Product Marketing is different from traditional marketing, we focus on a market, on a specific competitor set, and are involved in the sale - this documents are your foundation to develop and deliver the right product or service to the right customer and win in the market

1. 5 Must Have
Product Marketing Docs
the documents you need in your back pocket

2. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
hard work beats talent
when talent fails to work
hard
Kevin Durant, Professional Athlete / NBA

3. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
The 5 Most
Important Marketing
Docs
1. the “Real” Market Size, Growth &
Share
2. the “Comprehensive” Competitive
Landscape
3. the “Authentic” Product Description
4. the “True” Customer Buying Criteria
5. the “Tangible” Purchasing Roadmap

4. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
the “Real”
Market Size,
Growth & Share
What is it?
• Market size is the total “spend” for a specific product, product category or
market segment
• Market growth is the estimated (or assumed) percentage growth, usually
over a defined period of time, information provided should include both
Year-over-Year (YoY) and Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR)
• Market Share is either the actual or estimated percent of any single
company’s revenue within a specific product, product category or market
segment
Why it’s so important?
• Knowing how much will be spent in a specific category equates to
knowing if a market is worth pursuing – based upon your company’s
specific goals
• Knowing these numbers provide a glimpse into the overall dynamics of a
specific product or market – is it growing or declining, is it dominated by a
single competitor, is there opportunity on the edges
• Looking at Market Size, there are two dynamics which come into play –
specifically Total Market Size, Total Available Market & Total Attainable
Market – three numbers to fully evaluate a market opportunity

5. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
the “Comprehensive”
Competitive
Landscape
What is it?
• A competitive landscape provides information on what other companies
are selling products/services in your market
• A comprehensive landscape will provide both large and small companies,
their primary positioning and their relative strengths and weaknesses
when compared to your product/service
Why it’s so important?
• Every market, product group and product has competitors – you will
never find a real market opportunity that is completely unserved in some
way
• Understanding your competitors, allows you to understanding the market
as a whole. Some competitors may be more dynamic than others, some
may spend on R&D, some may be fast followers or trailing edge –
understanding their overall position will help you position your own
products better
• A comprehensive landscape includes some companies which may not
appear to be direct competitors, but they represent either an alternative
or substitute – and there is always the biggest competitor – Internal (or
making no choice at all) – remember to include those in your competitive
landscape

6. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
the “Authentic”
Product
Description
What is it?
• A product description will provide vital information on how to sell and
market your product within identified market opportunities.
• This is not to be confused with either a technical specification, technical
requirements or market requirements document – this is different – in
that it provides information on the product, the roadmap, the competitive
market, messaging, positioning, go to market, etc. – in real terms, and in
a format that can be consumed quickly
Why it’s so important?
• Product Descriptions vary from company to company – most have a
tendency to be more fluff, and less substance. The goal of the authentic
product description is to provide real information, both good and bad,
about your product
• If done properly and kept up to date, the product description provides the
foundation for most other documents. It is high level enough to be
consumed quickly, but detailed enough to provide guidance when
crafting additional documents, such as messaging, sales material, sales
training, etc.

7. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
the “True”
Customer
Buying Criteria
What is it?
• Buying Criteria is the breakdown of those important aspects of “why” a
customer will purchase a specific product – why they are buying, not
buying “from” a vendor
• It is a guidance document, provide product managers, product marketing
managers, category leaders important details on the buying behavior of
the market – containing specific purchasing triggers, demand drivers and
signals
Why it’s so important?
• Unless you understand “why the customer buys”, your product will not be
able to solve the problem and will not be successful
• It is difficult for most product managers/product marketing managers to
realistically look at the market, from the buyers perspective. This is the
exactly the point of the buying criteria … it’s based upon THEM, not you
• It forces a product or service, either in development or enhancement
cycles, to match the market, instead of being based upon “we already do
this” or “we could do this” it give details to what customers value and
what they don’t

8. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
the “Tangible”
Purchasing
Roadmap
What is it?
• Product Roadmaps are a staple for product managers. The Purchasing
Roadmap provide important details to the likely purchasing decisions
your customers will make during the sales cycle
• A Purchasing Roadmap allows both development, marketing and sales to
understand the key decisions and if there are variations based upon size
or industry of the customer
• It also provides the likely areas of weakness within your product or
service
Why it’s so important?
• Nothing happens if you don’t make the sale, and the sale is won or lost
based upon more than one decision. Understanding those decisions,
which are important, which are trivial and which are critical – can make
the difference between getting the sale or losing it
• A Tangible Purchasing Roadmap provide more than just key decision
points, it provide a map to understand how customers purchase, and
what alternative paths might be taken during the sales cycle
• It provides feedback to your own sales cycle, how easy you are “do
business with”, your pricing cycle, the important of demos or trials,
contracting, etc.

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Where to go next?
• Use these documents to plan better
products, drive content and ease the
sales cycle
• Ensure everything is built upon these - a
common set of documents ease
development of any product or service
• Make changes when necessary (this is
not an annual planning exercise)
• Make these your “truth” documents –
never lie to yourself

10. Arnie McKinnis & amckinnis.com // 2016 // licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
About // Arnie McKinnis

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Contact // Arnie McKinnis

12. a presentation by Arnie McKinnis @ amckinnis.com
Product Marketing is different …
Embrace It!