Author Archive
The Stages of Awareness
Posted by: | CommentsProduct marketing managers are often asked to create or increase the awareness of a product in the market. The belief is that awareness equates to leads.
Buyers are complex beings and go through stages of awareness as I’ve outlined below. An awareness of these stages (pun intended) helps to understand why the trade show you did last month didn’t result in a gazillion leads.
No Recognition
The buyer has no idea that your company or product is an answer to their problems. You are wearing the Cloak of Invisibility.
Aided Recognition
Provided with clues, buyers can recall your company or product, and that it might be an answer to their problems. You still have work to do.
Unaided Recognition
Buyers recognize your company or product without help. They understand it’s an answer to a problem they are experiencing. The door is open to dialog.
Preference
Given multiple choices of vendors/products, buyers will prefer to buy your product as an answer to their problems. You are the ‘go to’ vendor. Congratulations.
Loyalty
Buyers will consistently choose your company or product over others, even when they have had a less than ideal experience. This is nirvana.
Rejection
Rejection is the opposite of Loyalty. Buyers will go out of their way to avoid your product. For whatever reason, real or otherwise, they think your product sucks. You need to fix this perception.
What Product Marketing Managers Really Do
Posted by: | CommentsWhat salespeople think I do when they get what they want
I am a tireless team player providing everything they need to be successful.
What salespeople think I do when they don’t get what they want
I am the devil who finds every opportunity to impede the progress of a sale.
What product managers think I do
Everything they don’t want do and it changes on a whim.
What my boss thinks I do
He’s not really sure, but tells me I’m doing a great job.
What my family and friends think I do
Travel in first class to exotic locations, waited on hand and foot.
What I think I do
I am a god-like, marketing genius deftly addressing every challenge with laughter and song.
What I really do
I take care to balance the urgent with the important, and try to get through the week in one piece.
John the Misunderstood Product Marketing Manager
Posted by: | CommentsIn a previous post I introduced you to John, the product marketing manager. John is very busy and has his share of frustration. Most of John’s frustration is because his role is misunderstood. Product managers think he should do one thing. Marcom another. Sales yet another.
How did John get here?
For many technology companies the job title of product marketing manager is a fairly recent addition. The job was introduced to fill a void between product management, sales, and marcom. It happens when product managers are so consumed with product development issues, they don’t have the bandwidth to work with sales or marcom. The resulting problem is a sales force that is not prepared to sell and marketing that misses the mark.
Why is John frustrated?
He is frustrated because the line between what John should do and what the product manager should do is fuzzy. One time he gets scolded because he did something the product manager felt was her responsibility. Another time he gets scolded because he didn’t do something assuming the product manager is responsible. Finger pointing is not a solution.
What is John’s role?
There are activities in the Pragmatic Marketing Framework that are about using products and there are activities that are about buying products. One way of clarifying responsibilities is to have product managers accountable for activities related to using products, and have product marketing managers accountable for activities related to buying products. Another way of looking at it is product marketing managers are experts on buyers and how they buy, and product managers are experts on products and how they solve problems.
Are you clear about your role as a product marketing manager?
Are you defining the role or waiting for someone to do it for you?
Meet John, the Product Marketing Manager
Posted by: | CommentsMany of you know me from teaching Pragmatic Marketing’s Effective Product Marketing and Product Launch Essentials classes. In this role I get the privilege of working with many marketing directors, product managers, marketing executives, and product marketing managers. This experience I wanted to share with you from the product marketing manager’s perspective.
The role of the product marketing manager is evolving and becoming more standardized. By that I mean the importance of the role is better understood and the activities they are accountable for are more clearly defined. What I can report is the role of the product marketing manager has become more strategic and more valued than ever before.
Before getting deeper into roles and responsibilities of the product marketing manager it’s important to understand his persona. Please let me introduce you to John. John is a product marketing manager at a B2B technology company. He is 34 years old and he has a technical degree. About 30% of the time he has an MBA. His path to becoming a product marketing manager was not a direct one. His previously could have been a sales engineer, a product manager, or had a sales role.
