Kashyap Patel

Sr. Director, Product Management, Druva

Content

What's your best product marketing 30-60-90 day plan to make a big impact at a new company?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • February 7

Here is what mine looked like roughly when I started about 9 months ago: 30 days: 1. Product onboarding and learning 2. Meet key people in PM, Sales, Marketing 3. Get introduced to tools used in the org 4. Understand the current messaging and positioning of the product(s) 5. Listen for ke......Read More

1260 Views

How to validate your messaging and positioning once you've already finalized them?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • October 25

Here is how I validate before and after finalizing them: 1. Form a guild or squad consisting of product manager, sales rep, CSM, an exec (if possible). Use them as a sounding board to get early feedback on messaging options - based on the positioning. 2. Once drafted, I validate it i......Read More

413 Views

Are there ways to test our messaging without spending a dollar on external validation?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • January 8

Yes, a few. Actively, 1. Your own customers or power users who are passionate about your products. Get them into a call and chat with them. Do this atleast 5-6 times with different customers. 2. If you have a reseller or partner network, then their sales and CSM teams can be ta......Read More

281 Views

What are the telltale signs that a product launch plan is headed in the right direction?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • October 25

Signs that the launch plan is headed in the right direction: 1. Your launch plan tasks in proj. management tool are buzzing and finishing well before time. You are well ahead of planned completion dates and that is always a great sign 2. Sales and CSMs cannot wait for enablement sess......Read More

271 Views

What frameworks do you rely on when creating messaging and positioning? How might these frameworks differ if creating messaging and positioning from scratch vs. updating existing messaging and positioning?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • December 12

I have relied on the Message House and the Positioning Canvas (from April Dunford's book as well as PMA) for my work in the PMM field. These frameworks are quite well-known and there are a lot of examples available on the internet too. They do not differ as such when it comes to creating somet......Read More

258 Views

At our start-up we have a history of deeply understanding our users' needs and can create loyalty and retention. But we find we are so careful about getting it "right" when it comes to what our product does that we lose the succint, repeatable marketing message. Do you feel that a succinct, hook-worthy statement that is 80% "right" is better than a "right" statement that is convoluted and hard to remember?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • January 17

Here is what I feel: Show them the trailer to get them to watch the movie. 1. Less is more. Simple and succinct is generally better. 2. Focus on the most important problem that you want to solve and that keeps it less convoluted. 3. The objective of a hook-worthy statement is to get t......Read More

237 Views

Do you need to be good at writing to create good product messaging?

Kashyap Patel

Druva Sr. Director, Product Management • January 17

Yes and no. * To create good product messaging, no. It takes many skills to create a good one. * To create a good representation of that good product messaging, probably yes. In general, you should be good at writing. But you don't have to be good at copywriting. Especially if you work in ......Read More