Dave Steer

I love this question because it widens the aperture from product launch to go-to-market plan. The product launch is an important part of the go-to-market plan, but the launch only represents one (really important) point in time. I like to think of the product launch as the rocket booster that you need to get your message to the marketplace.Before I share my blueprint, I have an important PSA for product marketers: product availability is not the same thing as product launch. Product availability ...Read More

My team and I use a Message House framework that covers the following elements: Solution/Product Naming Tagline Positioning Statement Short and Long Descriptions For the Positioning Strategy, we use a modified version of April Dunford's Obviously Awesome positioning canvas. The canvas, we have found, invites us to be more critical and thorough in our positioning strategy. It includes: Competitive Alternatives Unique Attributes Value Who Cares A Lot We inform the messaging framework with the posi ...Read More

Great question - you'll see the answer is some of the my other answers. I'll add a few other steps here: First, be intentional about the core working group. Go-to-market can be vast, so it's important that you have key functions (sales, customer success, marketing, revenue operations, and more) represented.  Second, align the team on the stage of the business. Sangram Varje and Bryan Brown recently published MOVE: The 4 Question Go-To-Market Framework which offers a maturity assessment of where ...Read More

I answered a previous question about measuring success of a product post-launch, but it’s worth diving more deeply into KPIs for the launch itself.  The most important step here is to tie your KPIs to the marketing objectives and strategies that you are adopting. For example, if you’re launching a ‘tier 3’ product without any investment in press outreach, does it make sense to track media coverage? Nope.Let’s assume that we’re focusing on a Tier 1 product launch. Here are the KPIs I typically tr ...Read More

Overall, you want to be looking at metrics that give you an understanding of success (e.g. adoption, revenue, word-of-mouth), inform tweaks to your messaging, and future direction of the product. These metrics may differ between B2B and B2C products, especially around Sales Enablement.Post launch, I’m tracking several metrics for my products, including:1- Adoption and usage of the product2- Revenue derived from a product 3- Customer support inquiries related to the product (this is a good source ...Read More

Changing your positioning is a big deal. So much of your Go to Market plan relies on a positioning strategy that is well thought out and embraced by your company.  Whenever I need to manage a change to positioning, I start with understanding whether the real need is to change the positioning or whether the need is to tune the messaging strategy. A lot of folks confuse the two. Remember: your positioning defines how you want your target audience to think about your offering. Since shifting percep ...Read More

Product Marketers should, as they say, measure what matters...and what matters is heavily dependent on the stage of the business and product. If you are earlier stage, focus on assessing whether the problem your product is solving is real and important. Good metrics for this stage: Funnel conversion, win rate, marketing tactical effectiveness (traffic, leads). For later stage, your GTM strategy should be measured by more sophisticated indicators, such as pipeline coverage, deal velocity, net exp ...Read More

There are, of course, several elements so I’m just going to touch on the foundational pieces that product marketers must have in place. But before I do, I have one pro-tip: develop your GTM framework as a narrative. I've found that the activity of writing it out in narrative form helps to create clarity of thought and to socialize it with stakeholders so that everyone can contribute. This narrative should include: Market adoption stage – Your goal is to understand where you are in the classic te ...Read More

Operationalizing a go-to-market strategy is not for the faint of heart. There’s a lot that happens between writing the doc (see narrative above) or slides and executing the strategy in the market. Here’s my list of the riskiest elements and how I solve for them. First, team alignment. In my experience, aligning the team is the trickiest element because the amount of stakeholder voices expands seemingly exponentially the closer you are to launching your GTM activities. This is just as true for th ...Read More