PIM Is Not About Data

I've spent a good portion of the last 2 years telling you how important product data is to your business and how product data is vital to the success of manufacturers and retailers. In the world of B2B and B2C, product data flows as a lifeblood of the sales process. Today I'm going to shift that dynamic by telling you that Product Information Management systems, or PIM, are not about data: They are about Product Messaging.

Before getting too deep I want to clarify something: There is no B2B or B2C anymore. We have reached the point in development of the sales cycle that B2B has caught up to B2C. Whether you are selling to another business or a retail customer the differences between the services you provide are minor. We are no longer in a B2B2C world: We are in a B2 world.

That said, let's understand why product messaging is the key to PIM. It starts with understanding the difference between a cause and a symptom. The lack of a consistent product message across domains and channels should be the cause of needing a PIM solution, and the data is the symptom of that problem. If you think only in data terms as the problem you lose the informational value that a consistent product message provides, and that cannot be viewed only in data terms.

What is Product Messaging in PIM?

If you have read my previous blogs you have seen me highlight many data inconsistencies and bad data practices amoung many different organizations. However, that data only appears inconsistent when applied to an entire product view or when viewed against multiple retailers. The data by itself may be correct or incorrect, but the problem arises when the data is put in context of the entire product data spectrum. In data this is referred to as information, as the data put in context is of greater value than the individual data points themselves. This information is then absorbed to create knowledge.

This product information is the message you are sending out describing your product. It is your branding, you differentiation, and your product reputation. This is product messaging, and getting product messaging right involves having the right data placed into the proper context to create information to create knowledge for your customers, whether they are B2B or B2C. (Again, B2!) If the data is inconsistent, inaccurate, or poorly formed, the information that makes up your product message develops poor knowledge of your product. Your product data quality may suffer a little, but your product message is chaotic and confusing.

As I have shown before, many businesses are failing at product messaging because they cannot control their message across multiple platforms. A single product shown on multiple websites may have inconsisent data, or the marketing of multiple products in a single experience may have inconsistent data across products. This causes faceting and search issues, finadability concerns for both SEO and internal search, and culminates in lost conversion opportunities.

So how do you fix your product messaging problem?

Why PIM?

I've recently been more involved in the question of why a business needs a product information management tool. Simply put, it is to develop a consistent message across multiple platforms by creating a hub of product data instead of product data silos. This single source of data allows you to syndicate your message in a way that requires less mutation by downstream systems. It also allows you to build a center of excellence around product messaging instead of having separate teams for copy, specs, images, and collateral.

At the very heart of PIM is product data. Without product data PIM is an empty tool with no value. However, that product data is disseminated across many different domains and channels; your ecomm platform, your microsites, your distributors' sites, and your downstream channel partners. Having a single piece of product data in one channel containing inaccurate information ends in a diminished customer experience, but having inconsistent descriptions, images, and content across these channels provides a confusing product message that customers will question.

Therefore, while product data is the heart of PIM your product message is the goal of PIM. If you are engaging in a PIM installation merely to speed your data ingestion or get rid of a poor data store you will most likely have a negative ROI story to tell. If you use it to synidcate your product message in a consistent, accurate, timely, and desirable fashion you have a positive ROI story based on conversion, sales, and brand promise improvements. Lastly, without a PIM attempting any form of syndication is a huge expense that promises little consistency in your message and tons of aggravating spread sheet work to complete.

Why the change of story, Dan?

So why am I suddenly changing how I'm describing the value of PIM? I don't see it as a change; It's an evolution of the PIM story. You will hear PIM vendors talk to Product Experience Management (PXM) and Product Content Management (PCM) in data terms, but they are really saying the same thing I am. They are attempting to turn data from an acquisition cost to a valuable asset by understanding the greater picture of product data.

Really what that means is I'm catching up to the industry, but using simpler terms. PCM and PXM are great sales terminologies for the C-Suite to understand conceptually how product data is important, but using terms like "Consistent Product Messaging" and "Empowered Syndication" are the real outputs from PIM. For those merchandisers looking for a solution to their product data problems, product messaging is something they understand. Accepting that the data is simply to route to that product message accepting what merchandising is really all about.

A Quick Plug

If you've read this far you must be a data geek of some sort, or have a data issue you can't solve. I also have an issue I want to solve: Product data syndication as we know it today is broken. If you want to understand how to disrupt the product syndication business, improve the syndication experience, and lower costs for syndication as a business opportunity, reach out. I'm looking for interested parties who want to move a project/business forward to solve the product data syndication problem properly.