optimizing product marketing boston product camp 2016 - saeed khan

Copyright © Saeed Khan 2016

Optimizing Product Marketing in your Company Saeed Khan April 9, 2016

www.OnProductManagement.net

@saeedwkhan, @onpm

http://www.onproductmanagement.net/


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

Services Technical

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

Services Technical

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


Optimizing Product Marketing in your Company Saeed Khan April 9, 2016

www.OnProductManagement.net

@saeedwkhan, @onpm

http://www.onproductmanagement.net/

optimizing product marketing boston product camp 2016 - saeed khan

Leadership & Management