I don’t anticipate anything, but I promise you that, at the end of the reading, you will have a complete mastery of the basics. And, beyond that, I will begin to introduce some more technical and detailed notions.<\/p>\n
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What is Product Marketing: definition<\/h2>\n
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What are we talking about? We are talking about Product Marketing, that is, a company function that is useful in the B2B business as in the B2C business. It is a transversal area<\/strong> that goes from the definition of a product to its marketing.<\/p>\n If you are involved in Product Marketing, your mission is: to know your target audience so well that you know exactly what they may want and satisfy them with the best product<\/strong> that only you are able to successfully bring to market.<\/p>\n The most appropriate definition of product marketing is, in my opinion, the following:<\/p>\n Product Marketing is a series of activities, structured in a functional methodological process to put the product on the market<\/strong>. How? By monitoring target customers, driving demand and responding with the most effective and efficient product.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n To complete this mission, you need a Product Marketing Manager in charge of:<\/p>\n In summary, Product Marketing is a branch of corporate business that connects the product to the needs of the target audience<\/strong>. It does this by supporting the teams that develop and sell it so that in every moment of the process the product is correctly positioned on the market and consistently communicated to external customers and internal stakeholders.<\/p>\n In this image, the role of Product Marketing<\/strong> is represented, positioning itself at the intersection of Product Management, Marketing, and Sales.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Product Marketing performs a fundamental connecting function. Be careful though! No Product Marketing strategy works without an alignment of the entire organization. In particular, the Leadership Team must be on the same page so that the target always receives consistent and accurate information<\/strong>.<\/p>\n What does the Product Marketing Manager do? He connects the efforts of the whole team and makes sure that the plan proceeds as planned by involving the Sales Team, the Marketing Team, and the Product Team in the Positioning and Messaging phase. The main information to be shared is the following:<\/p>\n By doing this, we make sure that potential customers and current customers hear the product message addressing them with one voice.<\/p>\n For this reason, alignment between teams becomes fundamental. Especially in the launch phase, it is advisable to spend more time planning<\/strong>. This is where the synergy between product specialists, such as Product Managers and Product Marketing Managers, can make the difference: alignment is essential<\/strong> for the best possible launch. It is up to them to involve the product development team and the sales team so that the organization is ready and informed.<\/p>\n Do you know which methodology has alignment among the superpowers? Here<\/a> is the answer.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Product marketing is a fundamental part of the business strategy. Without it, the chances of your product reaching its maximum potential among your target audience are greatly reduced.<\/p>\n Conversely, a good Product Marketing plan helps to:<\/p>\n Product Marketing helps in choosing the optimal combination of McCarthy’s 4Ps<\/strong>, the leverage factors of the product marketing mix, namely:<\/p>\n This is the traditional starting point that has evolved over time. Today, in fact, we talk about the marketing strategy of the 7Ps: where People, Process, and Physical Environment are further factors to consider for the marketing mix of a product. We will have the opportunity to talk more about it in the next in-depth articles.<\/p>\n Comparing your product with that of competitors helps you improve your strategy and prevent any threats. In fact, if on the one hand direct competitors are easily identifiable, indirect competitors – while offering different services\/products – could somehow intercept the needs of your audience.<\/p>\n The product specialist follows the process from development to decline. This is what the Product Marketing Manager does in practice: from the moment the product is released and introduced on the market, it orients the phases of growth and maturity based on how the market moves. Based on the product life cycle analysis, decisions are made, for example, regarding the budget for promotional investments, pricing, and packaging.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n We focus on the product life cycle, at the heart of Product Marketing. The 4 traditional phases are:<\/p>\n Development and design<\/strong>: consists of research and design. It is the start-up of the startup that, on the basis of the business plan, attracts investors, developing prototypes and planning tests. Depending on the type of product, its innovation, and the competition, the first phase can last more or less long.<\/p>\n Product launch and market launch<\/strong>: preceded and accompanied by ads and promotional campaigns, the launch phase corresponds to the introduction of the product “on the shelf”. The marketing team and the product teamwork to test the different distribution channels and proceed with customer education on purchase and use.<\/p>\n Growth and Maturation<\/strong>: in the growth phase, demand and profits increase, more or less proportionally. The pace is hopefully rapid and constant over time, as the product enters the expanding market. At this moment, competition also begins to develop, indicating the success of the product. When sales stabilize, the product enters its maturity. At this point, the marketing actions are oriented towards differentiation rather than awareness. Revenues are higher because the margin increases as production costs at full capacity decrease.<\/p>\n Decline: Unless your product becomes the market leader and outperforms the competition in terms of target preferences and customer retention, you will see its decline. The competition will become fiercer and new trends will emerge. If a product is in this phase it can be discarded, innovated or reiterated in some way. <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The product specialist intervenes with different tactics depending on the stage of the life cycle<\/strong>. The monitoring of vital parameters (sales, customer satisfaction, customer retention rate), gives the measure the state of health. In this way, decisions can be made, for example, regarding the type of marketing campaign: a new product requires awareness of the target. In contrast, a mature product requires campaigns to maintain brand awareness.