You’re developing a new product in Product Marketing. What are the most common problems you’ll face?

Lack of market research often stems from a top down product approach or a business driven approach. It is important to communicate to all stakeholders the need for market research and findings from the same to enable business leaders and marketers to make effective decisions else it increases the probability of a useless product or an ineffective campaign

Assuming you know what customers want without conducting thorough market research can be a significant mistake in product marketing. Without understanding your target market's needs, preferences, and pain points, you risk developing a product that may not meet their expectations or differentiate itself from existing solutions. Conducting comprehensive market research allows you to gather insights into customer behavior, preferences, and market trends, enabling you to make informed decisions throughout the product development process. This ensures that you're creating a product that addresses real customer needs and has a better chance of success in the market.

As a Product Marketer, I'm usually not part of the initial product development discussions. So, I work closely with the team to grasp why the product was made, who it's for, and its unique value compared to the competition. But, accessing this info can be tough, creating these challenges: - lack of essential details from the product team, like the product's purpose and target audience. - crafting effective positioning and messaging with limited market data. - setting apart a product that lacks differentiation.

Em minha experiência trabalhando em empresas familiares, notei que se dá pouco valor às boas pesquisas, por conta do nível de investimento. Mas para encontrarmos solu??es eficientes e inovadoras, julgo ser importante manter 2 frentes ativas: 1) acompanhamento frequentemente do mercado (via pesquisas quantitativas), para saber os principais benchmarks. 2) contrata??o de pesquisas mais personalizadas (seja sobre os hábitos de consumo de uma categoria, seja sobre um conceito pré-definido, por ex), para investigar profundamente as necessidades e dores do público-alvo.

One of the biggest mistake usually companies commit is to assume the customer needs and comparing cost. It becomes a major problem if they provide a generic solution or worse, a solution to the problem that does not even exist. Sometimes they want to market it at a very high price point without even looking at the competitors price point. Never ever jump onto a solution rollout without looking at customer needs.

Ensuring a strong product-market fit is crucial in product marketing to avoid creating a product that doesn't meet the expectations or needs of your target market. This requires a deep understanding of your customers' problems, preferences, and pain points. Additionally, it's essential to develop a product that is not overly complex, expensive, or difficult to use, aligning with the needs and capabilities of your target audience. Regular feedback loops, user testing, and iteration are key to refining your product and ensuring it resonates with your market effectively, ultimately leading to greater success and customer satisfaction.

Always make sure to have a suitable solution for the right problem. Dinnr, a startup, cooked up a brilliant idea: pre-measured ingredients delivered with recipes. But the market wasn’t hungry for it. If I'm ready to cook, I'll be ready to measure ingredients as well, right? Imagine a feast-ready table, but guests never arrive. There was no demand. They closed shop in 2014, leaving their culinary dreams half-baked.

1/ Try to do it all and please everyone. This is the most common trap. You will completely loose track of budget and roadmap in no tome. You have to be focused and be able to say No to clients that are not your primary target. 2/ As mentioned below, the common trap is also to do positively biased study and try to get a yes from the prospect in the market study. You should ABSOLUTELY look for nos. The "I like very much what you are doing" is absolutely the worst to build a product. Find the pitfalls and find whether or not the prospect will PAY for your product and how.

Todo produto resolve a “dor” de alguém. Se o seu produto n?o resolve a de ninguém, possivelmente ele n?o seja um produto comercial. Seja simples e responda em poucas palavras: “O que esse produto resolve? Para quem? Como resolve? E Por que isso ajuda?” Se suas respostas forem claras, diretas e que qualquer um entenda. Você tem um possível produto que resolva a “dor” do seu público.

The first question I always ask is if the product truly meets customer needs. Conduct thorough market research, gather direct feedback, and validate demand through prototypes or MVPs. Iterating based on insights boosts the chances of achieving a strong product-market fit.

Don’t list down features, list down value propositions. Communicate assuming your users might or might not have time to read through. Do a TLDR version as well.

