final takeaways on why your messaging must get narrow If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/)Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
2 Sept 2026
Say It Like You Would At The Barbecue (And Other B2B Messaging Tips)
Marketers are smart, creative people, but when deadlines loom and content demands stack up, it is easy to fall into a writing rut. All too often, we slip into a reflex of typing out stiff, jargony, corporate-y language that we would never actually say out loud in real life. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) shares how to break out of habitual writing traps and introduces her favorite exercise of all time: “Say it like you would at the barbecue.” She explains how to use this simple prompt to loosen up stiff B2B copy, tackles the misconception that clear copy requires "dumbing down" technical terms, and shares her three-question rubric to help you confidently navigate jargon. If you’ve ever looked at a draft and felt like it was missing that human spark, this episode will show you how to trust your own natural, conversational voice to write clearer messaging faster. In this episode: (0:00) Intro (01:02) Why messaging feels so hard (03:50) Why your spoken words are better than your drafts (06:35) How to use the “barbecue test” for clearer copy (08:35) Real examples of corporate jargon vs. plain English (12:46) How to write for technical audiences without dumbing it down (18:19) Trusting your intuition to build better messaging If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/)Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
19 Aug 2026
How To Convince Your Leadership Team To Stop Using Jargon
Marketers everywhere are totally on board with clear, simple, human messaging, until they try to pitch it to their leadership team. All too often, stakeholders fall back on comfortable corporate buzzwords and over-the-top technical fluff, leaving individual marketers swimming upstream against a wave of jargon. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) breaks down exactly how to handle an organization that is deeply wedded to its buzzwords. She shares five practical, high-impact fixes you can use to influence colleagues and convince leadership to ditch the jargon for good. From running a side-by-side competitor "blind taste test" to mining your frontline sales reps for plain-English insights, Emma gives you the data-driven strategies you need to build an unarguable case for clarity. If you’ve ever felt like the only marketer in the room flying the flag for simple messaging, this episode will give you the tools and the confidence to start changing the conversation inside your company. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:12) How to fight jargon and win over leadership (01:46) Proving your messaging sounds like everyone else (04:15) Revealing the gap between how you talk and how customers think (05:40) Mapping your jargon to the customer’s true voice (07:59) Running unbiased message tests with real prospects (08:49) Asking sellers what happens in real conversations (10:54) Looking at the simple brands your leadership secretly admires (13:08) How “Make It Punchy” can change the internal conversation (15:34) Knowing when a company is too hooked on fluff to change If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/)Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
5 Aug 2026
Why Product Names Should Be Clear, Not Clever
In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) explores why so many tech companies end up with “naming debt” after giving every product its own unique, branded name. She explains why naming gets emotional, why clever names often create extra work for buyers, and why descriptive names usually make a product portfolio clearer, simpler, and easier to navigate. If your product menu is starting to feel like a word salad, this episode will help you rethink your naming approach. Tune in as Emma shares why simple, descriptive product names can build more clarity for buyers and more flexibility for your marketing team. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (02:11) What naming debt looks like (03:58) Why naming gets so emotional (05:47) What makes descriptive names work better (09:06) How clear product names help buyers (12:02) Why naming needs a system (13:54) Three reasons to keep names simple (17:15) How product names compete with your brand If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
22 Jul 2026
Two Questions to Find the Right Messaging Altitude
Messaging can miss when it’s too technical, too vague, or sitting at the wrong level for your audience. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) shows how to put messaging altitude into practice. Building on the previous episode, she introduces two simple prompts, “So what?” and “But how?”, that help you adjust a message when it feels too technical, too vague, or too far removed from what your audience actually cares about. Emma explains how “So what?” can raise the altitude of a message by moving it from features toward clearer benefits and value, while “But how?” can bring a vague message back down to something more specific, concrete, and believable. If Episode 3 helped you understand altitude, this episode will help you use it to diagnose what feels off and find the right level for your message. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (00:41) A marketer with a value proposition problem (02:53) What “message altitude” actually means (05:15) The signs your messaging is too technical (07:11) Using “So what?” to raise altitude (08:23) Turning technical features into executive-level value (12:46) The opposite problem: messaging that’s too broad (15:33) Using “But how?” to get more specific (18:38) Matching altitude to your audience (22:12) Finding the messaging sweet spot New to altitude? Start with the previous episode, where Emma breaks down the concept and explains why the right level matters: [LINK HERE] If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/)Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
