What Do Product Marketers Do?

Filed Under Professional Development, Ruminations, Product Marketing, Product Management | 1 Comment


The definition for Product Marketing seems to be quite different, when one tries to draw the scope of roles and responsibilities. In some companies, it a very strategic multi-dimensional position, in some it is shared by a number of people.  There are functional overlaps with Product Management, there are functional overlaps with Market Research. So pondering on the scope of work or some sort of viable range of activities, I plunged on the journey to define the role myself. Why is that relevant on this blog? Because knowing the difference can actually redeem the value to the type of work Product Marketers do and  clarify the myths and misconceptions.

To start, I turned to wikipedia’s definition: ”Product marketing frequently differs from product management in high-tech companies. Whereas the product manager is required to take a product’s requirements from the sales and marketing personnel and create a product requirements document (PRD),[2] which will be used by the engineering team to build the product, the product marketing manager can be engaged in the task of creating a marketing requirements document (MRD), which is used as source for the product management to develop the PRD. In other companies the product manager creates both the MRDs and the PRDs, while the product marketing manager does outbound tasks like giving product demonstrations in trade shows, creating marketing collateral like hot-sheets, beat-sheets, cheat sheets, data sheets, and white papers. This requires the product marketing manager to be skilled not only in competitor analysis, market research, and technical writing, but also in more business oriented activities like conducting ROI and NPV analyses on technology investments, strategizing how the decision criteria of the prospects or customers can be changed so that they buy the company’s product vis-a-vis the competitor’s product, etc..

In smaller high-tech firms or start-ups, product marketing and product management functions can be blurred, and both tasks may be borne by one individual. However, as the company grows someone needs to focus on creating good requirements documents for the engineering team, whereas someone else needs to focus on how to analyze the market, influence the “analysts”, press, etc. When such clear demarcation becomes visible, the former falls under the domain of product management, and the latter, under product marketing.

In other words, Product Marketer is a hybrid between Product Management and Marketing Communications? It also appears, that Product Marketers will pick up from the first “P” in charge (Product Manager) the developed product and translate its functionality and usage patterns for the communications specialists. They will also match back the functionality against the competitive products and validate the value with the customers that they chose and identified. In short, Product Marketers will take the product message and bring it to channels by working with communications and sales. Still blurry if described in words.

To my luck, I stumbled upon a new post on Steve Johnson’s blog, where he shared a new ebook that clearly defines functional lines between Product Management and Product Marketing.  But what I liked the most is the functional org chart he shared in the ebook where the roles not only well-defined, but also shown as a team with dependencies based on qualifications and expertise.  As an example, according to this ebook: “The Product Marketing Manager - (PMM) provides product line support for program strategy, sales readiness and channel support. This position requires close interaction with Marketing Communications and Sales Management.  Strong communication skills are a must.  Duties include converting positioning into key market messages and launching the products into market. The PMM owns:
- Defining buyer personas and determining market messages
- Maintaining product launch plans
- Identifying best opportunities in lead generation
- Creating standard presentations and demo scripts
- Writing white papers and technical communications
- Facilitating direct sales and channel training
- Supporting trade shows and other company-sponsored events
- Limited online channel support and phone assistance  The author also brings into the picture Technology Product Manager as another functional hybrid. 

 In conclusion, both sources (wikipedia and Pragmatic Marketing ebook) and even Geoff Moore referenced in the latter agree on the external focus of Product Marketer, who “usually talks to the market”, while Product Manager “listens to the market”.  The role is well-defined!  

Expanding Marketing Tool Set With User Experience Design Model

Filed Under Cool Ideas, Professional Development, Segmenting and Profiling, User Experience Design | Leave a Comment

Mingling with the UI (User Interface/User Experience) folks brought a number of eureka moments. I think User Experience Design should be more openly introduced to the marketing crowd as it helps to expand and reiterate powerful models that both professionals use - like storytelling.

Narratives are used by UI designers to generate and validate design ideas. Marketers use the power of a story to create a brand and help the audience visualize its character. Stories help us get connected with the products as if they were humans. Our social nature contributed to our overall evolution, so it is not as surprising that if we keep it in mind – we would design better products and we devise effective marketing campaigns.

Digging deeper, the personas seem to be another useful model that marketers can contribute to first and benefit from later. Personas are not market segments, but the former can be better constructed thanks to the latter. Marketing segments add demographic and relational framework to the persona development, filtering the research stage of the user design process. The difference between the two is that: marketing segments reveal demographics, sales and distribution processes, while design personas describe user behaviors, goals and motivations that represent a particular user group. At the same time, using the final personas developed in the process can be a great technique to develop effective promotional materials and sales training documentation. Imagine how useful it could be for the new product launch!

Marketers, mostly generalists, are fortunate to incorporate ideas and techniques while working with a number of other professionals, thus making it a constantly rewarding career.

P.S. To learn more about the User Experience Design, check out the site for Clear Sky Interactive that explains very well what the process entails.

Want to Get Fresh Ideas and Mingle with Exciting Folks? Attend Internet Strategy Forum: Executive Summit Event 2007

Filed Under Professional Development, Conference | Leave a Comment

End of June…Feels like everybody went on vacation…so steady…even my Blog Reader is not as full with marketing articles and posts! However, there is no excuse to get into the steady easy “summertime” coma! Get out and meet new people in the industry! Get excited with the new ideas: attend a conference!

Internet Strategy Forum, Portland Chapter, is hosting a conference that should shake things up at the minimum: I know I am looking forward to it!