Siloed communication can sink a product. To avoid misunderstandings and missed opportunities, clear communication is key. Establish channels for your product, marketing, sales, and customer teams. Regularly share your product vision, goals, and roadmap to gather feedback. Finally, ensure your customers understand your product's value proposition through targeted messaging.

Em minha experiência, trabalhando em empresas com poucos processos definidos, pude perceber que a comunica??o é um dos maiores gaps. Para saná-lo, é necessário desenvolver uma agenda de reuni?es com todas as partes envolvidas, definir fluxograma de processos, desenvolver atas e disponibilizá-las a todos e, quando possível, contratar softwares de gest?o de projetos onde todas as áreas estejam integradas. Por fim, o líder do projeto deve fazer com que o entendimento sobre o mesmo seja igual para todos, que n?o haja lacunas, bem como deve adaptar a linguagem e o discurso para cada área em cada fase do projeto (desde a idea??o até o pós-lan?amento), para que todos estejam engajados e possam replicar os porquês daquele produto existir.

Ineffektive Kommunikation + politische Str?mungen sind zwei hemmende Faktoren in der interdisziplin?ren Zusammenarbeit. Das steht und f?llt mit sozial starken Projektleiter im klassischen Wasserfall Projektmanagement.

In my experience as a Product Manager, ineffective communication has posed challenges in product marketing. For instance, during a rental car app project, miscommunication led to feature confusion. At my company, a lack of communication between dev and marketing teams caused delays in feature implementation and missed deadlines. I agree that clear communication channels and protocols are vital. For example, at Codler Solutions, we held weekly cross-functional meetings to streamline communication and improve collaboration.

We call it selling without beta testing. Even if you do not have a solid testing team, Beta testing makes your customers your testers. This turns their negative reviews to feedback for improvement. As a marketer it’s crucial that you roll out the campaigns in 2 parts: 1. Limited campaign for Beta testing 2. Full campaign for public rollout Biggest challenge any marketer can face is low acquisition to conversion rate, leading to Burn.

Fundamental para um produto novo é o ciclo de testes. Os teste devem ser abrangentes e n?o somente certificar a linha de produ??o, mas também a diversas etapas que o mesmo passara desde ser um componente até as m?os da sua aplica??o final. Negligenciar uma etapa pode se traduzir em um recall futuro.

Testing is a critical component of product development, helping to identify and address potential issues before launch. Implement a robust testing strategy that encompasses usability testing, quality assurance, performance testing, and user acceptance testing. Collect feedback early and often, and iterate based on user insights to ensure that your product meets quality standards and delivers a positive user experience.

Launching an untested product is a gamble. Avoid negative reviews and churn by thoroughly testing throughout development. Utilize prototypes, usability tests, and beta trials to identify bugs and improve usability. Gather customer data on usage and preferences to continuously iterate and refine your product.

Designing the prototype and proofing the concept if it matches the market dynamics , finding the right fit for the market while maintaining originality of the idea is a major problem.

In a crowded market, being just another option spells trouble. Avoid blending in by ensuring your product offers a clear differentiator. This could be a unique feature, addressing a specific customer need, or a superior solution. Communicate this effectively through strategic positioning, branding, storytelling, and showcasing social proof to set your product apart.

In a crowded marketplace, differentiation is key to standing out from competitors and capturing the attention of your target audience. Identify unique selling points and value propositions that set your product apart from the competition. Whether it's innovative features, superior quality, or exceptional customer service, highlight what makes your product distinctive and valuable to customers.

Lan?ar um produto "me too" no mercado já está fadado ao insucesso, pois o concorrente estará melhor distribuído. Porém há diversas variáveis que podem ser alteradas: um ingrediente adicional, uma estratégia de canais/regi?es diferenciada, um pre?o mais competitivo ou uma marca mais confiável, por ex, podem sim fazer um produto "me too" ser bem sucedido. Agora, quando a empresa possui uma boa equipe de P&D, associada a uma boa equipe de Mkt, poderá ser pioneira em conceitos e produtos e sairá na frente.

