What it is, when to invest and how to do it.
This session focused on the basics of product marketing and why it matters including positioning, personas, key messaging, product launch cycles and more.
4. “Product marketing is the process of promoting and
selling a product to an audience. It includes assessing
customer needs, customer type, and geographic area.”
- Wikipedia
5. “7 P’s of marketing: Product, Pricing, People, Place
Promotion, Process, Physical environment.”
- A Marketing Professor
7. How is Product Marketing different
from Marketing-Marketing?
You’re not the only one who is
confused!
8. “Product marketing, at its heart, is about understanding what
you’re building, why you invested in it, and how it will benefit the
user — and then messaging that understanding to your customer.”
- Joanna Lord, CMO of Classpass
18. Who are we
building it for?
What are we
building?
How to we “go-
to-market”?
How do we
talk about it?
Product
Engineering
Sales/Biz Dev
Pricing
Sales
Success
Product
UX
21. BAD PRODUCT MARKETING CAN
KILL YOUR COMPANY
1. people don’t understand what you do
2. your employees don’t know how to explain it
3. none of the marketing stuff is working
22. FROM STARTUP TO SCALE
HOW AND WHEN TO INVEST IN PRODUCT
MARKETING
38. Brief / Spec Sheet
- name
- value prop (problem/
solution)
- who is it for?
- product description
- plans/pricing
- market insights
- customer examples
- testimonials
- links to resources,
content etc.
Product Management
Product reaches a
certain phase of
ideation/completion,
triggers marketing.
39. Brief / Spec Sheet
- name
- value prop (problem/
solution)
- who is it for?
- product description
- plans/pricing
- market insights
- customer examples
- testimonials
- links to resources,
content etc.
Product Management
Product reaches a
certain phase of
ideation/completion,
triggers marketing.
What kind of launch is this? (go-to-market)
Internal Comms
- Sales team
- Success team
- Support team
- Marketing (content,
email, PR etc.)
40. Brief / Spec Sheet
- name
- value prop (problem/
solution)
- who is it for?
- product description
- plans/pricing
- market insights
- customer examples
- testimonials
- links to resources,
content etc.
Product Management
Product reaches a
certain phase of
ideation/completion,
triggers marketing.
What kind of launch is this? (go-to-market)
Tier 1 - Tell the world!
Tier 2 - Tell customers/prospects
Tier 3 - Support docs
Internal Comms
- Sales team
- Success team
- Support team
- Marketing (content,
email, PR etc.)
41. Brief / Spec Sheet
- name
- value prop (problem/
solution)
- who is it for?
- product description
- plans/pricing
- market insights
- customer examples
- testimonials
- links to resources,
content etc.
Product Management
Product reaches a
certain phase of
ideation/completion,
triggers marketing.
What kind of launch is this? (go-to-market)
Tier 1 - Tell the world!
Tier 2 - Tell customers/prospects
Tier 3 - Support docs
Internal Comms
- Sales team
- Success team
- Support team
- Marketing (content,
email, PR etc.)
MARKETERS BEST
FRIEND
42. It doesn’t have to be fancy,
but it does have to exist.
Here’s a template.
:)
51. April Dunford
CEO, Sprintly
Marketing is about making it easy for people to
find, evaluate and buy your products.
Positioning is figuring out what your product is
in the first place.
“
52. Marketing can polish a turd.
Positioning can turn turds into
fertilizer.
“
April Dunford
CEO, Sprintly
53. HOW DO PEOPLE THINK ABOUT
YOUR PRODUCT?
Are you a turd or are you fertilizer?
56. WHAT’S THE CONTEXT IN WHICH
PEOPLE THINK ABOUT YOUR
PRODUCT?
Price, customers, competition, brand,
channels, message
57. WHAT LANGUAGE DO PEOPLE
USE TO TALK ABOUT ABOUT
YOUR PRODUCT?
How do your customers explain your
product to their colleagues? What do
they search on Google?
66. HOW DO YOU GET
THIS DATA?
Basic Stuff
- Analytics tools
- Form fills
- Database (lost reasons etc.)
Fancier Stuff
- Data enrichment tools (Clearbit,
Datanyze etc.)
- Predictive analytics
67. HOW MANY PERSONAS? DECISION
MAKER VS. INFLUENCER
Personas & Positioning, Content/
Market Fit, Optimization
68. THERE’S A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
BUYER PERSONAS AND USER
PERSONAS
Your buyer process and business
model need to inform person
development
70. WHERE ARE THEY IN THE
“INNOVATION CYCLE”
Your buyer process and business
model need to inform person
development
75. This is the “why” — what’s the guiding narrative?
Secondary Message Secondary Message Secondary Message Secondary Message Secondary Message
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
77. The best entertainment, straight to your device. We know what you’ll love before you do.
Great Content Straight to Your Device Recommendations Convenience Low Cost
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
78. The best entertainment, straight to your device. We know what you’ll love before you do.
Great Content Straight to Your Device Recommendations Convenience Low Cost
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
79. The best entertainment, straight to your device. We know what you’ll love before you do.
Great Content Straight to Your Device Recommendations Convenience Low Cost
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
80. The best entertainment, straight to your device. We know what you’ll love before you do.
Great Content Straight to Your Device Recommendations Convenience Low Cost
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Proof Points:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Product Story:
• Point #1
• Point #2
Content
• Search
• Owned
• Contributed
Content
• Search
• Owned
• Contributed
Content
• Search
• Owned
• Contributed
Content
• Search
• Owned
• Contributed
Content
• Search
• Owned
• Contributed
82. The big compelling why. It should be obviously awesome/important/compelling.
Why people will care.
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter?
Proof Point:
• give them confidence that
it works
Product Story:
• Explain, specifically, how
the product will help (in
their terms
Content
• content marketing and
marketing content
83. THE RIGHT MESSAGE VS THE
RIGHT MESSAGE FOR EACH
PERSON
Personas & Positioning, Content/
Market Fit, Optimization
84. The big compelling why. It should be obviously awesome/important/compelling.
Why people will care.
Expand upon key
messaging. Why does
this matter? What's the value?
Proof Point:
• give them confidence that it
works
Product Story:
• Explain, specifically, how the
product will help (in their
terms
Content
• content marketing and
marketing content
Create derivatives of your
key messaging based on
data to fuel/test
campaigns, landing
pages, email nurture, on
85. driving growth and insights
targeted messaging (email, live chat etc)
personalize landing pages with dynamic text
targeted onboarding & nurture emails based on data
etc. etc. etc.
(ideas are plentiful, prioritize by impact:effort ratio)