The sessions showcase industry experts sharing their experience and knowledge on internet marketing:

- Cammie Dunaway, Chief Marketing Officer, Yahoo!, Inc. talking about “Building Brands in a Web 2.0 World”

- Tim Kopp, Chief Marketing Officer, WebTrends, covering the topic on how to “Turn Customer Insight into a Strategic Advantage”

- Mark Colombo, VP Electronic Channels and Strategic Marketing, FedEx, sharing how FedEx sees its online strategy as a logical extension of its corporate values, and how the company’s early adoption of social networking tools like RSS, internal blogs and wikis, gadgets and other tools is helping it connect employees and customers

- Robert Scoble, VP Media Development, PodTech.net, co-author of Naked Conversations, exclaiming that ” It’s a Google World (and Facebook too!)”

- Rey Ramsey, CEO, One Economy Corp., talking about “Digital Inclusion 2.0: New Dynamics, New Solutions” and how social media can include adoption by low-income people, as the opportunities to reach an often overlooked, underserved market.

- Erik Kokkonen, VP, Global Publishing Services, CNET, contemplating on the trends of web2.0 and its adoption

- Mike Moran, Distinguished Engineer, IBM, author of Search Engine Marketing, Inc., sharing on “How the Internet changed the old marketing rules”

- Bryan Rhoads, Sr. Internet Strategist, Social Media, Intel,
- Mark Erickson, Sr. Computer Scientist, Adobe
- Mary Alice Colvin, Senior Marketing Consultant, Allyis, all three sharing their web2.0 implementation insights

To learn more and register for the event, click here.

Finally, there is a Digital Reception Party on Day 1 (July 19, 2007) worth attending to get more social interaction and ideas’ sharing! I know I will attend it! :)

P.S. View the interview with the event chief - Steven Gehlen to get more sizzle on the upcoming experiences!

Added on July 1, 2007: More coverage on the event, see the article at Portland Business Journal

What I Love About Marketing: My Definition of Marketing

Filed Under Professional Development, Thought-Provoking Content | 2 Comments

One of my favorite questions to ask is “What is your passion?” The answer allows me to learn about a person so much more…It allows to learn about the object of passion (a professional occupation or interest), so much more. At the same time, I was numerously asked as well: Why Marketing? Why not Finance or something else? So, it would be only fair to share my own definition of it.

Marketing for me is not a matter of pure message crafting and information repackaging. It is not about creative eye-pleasing presentation…It is not about selling and convincing people into a purchasing decision. I say that without discounting the monetary value this function brings to the bottom line. There is no question that marketing initiatives have to be accountable and measurable, add value and contribute to ROI. But, the true motivation is not of dollar value.

Mainly, for me, marketing is connecting with people and understanding what makes their hearts and minds resonate. It has to do with the emotional aspect of social interaction that brings change or moves forward even the most logical planning and strategy. You need emotion to bring change to life. You need emotion to instigate progress.

As an occupation, marketing is:

- Flexible: it allows adjustments in the flow of events; it is applicable across industries, geographies and cultures! You practice and transfer it anywhere in the world! People will consume and trade as long as we exist!
- Dynamic: it is never boring! Constant change what can be better?!
- Broad: the scope of jobs to do, projects to accomplish and specialties to immerse into is as large as the ocean, enough for a life time!
- Deep: one can find 3-5 specialties and become very knowledgeable about them and still enjoy the challenge of change.

On the other hand, being a marketer allows playing so many roles! When I was little, I was dreaming to be an actress (so typical). Being a marketer provides so many opportunities to act and I love it every time I learn something new (play a new role)!

My favorites are:

- When I do market research, I become a detective, a CIA agent, “sometimes under cover”, trying to understand what makes those foreign species (new target market or user) tick…what makes them happy? What connects them? What drives them? What makes them laugh? What makes them “them”?

- When I do competitive assessment and strategy, I become a warrior, General with an army to lead and ability to predict the next steps of the contender.

- When I engage in writing and planning ads or event management, I become a producer, an entertainer and even a magician depending on the mystery level the audience craves for. Mystery does not necessarily exclude clarity and simplicity.

- When I engage in business development, I become a connector, a merchant that fuels the trade of information, opportunities and people.

- When I develop promotions, I exercise my creative mind and imagine myself being a painter that aims to draw a well-balanced masterpiece that brings harmony and evokes a following. Or, I could be an alchemist that works hard on the new recipe of the multiplying substance that has the ability to grow exponentially…

Thirdly, the challenge to curb this trade (marketing) and make it more intelligent, accountable and measurable provides lots of room for thought, experimentation and testing. Marketing can be and should be intelligent. Marketing should be supported not only by emotion, but logic (data, information).

Marketing is the driving force for change in consumer behavior. It is not a self-serving influence and persuasion; it is effective communication that drives our actions through emotion, connectedness or affiliation with the other humans and places our market choices based on common sense.

EQ Important Factors for Marketing Professionals

Filed Under Professional Development, Ruminations | 2 Comments

It was interesting to see how the EQ (Emotional Intelligence Knowledge) is applicable to work success within various business functions. According to Steven Stein and Howard Book, there are 5 top factors that are relevant to work success for marketing professionals:

1) Optimism - one has to have it while looking for market opportunities!
2) Reality Testing -  to accurately/ballpark assess the situation
3) Independence - to be able to make decisions on your own
4) Impulse Control - to be able to think before leaping
5) Social Responsibility - to be able to see far enough to not step on someone’s toes

Great insights. I think, personally, I would focus on working more on reality testing, impulse control and self-regard.

Oddly enough, for a marital bliss, interpersonal skills come last on the list. The most important factors in priority are happiness, self-regard, self-awareness and self-actualization and reality-testing.

    Content Disclaimer

      Everything posted on this blog is a product of my own thoughts, ideas, reflections based on the professional interests. It is based on the public information, works of the colleagues and fellow researchers that are cited respectfully and my opinions as an industry professional.