How Unity VP of Product Marketing, Jon Rooney, Validates Messaging To Hit Product Launch Stretch Goals
Summary
In this playbook, you will hear how a structured, disciplined approach to messaging can power a successful launch. In a previous role, where my team was responsible for launching a critical new product, we had to find out how to position the new product amidst expectations and biases around adjacent product categories. Analysts gave us feedback on our messaging, and we learned that our messaging and positioning would be the difference between the product dying on the vine or generating revenue.
We had a disciplined approach to iterate and validate our messaging, both externally and internally. This enabled us to nail our messaging — and launch with 18 reference customers who amplified our messaging and helped us exceed sales goals at launch and in quarter and quarter thereafter.
Who is this for:
This playbook will be useful to enterprise PMMs — especially those who are launching a second product or new product line meant to reach a new market.
What you will learn:
How to validate messaging by using external and internal sources
How to ensure that your messaging is actually used by GTM teams, rather than seeing them create their own messaging or asking PMMs to write all the copy
How to run a disciplined and rigorous process to validate, refine, and publish your messaging
How to build credibility for yourself as a PMM and for your messaging
How to maximize the impact of your messaging and achieve superior sales results.
Table of Contents:
Diagram: Messaging development process
1. Set Up Disciplined Management
Pre-launch operating cadence steps
Diagram: Pre-launch operating cadence
🔥 Hot Tip: Use the Carrot and Stick to Prevent Teams Going Rogue
2. Understand the Product Deeply
How Product marketers gain credibility
Understand the product deeply call out
Steps to building product acumen
Diagram: How to build your product acumen
3. Draft, Validate, and Review Messaging
Diagram: Draft, validate, and review messaging
5 step messaging development process
Diagram: Core positioning + messaging framework template
Diagram: Setting up your beta program
Draft, validate, and review messaging call out
🔥 Hot Tip: Refine, Refine, Refine.
🔥 Hot Tip: Creating a Category Can Be Hard, So Equip the Sales Team
4. Deliver Messaging with Excitement
Key steps to getting internal alignment and readiness
Playbook Content
Context
When we were engaged in early planning, our company was in hyper-growth mode, and we were evolving from a largely single-product company to having a portfolio addressing different use cases for two distinct enterprise buying centers. This product was meant to drive revenue by increasing share of wallet with existing customers, as well as broaden the market perception of our company in terms of the workloads we could address (and thus the legacy competitive products we could replace).
The goals for the product launch were:
Drive net revenue with a new SKU
Increase share of wallet with existing customers by addressing adjacent use cases and displacing legacy solutions
Broaden mindshare beyond IT practitioners to provide more holistic value to IT and LOB leadership
The core team was:
Me and one other PMM
The team involved was:
The GM (executive sponsor)
Product
Customer Marketing
Customer Success
Sales
Framework
While PMMs create and own the messaging, it is not meant for us. It is an input for all the other GTM functions to do their jobs. When this is not done well, different teams all start inventing their own messaging, or they will require PMMs to write the copy for all collateral.
To prevent this, I use a disciplined approach to developing and validating messaging that follows four steps.
Set up disciplined management
Understand the product deeply
Draft, validate, and review messaging
Write hypothesis
Validate externally
Validate internally
Acceptance test
Deliver messaging with excitement
A Sharebird Pro membership is required to view the rest of this playbook. 🔒
Get playbooks from these companies:
Popular Playbooks
How HubSpot's Product Marketing Team Refreshes Messaging To Improve Sales Win Rates
How Calendly's Product Marketing Team Successfully Launched an Enterprise Offering
