What happens when your product evolves but your story doesn’t

Understand B2B story drift and use this 5-step framework to fix it

You’ve launched. You’ve iterated. The product’s better than ever. But scroll through your assets and you’ll see it: the dreaded drift.

Three versions of the same story living across decks, emails and sales enablement. The launch video still says “revolutionary new platform,” even though you’re five features deep. The website headline doesn’t match what your SDRs are saying. And nobody can agree on the elevator pitch anymore.

Why story drift happens (and why it matters)

B2B buying has never been messier.

Gartner says the average buying group now includes 6–11 stakeholders, each with their own inputs, research and biases. It’s not a sales funnel anymore, it’s a loop.

Forrester calls it the buyer messaging gap: that moment when your product narrative stops matching what buyers actually care about. And most teams hit that gap within months of launch.

Meanwhile, PMMs are under pressure to “own” positioning but they’re doing it without the enablement or budget to actually roll it out across sales and marketing.

So your marketing team is running flat out just to keep up with the roadmap. Sales have just started making shit up as they go along. And your core message - the one you sweated blood over pre-launch - is being slowly rewritten in real time by whoever has a live deal this week.

It’s not bad intent, it’s drift. It’s hurting your alignment (and it’s killing your deals).

What story drift looks like

You've seen the signs. Here are four indicators your products and services are suffering from story drift.

None of it’s fatal in isolation. But together, it dilutes trust internally and externally. The buyer hears mixed messages, the team feels disconnected, and the product story that once sang now just hums quietly in the background.

How to fix story drift: ALIGN your message

Most teams don’t need a rebrand but they do need a reset. That’s where ALIGN comes in: a simple framework for keeping your story straight once the product starts to move. Here are the five stages to ALIGN your product story.

A = Assess drift

Start by facing the mess.

Pull every deck, email, call recording, and web page into one place. Highlight where the story diverges: words, tone, even metaphors. You’ll quickly spot the chaos.

Deliverable: a drift map showing what’s out of sync.

L = Language lock

Pick one version of the truth and make it official.

Write a one-page narrative that captures your value, proof, and tone. Add a short glossary of approved terms. The difference between platform and solution shouldn’t depend on who’s talking.

Deliverable: a shared narrative + glossary.

I = Internal enablement

Don’t just share it, teach it.

Run quick sessions, build a FAQ, and arm everyone with a two-slide story they can drop into calls. The goal isn’t memorisation but consistency.

Deliverable: enablement pack (FAQ, talk tracks, slides).

G = GTM assets

Now translate that narrative into the stuff that moves markets. I'm talking your one-pagers, your nurture emails and your battlecards. Role-based if you can - your buyer and your builder audiences need different flavours of the same story.

Deliverable: aligned GTM materials.

N = Numbers

You can’t claim alignment if you can’t measure it.

Pick three metrics: asset adoption, influenced pipeline, win-rate. Track how well the new story travels through your funnel. Drift will creep back but this will help you spot it early and put it back in its box right quick.

Deliverable: success metrics + dashboard.

Why this works

Because despite what creative folks like me sometimes try to tell you, story alignment isn’t really about creativity. It’s about coherence.

Coherence turns every sales call, ad and asset into a reinforcing loop instead of a guessing game and it also makes your people better storytellers. And when everyone speaks from the same script, the message gets stronger. Buyers start hearing the same phrasing from your website to your AE. That repetition builds trust (and trust closes deals faster than any discount).

Story drift happens. Diligence fixes it

The truth is, drift’s not the enemy. Neglect is your enemy.

Every story evolves over time, but it’s the teams who notice it, name it and nudge it back on track are the ones who stay believable.

Audit often. Align fast. Keep the message sharp. That’s how you stop a great story from turning into background noise.

Worried your messaging is on the drift?

If you’d like a fast, focused sanity check, book a 20-minute alignment review. I’ll review one asset or sales deck and call out any messaging gaps or inconsistencies that could be slowing you down.

No slides. No fluff. Just a clear course correction.

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