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Mary Jane Han

AMA: Roofstock Director of Product Marketing, Mary Jane Han on Influencing the Product Roadmap

February 2 @ 10:00AM PST
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Roofstock Director of Product Marketing, Mary Jane Han on Influencing the Product Roadmap
Top Questions
How can I start making a change in my organization to influence the roadmap based on consumer insights?
I am at a company where Product builds the roadmap without many insights from Marketing or research.
Mary Jane Han
Mary Jane Han
Roofstock Former Product Marketing Director • February 2
I’d first ask what’s driving this – does the company/leadership not believe in customer insights, is there a lack of prioritization to do this or is it simply inertia of how the company operates today? Your approach may vary depending on the answer but here are some thoughts to consider. * Make......Read More
755 Views
2 requests
Have you found a good framework to communicate your product roadmap to customers?
We're trying to strike a balance of communicating high priority initiatives without getting caught up in exactly timelines.
Mary Jane Han
Mary Jane Han
Roofstock Former Product Marketing Director • February 1
Timelines can move around a bit so unless your team is really good at hitting them or there's important implications to a milestone that must be hit, it's good to keep timeframes slightly vague or not communicating them until you have strong conviction on when it will be ready.  That being said......Read More
599 Views
2 requests
What criteria is evaluated before determining if a request or idea is submitted to product? When it is submitted, what is the prioritization process?
Mary Jane Han
Mary Jane Han
Roofstock Former Product Marketing Director • February 2
Before putting together any idea, know what the overall business priorities are and what specific goals and KPI’s the company aims to deliver. The stronger you tie your idea to those outcomes, the more likely they will be prioritized. Every company has a different process for prioritizing, but th......Read More
950 Views
3 requests
Our product team ships feature updates incrementally, how would you decide the scope of each of the feature changes? Do you market each of the feature updates as when they come out, or group them together? Thank you!
Mary Jane Han
Mary Jane Han
Roofstock Former Product Marketing Director • February 2
I would put yourself in the shoes of your customers and decide whether the feature update matters to them (or not). You can consider different channels/formats that better highlight the more significant ones and others where you keep customers informed but might be more trivial.   Sometimes, n......Read More
816 Views
1 request
How do you work with the sales and success teams, in conjunction with the product team, on the roadmap? What pieces of the puzzle do you own, versus your sales and success team?
Mary Jane Han
Mary Jane Han
Roofstock Former Product Marketing Director • February 2
A PMM’s success is largely due to how tightly they partner with sales and product. A successful product marketer champions and owns customer voice. Your role is to synthesize all the insights across research and customer feedback to inform sales strategy and product roadmap. You also drive the go......Read More
939 Views
1 request
What kind of PMM organizational structure is ideal for ensuring that PMMs are set up for success (in this case, to influence the Product roadmap)?
For eg: Should PMMs be aligned with PMs (we have a 3:1 mapping), or should PMMs be aligned with the market/buyer persona or something else?
Mary Jane Han
Mary Jane Han
Roofstock Former Product Marketing Director • February 2
I've seen product marketing fall either under Marketing or Product with dotted lines to specific businesses they support. There are pros and cons to either structures but generally, aligning under the product org will allow you to be more tightly aligned and have greater influence on the product ......Read More
905 Views
1 request