Product marketing is the bridge that fills the gap between product development and the marketing communication that eventually and literally, puts the product on the market and ensures it stays there.
It’s the easiest explanation for an otherwise intense and time-consuming strategy that sometimes starts along with the product concept and rarely ends up with the launching.
In some companies, a product marketer is responsible for positioning the product on the market. In other places, they focus on sales and sales enablement. There are companies where the product marketer is responsible for driving sales and product adoption while on others, they are responsible for all of the above.
Regardless of your company targets and objectives and the role they assume a product marketer should take, there are some things you need to know about this whole endeavor, things that I am about to share with you in this article.
Let’s, therefore, start with the first and most important question that most of you will ask upon reading the title:
Why is product marketing important?
Before getting to the answer, let’s take a quick look at the below picture:
Product marketing is in the middle of everything that matters related to the product. Let’s how it affects each of these circles:
Product development: Through Product Marketing, we are able to shape the product strategy right from the beginning, right from the concept stage. Product Marketing builds an intimate connection with the product itself and the knowledge necessary to target the audience, what they need, when they need it, how they are using the already existing products from the competition, and so on.
Marketing: Product Marketing helps in defining and targeting the right market. It helps in developing the appropriate approach to the audience through messaging and positioning. At this point, the go-to-market strategy is being designed and built. In its center, the product is to be released.
Product sales: Product Marketing is and should always be aligned with sales teams. The marketer should make sure that members of these teams have all the knowledge, instructions and tools they need in order to sell the product effectively.
Customer success: A Product Marketer looks beyond product production, market implementation, and the eventual first sale. They also keep a close eye to how the consumers are using the product, how they feel about it. They also gather insights in order to optimize or improve the product.
In a competitive market, just like this one, launching and marketing a product may be more difficult than ever. The whole endeavor is as challenging as you could imagine and the right product marketing strategy can mean the difference between creating an impact or fading into the background.
Therefore, what is product marketing good for?
Well, there are several things you need to take into consideration at this point:
It supports the relationship between sales and the customers through customer research and development, research on buyer personas, sales training on customers, the design and implementation of a go-to-market strategy, research on competition and positioning and messaging through marketing and sales collateral.
It supports the relationship between the products and the consumers through customers insights and user interviews, validations or product-market fit, positioning, and messaging through website and product.
It supports the relationship between product and sales
And, essentially, it bridges all the aspects of product sales, marketing, and the customer’s experience.
Product Marketing Goals
As we have already talked about, there is a lot to gain from Product Marketing. However, before getting to that, we need to take control of our main goals. And, the question that should be asked before anything else is “What do I want to achieve with this?”.
What are the main product marketing goals?
Understand the customer and target the buyer persona effectively
You are now implementing a marketing strategy for a new product which means you are already researching how people react to it, how the target audience can see the value of having that specific product in their lives. Then, you get to conduct customer research based on their reaction and figure out the buyer persona you will target in the future.
Learn about the competition (both products, and strategies)
Product marketing sets up another goal that will present as an opportunity as well. I am talking about the competition, their products, their strategy, everything that makes them successful.
In order to have a successful strategy as well, you need to set up the goal to study your competition’s products that is similar to what you want to launch in the near future.
However, there are some things you can really gain from this such as what your product has the offer and theirs doesn’t and vice versa, what features and benefits their product have and how they are perceived by the market, along with the features and benefits you can add to your own product. Last but not least, you can study the competition’s strategy and learn how you can even improve on that in order to create the best strategy for your future launch.
Make sure all the teams involved with the product are on the same page
Starting with engineers and up to the sales teams, all people involved in the release of the product should be on the same page. Product Marketer should make sure of this should they want to create a successful strategy that starts with the design and production and ends up with the market release.
Product Marketing Responsibilities
Product marketers spend a lot of time understanding their target market and figuring out what appeals to them. Once they know who the product is for, it’s easier to come up with marketing strategies that will resonate well with this specific group in order to make the sale.
From the goals set above, the main responsibilities of Product Marketing arise as well. Here’s a list of everything you need to do:
- Identify the target audience for the product to be released and the buyer personas
- Create a marketing strategy, implement it and make sure the product is properly released
- Work together with all teams involved in the project, especially with the sales team, in order to attract the right audience and customers for the product to be released
- Determine your position on the market and how to improve it altogether
- Make sure the product to be released is in line with the needs of the customers and their expectations
- Make sure that over time, your product is still relevant
Product Marketing Strategy
The product marketing strategy guides you through product positioning on the market, the pricing, the promotion of the product or service you wish to release. It helps you take it from development and go with it through all the different stages, study and understand the audience and maybe the competition, and finally, put it on the market and expect the results.