<\/p>\n These are the main advantages of using the Product Lifecycle in Product Marketing<\/strong>:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n For an effective strategy, I recommend that you proceed according to such a structured plan, as per the Product Marketing manual:<\/p>\n A product released on the market without knowing who it is aimed at and how it addresses the needs of its audience is more likely to fail than to succeed. This requires a very deep understanding of the profiled target<\/strong>, so as to identify specific groups of buyer personas<\/em>.<\/p>\n It is not only about knowing who they are, their age, and their interests, but also about establishing a relationship of empathy with them<\/strong>.<\/p>\n What challenges do they face in life?<\/em><\/p>\n What are their goals?<\/em><\/p>\n What do they appreciate in the products they choose?<\/em><\/p>\n Why do they buy your product or the competitor’s product?<\/em><\/p>\n What messages do they hear, motivating or emotional? Competition analysis is not reduced to a formula, nor to the use of specialized tools: it is a systematic process of evaluating factors<\/strong>, such as threats and opportunities, which can be obtained with various tools such as SWOT analysis. For this purpose, benchmarking is useful, which allows you to evaluate the product in relation to the performance of the top players in the sector.<\/p>\n The benchmark<\/em> is the comparison of performance indicators that are used to understand how your product is positioned compared to the best performance of direct competitors or indirect competitors.<\/p>\n The data give answers on the results obtained and indications on the improvement actions to be undertaken.<\/p>\n An example of benchmarking<\/em>? The comparison between two top players in the fast-food market: McDonald’s and Burger King. In this case, a benchmark to monitor could be social performance, having as an indicator the engagement rate:<\/p>\n type of post (photos and\/or links);<\/p>\n number of posts;<\/p>\n interaction rate (comments and \/ or shares).<\/p>\n Positioning<\/em> is the image that the ideal customer has of the product. When placing a product on the market you must pay close attention to its unique and distinct advantage<\/strong> over its competitors. What buyer personas perceive is the identity of the product.<\/p>\n To proceed, it is necessary to identify the market segment<\/strong> to aim for, defining the demographic data and the purchasing habits of consumers.<\/p>\n Let’s take a pair of shoes. How many market segments are there? Lot of! I’ll give you two simple examples. The shoes of an artisan shoemaker are positioned in a specific segment: medium-high spending customers who are looking for the value of handmade products and who appreciate the uniqueness of the product<\/strong>. Louis Vuitton shoes, on the other hand, are positioned in the luxury segment and are aimed at customers who find the brand the mirror of their exclusive standard of living. In all likelihood, shoemakers will not opt \u200b\u200bfor the luxury brand and it will not be just a matter of budget.<\/p>\n These are deep motivations that lie in your audience’s mind<\/strong> and that you will need to discover in order to correctly position your product.<\/p>\n \u201cPositioning is not what you do to the product. Positioning is what you do to your ideal customer’s mind. In other words: you position the product in the prospect’s mind “(Al Ries, Jack Trout:” Positioning. The battle for your mind”).<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n From ‘on the shelf’ to ‘inside the mind’.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n It’s time to get your product voice out. You will have to find the right message and convey it in an appropriate tone and with effective tools<\/strong>. Reducing the message to a list of benefits and an explanation of the product’s features is too little. It is necessary, but it is not enough.<\/p>\n The goal at this stage is not so much to make it clear that your product works, but that it is the best and that it is because it is the answer to the needs of your ideal customer.<\/p>\n Product messaging<\/strong> is strategic not only towards the outside to reach the target but also as an internal communication tool. It can be used for PR as well as for Team Marketing and Team Sales training.<\/p>\n The Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy is the plan that details the useful and necessary tactics and actions to release the product and go to market. The basic elements of a product’s GTM are:<\/p>\n The launch phase is also specified within the Go-To-Market strategy. The product launch is the moment in which you complete the work of the previous phases: the product is about to reach the target audience, with the most compelling message possible and at the right price.<\/p>\n Sales Enablement<\/em> is how Product Marketing becomes operational. It is a question of giving strength to the commercial, enabling it to sell effectively<\/strong>: by signing the largest number of contracts and decreasing the duration of the negotiations.<\/p>\n The key is to provide complete information and timely and valuable content.<\/p>\n This occurs when the marketing team and the sales team apply the inbound method in synergy, to raise the level of awareness<\/strong> about the brand and the proposals. The team will have the answers they are looking for and will be able to convey the message, through the sales techniques identified.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n After doing a quick rundown to explain what Product Marketing is, it’s time to turn the spotlight on the Product Marketer<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Product Marketing Manager (PMM) is the person in charge of grounding the strategies from discovery to enablement during the entire life cycle of the product.<\/p>\n These are the areas of action in which the PMM uses its skills<\/strong>:<\/p>\n Acquisition<\/strong><\/p>\n The product marketing manager is committed to people’s attention. In other words, he wants the product to become the center of attention of buyer personas. The effort is to develop the awareness of potential customers<\/strong>, through techniques such as SEO, advertising, and social media marketing.<\/p>\n Involvement<\/strong><\/p>\n With engagement, the PMM acts on both leads and customers acquired in order to develop an audience of fans<\/strong>, or rather a community. Brands that interact through events, special e-mail marketing campaigns, and targeted promotions, strengthen their reputation and make their product more accessible.