AMA: Barracuda Networks Product Marketing Director, Olesia Klevchuk on Market Research

Product marketers not only collect VOC but also help scale it across the organization. In most organizations, product marketing is uniquely positioned to do that, as it sits at the intersection of product, sales, marketing, and customer success. You can advocate for insights to be included in roadmaps, messaging, go-to-market strategy, and sales enablement. Use this power to enable other teams to benefit from VOC, by creating templates and playbooks to capture and interpret feedback or share it ...Read More

One of the best applications of GenAI in product marketing is its ability to analyze a wide range of customer data (including market research), which can then facilitate more personalized marketing campaigns and messaging. A similar analysis can be done on competitors’ data. You are probably already using Gen AI without even realizing it. There are numerous marketing tools that have integrated it for content generation or data analysis.   Many product marketers will also rely on GenAI to transfo ...Read More

A good starting point is to talk to your customers, both those who have purchased and those who haven’t. This could also already be part of your win-loss analysis. You want to understand how your customers first realized they had a problem, what steps they took to evaluate solutions, who was involved in the decision, and what they ultimately selected and why. You may want to pair this with input from sales (notes from your CRM) or their product usage (have they enabled and used all parts of thei ...Read More

To gather feedback on the MVP, target early adopters. Before you do that, make sure you define clear objectives around the assumptions you are testing – is it pricing, product usability, or your value proposition? The best time to test it is during the BETA stage, before officially launching the product. This way, you ensure that the product solves the right set of problems, offered at the right price, and customers see value that you can now clearly communicate to others.   In terms of methods ...Read More

First and foremost, remember that you can’t research everything. Ruthless prioritization and focus are key for a solo product marketer. What will impact your next month’s launch or campaign? What gaps in knowledge do you have that directly impact revenue? Second, try to automate as much as possible to save time, especially competitive research. There are tools like Crayon or Klue that help you track competitors, or even free tools like Google Alerts, if budgets are tight. And finally, leverage i ...Read More

Customer interviews are hands down the most valuable research method for you to master. It’s an absolute must have to understand buyers’ needs, pain points, and decision-making processes. Without customer interviews, you will struggle to come up with a compelling message that resonates in the market. Attend sales calls and Customer Advisory Board meetings to gain valuable insights. Setting up a win-loss program will help you adopt a structured approach to your interviews and provide an opportuni ...Read More

Some good questions to ask include those related to customer needs or pain points, validating market demand, and assessing the competitive landscape. As a product marketer, you should also test some early messages and positioning. The exact questions will depend on your product and buyers, but here are some I would recommend to get you started: 1.        What problems does this feature solve for a customer? 2.        How are they solving this problem today? 3.        How many customers or prospe ...Read More