6 minute read
Most geospatial companies assume their customers will understand the value they provide. After all, if your technology enables better decisions, improves operational efficiency, or enhances spatial intelligence, shouldn’t that be obvious to the people who need it?
Spoiler alert: It’s not.
Because understanding your value requires a shift in perception—and guiding that shift is your job, not your customers’.
Without a structured approach to messaging, geospatial brands risk talking past their audience.
They invest in content, sales materials, and marketing campaigns, but their messages land at the wrong time, in the wrong way, or with the wrong emphasis.
The brands that succeed don’t just educate their audience. They coach their transformation.
Why Your Messaging Needs to Follow the Customer Journey
The process of adopting a geospatial solution isn’t an impulse buy. It requires deep understanding, internal alignment, and commitment.
Each step in the decision-making process has different needs, objections, and motivators. Not to mention stakeholders.
If your messaging doesn’t meet customers where they are, you lose them.
But how do you know where your customers are in their journey? And how do you meet them there?
The best way is to structure your messaging around the five stages of customer awareness—moving them from unaware of their problem to fully engaged and ready to convert.
Let’s break it down with geospatial-specific examples.
Stage 1: Unaware → Problem Aware
The Shift: Helping Customers Recognize the Real Problem
At this stage, potential buyers are experiencing symptoms but haven’t diagnosed the root issue. They might know something isn’t working, but they’re misattributing the cause or unaware of a better way forward.
For example, a city planner might see increasing congestion and assume the solution is more road infrastructure. But the real issue is inefficient traffic modeling and poor multimodal integration. A utility company may struggle with asset failures and assume the cause is aging infrastructure, not a lack of predictive maintenance enabled by geospatial insights.
Your job at this stage isn’t to sell your solution—it’s to shift their paradigm. Show them why their perceived problem is actually a symptom of something deeper. The best way to do this is through reframing content:
- Data-backed insights: “Why 60% of infrastructure projects fail before completion (and what’s missing in your planning process).”
- Thought leadership: “More roads won’t fix congestion—here’s what urban planners are getting wrong.”
- Industry trends: “How logistics leaders are cutting delays by 30%—without adding more trucks.”
If you don’t guide this realization, they’ll stay stuck solving the wrong problem—or worse, throw money at a symptom without fixing the cause.
Stage 2: Problem Aware → Solution Aware
The Shift: Validating Their Struggle and Introducing a New Path
Now that they recognize the real problem, skepticism sets in. They might think, We’ve tried everything, nothing has worked. They may assume the solution is too expensive, complex, or difficult to implement.
Your job here is to validate their frustration while showing them that the failure wasn’t their fault—they simply didn’t have the right approach or tools.
For example, a disaster response team struggling with slow emergency mapping may believe real-time situational awareness is impossible. You need to show them how cloud-native GIS and automated image processing are making it a reality. A company struggling with supply chain disruptions may assume unpredictable weather is an unavoidable risk—until you introduce them to AI-driven climate modeling that mitigates delays before they happen.
The key here is empathy and empowerment. Your messaging should reinforce that a better outcome is possible and help them commit to exploring a new path.
- Case studies that prove transformation: “How [Company X] reduced response time by 50% with real-time geospatial analytics.”
- Myth-busting content: “Think predictive maintenance is too expensive? Here’s why it actually saves you millions.”
- Frameworks for thinking differently: “The three key shifts logistics leaders must make to future-proof operations.”
At this stage, you’re not selling your product—you’re selling the belief that transformation is achievable.
Stage 3: Solution Aware → Product Aware
The Shift: Positioning Your Solution as the Best Path Forward
Now they know solutions exist, but they’re evaluating options. Why should they choose yours?
This is where most geospatial brands fall into the “feature trap”—listing technical specs without making them meaningful. But customers don’t buy features; they buy outcomes.
- Instead of saying, We offer high-resolution, multi-spectral satellite imagery, say, We help insurance providers detect property risks before they become costly claims.
- Instead of saying, Our geospatial analytics platform integrates with existing data sources, say, We eliminate data silos so you can make faster, more accurate decisions without overhauling your tech stack.
This is where you need to prove that your approach is uniquely suited to their needs. Key messaging strategies include:
- Comparison content: “Why traditional GIS platforms fail to deliver real-time insights—and how we fix it.”
- Product-specific case studies: “How [Company Y] reduced unplanned downtime by 40% using our geospatial risk assessment tools.”
- Objection handling: “Is implementing geospatial AI too complex? Here’s how we make it simple.”
At this stage, they should see your solution as the inevitable choice.
Stage 4: Product Aware → Conversion
The Shift: Reducing Risk and Reinforcing the Urgency to Act
Even when your solution makes perfect sense, hesitation is natural. The final barrier is risk.
Customers are asking: What if it doesn’t work? What if it’s too expensive? What if implementation fails?
Your job is to address these fears head-on by providing:
- Proof: Show customer success stories, ROI data, and real-world results.
- Risk reversal: Offer guarantees, phased rollouts, or pilot programs to lower perceived risk.
- Urgency: Highlight the cost of inaction—whether it’s financial loss, regulatory risk, or competitive disadvantage.
For example, a government agency delaying climate adaptation plans isn’t just postponing a project—they’re increasing future costs and exposure to disasters. A logistics firm ignoring real-time visibility isn’t just missing an efficiency gain—they’re falling behind competitors already leveraging it.
The goal is to make saying no riskier than saying yes.
Stage 5: Conversion → Retention & Advocacy
The Shift: Ensuring They Experience the Transformation
Most companies treat conversion as the finish line. But the real work begins after the sale. If you don’t actively support customers in achieving their outcome, they churn—or worse, feel misled.
This is where proactive onboarding, education, and customer success programs come in. Examples include:
- Implementation support: Step-by-step guidance to get them up and running quickly.
- Customer education: Exclusive insights on best practices and advanced use cases.
- Community building: Peer groups, events, or customer showcases that reinforce their success.
If you follow through, they don’t just remain customers—they become advocates. And when customers start telling your story for you, your brand becomes unstoppable.
The Bottom Line
Geospatial brands that fail to guide their customers’ transformation don’t just struggle with sales—they struggle with relevance.
The companies that win are the ones that don’t just market a product but coach their audience through the journey of change.
If your messaging isn’t moving customers through each phase with clarity, alignment, and urgency—it’s time to fix it.
Whenever you’re ready, here are four ways we can help elevate your geospatial brand:
- Brand Storytelling: Through our Brand Messaging Workshop, we’ll help you define a clear and compelling brand message & storytelling strategy that resonates with your target audience and sets you apart from the competition.
- Content Marketing: Need professional, done-for-you content? From case studies to thought leadership articles, we create engaging, human content assets that effectively fuel your marketing strategy.
- Personal Branding: Our Thought Leadership in a Box service helps you build and scale your personal brand by transforming your insights into impactful thought leadership content, tailored to your voice and style.
- Website Copywriting: We craft conversion-optimized website copy that not only attracts but also converts visitors, ensuring your site effectively communicates your value proposition.
Ready to become the obvious choice in the geospatial industry? Schedule a discovery call with Tales Consulting today.