A sunscreen bottle just solved one of the biggest B2B messaging debates
- Jun 2
- 6 min read
Updated: Jun 4
The question isn't which claim is stronger. It's which one your buyer is ready to receive.
I'm standing in my bathroom staring at two bottles of Banana Boat sunscreen. Same brand. Same size. Same SPF range. Side by side on the same shelf — and yet two completely different messages.
One says: "Protects from up to 98% of burning rays."
The other: "Clinically proven UVA/UVB protection."
We've all been in that meeting. Two options on the whiteboard.
One camp says lead with the number, "reduces churn by 23%."
The other says lead with credibility, "trusted by 400 Fortune 500 companies." Someone pulls up an A/B test from a different industry. The debate gets louder.
Which do we lead with — the number or the credential?
But it's the wrong question.
The right question is: what does this buyer already believe when they read this?
What the two bottles are doing
Before we get to B2B, look at what Banana Boat got right.
They didn't pick one message. They understood that two people can pick up the same product at the same shelf, with completely different questions.
So they wrote two messages to answer them.
Sport SPF 50 · specificity
"Protects from up to 98% of burning rays"
Hands the buyer a memorable number. Appeals to someone already shopping sunscreen. They believe the category works; they're comparing.
Sport Ultra SPF 50+ · authority
"Clinically proven UVA/UVB protection"
Outsources trust to a third party. Says: don't take our word for it. Appeals to someone who hasn't been sold on this brand yet, and let the credentials build the bridge.
Your Buyer's Awareness
Eugene Schwartz's ladder
In 1966, direct response copywriter Eugene Schwartz described five stages of buyer awareness. They've never been more relevant than they are for B2B today, where buying committees span stages, and your homepage, content, and key messages are being read simultaneously by a multi-audience - someone who has never heard of your category and someone who is one conversation away from signing.
The ladder runs from unaware at the bottom to ready to buy at the top. And your message has to meet the rung where your buyer stands, not where you wish they were.
The three mistakes B2B companies make with their messaging
Writing for stage 4 when most of your traffic is at stage 2.
If you're a newer brand or in a crowded space where buyers don't know you yet, leading with a specific number ("23% churn reduction") before you've earned the right to be believed is just noise. They don't trust the number because they don't trust you yet.
Writing for stage 2 when your buyers are at stage 4.
Enterprise software companies often do this. They over-explain the problem on pages read by CFOs who have been buying software for 20 years. Those buyers are impatient. They want to compare, not be educated. Give them the number.
Treating the buying committee as one person at one stage.
The CFO approving the budget is at stage 3. The practitioner who will use the tool daily is at stage 5. The CISO reviewing security is at stage 2 for your category specifically. One page cannot serve all of them, but it can be structured so that each finds their layer.
Now take a look at the sunscreen example through this lens.
"Clinically proven" speaks to someone at stage 2 or 3.
They feel the pain (sunburn, skin damage) but aren't yet sold on this brand.
While the credential "98% of burning rays" speaks to someone at stage 4, because they already believe sunscreen works. They're comparing one against the others.
Messaging fails when the gap between what your buyer currently believes and what you're asking them to believe is too large to bridge.
Specificity closes the gap for aware buyers.
Authority closes the gap for skeptical ones.
Story closes the gap for the unaware ones.
How to apply this to your B2B messaging
Before you write a headline, a cold email opener, or a sales deck title — answer these three questions about your buyer
1. What do they already believe about this category?
2. What do they need to believe before they'll act?
3. What's the smallest believable step between those two points?
What this looks like in practice: Cybersecurity
Let's run the three questions for a cybersecurity vendor selling a threat detection platform. The buyer is a CISO or head of security at a mid-to-large enterprise, technically literate, deeply skeptical, and exhausted by vendors who all claim to be the last line of defence.
Q1 What do they already believe about this category?
That every detection platform makes the same claims. That "AI-powered" means nothing anymore because everyone is using it. That their team is already drowning in alerts (most of which are false positives) and that adding another tool is more likely to create noise than clarity. They believe the problem is real. They do not believe any vendor has solved it.
What this tells you: Trust is the barrier, not awareness. This buyer is at stage 2 or 3. They know the category exists. They've seen the pitch before. Leading with a credential or a number before you've acknowledged what they already know will get you dismissed immediately.
Q2 What do they need to believe before they'll act?
That your platform is different in a way that is verifiable, not claimed.
That it reduces the work their team is already doing, rather than adding to it. That the risk of adopting it is lower than the risk of staying with the status quo. And crucially: that someone they respect has already validated it.
What this tells you: The journey from where they are to where they need to be has two steps; first, acknowledge their frustration, then prove the difference with something verifiable. A generic number won't do it. A specific, sourced claim paired with a peer reference will.
Q3 What's the smallest believable step between those two points?
Not a demo. Not a whitepaper. The smallest believable step is a message that names their exact reality (the alert fatigue, the buried signal) and then makes one specific, sourced claim that reframes how the problem gets solved. That's the step that earns the next conversation.
What this tells you: Your headline is not "schedule a demo." It's not even "reduce alert fatigue." It's the sentence that makes a skeptical CISO stop and think: that's exactly what's happening in my team right now.
How those answers map onto the ladder
Once you've answered the three questions, you know which stage each message belongs to and what claim type does the work at each rung.
The pattern is the same
At stage 1, open with a scene they recognise from their own week.
At stage 2, quantify the pain before offering the fix.
At stage 3, reframe the category on your terms.
At stage 4, give a specific verifiable number.
At stage 5, remove every possible piece of friction.
Audit your own messaging now
Pull the headline and first two sentences from your homepage, your top cold email, or your highest-traffic ad. Answer these three questions honestly.
Q1. To understand this cold, what must someone already know?
ToTo understand this cold, what must someone already know?
Nothing it creates the problem from scratch (unaware) | |
They need to feel a vague pain in this area (Problem Aware) | |
They need to know a solution category (Solution Aware) | |
They need to be evaluating tools like ours (Product Aware) |
Q2. Does your message name a problem, a solution, or just your product?
Names a hidden or industry pattern (unaware) | |
Names a painful problem they already feel (problem Aware) | |
Names a solution, approach, or methodology (Solution Aware) | |
Names the products and their unique differentiator (Product Aware) | |
Q3. Where does most of your inbound traffic come from?
Cold ads and outbound-they've never heard of us (Unaware) | |
Content or SEO -they've searched for the problem (Problem Aware) | |
G2, Capeterra, Website, Review Sites - They're evaluating (Solution Aware) | |
Direct or branded search - They Know about us (Product Aware) |
Once you know your stage, the fix is straightforward:
If your message is ahead of your buyer— you're assuming they understand something you haven't taught them. Rewrite the opening to name the problem before the solution. Remove the jargon. Start with a scene they recognise from their own week.
If your message is behind your buyer— you're over-explaining to someone who already believes you. Compress the problem framing, lead with a specific comparative claim, and shorten the path to action. They're ready. Get out of their way.
The real lesson from the bathroom shelf
Your message doesn't have to be the best thing ever written.
It just has to be the right thing for the person reading it right now.
Banana boat didn't pick one. They understood they had two different buyers at the same shelf with completely different questions in their heads, and wrote two different messages to answer them.
That's B2B messaging strategy in its purest form. Not what's our strongest claim. But: who is reading this, what do they already believe, and what is the one thing they need to hear next to take one step closer?
Answer that first, and the debate about specificity versus authority will resolve itself every time.
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