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

November 21 @ 9:00AM PST

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Adobe Sr Director Product Marketing, Katie Gregorio on Positioning

Top Questions

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

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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 compan......Read More

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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

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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.

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

Katharine Gregorio

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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 f......Read More

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

Katharine Gregorio

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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 th......Read More

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How do you enable sales in deals where competitors say they have the same functionality as you, but do not?

Katharine Gregorio

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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 trai......Read More

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

Katharine Gregorio

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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 fi......Read More

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

Katharine Gregorio

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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.

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

Katharine Gregorio

Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud • November 21

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 ship......Read More

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