Back to Ask Me Anything Sessions
Vanessa Thompson

AMA: Twilio Senior Director, Product Marketing, Vanessa Thompson on Market Research

December 2 @ 9:00AM PST
View AMA Answers
Twilio Senior Director, Product Marketing, Vanessa Thompson on Market Research
Top Questions
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
Personas are the way you bring segmentation and targeting to life by understanding what ‘motivates’ the buyer. If you don't have a good sense of the motivators, needs, and wants of your buyer, then i’d make a bet that your marketing spend isn't optimized and your deal cycle times are longer than ......Read More
543 Views
1 request
How have you historically sourced people to interview while developing personas?
Especially if you don't have any customers that fit the bill my current plan is to assemble a list of possible titles and have my virtual assistant company prospect for and find contact details for them then probably send out a survey to validate if they're the right people to talk to and reach out individually to the ones that fit the bill.
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
Based on your question detail, it sounds like you are targeting some specific persona details. If you have the time and capacity to take the approach you described, then it's a good way to do it. The other is to use a third party. I've used a few in the past, SurveyMonkey and Respondent.io. They......Read More
928 Views
1 request
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
Competitive Battlecards are the best asset for sales but remember to KISS (keep it stupid simple). Sales are often pressed for time so how can you clearly pick apart your differentiators (vs the competitor), give the rep a compelling reason it matters, and even lay some trap setting questions. D......Read More
1700 Views
1 request
Can you share your experience about segmentation and personas definition?
I'm so sure it is so important for good products being focus on an addecuate segmentation or undestand personas, but what do you consider are the steps or the best process for getting a good segmentation?
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
I have a 5-step approach that i've developed over time. It does change based on the situation, but the main flow typically stays in tact. I presented this at an event, so you can watch the full breakdown here. https://play.stuff.co.nz/details/_6208820879001 Vanessa’s 5-Step Approach for Successf......Read More
1020 Views
1 request
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
You may be looking at a broader trust issue and its likely that the research and the data you are bringing back is likely only a symptom of this. One of the key soft skills as a PMM is to influence without authority. So think about what motivates your product team, and use that to influence them ......Read More
390 Views
1 request
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
When looking to identify target verticals, I always prefer a data driven approach. I'd work up a detailed analysis exercise and build a vertical based TAM. I have a go-to bubble chart that I like to develop which is based on the growth rate of each (CAGR, y axis) vs the revenue opportunity (x axi......Read More
606 Views
1 request
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
Build a mutual goal and you will be on a great path to a collaborative partnership. The main difference between the two is that PMMs need to think about the broader market which includes the buyer or the person signing the check (to build a strategic GTM model) and the UX team needs to think abou......Read More
800 Views
2 requests
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
If your company uses a tool like Gong.io that is the most non-intrusive way to glean insights from sales conversations. It's a great tool that lets you search key topics in an easy way.  If Gong isn't an option to you, then work through your sales team. Be intentional about which customers you’d......Read More
398 Views
1 request
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
If you think about what goal you want to achieve, that will help you decide what documents to produce and own. A good goal at this stage is to be a strategic partner to your product team, and be part of the product strategy development. Based on this goal, you could produce a few things. One wou......Read More
768 Views
4 requests
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
Everyone in your business knows something about your market, and your customers. So its not only important to do the research but to make sure you share it with enough people in your business to validate that you dont have any blindspots or other elements that you’ve missed. You dont need to hav......Read More
712 Views
1 request
Vanessa Thompson
Vanessa Thompson
Twilio Vice President MarketingDecember 3
The outcome you are targeting with your competitive research plays a role in the efficacy of your research method. So have the outcome in mind before you start, that way you will already be on the path to success! Competitive positioning - There are plenty of tools around like Klue, that scrape ......Read More
1301 Views
7 requests