AMA: Stripe Head of International Product & Solution Marketing, Scott Ivell on Platform and Solutions Product Marketing

I'm intrigued why 'creating a category' is the focus to the question. The market (users, competitors, analysts) will assign your products to a category based on the use cases and outcomes you deliver - It is very challenging for a business to decide it's in a new category and to bring that into reality. I remember the launch of Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) - Adobe wanted to create a new category, and there was certainly support from the AR community, however initial users and competitors firm ...Read More

Early PMM impact shows up where buyers engage and change behaviour. If your story, proof, and enablement are working, you’ll see better conversion in the segment you targeted, faster deals, and early usage. So you need to balance your lagging vs leading metrics. Lagging metrics include: Pipeline or sign-up growth in the ICP you aimed for, in the market you are scaling Win rate versus the specific alternatives you named in your positioning. Demo‑to‑close rate when any new narrative is used. Compe ...Read More

I’ve reported into sales, marketing, and product as a PMM. The first job is the same each time: get crystal‑clear on what your boss expects from PMM, because the expectation differs by function. I also need air cover while I learn the truth from customers and sellers. In the first few weeks, I’ll ship initial reflections and a draft PMM mandate, or start the dialogue to align on one. I want a heads‑up on the must‑win outcomes for the next two quarters and unrestricted access to customers, produc ...Read More

At a certain stage of growth you find that your products are being used by quite different user groups - and/or - you decide that you need to start appealing to a different profile of user. This can also include users in different countries.... For the PMM leader this presents a challenge. Initially you build out your PMM team around your main products; ideally making them 'full stack' - ie they own their product soup to nuts. This becomes tough when that product needs to be positioned different ...Read More

This is tough. I do think that Gen AI could mean fewer website visitors and therefore having a content and citation strategy is also key so you are surfaced on AI searches. Back to your website; the short answer: have one major hero story, then route by ICP. Create lightweight TOF content/modules for each ICP where the problems, language, and proof differ, and prioritise by impact. How I would separate the messaging Homepage tells the universal “why & why now” and the one‑sentence value prom ...Read More

I'll answer the question on the assumption that we already have an established business in another market. This could be in another country or another segment. Mistakes i see most often are (not in any particular order) Lack of local insights: For US companies (which i've mainly worked for) 'EMEA' or 'APAC' thinking can introduce some major inefficiencies in the go-to-market strategy; most prevalent in non-english geos. It's a useful category for org charts or reporting but not engaging prospect ...Read More

ooh now this is a good question. Let's assume the platform level messaging is tested with users. focus groups and is signed off with your leadership team! In essence, think of this like a product launch campaign into a large user base. Know your goals, target audiences (sales roles AEs, SDRs, CSMs, SEs etc), your story, your channels of distribution, your influencers. Goals: How will you know when it's 'rolled out' - plan for a before > after confidence or feedback survey to track the change. ...Read More