The (near) Future of Product Marketing
Say goodbye to one-size-fits-all marketing strategies; they’ve officially been canceled. This reality, combined with fierce competition in the tech sector and increasingly niche markets, means that product marketers can no longer afford to be jacks (or jills) of all trades. The future of product marketing is clear: Specialization is the answer.
Why Specialization Matters
Consumers, be they end-users or B2B buyers, are better informed and more discerning than in previous years. A recent Gartner report found that nearly 80% of B2B buyers had a challenging or difficult purchase experience. That’s bad. But it can be avoided. Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) who specialize in messaging and positioning can tailor sales enablement content (as well as messaging throughout the buyer journey) to target specific personas and the products they buy.
Operating similarly to consultants, highly specialized PMMs can provide the expert insight and action that tech startups need to stay competitive in a fast-moving industry.
Messaging and Positioning: Crafting A Narrative
Every product has a story. With the right messaging and positioning, you can unlock it. Remember, first impressions can, and often do, make or break deals. Personalized content is here to stay so what better way to reel in your audience than with a message they can relate to. Hubspot agrees, and has found that personalization increases content engagement by 80 percent. PMM specialists know how to use messaging and positioning to understand and each group’s respective pain points, goals, and conversion criteria.
Slack is a great example of this. It successfully positioned itself as ‘the hub for teamwork’, and quickly experienced a near meteoric rise in popularity and user engagement. It found a gap in the market and filled it with clear messaging and strategic positioning, setting it apart in the crowded collaboration tool market–no easy task.
Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategies: Executing A Plan
Launching a product sans a clearly defined GTM strategy is like sailing without a map and hoping to find land. The odds are not in your favor. GTM is complex and requires effort and planning far beyond pushing out content to support your launch. Ideally it starts by identifying your target market (in collaboration with other stakeholder teams), creating a value proposition, and ensuring that all cross-functional players are onboard and aware of their role. According to McKinsey, companies with strong GTM strategies enjoy profits that are 2.5 times greater than those that don’t.
The importance of having a PMM who specializes in GTM can’t be overstated. These professionals collaborate with product teams, sales, and customer success to create hyper-focused plans that adapt to rapidly changing market conditions. Tailored GTM approaches are especially crucial for tech startups navigating niche markets.
Competitive Intelligence: Staying Two Steps Ahead
Competitive intelligence is one of the most overlooked functions of product marketing, with far too many companies failing to prioritize it from day one. But based on the Crayon, 2023 State of CI Report, 91 percent of marketers acknowledge that it’s never been more important to stay ahead of their competitors. Knowing what your competitors are launching, how customers (and prospects) really feel about your products and where those product fits in the larger industry, are all critical to the success of a launch as well as your ability to achieve product-market fit.
PMMs that are dedicated to competitive intelligence bring unique insight into a wealth of variables and market forces. Adobe is an example of competitive intelligence done right. They successfully transitioned to a subscription-based model after identifying key gaps in their competitors’ strategies. Understanding and acting on this information allowed Adobe to position Creative Cloud as the go-to platform for Creative professionals.
Outlook
In the not-so-distant future, companies that understand the value of product marketing specialists will have a strategic advantage when launching their products. With experts by their side, they’ll be better informed and better positioned to gain market share quickly year over year, no matter what changes and challenges lie ahead.
Are you ready for the future of product marketing?