He’s married, has two small children, and lives in the suburbs.
John is part of the marketing organization and reports to either a director/VP of product marketing or the VP of marketing. He gets a base salary and a bonus based on the performance of the company and the products he supports. Revenue is the primary measurement of success.
John may have the job title of product marketing manager, or he may be known as a marketing manager, segment marketing manager, or industry marketing manager.
John’s primary responsibilities fall into the following categories:
- Develop messaging for the products he supports
- Differentiate products from alternatives in the marketplace
- Develop content and sales tools including presentations, website content, brochures and white papers
- Conduct sales enablement training
- Create demand (lead generation)
John complains about the following issues:
- “Urgent, last minute requests from Sales like custom presentations, RFP responses, and demos are common requests that keep me from focusing on more strategic activities that I know will come back to haunt me.”
- “I have no clear way to prioritize my work. Every priority is the same: HIGH”
- “The sales team constantly complains about their sales tools. I keep delivering what they ask for but they still complain.”
- “Continuous changes in company, marketing and sales strategies have me bouncing from one project to the next. I’m working hard but not feeling like I’m getting anything done.”
- “I have to justify the ROI of marketing programs but I don’t have a set of metrics to use to prove my contribution.”
What about you?
Why Asking Sales What They Need from Marketing is a Bad Idea
Posted by: | CommentsA cardinal sin of a marketer is to ask the sales team what they need to be competitive. The response to that question elicits a range of requests, often unrelated to the realities of the market.
Recently, two independent reports confirmed for me a trend I’ve been seeing for years: that sellers have far less control over how products are sold than they believe, and it’s buyers that are increasingly making up their minds before contacting a supplier.
MarketingSherpa published a B2B Marketing Benchmark Survey that reported that B2B sales cycles are getting shorter.
The MarketingSherpa survey correlated lower deal prices to shorter sales cycles, but I believe something more significant is happening.
The Corporate Executive Board published a study reporting that…
“Buyers are not contacting suppliers until they are, on average, 57% of the way through their purchase process —meaning they have already determined their needs, completed due diligence, and have even begun to do some comparison shopping.”
Given this market dynamic, asking the sales team what they need would be a foolish exercise and a waste of company resources. In the end, the sales team would get what they asked for, but not get what they need to be competitive.
Customer engagement starts well before first contact with a salesperson and they are much further along in their purchase decision. Whether the prospect makes contact or not will largely be determined by the information provided to the buyer, the company’s reputation, and market visibility. The marketing team, therefore, plays a decisive role in helping prospects with needs determination and due diligence.
Update: Additional insight from Beth Negus Viveiros over at Chief Marketer
“Recent Corporate Executive Board research shows that B2B customers may look at up to 10 sources of information about potential purchases prior talking to a vendor. Many of these sources are typically not supplier related. In a survey of 1,900 B2B customers, word of mouth was cited by 72% of respondents, while 62% cited non-supplier blogs and 47% cited trade journals.”
The One Thing That Makes You Better
Posted by: | CommentsGetting better at what you do or who you are takes commitment. It doesn’t happen by accident and no one is going to do it for you. Each day you have an opportunity to become a better professional, a better dad, a better sister, a better friend, and a better spouse. Find The One Thing you can do today to make you better. Then tomorrow find another. Don’t stop.
Launch Clinic Top Product Management Blog for 2012
Posted by: | CommentsStrategic Product Manager listed Launch Clinic as a top product management blog for 2012 – booya! Thanks, Stewart!
Hopefully this whole ‘the world is going to end thing’ doesn’t pan out and I’ll earn my way onto the list for 2013.
How to Say ‘No’ Without Getting Fired (part 3)
Posted by: | CommentsMarketers struggle to say ‘No’ to requests they know are frivolous. Sometimes it’s just easier to go with the status quo than make waves. But admit it: you (and your team) do a lot of extra stuff that is a waste of time and resources.
Part 1 was about linking everything you do in marketing to the goals the CEO values.