Gathering competitive intelligence and understanding how saturated your target market is or isn’t will help you together understand how you will differentiate yourself from your competitors. Differentiation can be on features and innovation or on non-functional features like customer service, compliance, operational SLAs etc. In a crowded market, companies may have to have a price advantage to be able to differentiate themselves. Launching a product without a clear differentiation will most certainly be a hurdle for sales.

This is one of the most common mistakes that smaller companies make when launching a new product. They see a competitor with a specific product that they feel they can better develop but in the end, make a carbon copy of the tool in this example and it never gets any traction. This could be for a variety of reasons but overall developing a value proposition before spending a massive amount of time on a product is highly recommended. The lack of differentiation depending on the company size could waste hundreds of thousands of dollars. A way around this is to set goals to solve a specific customer problem, do in-depth market analysis, and finally create specific campaigns to bring in your first few loyal customers.

Todo gerente de produto é apaixonado por seu lan?amento. Essa miopia emocional pode se traduzir em pricing position, demanda, e até embalagens insuficiente ou ao contrario demasiadas em referencia ao que o mercado necessita. Analise realistas sobre a concorrência e mercado s?o fundamentais pra trazer raz?o antes do lan?amento.

Unrealistic expectations: Managing expectations is essential for successful product development. Be realistic about timelines, budgets, and resource constraints, and communicate transparently with stakeholders about potential challenges and trade-offs. Set achievable goals and milestones, and celebrate progress along the way to keep morale high and momentum strong.

Lack of testing before it goes live can lead to bugs and errors that are eroding the customers confidence in the product and the business. It is seen as unprofessional to release a poorly tested product and therefore it is mandatory to test and conduct UAT before launching a new product.

CACs are high for new products and the biggest return one should expect is the feedback so you can iterate and improve or pivot(if required)

One thing I have found helpful is not following market research on current trends but rather trying to predict future trends which seems to be a dark art

In-depth market understanding! Fight the urge to rely on surface-level market research, you will miss out on the underlying nuances that can truly set your product apart. By going beyond the obvious and gaining a profound understanding of your market's needs, pain points, and evolving trends, you can tailor your product in a way that resonates deeply with your audience.

A critical element of a successful product release is having clearly defined routes to market and the right channel partners in your supply chain to sell it, drive adoption and provide the scale needed to be successful. I've seen many products come to market from well intentioned product teams, only to discover too late that: 1) their incumbent partners are either not well equipped or qualified to sell it, or 2) don't have the target customers in their book of business 3) they didn't create a compelling enough product for partners to sell (poor margin/profitablity model) or 4) The product team didn't know they needed partners to sell and scale and didn't develop materials, training, enablement, demos or even SKUs for partners to utilize.

Here are some of the most common problems that are faced: 1. An inadequate or inaccurate understanding of the actual customer problem to solve. 2. A solution that is not adequately or effectively solving said problem. 3. An inability to make a financially viable solution to reach enough customers, or do so profitably. 4. Messaging which may not sufficiently communicate to a customer how the product solves the problem, and why to use it. In my opinion, these need to be done *in order*, and often times companies are focusing on solving 3 or 4 instead of truly assessing whether they understand 1 and 2.

In my experience as a passionate marketeer, in addition to the answers provided within the article; a key challenge in product marketing is not just keeping up with tech advancements but mastering the core fundamentals and basics. Deeply understanding your customer, their behaviors, and the real problems your product solves is crucial. It’s about the entire journey —discovery, onboarding, customization, billing, and full feature use - not just the purchase. Don’t be swayed by flashy tech; focus on these essentials for customer satisfaction and loyalty. Time management in development is also critical. Go agile; too fast risks defects, too slow loses the market. Balance is key, emphasizing customer value and product excellence!

Building products based on new available technology is sometimes like trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Ensure that you are building a solution to a customer problem and not trying to solve for a problem that does not exist. Work with Sales to first understand the ins and outs of your clients business, tailor your solution as much as possible to your clients needs and then look to replicate and productize the solution.