There are several steps you need to undertake in order to set up and optimize the product marketing strategy. Here are the most important of them:
Define and understand the audience
It is one of your main roles, as a product marketer to define and target the right audience for the product or service you are about to release. Please note, however, that different products have different target audiences so, if you already have some products on the market, it doesn’t automatically mean that you will target the same audience for the new one.
To find your customers, do this:
- Analyze prospective customers but at the same time, your current customers as well.
- Group these customers by demographics, education, interests, and so on.
- Create a hypothetical description of your ideal customers. Create a couple of characters, describe them and start working based on them
Determine how to position your product in order to set it apart
You may have the best product in the world if you are positioning it badly or if your potential customers do not know how it can help them in one way or another. Your message should explain why they need to buy it.
You can address some questions such as:
- What problems does the product solve?
- Why should a customer pay for it?
- What makes it unique on the market?
Set the goals for the product
There are many things here you can consider as prime goals for a product marketing strategy. You can set up sales goals, customer success rate goals, and brand awareness goals altogether.
The important thing is to take all of them into account when you develop your main strategy.
Therefore, let’s rewind a little bit, and take into consideration everything we’ve already discussed while setting the most important steps in your strategy.
A product marketer must first answer the following question: “who is my target customer?”. And then, study their needs.
Once they understand what their prospective customers want from them, it’s important to find out if there are enough of them for this project. A big mistake many people make when they start a business or bring a new product on board is going after something that has too little potential.
Too often entrepreneurs say that in order to get money, you have to spend like crazy! Don’t fall into these traps, however. Instead, measure your opportunity before investing all your time and resources because some opportunities just can’t be captured within an allotted budget while others might not even exist at all!
A. Product research is an essential step in making a great product. For weeks and months before the launch of your new baby, you’ll work with developers to test it both internally and externally through controlled beta environments.
All the research during the process has directly contributed to what a product marketer would like this product story to be about and who it should be targeted towards.
When faced with a problem, it can be difficult to know where to start. The best place is of course at the beginning, and that’s just what you’ll find in our product stories which cover all aspects from ergonomics design details for increased productivity to features and benefits so there’s no question as to how your needs will be met.
B. Product Stories: A good old-fashioned story might provide some inspiration or insight into solving problems but products work too! Our Product Story section includes everything from information on who would benefit most by using this particular product such as someone looking for relief during pregnancy due to nausea and vomiting (prenatal vitamins) right down through more detailed descriptions like different uses including dosage instructions when used orally versus via injections if intravenous
C. Product-Focused Content: Product marketers can now create and A/B test the marketing copy, blog content, case studies, and landing pages for their website. They may even use these to describe what a product does!
D. Product-Launch Plan: With a well-executed and thorough launch plan, your product can be launched with success. This is why it’s so important to have a written version of the marketing process spelled out in order for all parties involved to know their roles at every step.
A lack of preparation before launching your new product will spell disaster as you try to get off the ground without any established customer base or market presence. A comprehensive release plan spells success by taking into consideration many different aspects such as who needs what information when and how they’ll receive it; which channels will best reach potential customers; evaluation criteria that are most relevant (ease-of-use? cost?).
E. Product-Launch Meeting: Ever wonder what happens when a product is launched? Product marketers from all over the company meet to celebrate. They sweat it out, and then go back home with peace of mind that their job was done right.
Product launch meetings are not like any other meeting you will ever attend- they’re more intense than usual because this event marks the culmination point in everyone’s work on a product for marketing purposes.
Product Marketing Examples
Product marketing is the process of bringing a product to market. This includes deciding the positioning and messaging, launching it on different platforms, ensuring that salespeople understand what they’re selling, and monitoring customers’ feedback for continuous improvement.
Product marketers are always finding ways to make their products more interesting by adding elements like new features while also maintaining an established brand identity so customers never feel alienated from familiar brands they trust, in favor of something else with newer technology – which makes them essential players in any company’s success!
Product marketing aims not only to drive demand but usage as well; product marketers work tirelessly at creating innovative strategies within every aspect of how consumers interact with whatever type of business’ product(s) get marketed.
