A thorough go to market (GTM) plan can provide incredible clarity for the many, many stakeholders who are involved in a launch. That’s why it’s so important for the GTM plan to be self-serve when you don’t have the luxury of walking your colleagues through it. The goal is to align your core team, plus answer the top questions for anyone else who needs to be looped in. I suggest using these 9 sections as your core elements: 1. Business context, goals and projected impact → why is this launching? 2. Product experience → what is launching? 3. Audience insights, definition and targeting strategy → who is this launching for and what need(s) are we solving? 4. Marketing brief → what are we saying and how? 5. Channel plan → where are we sharing this? 6. Campaign creative → how does it look, feel and sound? 7. Launch timeline → when is it launching and how is it being rolled out? 8. Measurement plan → how will we know what success looks like? 9. Roles & responsibilities → who owns bringing this to life? There are plenty of times when this list expands or contracts, but as long as you are answering why, what, who, where, when and how, you’ll have a solid starting point to create a successful GTM plan.

I have used several different messaging frameworks, but one that we are leveraging quite a lot these days is the Jobs to be done framework, accompanied by durable, evergreen messages that are centered around our key customer personas and their pain points. In this framework you start by: 1. First, Understanding your ‘who’ (aka your key buyer personas) - who they are, what are their goals, their challenges, what keeps them up at night and what pain points they are most struggling with. We get super detailed here, with understanding how our buyers make software purchase decisions, where they go for information, what their key influence points are (e.g. website, review sites, analyst relations, buyer enablement content etc.) 2. Second, Develop your ‘why’ - Our next step is then to articulate how we help our key personas solve for their jobs to be done and what makes us unique in doing so. These take the shape of ‘durable messages’ or ‘messaging pillars’ that explain the distinct value of your product or service and why a customer should consider your solution to address their JTBD. Top tip to get to this is by listening to prospect calls (Use Gong if your company records them, you’ll start to see patterns emerge) 3. Third, Develop your ‘how’ - This is where you go into details to explain with 2-3 simple examples of how a customer can use your product/service to help them solve their jobs to be done. Top tip here: If you focus on a specific industry, vertical - use the opportunity to explain how you have brought value to customers here. Always include output data points (e.g. time saved, efficiency gained, ROI, Revenue) where possible to measure impact 4. Put it all together - Using the insights and info you have collected, put together 1. Elevator pitch - 1-2 sentences that explains the job your product/service does, who it is for, and how it is differentiated 2. Messaging pillars - 3 pillars that explain the value you bring to your target customer 3. Used cases - real life examples of how you deliver value with outcomes 4. Reason to Believe/Proof - Include customer testimonials, reviews & ratings, analyst relations

I create my product launch strategy through a six-step process, which is outlined in my attached template. Over the years, I've found that this process ensures a comprehensive approach to product launches, while still maintaining flexibility to accommodate the specific needs of a launch: 1. Plan: This initial stage focuses on setting the strategy and aligning with key stakeholders. I define the: * Target audience * Primary and secondary goals * Success metrics * Value proposition * Marquee products or features * Naming * Overall channel strategy based on my launch goals and brainstorms with channel partners 2. Kickoff: Here, I engage marketing channel and regional teams to determine specific tactics and creative needs. I discuss the: * Customer journey * Required assets and content * New activations to test * Targeting criteria across channels 3. Execute: During this phase, I partner closely with creative and other marketing channel teams to bring the plan to life. Key considerations include: * Ensuring all channel teams understand my requirements and timing * Adapting messaging for different regions * Localizing assets 4. Preview: This stage involves preparing Revenue teams and engaging analysts. I focus on: * Distribution of enablement materials * Conducting analyst inquiries * Building a plan to drive internal momentum (as PMMs, we need to market both externally and internally!) 5. Finalize: As I approach the launch, I obtain final sign-offs and prepare for global release. Key activities include: * Getting assets approved by Legal * Asset handoff for localization 6. Launch: In the final stage, I make last-minute preparations and plan for post-launch activities: * Setting up communication channels for launch day * Planning team celebrations * Scheduling retros to improve our launch processes * Preparing to share results with leadership at 30, 60, and 90 days

I'm glad you asked about KPIs. As Product Marketers, we don't have the luxury of a single metric or even a couple metrics. We own the health of the story & vision our company is selling. I say health intentionally. It's not just that we own the story (we do) but we also need to make sure it's landing amongst our key segments, that we have the right segments, our sellers can actually deliver the story (if you're B2B) and on and on. And it's something that we need to be monitoring regularly --- which is where KPIs come in. I see the cornerstone KPIs in four categories: Interest, Velocity, Win Rate, Cross-Sell. For the B2B context, these are some specific examples I would expect to see in these categories. For B2C - these can still apply, but win rate will be more around engagement or purchase conversion. Interest - Opportunity Growth - how many new opportunities is the business creating each month? Your goal is to grow this number! If it starts to stagnate - go figure out why. Is your content stale? Did your target segment change? Is a competitor stealing attention? Velocity - Deal Progression - how long (days/weeks) does it for deals to move through the sales cycle? Your goal is to see if you can shorten it - through sales plays, content, customer stories, ROI calculators, etc. Look for where deals are getting stuck and stay close to your sellers. Win Rate - Win Rate :) - what percentage of deals become closed-won revenue for the business? Your goal here is, no surprise, maintain or improve your win rate! Also included here is a win rate against top competitors, but as an input into the overall metric. If you see your win rate dipping that's where you need to quickly diagnose what's behind it. Cross-sell - Cross-sell :) - what percentage of accounts purchase additional products after becoming a customer? Your goal here is understand if your story continues to work post-sale. Is the vision your company sells compelling customers to expand their business with you? Are youe expansion plays working as well as your land plays? The challenge we face as a product marketer is we don't control a single part of the process - rather we influence all parts of the buyer journey from first touch all the way to cross-selling. Looking at one metric will never give us the full picture. Use metrics like those above to measure the impact of the work you are doing and look for opportunities to make improvements.

