Marie Francis

Senior Product Marketing Manager, Workday

Content

What metric, goal or KPI can you put on providing competitive intelligence to the company or product teams?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • October 25

The end game is for customers to choose your solutions and brand over the competition, so the most meaningful KPI is your win rate against against different competitors when you encounter them in deals. To measure that, you need to make sure your sales team is documenting who they encounter in ea......Read More

1129 Views

What are the biggest frustrations you have as a product marketing manager?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • October 26

Hiring! My big challenge right now, to quote our head of sales, is that there's not enough of me to go around. That's not meant to be self-congratulatory--when the need for your function exceeds your resources, it's a challenge and frustration! You have to be relentless in your prioritization and......Read More

1080 Views

I know there will never be a one-size-fits-all answer, but what is in your experience the best way to start building a total economic impact (TEI) evaluation process for companies investing in your solution? Any best practices or tips?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • November 1

I agree with James that it is best to go third pary, but I have seen data and heard from customers that while they will discount the validity of any materials coming from the vendor as being slanted, they will pay attention to results metrics and use them in their buying decisions. So I believ......Read More

1002 Views

What are the top 3 priorities for a successful product launch, that hold true for all types of products?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • October 17

Revenue, revenue, and revenue. Assuming the product is launched to generate revenue. Not all are. Some products are launched to test ideas, some might exist simply to check a box with influential audiences, others might be there to block or signal to the competition. There are also differe......Read More

916 Views

What are your best practices for building a cohesive partnership with Sales and Product Management?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • December 28

1. Have a true desire to partner, and explictly tell them that's what you want to do. 2. Tell them what you are working on and why. Show them how they can be involved. Be specific. 3. Ask what the 2-3 most important things they need from you are. Learn why those are the things the......Read More

772 Views

How do you drive culture change with market research?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • December 18

While I agree with Mary's answer ("data") and the other great points that have been added here, I would caution against taking the exact same approach you would to influencing product as you would to influencing culture. If data were sufficient to change culture, the world would look dramatically......Read More

678 Views

How do you view the distinction between brand marketing and product marketing?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • October 17

Agree with Steve (Hi, Steve! 👋) and would like to add that there should be a push-pull relationship. Some good conversations to have with your brand marketers are around how brand and category positioning should show up within product marketing, and how product differentiation should show up in b......Read More

666 Views

How do I get my sales team to use the content that I produce?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • October 19

I periodically survey my sales team and ask them what their most challenging conversations are with buyers, what materials they have found the most helpful and WHY, and what their most burning need is. When I push them new materials or highlight something I've already sent them, I specifically re......Read More

600 Views

What is your advice to someone with a background in software sales who wants to move into Product Marketing?

Marie Francis

Workday Senior Product Marketing Manager • October 24

I made a major career change a few years ago from public sector to enterprise tech, and some of the most useful things I did were adjust my language, incorporate marketing terms into my vocabulary, and learn how to explain in marketing terms what I did in other places. Many skills and experiences......Read More