Messaging mistakes scale-ups make

Swap the logo on your homepage for a competitor's. Does the copy still make sense?

For a lot of scale-ups moving into mid-market and enterprise territory, the honest answer is “yes”. That's not a writing problem, it's a messaging problem – and it tends to show up in the same 4 places on content we're asked to fix.

Prefer to read? The transcript is available below.

An unclear value proposition

Ask yourself why a customer should choose you over a competitor. If the answer leans onto something generic like quality, customer service, or lead time, you've named a hygiene factor, not a differentiator. Every credible competitor in your market will be claiming the same things.

The fix starts with separating what's true about you from what's actually useful to say. Being high quality, fast, and easy to work with is table stakes, not a pitch. A genuine differentiator is something a competitor would have to change to copy: a specific process, a particular scale of capability, a piece of domain knowledge, or a track record with a customer sector or type.

The wrong tone of voice

Tone of voice is one of the most underused differentiators in B2B, largely because most sectors default to the same handful of registers out of habit rather than choice.

Take cloud services. The market is dominated by big consultancies talking about accelerating digital transformation, empowering through AI, and reshaping the future. When we worked with Nordcloud, a cloud migration and managed services provider, we moved away from that lofty consultancy register in favour of a more conversational, direct tone – one that sounds like a friendly, technical peer rather than a slide deck.

Architecture has a similar challenge: a sector known for lofty, aspirational language about design philosophy. With Corstorphine & Wright, an award-winning architectural practice, we went the other way, using a more concrete, storytelling approach to explain design ethos and sector expertise rather than reaching for the abstract language the industry defaults to.

Neither tone is objectively better. It’s about picking the one that sets you apart from the competitors saying the same thing in the same way.

Structure that buries the point

Can a visitor tell what you offer within the first few seconds, or are they having to work it out for themselves?

Here's a useful test: imagine an AI search tool scanning your website to answer the question “What does [your company] do?” Does your homepage give it 2 or 3 clear sentences to work with? If the answer isn't obviously there, on the homepage and on the pages people land on first, that's a structural problem that needs fixing – and one that affects human visitors and AI systems.

The About page is a classic offender. It's called “About”, so companies assume it should be about them: history, values, team. But readers landing on an About page are checking one thing first, which is whether you're a credible partner who understands their problem. Lead with how you help the customer before you lead with your own story.

Look and feel that doesn't match the message

Messaging and visuals have to sync to tell the story. If your positioning is built around being an effective, hands-on service, generic stock photography of people undercuts you before anyone reads a word. If your facility uses IoT and advanced automation, a stock photo of an industrial shed exterior tells the wrong story entirely.

It’s hard to get this right yourself because it’s challenging to read the label from inside the bottle. Which is largely the point of bringing in a strategic content partner in the first place: someone who can ask the questions that surface your value proposition and who has enough domain knowledge in your sector to know what will resonate with your specific audience.

What this means for your content

None of these 4 mistakes are really about writing skill. They're about strategy – knowing what makes you different, choosing a tone that reflects it, structuring your messaging so it lands, and backing it with the right design.

Fix all 4 and the positive impact compounds. Across client projects, we've seen web conversion rates rise by 45% year on year, organic traffic increase by 104%, and case study page views grow by 645%, once messaging, tone, and structure are aligned to what the audience actually wants to hear.

If your website is still languishing with any of the mistakes above, it might be time to evolve it.

Contact us if you'd like a second opinion on where yours could cut through and convert more effectively.

FAQs

How do I know if my website's tone of voice is wrong?

If your tone of voice sounds identical to every other company in your sector, it isn't working as a differentiator. Compare your website with 5 competitors' sites. If the register (formal, aspirational, technical, conversational) is indistinguishable across all of them, there's an opportunity to stand out by sounding different.

What should a B2B About page say first?

Lead with how you help the customer, not with your company history. Readers land on an About page to check you're a credible partner who understands their problem, not to read your timeline. History, values, and team details should come after that reassurance.

How can I check if my website is clear enough for AI search tools?

Imagine an AI tool scraping your site for the answer to “What does [company] do?” If your homepage doesn't give it 2 or 3 clear sentences to work with, your structure needs simplifying. Clarity for AI search and clarity for human visitors are usually the same fix. Learn more about generative AI engine optimisation (GEO) here.

Video transcript

If your website is languishing with any of these mistakes, it's time to evolve.

Unclear value proposition

Why should customers choose you over your competitors? Are you emphasising hygiene factors like lead times, quality, and customer service? If you substituted your competitor's logo onto your website, would it still basically sound the same?

Wrong tone of voice

Take an architectural practice client that we worked with. In a sector that's known for its lofty and aspirational tone of voice, we helped this practice stand out with a more concrete and storytelling approach to communicate their design ethos and approach to projects.

Ineffective structure

Can people tell what your offer is straight away, or are they having to puzzle it out for themselves? Think about if ChatGPT was scraping your website and just wanted 2 or 3 sentences to respond to the question, “What does Acme Enterprises do?” Is that clearly there on your homepage and on the major pages that people land on when they first visit your website?

If not, it's time to think about clarifying that. The “About” page is a common pitfall in this regard. It's called “About”, and you think it should be talking about your business, but in reality, customers care about what's in it for them rather than about your company. So think about using that initial valuable real estate to talk about how you help that customer, with messages that are relevant to them and their decision-making process, before you go straight into your values and your company history.

Look and feel

Having the right content partner helps you overcome these challenges. You can't read the label from inside the bottle, and having somebody like us support you on your website revamp helps you home in on the right messages because we can ask the right questions to communicate your value proposition effectively.

Importantly, our domain knowledge means we have deep expertise in the sectors we work in, meaning we bring a deep understanding of the target audiences and their drivers.