Measuring the Unmeasurable: Product Marketing

Being a product marketer is a dynamic and exciting role, but it’s challenging. Unlike sales or customer support, where success is often measured by numbers like revenue or tickets resolved, product marketing goals can sometimes feel more subjective and harder to measure. You’re often tasked with crafting narratives, launching products, and enabling sales—all critical, but not always easy to quantify.

So, how could you ensure your efforts are successful and aligned with business goals? The answer lies in setting up an Objectives and Key Results (OKR) strategy that connects your work to measurable outcomes.

Why Measuring Product Marketing Goals is Tough

Product marketing often sits at the intersection of multiple teams—sales, product, customer success, and marketing. While your goals might include increasing adoption rates, creating customer personas, or improving messaging, these are not always immediately measurable. For instance:

• How do you measure the impact of a product launch beyond initial excitement?
• How do you quantify better positioning or brand perception?

This ambiguity can make it hard to demonstrate the value of your work and align with other teams’ objectives.

you feel it, but how do you prove it’s moving things?

How OKRs Can Help Product Marketers

OKRs provide a structured way to define clear objectives and measurable results. They give you and your team a way to align with company goals, focus on outcomes that matter, and track progress over time.

Objectives: Think of these as your “big goals.” They should inspire and provide clear direction.        

Key Results: These are the specific, measurable outcomes that show you’re achieving your objectives.        

For example Objective: Make our new product launch a success. Key Results:

1. Drive 10,000 visits to the product landing page within the first month.
2. Achieve a 20% conversion rate on the product demo sign-up form.
3. Secure at least 5 media mentions in top-tier industry publications.

Aligning OKRs Across Teams

One of the best things about OKRs is that they encourage collaboration. Since product marketing touches many parts of the business, your OKRs should align with those of other teams. For instance:

• If sales have an objective to grow revenue by 15%, your OKR could focus on creating enablement materials that shorten the sales cycle.
• If the product has an objective to increase the adoption of a new feature, your OKR might include educating users with webinars or email campaigns.

By aligning your goals, you ensure everyone is moving in the same direction—and your work directly impacts larger business objectives.

Thats how you keep the product, sales, and marketing love triangle from turning into a soap opera.

Best Practices for Setting Product Marketing OKRs

Here’s how to make OKRs work for you:

1. Start Small: Focus on 2-3 high-impact objectives per quarter. Trying to do too much dilutes your efforts.
2. Be Specific: Vague objectives like “improve product adoption” don’t help. Add measurable key results that define success.
3. Collaborate: Involve stakeholders like sales, product, and leadership to make sure your OKRs align with broader business goals.
4. Stay Flexible: Market conditions can change quickly. Be ready to adapt your OKRs if needed.
5. Measure Regularly: Schedule weekly or monthly check-ins to track progress and adjust strategies.

Examples of Product Marketing OKRs

Here are a few OKRs tailored to product marketing:

Increase Product Adoption        

• Achieve a 20% increase in active users for the new feature by the end of Q1.
• Conduct 3 customer webinars with at least 50 attendees each.
• Create and distribute an email campaign with a 30% open rate and a 10% click-through rate.

Boost Brand Awareness        

• Grow organic website traffic by 25% in Q2.
• Gain 1,000 new followers across LinkedIn and Twitter.
• Secure 10 backlinks from industry-relevant websites.

Enable Sales Teams        

• Deliver 5 new sales enablement assets (case studies, battle cards, etc.) within a month of the product launch.
• Conduct 2 training sessions with the sales team, with 90% attendance.
• Increase the win rate for targeted accounts by 15% in Q2.

OKRs turn ‘winging it’ into ‘winning it’—with numbers to back it up!

Why OKRs Matter for Product Marketers

OKRs empower product marketers to focus on what truly matters. They provide a roadmap for your work, helping you prioritize and measure progress in a way that’s aligned with your company’s overall success. Instead of guessing whether your product launch resonated or your positioning made an impact, you’ll have tangible results to showcase.

"OKRs let you say, ‘Here’s the proof that I crushed it,’ instead of just, ‘Trust me, I crushed it.’"

So, take the time to define your objectives and key results thoughtfully. With OKRs, you’ll not only navigate the complexities of product marketing with clarity but also show the undeniable value of your role to the business.

What are some OKRs that have worked for you? Let’s discuss this in the comments!