AMA: Gong Director, Product Marketing, Victoria Chernova on Product Launches

Goals depend on the type of business, the GTM strategy for the product, and selling motion. I will highlight a few examples from my past companies (including B2C and B2B). But first, some advice that’s really helped me throughout my career: Tie your goals to marketing team goals, and even better, to the business Set northstar metrics (usually lagging indicators), and corresponding leading indicators to ensure you’re on track Align goals with key cross-functional partners: Adoption goals with pro ...Read More

The first step is creating a tiering system so you can prioritize features & products being released. Variables could be based on customer impact (good and bad—think change management), business priorities, revenue potential, brand/awareness potential, etc. For Tier 1 & 2 products, we’ve built out a workback schedule in Asana with dates. Typically this process starts 3-4 months before the agreed upon launch date. I would think through your workback schedule for a few key deliverables own ...Read More

I’ve seen both approaches, but it depends on your business, selling motion, and product team culture on which approach is best for your company. I'll share some takeaways from my experiences at Asana and Gong.  At Asana, PMM and product aligned on an annual launch calendar with 3-4 major launches. Launches for smaller feature releases and improvements were coordinated between the PMM and PM. This decentralized approach allowed the PMM to be more strategic when positioning features, which oftenti ...Read More

Not exactly sure what you mean by analyzing, but building the customer journey for your GTM strategy is essential for ensuring the right segment gets the right message via the right channel. It’s also how you can identify which assets (or bill of materials) to prioritize for the launch. I’d start with your GTM strategy: Who’s your target audience (including different segments), what are you trying to make them do (objectives), and how will you get them there (channels + assets)? I’m a visual lea ...Read More

Here are a few considerations and actions you can take to build support across the team: Tie your launch goals to the greater Marketing team goals. It’s important to connect the dots on how your launch can help your marketing teammates accomplish their goals as well. For major initiatives, make sure your marketing leadership team is bought in and understand the potential impact. You have to PMM your product internally first :) Make folks feel like thought partners. I love holding brainstorm sess ...Read More