Product marketing holds a special place in my heart. It is one of the most valuable experiences I gained during my time at WSO2 and I continue to apply these learnings in my consulting engagements. I was fortunate to get the opportunity to talk about product marketing with the Product Tank community. Product Tank, organized by Mind the Product, is an informal meetup that brings local product communities together.
Like any other marketing topic, the amount of information available on product marketing is vast and diverse. But one source I always turn to is the Product Marketing Alliance. I wanted to start the session by highlighting the definition of product marketing. The diagram below illustrates its role quite nicely.
This definition by the Product Marketing Alliance is spot on. It illustrates the depth and breadth of the product marketing function. When I started as a product marketing manager, I had to think beyond taking the product to market. My role required contributing to the product roadmap, identifying audiences for sales strategies, and working on KPIs for customer success. Here is one slide where I discussed the different roles a product marketing manager plays.
Team dynamics go a long way. I was lucky to have a wonderfully supportive product manager and a team who spent days and nights developing the solution. Getting involved from day one meant that I understood the product vision. And I was in a better place to map the product marketing function to this vision.
If you are building a product, you need marketing input from the get-go. You can play the role of a product marketing manager (most product managers and founders do this already) or get help from a product marketing professional.
Product research is crucial! You have to know the product before you can attempt to market it. I remember the product team watching me as I tried out the demo setup soon after the first release. They were taking notes on where I was hesitating and using this as research for future milestones.
Throughout my session, I spoke about the intersection of product marketing and product management, how to play many roles, and know when to change hats and how to measure product marketing efforts in a practical yet effective manner. I finished up by talking about a few key highlights for anyone going into product marketing.