What is the role of product marketing in product development?

Product marketing is the essential link between the creation of products and their successful adoption in the marketplace. Its responsibilities encompass gathering market intelligence, analysing competitor offerings, understanding customer perspectives, defining product positioning, developing go-to-market strategies, prioritizing features, crafting compelling messaging, conducting user testing, establishing feedback loops, and measuring success. By fulfilling these duties, product marketing ensures that products are aligned with market needs, possess a clear value proposition, and are effectively launched and promoted. In the absence of product marketing, even well-designed products may face challenges in a competitive marketplace.

Product Marketing is the liaison between product development, marketing, and the customer. They are responsible for the success and growth of products by linking customer needs to product capabilities. They communicate the value of the product to the market and continuously gain feedback to share with product development to enhance products based upon the changing customer, competitive, and market landscape. Product marketers should be great researchers gathering knowledge and information with a comprehensive understanding of a company’s target markets and industries, market need, personas, pricing, and competitors. Product marketers translate the voice of the customer into tangible product value to accelerate sales.

Product Marketing always has a problem gaining respect of the product org. But, they can do this fairly simply by being the most knowledgeable person about the end customer: their problems, goals, and challenges. This way, the Product team will trust and seek PMMs to help them make core product decisions.

Building a well-founded and aligned segmentation and persona model - whether it's based on structural factors, psychographics, purchasing patterns, etc - is an essential and under-appreciated step. It forges a common language from development to sales, and even to financial models. Different value propositions that are embodied in the product design and development translate into clear positioning specific to each segment or persona. Product marketing needs to collaborate on building this model, and make sure the segments and personas are identifiable and targetable in a go-to-market context.

Undoubtedly, one of the major contributions of Product Marketing is the development of positioning, value prop work and messaging. So with that in mind, it is imperative that they also lead the research. More specifically, they need to really dig into the "3 Cs": Customers, Category, Competitors. And in that order of importance. In-depth knowledge of customer pains, gains and jobs to be done is critical in the development of a well-articulated value proposition. Furthermore, understanding where the Category is going will reveal which points of differentiation to focus on. Lastly, knowing where the Competitors are at will not only allow for a sharper focus on the UVPs but also the messaging to stand out.

As a Product Manager, I like to involve product marketing team right from conception. I believe the PM should encourage product marketing managers to champion the voice of the customer and provide valuable feedback throughout the lifecycle on product-market fit. Ideally, product marketing team should actively participate in product development by providing market insights, presenting customer pain points and validation inputs. From a Product Manager's POV, it is highly beneficial to have an active marketing stakeholder as it can create an effective consumer-centric, market-fit funnel

O design thinking ajuda a aproximar os profissionais de produto dos públicos alvo dos seus projetos, principalmente na etapa de valida??o das solu??es. As metodologias ágeis criam condi??es para que todos possam participar ativamente do processo transformando aquilo que seria uma etapa formal em um processo de cocria??o. Um exemplo é o recente lan?amento da Termolar, o bule Luna. Na etapa de valida??o percebemos que nossa oferta n?o gerava valor para o público alvo. A partir dos insights obtidos após compartilharmos os protótipos com as personas, identificamos dores n?o atendidas e remodelamos o projeto. Resultado: o bule Luna é um produto estrela no portfólio, foi premiado no Brasil Design Awards e no Museu da Casa Brasileira.

The technical or commerical best product has no worth if it doesn't meet the customer interest. Product marketing is essential to adress the right customers in order to create business, it open doors and saves a lot of effort in cold acquisition.

1. Avoid the cost of rework and the pain of building something that doesn’t sell from the get go. A product can be functional, but it doesn’t always make it useful for the people who matter most (your customer). 2. Get validation without using leading questions, meaning don’t ask, “This would work well for you, right?” Instead, ask things like, “What do you like/dislike most about this solution?” Or “How disappointed would you be if you couldn’t use this?”

I am a fan of early adopter programs. It's the best way to test and get feedback on if the product you're built is what your customers need and want.