Once messaging is developed, internal teams use it in a number of ways including: * Marketing: Webinars, emails, web refresh, social, blog posts * Sales: Pitches, collateral * Press, analyst, and investor relations: Previews and debriefs * Executive leadership: Internal socialization and external pitches As product marketers, we can support our cross-functional teams by translating messaging into formats that would be most beneficial for our teammates, including one-pagers and pitch decks.

Simple is always better when bringing stakeholders on the journey for a product launch. I typically structure my presentations around the What? When? Who? Why? How? and Where? in that order. This framework is straightforward but covers the most critical questions that matter for the launch. Additionally, this approach can apply to a 1-pager and a 30 slide deck. What? - What is launching? What is the monetization strategy/price points? When? - What is the release timeline? What are the phases of the GTM? Who? - Who is the target audience? Who are the priority segments? Why? - Why will they love it? What is the conversion thesis? How? - How will this be positioned? What are the messaging pillars? Where? - What channels will be essential to reach the target audience? What are the entry points to the acquisition funnel?

While I'd love to say "You'll know when you need more PMMs!" most reading this will know it's not that easy. The ratio of PMMs to PMs or AEs is typically influenced by: 1. Product complexity: More complex products require additional PMMs to effectively market them 2. GTM motion: Sales-led models require greater focus on sales enablement, whereas PLG models require greater focus on user onboarding, adoption, and campaigns. In my experience PMM scales more closely with PM. * Early-Stage (Series A/B): 1 PMM for every 2 PMs * Mid/Late-Stage (Series C and beyond): 1 PMM for every 3-4 PMs Additional hiring considerations: * Once teams exceed 12-15 AEs, they typically add 1 PMM to support Sales Enablement * In highly competitive markets, PMM teams may hire someone dedicated to competitive intelligence * For companies with Fortune 500 customers, it's common to see a PMM dedicated to analyst relations - or even a dedicated Analyst Relations Manager.

When building a tiered product it's important to define the goals of the entire package and each tier. Once you set goals, you'll want to segment your target audience by tier to map benefits to each level. Each tier should have clear benefits and ideally one “hero benefit” to serve as the hook to get customers to sign up for the offering. While the tiers should feel distinct they should also feel connected so that customers feel motivated to earn/pay more to move to higher tiers. A clear example of this approach is building a good/better/best model where the base benefits get increasingly richer as you move to higher tiers. Once benefits/pricing is set a GTM plan that includes varied tactics and messaging will be key with flexibility to market the entire package + targeted campaigns for each tier.

1. Persona frameworks are unique to the organizations and teams who use them. But there are a few core elements that will add some structural integrity to your personas. 1. Context and Market - How do you define the market that this persona is pulled from? Do you need to be able to size the perona’s incidence in the marketplace? 2. Name - Choose a name that is memorable and conveys whatever it is that makes this persona unique and/or valuable. Some folks like to give their persona a name like “Steve” or maybe “Steller Steve.” This is more of a stylistic thing, but I prefer more descriptive names to help stakeholders remember the most important traits of the segment. Also, make sure you pick a name you’re comfortable saying over and over in meetings! 3. Value - Identify how you will assign value to each persona. Is it an attitude they have? A behavior they exhibit? An action they take? 4. Who - Who are they (demographics, job title, hobbies, home life, etc.)? 5. What - What are they trying to accomplish in your marketplace and why? 6. Where - Where do they currently go to meet their needs? How does your brand show up compared to competitors? 7. When - What triggers them to action within your marketplace? 8. Why - Why do they have these specific needs in the marketplace? What is it that makes them unique? Presumably, this a big part of the reason you decided to create the persona, so dedicate extra time to this. 9. Pain points - What isn’t working for them? What could be better? 10. Their journey - Put it all together. What triggers them to action? What’s their desired outcome? What actually happens? 2. Sophia’s Pro Tip: Do the work to align on semantics early on. Align on a definition of a “persona” and what will be included in the profile. Make sure to revisit how your organization has used personas in the past and leverage existing frameworks and information. If you deviate from the existing frameworks or if you’re adding a new persona while others are still being leverage, make sure you’re ready to speak to the value your new methodology will add. 3. Bonnie’s pro tip: Map out your persona profile before you conduct your research. Then map your questionnaire or discussion to the profile to ensure you’re asking all the right questions to completely fill out the profile. 4. Patti’s pro tip: Check your personas for unconscious bias and make sure to include a diverse set of voice in the research that leads up to persona development.

Here are some of the top sections I'd include: 1. Positioning / value prop 2. ICP (with good-fit indicators) 3. Buyer personas 4. Use cases 5. Competitive landscape (with supporting comparison assets) 6. Proof (case studies, research, data, customer wins, 3rd party reviews) 7. Feature overview 8. Discovery questions 9. Objection Handling