<\/p>\n Conversion and retention<\/p>\n When things proceed according to the product specialist’s plan, the acquisition phase is followed by the conversion phase and the engagement phase is followed by loyalty. For conversion, the most effective tactics are those that aim at reducing friction: in-depth knowledge of the target audience allows the PMM to understand and anticipate possible objections, so as to eliminate any barriers to purchase.<\/p>\n The lead turns into a paying customer<\/strong>, and the paying customers stay loyal to the product.<\/p>\n The responsibilities of the Product Marketer go further, however. In synergy with the Product Manager (what he does differently from the PMM we will see shortly), he traces the future of the product and the direction of development. The marketing strategy will thus always be in line with the evolution of the product and will be able to guide it.<\/p>\n The product marketing manager also plays a management and leadership role<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Product Marketing Manager defines:<\/p>\n As I told you, for a successful plan, the Product Marketer moves in alignment with his team and the others directly involved. From defining the strategy to implementing actions, each team member knows the answers to the following questions:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n I have already explained who the Product Manager is<\/a>. I will not go back to it, if not for the concepts that help me in establishing the boundary (not always very clear) between what the Product Manager and the Product Marketing Manager do.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Product Manager manages the product within the company. It means that it becomes the voice within the product-centric organization<\/strong> and to do so it assumes the following responsibilities:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The PMM takes care of communicating the product externally, telling its story, and highlighting its advantages. While operating within a product-oriented structure, its focus is aimed at the target audience<\/strong> and the reference market. That’s why it performs the following tasks:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The difference between the Product Marketing Manager and Product Manager is made less clear by the fact that the two roles work in close synergy<\/strong>. Furthermore, PMM and PM have in common the characteristic of acting transversally in various areas of the organization.<\/p>\n I have prepared a simple diagram to compare the main differences:<\/p>\n The Product Manager operates inbound<\/strong> and the Product Marketing Manager operates outbound<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Within the organization, the Product Manager collaborates with developers and engineers<\/strong> while the Product Marketing Manager works hand in hand with the sales and sales department<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The PM listens to what the market is saying<\/strong> and the PMM knows what to say to the market<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The Product Manager creates new products<\/strong> and the Product Marketing Manager creates new market segments<\/strong>.<\/p>\n The PM studies the functionalities<\/strong> that satisfy the users and the PMM communicates them in the form of added value<\/strong> that converts to sales.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n To find examples of successful Product Marketers we must necessarily look outside Italy. In our country, in fact, Product Marketing is still a poorly defined discipline. This is not the case abroad where the PMM is responsible for creating the product marketing strategy and its execution<\/strong>. A vital role especially in companies operating in highly competitive sectors and in saturated markets.<\/p>\n Here are some PMMs on the crest of the wave that I recommend you follow on LinkedIn:<\/p>\n Marie Burke<\/strong> is Director of Product Marketing at CloudHealth. In her experience, she held the role of Product Marketing Manager at NetApp, a company that has a precise mission statement on the official website: a more detailed view of customers is the best way to continually improve. The customer experience is therefore at the heart of product marketing, as per the Product Marketing manual. LinkedIn M. Burke<\/a><\/p>\n Jim Eup<\/strong> is Director of Product Marketing at Salesforce. His professional biography embodies the perfect job description of the Product Marketing Manager: \u201cResponsible for product positioning, packaging, pricing and messaging based on market opportunities and the competitive landscape<\/em>\u201d. LinkedIn J. Eup<\/a><\/p>\n Syed Ali Haris<\/strong> is Vice President of Product Marketing at Zendrive and was previously Senior Product Marketing Manager at Appcues. He is an advocate of product-driven growth (PLG) and firmly believes in educating a passionate audience. LinkedIn S. Haris<\/a><\/p>\n Daniel J. Murphy<\/strong> has led some SaaS startups to success. Privy, for example, has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the US. Murphy has grown Drift’s marketing team eightfold in just two years. LinkedIn D. Murphy<\/a><\/p>\n Bozena Pieniazek<\/strong> is Vice President of Marketing at Maze and held the position of Product Marketing Manager at Typeform. In Typeform the strategy was to educate users and leads on online forms and surveys, so as to create a very loyal community. LinkedIn B. Pieniazek<\/a><\/p>\n\n
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<\/p>\nProduct Marketing: What Is It And How To Make It Work?<\/h3>\n
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What is Product Marketing and why is it important?<\/h2>\n
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<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\nWhat is Product Marketing for in the Product Lifecycle?<\/h3>\n
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How does Product Marketing produce results?<\/h2>\n
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What does a Product Marketing Manager do?<\/h2>\n
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Difference between Product Marketing Manager and Product Manager<\/h2>\n
What Product Manager does<\/h3>\n
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A product Marketing manager who he is and what he does<\/h3>\n
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Product Marketing Manager VS Product Manager<\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nExamples to follow from product specialists<\/h3>\n
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