A successful product launch, orchestrated by a product marketing manager, involves strategic alignment with business goals, cross-functional collaboration, timely execution, adaptable strategies, targeted messaging, comprehensive success metrics, and an ongoing commitment to iterative improvement. Each element plays a crucial role in ensuring a smooth and impactful product introduction to the market.

Uma dica importante sobre lan?amento de produtos: n?o se faz lan?amento sem or?amento! é comum vermos companhias de pequeno, médio e grande porte destinarem um valor considerável do projeto para investimento em equipamentos, novos processos produtivos ou moldes. De fato, s?o recursos críticos para viabilizar o projeto. O problema aparece quando o marketing precisa reduzir a verba de lan?amento pois "investimos bastante na tecnologia, as pessoas adoraram e acreditamos que o produto vai se vender sozinho". Nessa hora, uma solu??o incrível costuma ser literalmente 'aremessada' ao mercado e com chances mínimas de prosperar. Mais uma vez e agora para terminar em rima: todo lan?amento requer planejamento e or?amento! N?o abra m?o disso.

You only do a first good impression right? So product launch is key. In my experience, I try to touch all points necessary. And my launch doesn't end in a day, it goes through several stages, but essentialy I try to generate buzz through my sellers, partners (invest in co-marketing activities, so your partners talk about your product), social campaigns (press realease, social posts, video posts) and a launch event (online or in-person). For that event is important to map which customers you want to target and which stakeholders, ABM (account based marketing) campaigns are always more successful.

A product launch doesn't end with the initial announcement. Continuous support, providing improvements and regular updates are key to maintain user satisfaction and generate long-term loyalty. Also, measuring the effectiveness of the launch strategy by gathering stats and customer feedback is essential for refining the product release plan and marketing efforts. Analytical tools and customer feedback also provide valuable insights to be considered for future product releases.

This is a great opportunity to get everyone internally involved. And if the internal excitement is not gathering momentum, do not be afraid to ask the 'why' question. If you cannot get the internal audience excited, ie the friendly crowd, then the all important first impression (thanks Vitor!) might not materialise. So listen, fine tune and then GO BIG BANG!

Product marketing extends far beyond messaging, launches, and gathering feedback. It's essential for driving product adoption, translating innovation into real-world value. Product marketing is both the articulation of 'what', but also the 'why' behind product innovations. It's about ensuring that not only does the product reach client, but that they also become essential to solving real pains and issues.

Service design is a beautiful thing. Product Managers who deeply understand the service design concept and are able to bring it to the core of their product development process, trivialize the role of product marketing. Another way to look at it is, Product marketing plays a very pivotal role in organizations where product teams are not as empowered as we would hope and vice versa.

Product adoption is a critical factor in achieving sustainable business growth. By continuously improving the product offering and addressing user needs, companies can maintain a loyal customer base and succeed in the long run. Additionally, it helps to differentiate a company from its competitors, establishing it as a leader in the market.

Product adoption is the cornerstone of sustainable growth, as it focuses not only on acquiring users but also on nurturing lasting relationships. By continuously enhancing user experience and addressing feedback, product adoption ensures customer satisfaction and advocacy, driving organic growth and brand loyalty.

Driving adoption requires ongoing education, support and optimization. ?? Create onboarding guides, tutorials, communities. ?? Offer training and consultations. ???? Monitor product usage metrics and survey for feedback. ?? Address issues, gaps and opportunities to smooth the customer journey. ??? Customer success and retention come from continuous nurturing beyond the sale. ??

Stop being crazy about the metrics Product growth is about being customer-centric. It's like being a good friend: you listen, understand, and respond to what the other person needs. When businesses genuinely care about their customers and make efforts to understand their needs, those customers feel valued and are more likely to stick around. In the long run, businesses that act like a caring friend toward their customers not only make them happier but also see their products grow more popular because of this genuine relationship.

