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Katharine Gregorio

AMA: Adobe Sr Director Product Marketing, Katie Gregorio on Positioning

November 21, 2023 @ 9:00AM PT

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  1. What messaging and persona framework do you use and how much of competitive positioning do you cover in Messaging?

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    The short answer is it depends. I tend to be pretty anti personas as it often ends up being a fancy exercise no one really uses. What I prefer is to have a matrix that can flex to multiple audiences as necessary of what the key messages are that I’m trying to land.  Keeping the audience in mind for this - eg who in the company needs to digest this messaging - execs for approval, an agency turning this into a video, etc - informs how to package this information out.  As far as mentioning the comp ...Read More

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    2 requests

  2. How does one create a "positioning document?"

    Our organization is focusing on a new customer segment and channel. My CMO has asked me to create a "positioning document" that we can share with senior leadership that articulates how we're going to market to this segment. Does anyone have a template or (and NDA-compliant) example document I could use as a model? Just trying to understand what type of information to include and how best to organize it. Thanks!

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    Positioning is an internal artifact. Messaging is externally facing and brings this positioning to life in various contexts.  I have usually found it very helpful to have a positioning and messaging evergreen document that is dated and encapsulates the following: 1) the positioning for the company/product 2) how to talk about the positioning for the company/product in 25, 50 and 100 words as it might appear at the bottom of a press release for examples 3) any relevant messaging pillars and theme ...Read More

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  3. What do you use or do to get people to buy into your positioning plans and consistently using them?

    The product marketers job typically revolves around positioning a product. Sometimes, it can be difficult to align sales, marketing, and product teams around your positioning.

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    The way to get people bought into positioning is to make sure that positioning is a cross functional exercise in the beginning. Positioning is not just a marketing or product marketing activity and when it is the output often fails.

    1,795 Views
    2 requests

  4. How do you differentiate when competitors constantly copy new products and features?

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    Positioning is what your company uniquely provides a specific audience in a particular market.  As market dynamics change, it needs to be updated, but it should be durable enough to stand some test of time.  If you’re finding your positioning is constantly out of date because competitors are shipping new products and features that you likely have not dug deep enough to truly understand your differentiation.

    4,760 Views
    2 requests

  5. How do you think about pricing and packaging as it relates to competitive positioning?

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    Positioning is what your company uniquely provides a specific audience in a particular market. Pricing and packaging are an output of go to market strategy. If price is a differentiator, which is always tricky in my experience, I would encourage you to look for other differentiators or you and the competition will end up in a race to the bottom. Even commodities differentiate with services.

    2,054 Views
    2 requests

  6. What are some common mistakes that companies make when trying to differentiate their products from competitors?

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    The BIGGEST mistake companies make with positioning is not including the entire company in the exercise and making it just a marketing exercise. The next mistake I’ve seen is not talking to customers and keeping the positioning discussion internal.

    1,625 Views
    2 requests

  7. How do you enable sales in deals where competitors claim to have the same functionality but don't?

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    Generally there are two elements to this answer. First is that the sales team had qualified the lead with the appropriate discovery questions to ensure that the target for the deal is a good fit for your company’s solution. Assuming that is the case, then spending time with the sales team in training and creating cheat sheets for them on typical faqs that come up in conversation about specific use cases or features can be helpful.

    1,676 Views
    2 requests

  8. How does competitive positioning relate to general positioning? What frameworks do you use to help the company understand the difference?

    Katharine Gregorio
    Katharine Gregorio

    Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • 2y

    Positioning reflects what your company uniquely provides a specific audience in a particular market.  It shouldn’t require multiple facets like general and competitive positioning.   That said if you are finding that your audience is comparing you against one competitor in particular you can find ways to do comparisons on value, features, pricing, ROI, time to value, and other metrics in a direct comparison chart, through case studies or calculators, or with enablement to your sales team.  But y ...Read More

    1,719 Views
    2 requests