Optimize Product Marketing in Your Company

Copyright © Saeed Khan 2016
Optimizing
Product Marketing
in your
Company
Saeed Khan
April 9, 2016
www.OnProductManagement.net @saeedwkhan, @onpm

How to Optimize Product Marketing
Define it and truly understand the goals
of product marketing
Organize it correctly and staff it with
the right people
Have a clear strategy and execute on
the required activities
Track, measure and optimize
1.
2.
3.
4.

WHAT IS THE DEFINITION OF
PRODUCT
MARKETING?

PRODUCT MARKETING
IS STRATEGIC MARKETING AT
THE PRODUCT OR PRODUCT
LINE LEVEL WITH A FOCUS ON
THE BUYING PROCESS

PRODUCT MARKETING
IS A CROSS FUNCTIONAL
DISCIPLINE, AT THE CENTER
OF PROUCT, SALES,
MARKETING, PROSPECTS,
INFLUENCERS AND BUYERS

PRODUCT
MARKETING
Product
Marketing
Sales
Prospect
Buyer
Influencer

PRODUCT MARKETING
IS RESPONSIBLE FOR:
1. DEVELOPING POSITIONING, MESSAGING,
COMPETITIVE DIFFERENTIATION &
LAUNCH PLANS
2. ENABLING THE SALES AND MARKETING
TEAMS TO ENSURE THEY ARE ALIGNED
AND WORK EFFICIENTLY TO GENERATE
AND CLOSE OPPORTUNITIES.

HOW SHOULD
PRODUCT MARKETING
BE STAFFED & ORGANIZED?

SUPERHEROES?

ROCK STARS?

HIRE
THE RIGHT PEOPLE INTO
THE RIGHT ROLES & EXECUTE ON
THE RIGHT ACTIONS

DO
THIS

NOT
THIS

HAVE
DIFFERENTIATED
ROLES ON THE TEAM

ALIGN ROLES WITH
BUSINESS/SALES
DRIVERS AND GOALS
NOT SIMPLY BY
PRODUCT

PRODUCT
MARKETING
Product
Marketing
Sales
Prospect
Buyer
Influencer
Technical
Product
Marketer
Solution
Product
Marketer
Product
Marketing
Director Competitive
Analyst

HAVE A
CLEAR STRATEGY
AND EXECUTE ON THE
REQUIRED TACTICS

COMMUNICATION PATHWAYS
Product
Strategy
Product
Management
Engineering
Product
Marketing
Marketing
Sales &
Alliances
Professional
ServicesTechnical
Support
Technical
Presales
Industry
Analysts
Technology
Partners
Offshore
Developers Customers
System
Integrators
OEM
Partners
PR
Agencies
VARs
Distributors

Product
Management
Offshore
Developers
Technology
Partners
Industry
Analysts
VARs
Distributors
OEM
Partners
System
Integrators
Customers
PR
Agencies
Product
Strategy
Engineering
Technical
Support
Technical
Presales
Product
Marketing
Professional
Services
Sales &
Alliances
Marketing
Each “Team” includes many people and interactions
Inter-Team Communication

And those people are likely spread across the globe

How do people “manage” this today?
• Tracking Software
• Status meetings, Conf Calls
• Emails, Spreadsheets
• Shared Folders, Portals
• Dashboards, Webinars
• Micro-sites, Portlets
• “It’s up on Sharepoint”

This happens
for every release
of every product
your company sells

Is this communication
model timely, complete
and accurate?
Possibly.

Is this communication
model efficient,
adaptive and scalable?
Absolutely not!

Communication is like
Manufacturing.
So what can we learn from
Lean Manufacturing?

Lean Production
• Lean is a production practice that
considers the expenditure of
resources for any goal other than the
creation of value for the end
customer to be wasteful, and thus a
target for elimination.
Source: Wikipedia

Lean Production
• Working from the perspective of the
customer who consumes a product or
service, "value" is defined as any action
or process that a customer would be
willing to pay for.
• Basically, lean is centered on preserving
value with less work.
Source: Wikipedia

Principles of Lean
• Focus on the (information) customer
• Empower the team
• Optimize the whole
• Plan for change
• Build Quality In
• Continuously improve
• Eliminate waste

Creating a Lean Process
1. Specify what creates value from the customers
(audience) perspective
2. Identify all the steps along the process chain
3. Make those processes flow
4. Make only what is pulled by the customer
(audience)
5. Strive for perfection by continually removing
waste

Who needs information?
What do they need?
When do they need it?
Who must provide it?
How is it optimally delivered?
Flow of Information and Communication

Product
Strategy
Product
Management
Engineering
Product
Marketing
Marketing
Sales &
Alliances
Professional
ServicesTechnical
Support
Technical
Presales
Industry
Analysts
Technology
Partners
Offshore
Developers Customers
System
Integrators
OEM
Partners
PR
Agencies
VARs
Distributors
One Information Chain

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
Information Needs along the Chain

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
Does the product meet my needs?
Will it work in my environment?
What are the costs?
What are the benefits?
Start with the end “customer”

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
What are the costs?
I need a data sheet and
technical collateral
I need SKUs and pricing
information
I need an ROI calculator
Who are the reference
accounts I can provide?

