The Marketing Requirements Document or MRD
The MRD is the single most important content deliverable that Marketing can deliver but it can be more practical and usable. The Marketing Requirements Document (MRD) is the critical piece of any PLC go-to-market process that Marketing can deliver. It is the encapsulation of all…
Enabling Different Sales Audiences
Product Marketers Can’t Take a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Enabling Sales Let’s dispel a certain belief or practice that you’ll often hear in Sales, “If it’s not short, my sellers won’t read it.” I have never met a top seller who didn’t take the time to…
When Product Management is De-linked from a PLC
Surprisingly, the very group that would benefit most from a robust Product Lifecycle process is not the one that always champions its implementation. Surprisingly, the very group that needs a PLC is not always the organization to drive a PLC process. Product Managers and leaders…
Small or Large – Why You Want a Product Life Cycle (PLC) Process
For all the recognized importance of having a solid PLC process in place, to their detriment very few organizations actually do. In my time as a Product Marketer, I’ve been at small and large organizations. And I can tell you that for all the recognized…
The Product Life Cycle (PLC) Process is a Risk Management Process
At its core, the PLC is a smart process to minimize the risk to companies of making poor investment choices. Among other things, the Product Life Cycle Process is a risk management process. When a robust PLC is put in place and practiced by the…
Launch Tiers and How to Use the Launch Tier Form
Use a methodical and collaborative approach to determining the importance of and resources needed for a given launch. I highly recommend that the Launch Tier Form be used with PLC core team members to determine the importance of a given new offering or enhancement. If…
Why You Want a Product Marketing Function
Having a distinct Product Marketing function is part evolution and part smart business sense. I’ve had and seen the use of “Product Marketing” in a variety of contexts when the actual job role is less than true Product Marketing. For instance, I was a “Product…
Products, Services, Solutions, Platforms, Oh My!
Let’s just keep it “Product Marketing” and agree we all know what it means. Just a word for new Product Marketing Managers out there or someone not well versed in Product Marketing. The term “Product Marketing” really captures any of those areas. Yes, a leader…
The Buyer Cycle, Campaigns and Content Types
Product Marketing and Content Creation Go Hand in Hand – Important Things to Consider When Determining Content to Develop Regardless of whether Product Marketing is tasked with the ideation and development of thought leadership and similar content or not, the fact is that Product Marketing…
Template – Creating an “At-a-Glance” Article and “At-a-Glance” Mini-Report
Use this template as a basis for structuring your approach to short, visual and impactful content pieces for use in Demand and by Sales A lot of Product Marketing and Content teams will either spin their wheels when talking about how to approach a piece…
“Sales Card” or “Battle Card?”
Product Marketers Often Blur What Should Be a Clear Distinction Between These Two Terms. It’s not uncommon that I hear from Sales and others in the organization including Product Marketers that we need a “Sales Card” or “Battle Card.” “Hey, we really need a battle…
Characteristics of Great Product Marketers
What Makes for the Best Product Marketing Managers? I’ve acted both in Product Marketing leadership and individual contributor roles throughout my career. As a leader, I’ve thought long and hard about the skillsets and perspective that my best Product Marketing Managers shared. This list is…
Product Marketing Tools in the Toolbox
Sometimes You Need a Reminder of All of the Channels, Tactics and Tools You as a Product Marketer Have at Your Disposal We wanted to share this because often times, Product Marketing Managers don’t realize all of the channels, tactics and tools they have out…
Communicating with the Business
As a Product Marketing Leader or Individual Contributor, You Must Communicate Effectively With The Business You Support Generally, it’s easy for Product Marketers to go about their daily business for quite some time without engaging the business they support. After all, the business and its…
Creating a Product Marketing Plan
How Do You Create Your Product Marketing Plan? I’ve seen lots of different ways that organizations go about creating a Product Marketing plan as well as ways that Product Marketers and teams don’t go about creating a plan at all. In the end, I have…
Gaining Real Insights from Sales
Product Marketers need an empirical way to glean insights from Sales teams. You would think that your sales teams would have a very strong bead on customers and prospects in terms of their pains, challenges, desired outcomes and so on. However, this isn’t always the…
The Power of Win/Loss Analysis
If you want critical insights on why your business really wins or loses opportunities, win/loss analysis is a critical tool in the toolbox. Win/Loss Analysis can be a valuable tool for understanding why your organization wins and why it loses on deals. Typical win/loss analysis…
Technical Aptitude of a Product Marketer
How technical should a Product Marketer be? I’ve worked in the technology sector for most of my career as a Product Marketers. I’ve done Product Marketing spanning semiconductors and chipsets, computers, servers, cloud services, colocation and managed hosting and cybersecurity. The ability to grasp technology…