AMA: Zoom Product Marketing - App Marketplace, Sharon Markowitz on Market Research

An ICP or Ideal Customer Profile is meant to serve as a guide for who to target, attract, and retain as the most valuable customers.  In other words, an ICP is about advising your sales team on accounts that they should be targeting based on specific qualities, but can be more broadly considered to support marketing and product teams. Here are tips for creating an ICP: Talk with internal stakeholders, like product, sales, and other subject matter experts (SMEs) in the industry that work at your ...Read More

This is a great question, and those I’ve worked with, know that I will get on my soapbox any day as ultimately we are in business because of our customers. When I worked at Intuit, I loved that if you encountered founder Scott Cook at the office, he would stop and ask if you had any customer insights to share. It wasn’t if you were a marketer, it was that it was part of the DNA of the company, and what I feel makes a company that is now 30+ years old continue to innovate with sustainable growth. ...Read More

I am a huge advocate of Pragmatic Institute’s work on professional training and certifications for product marketers and product managers, oftentimes embraced at the organizational level across divisions at enterprise companies.  Also, as a former employee and customer, perhaps I have an understandable bias!  There are other resources as well through reputable firms such as Product School, and PMA.  Buyer personas are one of the most important efforts a marketing team can embark on as it is used ...Read More

Generative AI is reshaping how both in-house market research teams and agencies conduct their work, offering opportunities for enhanced efficiency and deeper insights. However, the ways in which they utilize generative AI may differ.  In-house market research teams may benefit from automated data analysis and personalized customer insights.   Traditionally, market research involves gathering insights from various sources such as social media, research interviews, customer service logs, and commu ...Read More

In my experience across consumer goods and retail industries before transitioning to SaaS, market research played a pivotal role in crafting successful go-to-market (GTM) strategies. The nature of consumer goods and retail, where margins are often lower, requires marketers to function as general managers, necessitating thorough research efforts before product launches or marketing campaigns. I share this as there are multiple methods to conduct research as I've been able to apply those in SaaS. ...Read More

The initial focus is to conduct a market assessment. I’d recommend you leverage third-party research and SMEs (subject matter experts) inside the company. When appropriate, you can embark on qualitative research, but there should be significant industry documentation that would be of reference. This will become a cross-functional effort, including brand, finance, marketing, sales, product, strategy, and research.A market assessment would include, at a minimum, the following: Target Market (TAM, ...Read More

Effective market research begins with a comprehensive understanding of two key elements: (1) the objective and (2) the target audience. It's essential to align on these foundational components, before selecting any specific methodology, such as in-house research or industry specific reports.   In-house research demands significant resources compared to utilizing industry-specific reports for insights. Generally, if the research is pivotal for brand and product, conducting in-house research or en ...Read More

There are trade-offs when shipping a product or project that relate to balancing speed, cost, and quality. Ultimately, you can have two, but not all three. In this scenario, it is important to limit the risk of low quality, given you have a limited budget and time to conduct user research. To start, determine the objective and target audience to facilitate a user research study. Then, consider 2 options for budget allocation:Option 1: Allocate the budget to users to expedite responses, implying ...Read More

It is important to align with the product team before connecting with customers for input, as they own the product roadmap. This alignment also ensures that stakeholders are brought along the journey of gathering customer feedback effectively. Here are the top 5 ways I’ve found most efficient for conducting research with existing customers to influence the product roadmap: Engage the Customer Advisory Board (CAB): Share concepts with 2-3 questions for feedback. Connect with Customer Success Mana ...Read More

In product marketing, it's important to have a clear objective before collecting insights from your target audience so you can translate insights into action. If you already conducted market research, here are the suggested next steps for messaging: Identify the Key Message & Benefits: Identify the key message and supporting benefits most relevant for your target audience. Tailor to Audience Segments: If you have insights relevant to more than one segment of your target audience, you can tai ...Read More