The document discusses principles for aligning product marketing and product management in global SaaS businesses. It notes that misalignment between these teams prevents getting products into the right users' hands quickly and can lead to user confusion. The document recommends that product marketing and product management share goals, metrics, and commitments to ensure their success is tied together. It also advocates for an "outside-in" user-focused approach to product planning and development.

1. Product Marketing in a Global
SaaS Business
Andrew Malcolm
CMO, Evernote
VP Product Marketing HP Inc
Former Head of Marketing Skype

2. 2
Summary
 Becoming a user-focused organization requires greater alignment between innovation
in product management and positioning in the product marketing team.
 In most organizations, commitments are not aligned and Product Managers must
interact with multiple touch-points from the marketing organization, creating confusion
internally and externally
 A set of principles for the operating model between marketing and product management
enables shared accountability for performance and greater value add to product
plans
 Adopting a defined “outside in” process to product planning injects user insights into
product development, provides a vocabulary for communication, and increases the
likelihood of building everyday products that solve future pain points
 Product marketing’s responsibility is to synthesize user insights into commercial
opportunities and put products in the hands of the right users in such a way as to
make them successful

3. 3
Common Issues
Misalignment prevents product marketing from helping the product managers get the best products in
the hands of the right users, quickly
Issue Internal Ramification External Ramification
 Multiple product marketing
teams create different (and
at times confliction) positions
in the market
 Multiple touch points for
product managers
 No single value proposition
for org to rally behind and
deliver
 User confusion regarding
offerings
 User perception of brand in
a general, uncontrolled
fashion
 Lack of defined approach to
product planning leads to
inconsistent backlog
priorities from sprint to sprint
 PMs are confused by PMM
role, resulting in limited
ability for PMMs to influence
PMs
 Products are not evolving to
meet changing user needs
 Competitors are catching up
and passing
 Unclear metrics and
reporting for product teams
prevents focus on “what’s
important” and accountability
for performance
 Product reporting is onerous
and not driving behavior
 Multiple messages in the
market attempting to drive
different metrics
 PMs and PMMs do not
share common commitments
to metrics
 Misalignment around
priorities
 Products and marketing
messages are not consistent

4. 4
User Intelligence
Global SaaS Marketing Operating Model
Product Marketing should be the connection with product management to bring products to market
and provide user insights to assist product direction
Product Marketing
• Customer Insight
• Value proposition definition
• Target customer segment
• Product positioning
• Go To Market
• Price/Monetization approach
• Competitor threats
PR and Communications
• Channel selection
• Campaign development
• Campaign execution
• Price optimization
• Promotion definition
• Contact strategy / CRM
Brand
Brand Strategy Guidelines & System
• Overall definition
• Look & Feel
• Conformance
• Messaging input
Marketing Operations
Programs Infrastructure
• Installed base communications
• Direct response acquisition
• Inbound selling
• Marketing Tools
• Voucher and promo execution
Campaign Briefs and KPIs
Customer responses and
insights
Product
Management
• Product
development
and design
• Technical
direction
• Delivery
timelines and
confidence
Commercial
Strategy
• Web Analytics
• Research
• Business Intelligence
• Brand

5. 5
Guiding Principles for PM/PMM Operating Model
The PM and PMM should be intricately tied so that they only succeed together
 The PMM and PM share common goals, metrics, and commitments related to product
performance
 The PMM organization mirrors the PM organization so that each user-facing product has
a single dedicated product marketing manager
 The PMM and PM jointly present results of performance at product reviews
 Each role has a component of their evaluation which is reviewed by the other side
 The PMM and PM have a weekly meeting to review the performance of the product
 The PMM attends the backlog prioritization to answer questions regarding ROI and
prioritization analysis

6. 6
Role Clarification
If a Product Manager owns the performance of their product, their PMM is similar to a chief
strategy/chief marketing officer who helps the Product Manager succeed
Product Managers Product Marketing
Campaign and Channel
Marketing
 Own the performance of
their products
 Define the technical vision
and direction of the product
 Own the product plan and
backlog prioritization
 Provide input on go-to-
market plans
 Conduct and inform key
research to help develop the
product plan and backlog
 Define target customer
 Create differentiated value
prop … early
 Monetize, position and price
products in the market
 Monitor performance of key
metrics and identifies
opportunities to improve
performance
 Develop Go To Market plans
– lias with sales and
customer success/support
where apropos
 Work with channel managers
to optimize performance
 Develop marketing briefs
based on input from Product
Marketing
 Develop creative and
messaging for campaigns
and communications in the
market
 Test, refine, and optimize
campaign messaging and
channel performance
 Purchase media, manage
relationships, interface with
partners, and identify PR
and event opportunities