The growth stage is pivotal in the lifecycle of any product. Even more than any other stage, it is crucial to ensure the product is relevant for customer. Whether in new geographies, segments or targeting, it is vital to ensure customer pain points are being addressed. Product marketing should champion the voice of the customer and reinforce their position as the bridge between market and product

Fuel growth through expansion into new markets and releases. ?? Target new personas, geographies, industries. ?? Develop new features and spin-off products to extend value. ?? Test pricing tiers and packaging options. ?? Partnerships, referrals and cross-selling widen reach. ?? Agile iteration of the product and business model expand revenues. ??

Please avoid overly fancy marketing or growth strategies. Product growth should rely on metrics established from the launch phase, such as download rates, click-throughs, online purchases, and favoriting. It's crucial to align these metrics with the customer journey map to clearly identify the areas where growth is needed. This alignment helps develop appropriate growth strategies.

Product growth can come from expansion opportunities or from new adjacent product offerings that grow with your customer needs. Look at the entire spectrum of what will help your customers and find creative solutions.

From my experience, there are two keys to product innovation: - Knowing your market and your customers. You have to know your customers well. As a product marketing professional, you should always be in touch with your customers have regular customer development interviews, and they will be your source of ideas for innovation. - Second, you must have a broader understanding of the market and be the source and advocate for that information within the company. What other products do your customers use, where are you in their value chain, and who comes before and who comes after you?

Innovation is simple. All you need to do is just Read Tech Blogs Attend Tech Conferences Listen to Podcasts Join Online Communities Follow Tech Influencers Talk With Your Customers

Innovation often comes from collaboration with heavy users - if you build a thriving community around your product oftentimes you’ll get suggestions from community members out of the blue that provide unique insights that would have been hard to get to from the inside. Combining that with your technical experts inside the company who are the second key players for real innovation and you’re already ahead of most.

Innovation sustains differentiation and delights users. ?? Explore creative new concepts through research, ideation, prototyping. ?? Validate new directions with user feedback. ? Collaborate across teams and partners to refine innovations. ?? Bring new ideas to life that reimagine the customer experience and business impact. ??

Never, ever stop innovating. Here are a few ways: - Impromptu gatherings with likeminded people. - Organized brainstorming/design thinking sessions (they don’t need to be long). - Keep an idea log and review it periodically, like once a month. - Monitor not only your competition, but the industry(ies) you serve, and technology in general. - Cross pollination - look at similar industries and see what you can use from them and adapt to yours and your products. - Use the MVPs to build proof of concepts and see if the idea/product has legs. Use the MVPs to get immediate feedback from the people who’d fund you, potential buyers, and colleagues. Use agile style development to keep iterating until you get it to a place people would buy it.

Product marketing in B2B Business While applying Product Marketing in B2C (Business-to-Consumer) and having experts for that, this is not often the case in B2B (Business-to-Business). What I am seeing regularly in B2B , that someone from the tech department takes over the product marketing role. If this person has the experience and training, this makes a lot of sense (merging the two worlds of technology and marketing). Unfortunately, this is not always the case. Therefore, I am promoting to get "real" product marketing expertise into the product team also for B2B, especially since we understand now, that we should rather see it as B2B2C (Business-to-business-to-consumer), since in the end indivuduals are taking purchasing decisions

The single most important thing is for the PMMs to be an equal partner in the early roadmap discussions. The second most important thing, specifically for founders at early-stage start-ups, is to make a PMM one of your first 5 hires. They never are, and start-ups miss out as a result.

Product Marketing has four main functions: 1) Market based Problem Discovery 2) Market based Problem Statement 3) Market based Product Expectations 4) Gap Management between external requirements and internal capabilities. Product Marketing folks are effectively the “Voice of Customer” (VOC), they need to be extrinsic rather than Product Managers who are more intrinsic.

For me personally, it helped to establish a proper communication with the product manager/prodoct owner. Everything else will come from the conversations: What challenges do they have with the product? Do they need market benchmarks? Do they lack a contact person? This way you can build your own personalised approach per connection.

Product Marketing is as important as Product management and development. Product marketing helps in scoping out the market and break it into segments both in B2B and B2C perspectives. It helps in driving the product strategy as well by giving inputs from the market response and surveys.