AMA: Shopify Director of Product Marketing, Kevin MacGillivray on Self-Serve Product Marketing

Beta releases or early access programs are a fantastic opportunity to get a sneak preview of how users/customers will interact with and use a product or feature. It is really important to capture feedback early and often and package the "so what" back to your internal stakeholder group. This includes the raw data and feedback, but also an opinionated recommendation on what should be done to address. Betas are a great opportunity to test out messaging and positioning (in A/B format or other) and figure out what is landing and what isn't. What really resonates with the user and what doesn't. It's a great chance to get out of your internal echo chamber. When sales is involved, getting a few high context reps together to poke holes in your plan can also be a great way to sharpen your narrative. Lastly - betas are a great opportunity to partner closely with users/customers and capture their stories to leverage in case studies/testimonial/claims later down the line when you are driving adoption.

There are a lot of great ways to collect user feedback: * Focus Groups --> any time you can get a small handful of users (either individually or together) to give some of their time for an extended conversation, take advantage of it! This model works really well when you've got a meaty topic/workflow/problem to work through where you really want to get into the details and opinions. * Usage Data --> usage data is great because all users vote with their actions. Getting access to how users are interacting with your product and the actions they take or don't take is invaluable. * Reviews --> if you work on an app based product you can often get some pretty blunt insights from the reviews that users leave. Monitoring trends here is important and can sometimes identify blindspots. * Surveys --> surveys to your base of users (or out in the wild if needed) can be a really great way to quantify broader trends and validate existing assumptions. * A/B Testing --> A/B testing is one of the best ways to collect feedback via user actions. Test UX, messaging, positioning etc. with multiple versions with a well put together experiment to learn more about what resonates or user preferences. * In Product --> in product surfaces are great places to get feedback. Mechanisms that allow users to provide feedback, a rating, or vote with their actions are really useful (and one of the most topical/contextual options). I spoke about it in another question, but leveraging betas or early access programs is a great setting to collect user feedback with lower stakes than GA.

This is one of the most powerful skills you can develop as a leader and especially as a PMM. PMM by nature sits at the juncture of many, many stakeholder groups - both within product and within commercial. I wouldn't necessarily say the task is to "manage people". I would boil it down further to the nature of your relationship and what you need from that person and what they need from you. A few thoughts: * Align upfront on goals and priorities for the month/quarter - this reduces misalignment and friction down the road * Have a good model upfront governing accountability and hold stakeholders to those commitments * Invest in building strong working relationships with your stakeholder group - a strong foundation will often get you through the toughest times * Establish a channel for providing feedback as early as possible so it is normalized and not awkward * Understand what motivates each stakeholder and what a "win" looks like for them - help them get there whenever you can * Don't be afraid to escalate early and often if you hit blockers * Create documentation like decision logs that create a shared history, context, and understanding * Build trust by committing and delivering - folks will want to work with you because you are a great leader that gets it done

I have led several product marketing teams throughout my career and it is certainly not one size fits all. A couple of models that have worked well: Mirroring Product * In an environment where roadmaps are tightly aligned with product and where deep context is a must, I like to set up my team as a mirror image (or close to it) of Product. That way each person on my team has a counterpart that they are accountable to and vice versa. They are subject matter experts on the product and can clearly articulate value to a user. In this model, everyone is more of a product marketing generalist and looks after the entire scope of the craft for a particular product or product area. Organizing by Function * In an environment where product context is less important, setting up your team by function can be a good move. Some PMM's focus on upstream work/research, some on GTM and launches, some on growth & demand generation, some on sales enablement etc. This model stretches the PMM across all products/product areas but allows them to hone in on a particular function of the craft. As PMM teams scale - this model becomes more practical for PMM's, but also more efficient for different stakeholder groups like sales, partnerships, etc. that need a single point of contact.