7. 7
• Competitive positioning within market
• Market opportunity
• Primary & secondary research
• Voice of the customer interpretation
• Segment profiling
• Segment sizing & value
• Product & feature proposition/positioning throughout life
• Targeting, customer benefits, and key messages
• Advertising, “freemium,” telco, etc.
• Pricing and version definition
• Identification of launch plans and distribution channels
• Develops product positioning
Market &
Competitor Intel
User
Insight
User
Targeting
Value Proposition
Monetization
Approach
Go-To-Market
Strategy
• Product Planning Process
• Forecast
• Product performance reporting
• Campaign briefs for creative
• Channel Management (in some orgs)
• Research input
RESPONSIBLITIES DELIVERABLES
• Develops and tracks key metrics
• Inputs to financial forecasts
Performance
Tracking
Product Marketing Manager Role
The Product Marketing Manager is responsible for a few key deliverables

8. 8
 Technical Vision (PM)
- What are the things we
could do and plan to do with
the technology in the future
- What sequence will we do
them in
In a product based company, these are the documents that
align us on a day-to-day basis
 Value proposition
- What problem will the
technology solve
 Target customer
- Who cares that we solve this
problem and who doesn’t
 Competitive Differentiation
- How will our product remain
separate from key
competitors
- Can we maintain
differentiation in ways other
than product development
 Monetization Approach
- How will we make money:
advertising, upsell, telco, etc.
- How will we charge: sub, $/min,
$/cpm, CPC
 3-yr financials & operating drivers
- What are the keys to measuring the
product
Product Plan
 Business plan and
investment case for
each product
1
2
3
4 5
6
Product Plan Elements
The 6 components of a product plan reflect the system of how a product will become a market
success

9. 9
Product Planning Process
The PMM should manage the product planning process while the PM makes key decisions
Product Plan
 Business plan and
investment case
for each product
Product!!!
 User Intelligence
evaluates and
informs marketing
performance and
opportunities
Campaigns,
Testing &
Analysis
Requirements
Document
 PMs translate the
technical product
vision into Epic
Stories and
requirements that
developers
execute
Coding and
Testing
 Developers use
SCRUM to write
and test code
Technical
Campaign
Briefs
 PMMs translate
the commercial
plan into
positioning, go-to-
market approach,
and lifecycle
management
Marketing
Plans
 Campaign teams
and PR
consolidate the
product marketing
needs into an
overall marketing
plan and themes
Commercial
Corporate
Strategy
Brand
Guidelines
 <20 slide deck
outlining 3-5
year plan
 A vision for
product purpose
Research &
User
Insights
 Custer needs and
feedback
Product &
Tech
Strategies
 Product Portfolio
Direction and
Architecture

10. 10
User-centric Approach
By understanding user pain points and unarticulated needs, PMMs inform product development to
increase the chances of building everyday products
Communication Pain Points
Emotional
Economic
Functional
Power
Decision-Making Process
Purchase Occasion
Use Cases
Discussion
BacklogOfferingUser Need
Technology
Strategy
and
Innovation
Product
Portfolio
Strategy

11. 11
Future
Customer Priorities
Current
Customer Priorities
Previous
Customer Priorities
• Table stakes
• Unarticulated
needs
• Future
opportunities
Anticipating User Needs
Understand unarticulated customer pain points will enable us to build products that address future
customer priorities

12. 12
Skype Overall
Skype consolidates communication methods to enable seamless transition between
communication mediums anywhere in the world, with any device (desktop, mobile, TV),
on any platform (WIN, iOS, Android), and in any medium (messaging, calling, video,
sharing)
S2S Skype OutPremium
Video Audio Chat FT
Example Value Propositions – Skype circa 2011
Value propositions should be written before the product is built to increase likelihood of product-market
fit
PAYG Subs
SMS
S2Go
Online#
GSS
ViM
GVC
Wifi
Charlie

13. 13
Outside-in
Understanding of Key
Trends Driving Future
Growth
Innovative Value
Growth Hypotheses
Quantified and
Prioritized Future
Value Spaces
High-Level product
strategy options
Detailed Blueprints of
product strategy options
Understanding of
Economic Potential
Tech and
operational
assessment
Go-to-Market
definition
Alignment of
Organization to
Strategy
Operational
implementation and
adaptation
Pricing optimization
Defining a Monetization Model
A three stage process can help develop great products into commercially viable and successful
offerings

14. 14
On-going Performance Measurement
The PMMs should work with analytics to help monitor product performance, guided by a single metric
that represents the forward looking value of a user
Two-year
Contribution
Margin
Likelihood of
Converting to
Paying
 Revenue minus
termination costs
 Approximately 60%
Gross Margin
Advertising
Revenue while
Free
X
 Cohort Conversion
over 12 months
= + =
Expected
Direct Value
Total
Expected
Value
 Impressions *
CPMs
 Assume 100%
margin
 Contribution margin
directly from user
Product and Marketing must work together to change this metric – neither can do it alone

15. 15
GTM Example: Optimize User Journeys
The timing, channel and way products are introduced to customers can drastically alter the expected
value of a user