AMA: Yext Former Senior Director, Product Marketing, Erin Gunaratna on Product and Feature Launches

Seems like whoever asked this question may be a bit familiar with my world over at Yext! :) In the 6+ years I’ve been lucky to work here, we’ve transformed from a single-product location listings company to a search platform. Saying this transformation has been easy would be a lie. It didn’t happen all at once, but rather through a series of steps — some big, some small. To our executives’ credit, the vision has been clear since the beginning. This means that our employees generally understand t ...Read More

In my answer to the “not all launches are created equal” question, I laid out some options for communications channels to pursue based on the tier that you assign a given launch. (This best applies to B2B SaaS organizations, since that’s the sector in which I’ve spent my entire career.)As far as demand generation or running paid campaigns goes, I don’t have personal expertise in those areas, so I can’t provide insight into how to choose advertising channels. But, the best thing you can do as a P ...Read More

I think it’s very familiar in PMM to be combing through everything the night before a launch and feel a little anxiety! We typically handle this “pre-mortem” work in two ways: Strategic: Document and address the risks as they come up. I have a “Risks and Considerations” slide in my launch deck that I use as my scratchpad for everything that surfaces during launch preparations. Generally, I raise these with the appropriate stakeholders and try to work through them as they come up, rather than wai ...Read More

Just like not all launches are created equal, not all companies will take the same approach to categorizing or prioritizing launch tiers. However, there are certainly patterns out there. Here are the most common variables I’ve seen: Audience: Will this launch open you up to a new set of prospects, or is it most meaningful for current customers? Is it broadly applicable, or specific to a certain vertical or geo? Will it matter to executive sponsors, or is it oriented towards day-to-day users?  Im ...Read More

When I interview candidates for PMM positions, one of the “x factors” that I always look for is humility — but not just because I want to hire good team players.  People with intellectual humility know that they don’t always have all the answers, which gives them the openness to new information and new ideas that is so key to long-term PMM success. If you don’t have intellectual humility, you’re at risk of making assumptions that can come back to bite you later on.  So, my top 5 “don’t”s are all ...Read More

Oh, to be so lucky as to have a long beta period for everything! A beta is a blessing!When planning for any launch, we don’t know what we don’t know. Beta periods are fantastic because they give us, as PMMs, the opportunity to make those “unknown unknowns” known.If I were lucky enough to have a new product on deck with a comfortable beta period, here’s how I would approach creating a launch strategy: Rally your early adopters to participate in the beta. Work with sales to find friendly customers ...Read More

I’m lucky to partner with a great Enablement team at Yext, so I cannot take credit for everything I mention in this answer! But, we’ve treated our best enablement efforts sort of like a “compliment sandwich” — start with the simple message, then open the hood to see the context and relevant details, and close out once again with the simple message. Wash, rinse, repeat.I think it’s very common in PMM to be afraid of sharing too much detail — we all know how busy our colleagues in sales are, and w ...Read More

I cannot claim expertise in FinTech or in the DACH market, so my best advice here is to research launch plan frameworks and pick one. Pragmatic Institute, Product Marketing Alliance, and Sirius Decisions all have their own frameworks and launch plans, though they’re behind logins. See if you can set up a free account and go from there. There are also plenty of great Medium blogs and posts out there that you should be able to access for free as a starting point.Once you’ve done some research and ...Read More

Honestly, the less “flashy” launches are often my favorites, because these releases may have a smaller audience than a major launch would have, but if you do them right, it’s sooo fun to watch those audiences lose their minds out of happiness when they hear about a new feature that will make their lives easier! I made some recommendations for specific communication tactics on Tiers 2 and 3 in my answer to the “not all launches are created equal” question. Generally, the name of the game with the ...Read More