AMA: Cisco Meraki Head of Product Marketing, Grant Shirk on Competitive Positioning
April 13 @ 9:00AM PT
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
This is highly requested, so I'll take a shot at it. But first, an acknowlegement of bias: I don't really like competitive tools that much. I find they put more emphasis ...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
This is a fun one. An aphorism we could coin here is that "Competitive battlecards are just like datasheets. Every salesperson desperately wants a new one, but nobody eve...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
This is going to sound like a product management (not marketing) answer, but if things are truly moving that quickly -- new competitors, new use cases, new feature requir...
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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.
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
This is the job within the job. You're always balancing two macro audiences: External (prospects and customers) and Internal (well, all your coworkers). I'll reiterate ...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
This requires a few different tactics depending on the size of your sales team. YMMV based on culture, sales leadership, enablement structure, but it's a good place to st...
645 Views
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What's your approach to competitive differentiation?
How does this inform your core messaging, how do you enable sales to understand what makes you different/better, how do you know if it's working with your target buyers?
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
The answer here is in the question. My approach to differentiation starts with understanding why the product or service you're responsible is uniquely suited to a specifi...
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What constitutes a competitor, and what is the goal you have in mind when you conduct competitor analysis?
What is your philosophy when it comes to competitors?
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
My primary philosophy around competitors is a little different than most: focus 80% of your energy on what makes you great as a product or service, and the rest on what a...
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How does product and launch positioning and messaging differ?
This for companies with multiple feature-rich products that are being managed by a very small (i.e. 1-3) PMMs.
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
Yes, these are definitely different, but related. Product positioning: Durable, consistent framework for positioning a product or solution over the long run. Needs to ac...
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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!
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
There are a number of templates available online. My first recommendation is to confirm your CMO's expecation - it's rare for a CMO to *not* have a favorite format for th...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
Join the conversation. As a PMM, you should have a seat at the table in any customer conversation. You bring a different perspective to the discussion and can often ask d...
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What metric, goal or KPI can you put on providing competitive intelligence to the company or product teams?
I work in a company that measures the impact of all projects, but admittedly this is a difficult area to track. Would love to any suggestions/thoughts.
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
It's great to see companies putting more emphasis on measuring this. It's definitely a challenge, but if competitive investments aren't measured, it's less likely they'll...
642 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
I feel like every organization struggles with this. Everyone (and every function) brings their own definitions and biases with them. Here is my definition of this: Pos...
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How do you showcase to interviewers your work in messaging and positioning, without actually showing documented work?
Also, how to actually show its success, as this is something that may take awhile before seeing a growth trend and can you directly actually attribute a particular success metric on messaging?
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
This is a great one! It's also something few people do well in an interview setting. It's a bit challenging to do verbally, but if you think it through in advance, you ca...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
Pricing and packaging are positioning. They're the most concrete way you are defining the value and TCO of your solution relative to the pain a customer is feeling. But i...
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How do you obtain competitive intelligence on a competitor's product that has very little public-facing marketing around it?
I'm about to just call and ask them if they still sell it.
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
I'll start with the assumption that this isn't a product you can personally go out and procure on your own. Hands-on is always great. Review sites are good, and can oft...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
Oof, tough situation. It's very hard to navigate these situations, and tougher to give advice without context into why that group might be protective. Often, if you take ...
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
Your best bet is always "talk to customers." You'll learn more in 10 conversations with prospects and customers than you will with $10K or $20K in market analysis. To k...
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How do you get to creative, consistent and differentiated messaging?
Do you believe in brand positioning/purpose as a north star for messaging?
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
Answer one: Iterate, iterate, iterate. Answer two: Yes, brand positioning and product positioning are inextricably tied. A statement that sounds bold but shouldn't be: ...
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How do you perform extensive competitive product research?
I've been tasked with it but I'm missing the mark. This research is for the CEO and Product/Engineering teams who want to know how our tech stacks up in the market. Do you have any tips?
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 4y
I think this one just dropped in. Let's do it live! My gut reaction is: If you're being asked to do "extensive competitive research," something is broken. And you should...
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