What I’ve Learned about Product Marketing

For anyone who’s had a role in the PMM world, you know just how vast PMM roles and responsibilities are.?Here are some honest views on the things I've learned about Product Marketing over 4 years of experience in 3 different roles.

1. Product Marketing is different at every company.

In the various PMM roles I’ve had, if I’ve learned one thing it’s that the Product Marketing function is different for every business. The role can be very broad and include everything from go-to-market launches and product messaging to digital marketing and content creation. At start-ups, it’s typical for Product Marketing to manage everything under the sun – messaging creation, customer interviews, assets and documentation, blog management, marketing tools, email campaigns, webinars, events, social media, presentations, go-to-market planning and execution, website copy, marketing analytics, sales enablement, and more. The larger the company gets, the more likely it is for these responsibilities to be separated between different departments and the PMMs are then focused on different pillars of the product or service. Some PMMs can be more generalists and others can be more specialists, especially depending on the technical depth of the product or service in question. Whatever the case, it’s important to think through the most effective structure of your marketing and Product Marketing team. What is the best separation of responsibilities to allow your team to hone in on dedicated focus areas? Does team structure easily allow each team member to know what their responsibilities are? What’s most important to business success? There is also such a vast breadth of tasks that fall under the PMM umbrella that I’ve found it’s critical to play to team members’ strengths. Giving each person the opportunity to be involved in different projects is great, but I believe it’s way better to listen to what each team member is good at and also know what they like to do. If you want your team to be efficient and happy, this is critical to consider.

2. If all else, PRIORITIZE. And then prioritize again.

The world of PMM can get crazy, and I’ve been in so many situations where stress comes down to the lack of prioritization. Some team members will need more help in this area than others, which makes it essential to have a good leader to guide them. So often, teams will “prioritize” and make huge lists of things to be done, but it’s still an overwhelming amount of work on each person’s plate. No matter how many things need to get done, keeping lists realistic and attainable monthly or quarterly will make sure the team is significantly more motivated and meets their goals – with room to exceed them. I know when I’ve been in situations when I have too many large projects that are priority at the same time, it’s difficult to stay motivated, do quality work, and also meet all of my deadlines. And I HATE not being able to do all of these things. Of course, certain times will be busier than others, but a constant state of being overwhelmed is just not sustainable. Even more important than prioritizing is RE-prioritizing. It’s important to do continuous check-ins, re-prioritize, and keep a constant pulse on what work will be most impactful. Things are always changing, so the priority list should reflect that.

3. If you’re not listening to your customers, you’re doing it wrong.

Interviews, interviews, interviews. You’re selling and marketing to your customer, so it doesn’t matter what you believe is going to resonate with them, it’s what they tell you will resonate that should guide you. Maintaining a customer-first mindset at all times in your company and product journey will make all the difference. This is why Win/Loss programs are beneficial, helping you keep an honest pulse on why you win deals or lose them, and ultimately learning how you can improve. I’ve personally created and run these programs and can tell you that I learned so much by having open conversations with customers. Whether they’re an established customer or a prospect you lost, they will appreciate your genuine desire to learn about them – not only as a customer but as a person who has to do a job and is looking to make their work life better (and probably easier) with your product or service. At the end of the day, customers are people. They want to be communicated with on a conversational level and feel like they are understood. My personal preference is that Product Marketing has a personal involvement in these customer conversations. Maybe it’s managed by someone who leads Competitive Intelligence. At the minimum, interviews should be facilitated by someone who is an outsider to Sales and is not looking to push anything other than getting valuable feedback. Sometimes, companies hire third parties (like Clozd, for example) to run these programs for them – which is great, because they do take a ton of time and energy – but with that you run the risk of not hearing feedback firsthand and therefore not being able to ask questions in the moment. If you have someone with the capacity to hold these types of interviews on a regular basis or can hire someone to do so, I highly recommend it. Having multiple team members involved will make this even better, although I do believe one-on-one conversations are the most friendly, intimate, and non-threatening. Developing a process to discuss, analyze and share findings from customer conversations with the broader team is what will help make an impact and recommend action.

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4. Pinpointing the right messaging can be hard, but it's critical.

This goes back to listening to your customer. What do they really want? What resonates with them? Once you can figure this out, how can you most simply and effectively communicate the details of your product or service and the true value it brings. Without the right research, there could be disconnect between the value you perceive that you bring to the table and the true value your customer base sees or is looking to get. This also impacts communication in GTM launches – if the messaging is off, you risk not having a successful launch. For different businesses and industries, going about developing the right messaging looks relatively the same. Is there existing research done on your customer base? Do you have access to having exploratory customer conversations? Can you collect data through a survey? Can you start small by A/B testing messaging on your website or blog? What budget are you working with? In my experience, rushing messaging creation or a messaging refresh doesn’t usually pan out the way it’s expected to. Customers may be confused and this can negatively impact your brand if you don’t do the due diligence first to make sure you’re on the right track. Doing the work is exactly as it sounds… it’s “work”… but it is so worth it.?

