How do you balance stakeholder needs in product marketing?

To bring all the stake holders to one line, we have to understand the product nature. Every product and nature of application needs different stake holders contribution in different proportion. Different departments stakeholders contributions changes according to product nature. Once all the team members comes for this understanding then they will give respect to each other by understanding the pressure on particular departments.

If you're using OKR's this can be a great help in understanding what is motivating your key stakeholders and how well aligned you are - with this knowledge, you can prioritise what's important to you, to them and to you both.

In my experience, Product marketing functions as a dynamic crucible, intricately interlacing the synapses of the product team, sales ensemble, marketing cohort, and the discerning clientele. Yet, the enigmatic alchemy lies in deftly calibrating the kaleidoscopic spectrum of requisites and fervent anticipations emanating from these disparate stakeholders. This artful equilibrium, an intricate ballet of requisition and anticipation, unfurls its grandeur by adroitly safeguarding the sanctity of the product's visionary credo and exalted aspirations. A harmonious rhapsody, where collaboration converges with sagacious acumen, unfurling an opulent tapestry woven steadfastly around the polestar of the product's quintessence and ambitions.

I think a better definition of the Product Marketing role is that they communicate product value to the market. Sales, Marketing, , agencies, Channels, market analysts, press etc are all routes through which that can be done. If you think about it this way, it helps with identifying your stakeholder personas.

Stakeholder management in all aspects of life: personnel relationships and business process is a balance that comes with a win-win mentality. Too often the individuals head for a winner take all approach, which is basically saying "I know best what the customer needs". I have found that if I am going to make the sales organization successful - then I need to listen to a sampling of a number of different types of customers (e.g. Geo based, multi-national, Fortune 500, and technically advanced) before finalizing the product. This is especially true a for a global product that you plan to scale in large volume.

Actually I disagree with this statement. My belief is that a good product team will have done a lot of this work before trying to align stakeholders. Trying to define product goals and vision with all stakeholders would be very difficult. The setting of goals is paramount to success as goals are a rallying point for stakeholders to come back to.

I believe that is first step before getting any other stakeholders. My experience is this involves a learning curve and lots of humbling moments. Persevering in this will attract the kind of stakeholders who will already be in sync with your goals - which is only kind to court.

While everything mentioned here is important it is mission critical to layer in data-driven strategies into the product marketing plan that ultimately tie to new revenue, product adoption, expansion, or renewal. Too often I see product marketing being labeled as a "soft" marketing discipline because it focuses too much on brand awareness. While brand awareness, positioning, messaging, promotion are foundational and critical in the success of a launch, it is important for product marketing to figure out how to "own" a number or share a goal that ties to real business outcomes.

The baseline insight here is definitely critical. I also like to take a deep breath before developing goals mostly because - as PMMs, because we do a lot of 'enabling', we often don't have direct 'control' over the outcome of a metric. Ultimately, the closest we can get to a tangible business outcome in context of the overarching strategies that are guiding the org, the better. Even if it has to be proxy metrics or establishing several unique baselines to understand which signal is the most appropriate. Take the time to call a shot, align with your team and have the discipline to follow through. From there, always be ready with clear rationale behind your choices and a growth mindset for any changes or feedback that arises.

Do your stakeholders agree with your product goals? Do they know the rationale behind why they were chosen? Is there alignment? If the answer to any of these are no, then do not pass go. Spend the appropriate time upfront aligning metrics and educating stakeholders on how you got there. This will save a lot of headache later down the line.

Some ways to get started is to produce basic tools like an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and a Unique Selling Proposition (USP) for the product and then test the plan against them. If there are multiple target markets, you may have multiple versions of these tools.

Brand awareness, positioning, messaging, promotion are foundational and critical in the success of a launch, and in order to make all of that resonate with internal stakeholders, it is important for product marketing to figure out how to "own" a number or share a goal that ties to real business outcomes. Layering "hard number" goals into the product marketing plan against the the key stages of your customer journey will get an easier buy-in across the go-to-market teams.

While creating your product marketing plan, segment your product's customers to understand the marketing campaigns and content that resonates with each segment. It is also important to know the budget of the stakeholders so you can work in line with their estimated budget to achieve success in the product marketing plan. Prioritize the channels that is most likely going to yield positive result faster. Communicate every of your marketing plan and reasons behind each plan to the stakeholders so that they will be on the same page with you.

My only words of wisdom in this phase is - fail fast, and adjust. It's not practical (or profitable) to get everything "perfect" from the beginning. So it's best to validate assumptions with the lowest cost product.

Small enterprises must take limited risks that won’t be devastating if product is not successful. Target the market sector . Know your product, and your target, and be creative with changing things up.

I don't necessarily agree with this part. It depends on the level of maturity for the company and the product. Smaller companies, especially startups, make bets and test directly in the market because they don't have the resources to validate otherwise and they should be nimble enough to correct quickly.

A lot of the go-to-market process is not performance-based marketing. There is a tendency to avoid doing things that are beneficial but difficult to measure.

Define GTM in your organization - this could vary depending on the size of your team and alignment internally what are the top things you need to deliver? Is there a hand-off? Are there common GTM practices?

Ideally, the conscientious product marketer shouldn’t be walking right up to the line of unethicality. Sure, as marketers, we need to stretch claims to their logical conclusions many times in order to stand out in the marketplace, but we can stretch no farther. Think of it like a rubber band – it may seem like it will stretch forever, but at some point, it snaps, and it’s jarring when it does. Taking a claim past the point at which it’s still ethical can produce extreme negative consequences just like that rubber band snap. When in doubt, play it straight. Being unethical is never the right path, so better not to get too close to that line in the first place.

This is particularly true as one accounts for geopolitics, cultures, religions, ideologies of all sorts in a global go-to-market. Without judgment, the global marketer will need to navigate widely different markets and adapt their way of messaging, promoting, researching, etc.

To balance stakeholders' needs depends a lot on feedback.. and communication. As a Product Manager, it is vital how one gathers feedback, interprets that feedback, and has uniform communication. So basically it involves dealing with internal stakeholders which are the S&M team, engineering, and product development team, and at the same time capturing the Voice of the customer. Selection of the right tool is very important to capture details and not miss even the smallest of details. Regular communication with transparency is also important to keep stakeholders updated.

Accept failure and learn from it. Not every product launch will be successful, not every message will stick. Use these moments to understand what worked and what didn't and don't be afraid to share your failures (and successes) to inspire others.

Balancing stakeholder needs in product marketing involves aligning communication strategies with the interests of customers, executives, and team members, ensuring a comprehensive approach that meets business objectives while prioritizing customer satisfaction.

Hire people who have both raised capital and invested their own money into a business. People can read about product passion, personal risk, stakeholders, third variables and most of the unforeseen challenges of business; however, actually experiencing the risk, and being on the hook financially, is an entirely different can of worms.