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
What does the product do?
Who can benefit from it?
What are those benefits?
How is it licensed?
How is it positioned versus
the alternatives?
information
What are the costs?

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
information
What market problems do we address?
How can we outflank our competitors?
What product changes do we make to
maximize revenue?
What are the objectives of the release?
How is it licensed?
the alternatives?
What are the costs?

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
information
maximize revenue?
How is it licensed?
the alternatives?
What are the costs?
Do the product goals
support overall business
objectives?
How can we grow our
existing customer base?
What market changes
will we have to react to?
What go-to-market
strategy do we need?

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
Deliverables Created In the Chain
information
maximize revenue?
How is it licensed?
the alternatives?
What are the costs?
Market Assessment
Product Strategy
Technology Strategy
Competitive Landscape

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
information
Market Requirements
Problem Statements
Competitive Analysis
Product Roadmap
Release Overview
How is it licensed?
the alternatives?
What are the costs?
Market Analysis
Product Strategy
Technology Strategy

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
information
Market Requirements
Problem Statements
Product Roadmap
Release Overview
What are the costs?
Market Analysis
Product Strategy
Technology Strategy
Product Positioning
Data Sheets
White Papers
Price books
Success Stories
Sales Tools

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
Market Requirements
Problem Statements
Product Roadmap
Release Overview
What are the costs?
Market Analysis
Product Strategy
Technology Strategy
Product Positioning
Data Sheets
White Papers
Price books
Success Stories
Sales Tools
Product Presentations
ROI Analysis
Customer Business Case
Proof of Concept

Product
Strategy
Product
Management Product
Marketing Sales &
Alliances
Customers
Product Presentations
ROI Analysis
Customer Business Case
Proof of Concept
Market Requirements
Problem Statements
Product Roadmap
Release Overview
Product Positioning
Data Sheets
White Papers
Price books
Success Stories
Sales Tools
RFI/RFP
Business Justification
Implementation Plan
Market Analysis
Product Strategy
Technology Strategy

MAP INTO DECISION
PROCESS OF THE
CHAMPION
“THE CHAMPIONS JOURNEY”
SUSPECT, PROSPECT, EVALUATOR
BUYER, INFLUENCE, CHAMPION

Structure the information
Suspect Prospect Evaluator Buyer Influencer Champion
Goals
Required
Information
Go forward
Decision
Need
Content
Delivery
Mechanism
Who are the people (roles) at each stage?
How can we best deliver the information for easiest consumption?
How can we make it AS EASY AS POSSIBLE for them to
achieve their goals?

TRACK
MEASURE
OPTIMIZE

• How do you know how well you are
doing?
• What kind of metrics do you track in
Product Marketing?
• Do you track anything?
– Pipeline? Opportunities? Sales?
– Tweets? Likes? Hearts?

What kind of Metrics are meaningful?
THINK META
If someone is measuring distance,
you need measure VELOCITY
If someone is measuring velocity,
you need to measure ACCELERATION
What are the metrics that will
Predict/Drive/Enhance the
downstream metrics.

If Marketing measures the # of people
entering the sales funnel
Product Marketing should measure how
FAST they are moving through the sales
funnel
– What can you do to help them move faster?
– What barriers are they facing?
– Why are they dropping out?
– What prevents them from moving faster?

Are your employees using the right
content? If so, who, when and how?
If not why not?
Can you improve this over time?
Treat this process like a product?
V1 must work, but it won't be great.
V2 will be better
V3 will be even better

It's a competition for mindshare
And remember that your
competitors are competing for
that same mindshare.
If they can do this job better than
you, they will win.

SUMMARY
1. DEFINE PRODUCT MARKETING AND
UNDERSTAND IT’S GOALS
2. ORGANIZE IT CORRECTLY AND STAFF IT
WITH THE RIGHT PEOPLE
• Differentiated Roles, T-shaped Teams
3. HAVE A CLEAR STRATEGY AND FOCUS
ON THE REQUIRED TASKS
• Lean manufacturing model, Champions Journey
4. TRACK, MEASURE AND OPTIMIZE
• Think Meta, Battle for mindshare

Optimize Product Marketing in Your Company

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