Do companies realize the importance of product marketing?

What do we mean by product marketing? Why do you think most of the companies misunderstand its value?

Most of the companies today pay attention to the business's tactical aspects, like contacts, promotion, social marketing, etc., often forgetting the source of the value. Our understanding of our customers will help us positively impact them and return to us always. We should have a deep understanding of our customers' wants, how they buy, and how to align our products to their needs.

Buying in B2B businesses is more complex, so product marketing has to be streamlined in this regard. This does not imply that B2C marketing will not need to devise product marketing strategies, though. But, sadly, most of the marketing teams do not have any dedicated team for this function.

What is product marketing?

Product marketing can be held accountable for product's growth and success by joining the dots between customers' needs and the capabilities of the product. A successful product marketing strategy has three foundations; understanding the market, understanding customers, and evaluating their needs.

What are some clear signs that your company needs a product marketing function?

There are some excellent signals which indicate that you need a product marketing team to help you in the successful launch and growth of the product:

• There is no person responsible for roadmap discussions or devising product strategies. There is no one in your team whose primary job is to understand the market's pulse, the customers and make plans to influence them.

• Even if a team exists to discuss the product, the members do not have the requisite skills, resources, or time to understand the market, the customers, the product differentiators, and the competitive landscape.

• The product market is exclusively limited to building content, sales training, website updates, and social media marketing.

• A dedicated team does not guide demand generation, customer growth plans, and marketing to understand the market better.

• The decision to invest in a product does not involve a launch of it and a proper budget.

If you find that either or all of the above indicators are present in your organization, it is indeed a meter for the absence of a streamlined product marketing plan.

The value of product marketing, especially in the early stages of a company

If you think you are a start-up owner and can barely afford to have a product marketer, you are mistaken. You make plans to reduce other costs and employ that in hiring a product marketing person. It will help in the long-term growth of your company in the following ways:

• They ensure a more generous fit between the market and the product with a comprehensive understanding of what the customers need.

• They can zero down on the perfect customer for you by customer segmentation.

• To understand the competitors, the competitive advantages, and various other alternatives, you need to have a product marketing leader in line.

• They ensure a proper streamlining of all kinds of communications, right from PR to sales leads to a website, and align them with the value they can bring to the market.

• Adjusting the pricing model to align with the company's values is also a job well done by the product marketing manager.

• They are the best resources to build the best programs for generating demand based on the customers' buying habits, the AOV, the CPCA, and other vital factors.

• Determination of PR, content marketing, analysts, the partner marketing community, and influencers should play for the company.

The changing scenario

If you are sitting long-faced thinking of the adverse effects of not incorporating product marketing as a part of the strategy, do not worry. Things are showing up. The companies are paying particular attention to product marketing and, in short, making it great: They do the following:

• They have a customer-centric approach- The product marketers put their customers as the focus of everything they do. Success stories are written just when great customer engagement plans are documented.

• They pay attention to time- Product launches should be tremendous and should be executed well. They should be well-timed, i.e., brought to the market when the customers need them. The product marketing team should work parallelly with the business and the leaders to appropriately position the releases and messaging.

• They play an essential role in creating an impactful message- Your product must be a killer one, other than providing impeccable internal support and excellent services. But all these will not matter if you are not good at explaining the features of your product or how it can help the customers.

• The product marketers are creative and bold- Companies stress hiring product managers who are creative and out-of-the-box. They can spearhead new ideas and deliver the best results for their clients or companies.

Most of the successful technology companies have on board a great product management team. They are in a significant way responsible for the success that these companies have attained. So, if you are contemplating hiring a few, plunge into it.