How often and when do you typically get feedback on collateral from the teams that will use it?

Getting feedback on assets and collateral from stakeholders is a key part of Product Marketing's job. What I like to do is create a tiger team of people you can count on. This could differ of course depending on the asset but should likely include a mix of salespeople (pre-sales, AEs/reps, SDRs, etc.) and probably some of the post-sales teams as well (CSMs, PS, Account Managers, etc.). Many times you will know the people to include but sometimes you'll need to ask managers for nominations.

It's important to get feedback before you finish an asset especially if this is an important one like a pitch or first call deck. In that case I like to make an outline first and vet that even before creating any slides or getting the creative team involved. Then once you have a draft that looks semi-close to done, vet it as well with the tiger team. Maybe even have them use it a few times with prospects or customers to get feedback.

Things like demo videos or product tours would also benefit from a feedback review from an outline before you put the work in to build them. For smaller impact assets like solution sheets or data sheets, you can likely show the draft text rather than an outline. But either way I feel that it's important to get feedback before you involve other teams or certainly before you spend money with external agencies.

Don't forget to always gather continual feedback as well! Make sure you go back to your tiger team (and reassess who's on your tiger team periodically) to make sure the asset is still having the impact you want. Periodic review is an important step to make sure your collateral is meeting the changing needs of your teams!

Great question! My stakeholders are generally extremely busy, so I try to limit the times I go to them for feedback. What I found worked the best was going to them when there was still a lot of wiggle room to adjust the asset.

1. Concept: I bring the concept to the stakeholders to ensure it's an asset they would use. I also have the stakeholder review messaging and takeaways to ensure the asset is valuable.

2. Second Draft: I bring them a draft to get feedback and ensure they have a say of what should and should not be included.

3. Final Draft: I bring them a final draft for approval, but I do caveat that I'm looking for feedback on what may be egregiously wrong and prevent them from using it.