Product Launches

It's funny, I've been working on a deck looking at exactly this question. It's fascinating how much it varies from company to company. We're moving to a place where the distinctions between product marketing and brand marketing are becoming increasingly blurry. Think of it as simply different pro...more

For companies of a certain DNA (Bay Area, technology), brand marketing is not a priority compared to being able to measure the performance of your own marketing, with a philosophy of investigating what works and what doesn't. That's because the company likely has a demand problem, not a brand pro...more

Just a feedback on the last comment, as I reacquaint myself to the "new" bay area. I have noticed more emphasis on demand gen skills amongst many startups. If there are stakeholders in the company already like product management and technical marketing who are also good at writing, messaging, pos...more

First, you can not decouple analytical skills from brand marketing skills. They are not mutually exclusive. You are right that there is more emphasis on analytical skills in job description for product marketers. Primarily because analytical skills are easier to evaluate. They are also critical b...more

100% agree with Suyog. Nothing we do exists in a vacuum and all of the positioning and messaging we bring to market should be looked at from a brand lens to ensure consistency. Ultimately, the consumer is not going to differentiate what’s brand marketing and what’s product marketing. It’s all the...more

I definitely appreciate this tension -- and in a perfect world you find the right mix of both on the team. Analytical skills will benefit our understanding of market sizing and opportunity, pricing and packaging decisions and so on. The "brand" or creative skillset would aid in storytelling aroun...more

Analytical skills tend to be the preferred skill set of a product marketer because they are "running the business". Product Marketers own a product's P&L and must have the business acumen to drive revenue. Important the ones trying to size and segment the marketplace. Additionally, they'll probab...more

You've hit upon one of the reasons why marketing in tech is a neverending challenge (and the fun part IMO). I think the best marketers have both strong analytical skills and grasp how to build long-lasting brands based on an emotional connection with their customer. If your goal is to one day lea...more

Brand is more than just a logo or color palette or tag line. Brand is the combination of customer touchpoints that create meaning and belonging for that customer...Brand attracts the customer in the first place, for sure, but brand shows up in how the product delivers on its promise, how customer...more

Understanding how Brand Marketing works is critical to succeed in Product Marketing as these two teams work closely together to bring any Marketing and Product work to life. Brand Marketing thinks about creating a long-term, strategic plan to continuously boost a brand's recognition and reputa...more

I think two things really help here.  1. Make sure you're aligned with their incentives and what they want. We went through this recently and found the sales team was really hungry for something new to sell. We gave them a new way to hit their numbers and as a result they really worked hard to...more

* Instead of focusing on the features, start with the use case -- why are we launching this we sub-product? What problem does it solve for our key personas or existing customers? Do we have examples of users adopting this product? * Once you have an understanding for how/why people are...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 detai...more

It depends on how radically different your Enterprise solution actually is and how unfamiliar it will feel to Sales. Something else to consider, is this a new tier or a totally new product?   Often your Enterprise solution isn't radically different from your Standard product, especially at laun...more

1. Always set a clear objective, then work backwards from there. Why is the relaunch happening? Either because the first attempts were deemed unsuccessful by some performance metric, or because there has been a pivot in the business that requires getting the product in front of a new audience (eg...more

Align with your executive team your number one objective, then focus on nailing the execution of that objective. Ruthlessly say no to things that will take you off course. Stellar execution can make a half-assed strategy successful. If you don't have any processes in place, build something simple...more

Let the data tell the story of your ICP! Use your existing customer base as a starting point. Take your best customers and look at them in aggregate - what patterns emerge across industries, company size, tooling adoption, maturity indicators, etc.? From there, you have a great base to help infor...more

* Don't do what hasn't worked in the past. Do a quick audit/ survey with teams and understand what are the most-utilized and successful assets available and training formats so you can automatically have the trust of the team.  * Experiment with resources that you know your prospect will ...more

Just like in marketing, sales enablement is all about knowing your audience. At the top level, that means understanding what motivates them (i.e. closing more deals, expanding existing customer base, etc.), and tailoring your enablement to help them understand how a new product/feature will help ...more

I think one of the best parts of being a PMM is you get to bring a bunch of different people/teams together to work towards a common goal. I’ve probably done more launches than I dare count and manage people who’ve managed people who’ve done even more launches than me. I guess the launches that I...more

I think what distinguishes great from good is how purposeful the launch was, including these aspects: * Were there set objectives for the campaign or product? * How does the initiative help the company reach the right customers or win the market? * Were stakeholders and collaborators broug...more

As teams scale and more processes are put into place to streamline go-to-market, PMMs can become overly reliant on launch playbooks. We’ve all been there — you identify the tier, fill out the launch plan, and start working through the corresponding checklist of tactics. In many cases, this will r...more

One word: retrospectives! For me, the success or failure of a single launch isn't as important as what we learn along the way. However, in every company I have been at this has been the hardest thing to implement consistently - especially in high-growth organizations where it feels like you are s...more

The answer you’ve probably heard many times before (but I will say it again because I believe it): I believe PMM should be a critical partner to product as early as the product requirement definition stage (or however way you kick off planning). What value can PMM add so early on? You can add va...more

Really early :). When the release is just a twinkle in the PM’s eye :). The way to do this is to set up a formal PMM:PMM partnering system where each individual PM is partnered with 2-4 PMs, and they all focus on the same area of the product. The PMM meets regularly with their PM partners. The ba...more

I always tell my PMs that the earlier PMM is looped into feature development planning, the better. Of course, we want enough lead time to prep for a successful launch. But even before we think about the launch, PMM should bring their insights to the table when the team is in the planning stages. ...more

For new products and major features, I find it invaluable to go through a complete messaging exercise. This is an iterative process that involves collaboration with Product, Marketing, and Sales. I've developed a template for this over the years that combines the things I liked most from the past...more

There are two levers I think about when deciding how we should measure launch success: * Are users successfully adopting the product/feature? * Are we successfully attracting users to adopt the product/feature? The first bullet point is all about the product experience, and speaks to the part...more

For organizing and keeping track of launch activities, I created templates that I have carried with me from company to company. They contain all of the best elements from past launches (both my own and other PMMs I have learned from). And frankly, there is nothing fancy about them - they are most...more