The process of marketing a product lasts well after its launch to ensure the right people are aware of the new, innovative technology that has just hit shelves. The company must make sure it is providing its customers with top-notch customer service in order for them to be satisfied and come back again!
Marketing isn’t only about getting your name out there – but also making sure you’re satisfying all those who have purchased from you before.
This being said, let’s take a quick look at some of the best examples of a good product marketing strategy:
1. Grow and Convert
Products don’t need to be physical items. They can digital products, services, and virtually anything a consumer would spend their money on. A great example in non-physical product marketing comes from Grow and Convert, a content marketing agency.
What did they do?
Well, before launching something new, they did a competitive analysis to identify any existing gap in their targeted market. Thus, they found three major gaps, like the lack of a content marketing agency focused on leads, the lack of high-quality B2B content, and a lack of content promotion in these agencies.
They launched a service to fill all these gaps, one able to provide the best solution for their customers.
We see therefore that the product marketing started here with thorough research on the market, on the competition, and at the same time, on buyer’s needs.
2. Mail Chimp’s Growing Business landing page
Until recently, Mail Chimp was just another popular email marketing tool. Now, it is an all-in-one marketing suite, an almost entirely new product which was developed after successful research on what their clients want, how they behave, and what things would they need in order to be more successful and content.
When conducting research, the product marketing team identified the fact that the customers used the Mail Chimp platform in order to grow their businesses. As a consequence, most of the tools that are featured on the company’s services are being marketed through campaigns focused on their ability to help small businesses grow. In other words, they manage to position themselves as a great opportunity for B2B marketing strategies.
3. Apple’s any new product
We cannot talk about good product marketing without mentioning Apple, the company that is responsible for only such examples. Basically, every new product launch at Apple is a crowning of a well-researched and planned product marketing campaign.
Just think about how Apple always presents its products as the ultimate things, the things that fulfill all the needs, etc. This is the result of intensive research on the market, perfect product positioning, and a good understanding of how their audience thinks, what they want, how they want it, and so on.
4. Man Crates
“Man Crates” is a company that creates men-only products. They are well known for always using humor during their marketing campaign but this is not the thing that we will talk about today because the same thing may be applicable to many other companies and marketing campaigns.
“Man Crates” got to this list due to their latest approach to men’s products. They started to market their products to women, as means to buy gifts for the men in their lives. Thus, they have added a new type of demographics to their marketing pool, and here they can target any woman who is searching to buy a gift for a man.
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They did this because they identified a gap in their market and at the same time, the need to fill it immediately. Some men are easily pleased with simple gifts but most of the women, find it hard to come up with great ideas for their loved ones. By targeting the women, “Man Crates” were able to market male-only products to everyone, without discrimination which means that they left their niche and wider their horizons with just a simple decision as the one described above.
A Product Marketer Job Description
A product marketer, as we have already seen, has a lot to do in order to make sure the launch is successful and the success goes on beyond that moment as well.
As a consequence, their job description may include a wide area of skills and competencies such as the ones I am going to summarize in this chapter:
- Expertise in marketing and marketing strategy. A successful product marketer is skilled in all forms of marketing but most of all, in creating successful marketing strategies because this is what they need the most, from the start and right up to the end: a STRATEGY.
- Marketing program guidance. The product marketer should work together with the product manager in order to outline the product’s strategy regarding positioning on the market, a position that can articulate the values added by the product itself.
Support for the sales team.
The sales teams and the sales marketing are responsible to convince the audience to buy the product, to continue to buy it, to embrace it. The product marketer, on the other hand, should work together with these teams in order to create the powerful message that launches the product and makes it purchasable, to create the need according to what the customers want, to place it on the right market and at the right time.
Create the launch plan.
When everything is in place, the product marketer should focus on designing the launch plan for the product, to outline all the steps that are required for a successful launch on the market. Here, they should work as well together with all the other teams involved in designing, producing, and marketing the product.
Present and represent the product and the company.
The product needs a voice, and so does the company. It needs marketing-ready descriptions, tutorials, slogans, and so on. Product marketers should be able to always advocate the product and the company and provide customers with all the information they need in order to make the purchase decision.
Conclusion
Product marketing is an essential part of a product lifecycle. It helps it get to the market, get to the right audience and create the need that will eventually lead to purchase. With this article, we’ve browsed through some of the most important steps and ideas related to product marketing and we’ve seen some examples of how big companies did it in order to reach out to their success.
Are you involved in product marketing? What other ideas can you add to the ones already discussed here?
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