Kevin MacGillivray

Beta releases or early access programs are a fantastic opportunity to get a sneak preview of how users/customers will interact with and use a product or feature. It is really important to capture feedback early and often and package the "so what" back to your internal stakeholder group. This includes the raw data and feedback, but also an opinionated recommendation on what should be done to address. Betas are a great opportunity to test out messaging and positioning (in A/B format or other) and ...Read More

This one is always a challenge, especially in organizations with a large product suite. Here are a few tips. Create and prioritize updating a single source of truth that sales, CS, and support can access to understand what is launching, when it's launching, and where they can go to learn more. Give as much notice about new features as you can. Even if all the details aren't finalized, get upcoming product releases documented in the calendar so supporting teams know what is coming (and the volume ...Read More

We leverage internal tools to store and organize messaging frameworks (and all other marketing assets). Once messaging is fully documented and approved we upload it into tools like Google Drive or Seismic. Defaulting to open internally is important so your peers and partners can easily access. In an ideal world you have a fairly uniform and consistent format you use across all your products/product areas for easy consumption. It is also important to monitor regularly and ensure that there remain ...Read More

It can be challenging to enable a sales team that covers multiple verticals or multiple products. A few things that help here: Limit the P0 priorities for the sales team to 1-2 major programs each quarter. Pick the top couple of programs, incentives, marketing campaigns, hero content etc. and lean heavily into these areas to drive focus. You don't need to ignore the other verticals/products, but this really helps focus training and enablement efforts. Build modular content and enablement materia ...Read More

Key documents include: Master Messaging Doc - includes the most detail and the most structured framework. This is mostly used as a reference document rather than something that is presented. Messaging Deck - usually an abridged version of the messaging doc that is meant to be leverage during live reviews with leaders, stakeholders, sales teams etc. Pitch Deck - leveraged by sales and is one of the clearest manifestations of your messaging if your product is sold by a sales team. One Pager - a cu ...Read More

My product marketing team is currently organized in a hybrid manner: Part of my team is organized by product - these folks pair very closely with their R&D counterparts, building up robust context that they leverage in GTM motions + growth. The other part of my team is set up to focus on foundations - these folks focus on crafting narratives, building assets, and running campaigns that weave all of our product value together into something cohesive at the platform level. The PMM's follow som ...Read More

I have led several product marketing teams throughout my career and it is certainly not one size fits all. A couple of models that have worked well: Mirroring Product In an environment where roadmaps are tightly aligned with product and where deep context is a must, I like to set up my team as a mirror image (or close to it) of Product. That way each person on my team has a counterpart that they are accountable to and vice versa. They are subject matter experts on the product and can clearly art ...Read More

Here are a few winning strategies to keep sales on message including: Sales often crafts their own variation of a product message to fill in gaps when the official version falls short or is incomplete. Ensuring that you've got clear, strong messaging that is up to date and readily accessible for reps to see helps prevent this from happening. Prioritize the single most critical message(s) and make sure reps are hammering it home. Learn from rep behaviour and adapt accordingly. Reps going off mess ...Read More

Who am I speaking with? How often? I have a regular connect with the Sales Director for audiences my team is accountable for where we speak about high level performance to strategy, gaps to target, escalations, themes we need to address etc. I also have a regular group connect with a collection of cross-functional revenue leaders for a more holistic conversation - sales leadership, enablement, merchant success, finance etc. These conversations happen on a bi-weekly basis and act as a mini-govern ...Read More

A few great ways to use AI for messaging: Measure the efficacy of your external messaging by asking an AI tool "what the value prop for product x is". If the response comes back aligned with your framework (and what you think it is) - great. If not, time to revisit and do some digging. AI can often help you get out of a mental box. If you are struggling with how to articulate something clearly - AI tools can spit out 10 different versions of something that help get the creative juices flowing. A ...Read More