8 Jul 2026
Why Messaging Altitude Matters (And How to Get It Right)
Ever written messaging that looked good on the page but still didn’t land? The problem might be altitude. In this episode, Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) introduces the concept of messaging altitude, or the difference between broad, high level messaging and specific, technical messaging. She breaks down why messages that sit too high can feel vague or overpromised, while messages that sit too low can get buried in details before your audience understands why they should care. Using examples across different audiences, Emma shows why the strongest messaging usually sits somewhere in the middle, where it meets your audience at their eye level. If you loved this episode, be sure to check out the next one, where Emma gets into putting altitude into practice with two prompts you can use to find the right level for your message. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (01:03) What altitude means in messaging (01:53) Why vague messages fall flat (03:30) Finding the message that feels just right (04:30) How messaging gets too high level (06:30) How to make the value clear (08:00) Make technical messaging easier to understand (12:30) When to take your message higher (15:30) When to get more specific (20:00) Meet your audience at eye level Loved this episode? Be sure to check out the next one where we get into putting altitude into practice. If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
24 Jun 2026
How to Get Buy In for New Messaging
Getting internal buy-in on messaging can be one of the hardest parts of the work. Join Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) as she shares how to build alignment across a diverse group of stakeholders without getting stuck in endless opinions and feedback loops. She walks through her process for bringing the right people in, using customer insights to guide decisions, and helping teams respond to real examples rather than abstract ideas. If you’re trying to get everyone on the same page around new messaging, this episode will give you a practical place to start. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (02:07) A story about getting a big team aligned (05:21) How to build a cross-functional messaging team (08:52) Get clear on the goal of the messaging (11:09) Talk to sales, study the market, and hear from customers (13:31) Use working sessions to show real options (18:56) When the messaging problem is really a strategy problem (20:54) How to handle pushback and fear (25:25) What to do when alignment does not happen If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
11 Jun 2026
Permission to Keep It Real: Why B2B Messaging Doesn't Have to Be Boring
Ever felt like a brand was speaking directly to your soul? That’s the magic of real, relatable messaging. In this episode, host Emma Stratton (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) reveals how messaging - when it's real, human, and punchy - can elevate your marketing. She shares the story of a bank headline that seemed to read her mind, demonstrating how tapping into authentic emotions and everyday struggles can make your brand truly memorable. Say goodbye to dry, corporate speak, and start connecting with your audience on a deeper human level. If your messaging feels a bit flat, this episode is for you. Tune in as Emma explains how to break through the noise and craft messaging that truly resonates. In this episode: (00:00) Intro (02:38) A bank headline that hooked Emma in (04:47) Why B2B sounds so dry (07:29) What makes emotional messaging stick (12:47) How relatable messaging works (16:11) The Say It Like You Would at the BBQ Exercise (22:31) Talk to your customers to inspire relatable messaging If you're ready to elevate your messaging and make it impossible for your audience to ignore, subscribe now and start writing better messaging today! Connect with Emma: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/emma-stratton-punchy/) Learn about Punchy: https://punchy.co/about/ (https://punchy.co/about/) Produced in partnership with Share Your Genius: https://shareyourgenius.com/ (https://shareyourgenius.com/)
29 May 2026
This is Better Messaging with Emma Stratton
Messaging shouldn't feel this hard. If you’re staring at a complex product, an oversaturated market, and a mountain of conflicting opinions from stakeholders, you aren’t alone. Whether you’re a founder trying to find your voice or a marketer struggling to align multiple buyers, the "messy middle" of messaging is where most brands get stuck. On Better Messaging, Emma Stratton, author and B2B messaging expert, is pulling back the curtain on how to turn technical complexity into clarity. Drawing from a decade of experience partnering with hundreds of tech companies, from seed-stage startups to global household names, Emma shares the practical frameworks and real-world lessons needed to make people actually care about what you’re building. What to expect: Practical Frameworks and actionable strategies to simplify your value proposition Real-Life examples of what works (and what doesn’t) in the B2B tech world Expert guidance and answers to the biggest questions surrounding positioning and copy Stop second-guessing your words and start driving results. Subscribe now and let’s make it punchy.
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