Both are very important. And in both cases the new product serves to further enhance an existing narrative. Driving adoption with existing clients can serve a few really important purposes. First - it is a safer space to test out something new with users that are already familiar with your product(s) and gather feedback in order to iterate. Second - new products and features are often built in response to a gap or something that wasn't working quite right. These users will be thrilled to hear about the latest fix/feature that they have been waiting for. And thirdly - keeping existing users happy and informed ultimately reduces churn. Leveraging a new product or feature to attract new business isn't as straightforward. Although the product/feature is new and shiny to you, to a prospective client it is just another feature that is part of a bigger decision. And in many instances they might have actually assumed it was something you already had. The most important thing for this audience is to effectively ladder up the new product into your existing pitch and leverage it to level up your existing (or maybe new) value propositions. You are selling a much broader story with this audience so you need to sell value first. Getting into the weeds around features can come further down the funnel.

These two audiences are VERY different. And it's important to be clear on the difference between audiences and channels. Enterprise merchants often move through a sales led funnel. SMB's in many cases are the ones going through a self-serve funnel. A few nuances for each: Self Serve * Users going through a self-serve experience are more likely to be looking for an "off the shelf" version of the product that can more easily be sold and explained without human assistance Sales Led * Users going through a sales led experience are often much larger, have more $$ at stake, more stakeholders involved in decision making, and are looking for a greater degree of flexibility and customization. It's definitely a challenge to communicate with both without alienating the other. A few things to consider: * What marketing channels do each segment engage with? Are they different? * Who are the decision makers and where do they get their information? Who do they trust? * Is it possible to communicate to two audiences on one surface or do I need separate destinations for each group? * Are there features and value that you can lean into for each (despite being the same product)? * How knowledgeable are the clients about the product area? Enterprise sized merchants usually have more experts. * Does your company have existing brand recognition with one of these segments? * Where do the two funnels split based on segment? Top, middle, or bottom?

Sales enablement is only a small portion of what the product marketing craft entails. That said - there are definitely roles and organizations where enablement makes up the majority of the job. IMO PMM work generally falls into (3) categories: Upstream Product Marketing * Includes: voice of customer, user research, competitive intelligence, collaborating with with product on roadmap, persona building, segmentation * Lots of foundational work in this bucket GTM * Includes: product launches, feature launches, going after new audiences, going after new segments, new geos, new channels. * Essentially connecting new product/value with the user - whether the product is new or the user is new Growth * Includes: sales enablement, campaigns, campaigns, funnel optimization, PLG, awareness * Essentially anything that drives growth and adoption across any channel The buckets above are broad. And each org will have a different focus. It can also be heavily dependent on how many other marketers are in your organization and what other crafts exist. But product marketers need to wear many hats and are ultimately accountable for building the best marketing playbook to drive positive outcomes for the org.

The short answer is that everyone in an organization should care about the voice of the customer - regardless of craft. If you feel like voice of customer is not being represented during the product roadmap process, you should take action! Getting closer to the customer and bringing this intelligence forward can often be a ticket to a seat at the table with product. If nobody is doing it, step in and fill those shoes. R&D and commercial stakeholders will thank you for it and you will be building PMM craft credibility in your organization. If you can't get a direct seat at the table, that's OK! Talk to customers, identify themes, be opinionated, and find a way to share this information with product and other stakeholder groups so they are informed. This could be a document, tracker, Slack update etc. Bring the insights and people will listen!

At its core, product marketing remains focused on the same goals and outcomes in both cases. It is mostly the available tools and surfaces that differ. Things like segmentation, messaging frameworks, persona building etc. are applicable everywhere. They could be deployed in building out the right PLG experience or flow OR they could be used in building out sales enablement OR a marketing campaign. In a PLG environment, there is also a GTM component of the craft that is often required. PMM also contributes to growth activity in a PLG environment, key marketing surfaces just exist within product vs. out and key stakeholders are product/UX/eng folks vs. sales and marketing teams. And depending on the use case, PMM may have a role in driving net new customers to use the product for the first time.