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5. Smooth go-to-market planning makes all the difference.

Go-to-market (GTM) planning and execution is an art, and no two launches are the same. These can range from full product launches to announcing small changes to partnership announcements and even refreshed branding. This makes it important to have a framework you generally follow and know all the different vehicles available to share news of a launch, but that whoever is executing the launch knows how to pick and choose what is meaningful. Timing is also key. So often, GTM announcements are reactionary. They are so much better for everyone involved when they are started well in advance, with time to solidify messaging and get all teams on board for the execution. I’ve managed over 15 GTM announcements in my experience and I can tell you they run much better the sooner you get all stakeholders involved and on board. This is also a tricky topic when it comes to who should be responsible for running GTM in an organization. When this isn’t clearly owned, or there isn’t enough manpower dedicated to it, it’s not going to turn out very well – like with anything else. Whether it’s managed by a specialized department or by one individual, I strongly believe this should be at least one employee’s focus entirely. There are so many moving parts and so much to understand to be able to bring everything together – Sometimes there are partners involved. You’ll need creative assets. Someone needs to project manage the whole production. Maybe you want to plan events or webinars. You’ll likely want blog posts and social posts. Maybe even a press release. Notifying Analyst Firms could be necessary. ?And the list goes on. I personally love running GTM activities, and anyone who thrives in relationship management, diplomatic communication, and ability to influence others will thrive in getting these done well. GTM Launches is also a big area where PMMs can attempt to measure their impact in a profession where it can be tricky to do so. So much of what we do influences other teams and helps them advance the business (ultimately driving revenue) but it can be challenging to measure PMM’s direct impact. With a launch, you are able to measure revenue impact post-launch, how many people the press release reaches, how many sales are made post-launch, how many customers have adopted the new product or feature, how many impressions you get on the blog and social, how many new customers you may gain, and qualitative feedback from Sales. The list grows if there is partner involvement, associated events, sales through a marketplace, etc. To put this all simply, GTM is the lifeblood of all that PMM works toward on a daily basis. It needs the attention it deserves and can help both measure and drive your business.?

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6. Being a knowledge center is valuable.

We all know the saying “content is king.” Throughout all my roles, I’ve noticed customers will find your brand if you function as a knowledge center, specifically in your blog. In addition to knowledge about your product, is there something your market needs knowledge about at a higher level? Can potential customers search for something they need to know and find it from you? If you can answer the questions that these people need to know, you’ll get more traffic and be able to make more customer conversions.

7. It’s just as important to educate your own team as it is to educate your customers.

Just because you think something resonates with customers does not mean it’s going to resonate with your sellers or internal team. This is why it’s important to bring these folks into the conversation during the planning phase and get their input and buy-in. If you’re selling something, would you want to be directed to sell in a way that doesn’t make sense to you? Especially when you know it won’t resonate with the customers you talk to? The answer should be a resounding “No.” There are also so many different teams involved in changes around messaging, the product, or even new available resources. Having a good system to educate teams and create sales enablement materials on what’s going on makes all the difference in adoption and, ultimately, everyone being on the same page. For example, Customer Success Managers (CSMs) shouldn’t hear about a product update the day before it goes live. Similarly, Sales Teams shouldn’t be in the dark about pricing changes. No one likes to come across as not knowing something they should. A lot of this falls on the Product Marketing Team as far as relationship management. To get the word out about change, they need as many leaders as they can to buy in and get the word out to their teams. But PMM may also be able to lean on a Sales Enablement team to help with this. Also consider how your internal teams want to learn about something – Could it just be an email? Would a training session be the best idea? Should a training program be developed? Will you need supporting documentation like FAQs? This is another situation of understanding your "internal customers" and knowing how each team wants to consume information and learn. Regardless, don’t wait to let all impacted teams know what’s coming – they’ll appreciate having advanced notice and business results will be better than if you waited. It’s a win-win.

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8. Don’t get emotionally attached.

It’s understandable that you may get emotionally attached to something you put your blood, sweat and tears into. It’s happened to me – I’ll put so much time an energy into a project plan or a piece of content or even a messaging proposal, and it gets completely changed. This is just the name of the game, and after being through it a number of times you realize that your initial work is pretty guaranteed to be changed in some way, at least. Sometimes you find out from customers you’ve taken the wrong direction, or sometimes there is an internal influence that wants to make some tweaks. Or it can be intentional that you are aiming to test and iterate to be able to move fast. At the end of it all, nothing is personal. This is business and we are all working towards the same goal. It may be easier said than done to not be emotionally invested in your work, but building this skill will help you be significantly happier in what you produce. Forming the mindset that you can kick a project off strong and see it “evolve” into something great with multiple iterations and sources of input is very fruitful.

#productmarketing #collaboration #salesenablement #messaging #gtm #prioritization