Part 2 discussed the importance of knowing your buyers.
The final installment of “How to Say ‘No’ Without Getting Fired” is an exploration into one more thing effective product marketers need to know: the buyer’s process for making a purchase decision.
Buyers follow a process that leads to a purchase decision
Why should anyone in Marketing be concerned about how buyers buy? Your Sales team takes care of that, right?
Salespeople are expected to know how buyers in an individual deal make a purchase decision. Marketing should know how buyers in a market segment make a purchase decision.
First, there are patterns (steps) in the way buyers in a market segment arrive at a purchase decision. The pattern is logical and predictable. Second, there are different buying roles that get involved in making a purchase decision, and they get involved at different times in the process for different reasons. Third, is the two previous items sets the stage for identifying marketing gaps that can facilitate a purchase decision, and help prioritize marketing projects.
According to the Corporate Executive Board…
“57 percent of the purchase decision is complete before a customer calls a supplier, providing a large opportunity for Marketing to influence the early stages of the purchase process.” – http://www.executiveboard.com/sales-marketing/challenger/insight-led-marcomm/index.html
Where do you go from here?
Three things are needed to confidently say ‘No’ to frivolous marketing requests without getting fired:
- Having a clear understanding of business goals and how they relate to what you do
- Mastery of the people who influence a purchase decision
- Knowledge of the purchase decision process
Saying ‘No’ Without Getting Fired is about knowledge not power. Oh and it makes it much easier to say ‘Yes’ with confidence too.
iBooks Author: A Game Changer for Marketers
Posted by: | CommentsToday Apple announced iBooks 2 and iBooks Author, effectively disrupting the business of school textbooks. I wrote that the “Apple iPad Will Be a Game Changer for Education” when the iPad was originally announced, but it didn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure that out. iPad-based textbooks in the K-12 marketer are well within Apple’s distinctive competence.
iBooks Author a Game Changer for Marketers
The implication for marketers is immense. Let me get the conversation started…
- Deliver rich, interactive marketing collateral where you can not only create a persuasive message but a persuasive delivery to match
- Create game-changing product documentation
- Develop instructional materials that actually teach
- Self-publish thought leadership books without the need of a publisher
Stop what you’re doing, go to the Appstore, and download iBooks Author. Get to know it and how to use it. It will change the way you go to market and give you a competitive advantage (professionally and personally).
What are your ideas? What could you do with iBooks Author?
How to Say ‘No’ Without Getting Fired (part 2)
Posted by: | CommentsProduct marketing managers struggle to say ‘no’ to requests they know are frivolous. Sometimes it’s just easier to go with the status quo than make waves. Admit it: you (and your team) work on stupid stuff that you know is a waste of time and resources (believe me, you’re not alone).
In Part 1 of How to Say ‘No’ Without Getting Fired I discussed the importance of understanding the goals that matter most to the CEO and translating it into what you do as a product marketing manager.
But even if you have a clear understanding of the business goals, a limited understanding of your buyers would not prepare you to say ‘no’.
Companies don’t buy products
Companies don’t buy products, people do. That was sage advice to me early in my career and it still applies today.
So if companies don’t buy products and people do, who are these people? How well do you know them?
I’m comfortable you could tell me their job titles, but what else? What is their annual salary? How do they get compensated? Who is their boss? What is their personal win?
In any market there are patterns. One of the patterns relate to buyers. We call this kind of pattern a Buyer Persona. A Buyer Persona helps you identify a likely buyer in the wild, and how to get inside his head.
Understanding buyers isn’t a desk job
Getting a full appreciation and perspective of your buyers requires work; field work. You can’t make it up and you can’t rely exclusively on your salespeople or the one subject matter expert in the company.
Think like an anthropologist. Find time to interact with real potential buyers in the wild. Observe them in their habitat, how they eat, raise their young, and forage for food.
Building an understanding of your buyers takes time and it takes perseverance. But the payoff is huge. Saying ‘No’ is especially empowering when backed by market evidence.
