Product marketing is a field that requires expertise in order to communicate benefits to customers. It takes broad skills to apply this knowledge to the vast array of deliverables product marketers are responsible for such as messaging, sales support material, marketing programs, etc. Product marketing is about bringing products on the market and overseeing their success. The product marketer is responsible for understanding customers and marketing to them. They are responsible to drive demand and product usage. This may include writing, positioning, and messaging.
Is your product a good idea? How do you get the product in front of potential buyers? How can an idea be turned into a product with a high return per year?
This is where product advertising comes in. Product marketing doesn’t just mean delivering information to customers about new products. It’s all about understanding the market. It’s all about understanding the market and convincing people what they want. You can also use this information to help develop a product that fulfills those needs.
Tasks of Product Marketer
B2B remains the most important market for product marketing. B2C however has been growing in this market, as B2B-C best practices continue to be combined.
Once a product has been developed, it is time to deliver the product message. It’s about convincing them that the product is better than the rest. You can also get them excited about a brand new product.
As a product market manager, you will help organizations communicate new products and find the best ways to tell customers about their brand, benefits, and message. You will oversee your marketing team and ensure consistent marketing direction. You will also manage your outbound marketing efforts.
- Position your product.
- Identify the demographic groups that your product is intended to reach.
- Identify direct competition and differentiate products
- Supplying the necessary information to product marketing or sales teams.
- Make a strategy. It includes market strategy, product strategy, and go-to the market strategy.
- Consider competitive pricing when planning for go-to markets strategies.
- The creation of a roadmap from development to market.
- Communication to all stakeholders.
Also Read: Digital Marketing Trends of 2022
What Qualifications are Required to be a Product Marketer?
Most product marketers have a degree or certificate in marketing and business administration.
Product marketing can be difficult. For a job that involves many departments and solves customer problems, you’ll need special skills.
Writing skills
For great products, writing skills are crucial. Product marketers must have the ability to communicate compelling benefits to customers to be successful. Convincing messaging is crucial for product sales.
Presentation Skill
Product marketing managers will need to communicate your strategies to other people in the company, including C-suite colleagues. You will be able to convince others to support you.
Marketing Skill
Product marketers must have a solid understanding of marketing. This is not a job for beginners. Experience in product marketing is required before you can apply for a job in this field. Experience in demand generation and digital advertising are essential skills for marketing.
Understanding Business Basics
Business basics are essential for any leader. Product marketers collaborate closely with executives and product managers to launch products. This is why product marketers are different from other members of the marketing department.
Marketing Information
While you don’t need to have attended a university Marketing course to become a Product Management Manager, it helps to be familiar with the basics. It is important to show your interest and knowledge in marketing. You will often be quizzed on your marketing knowledge, whether you can critique Apple’s latest advertising campaign or know the marketing mix.
Problem Solving Research
Product managers are usually responsible for identifying the main problems to solve. But, product marketing managers should be there to support them by conducting market research and providing context for the customers’ challenges. They should become familiar with the key analytics and research tools, such as Hotjar, Google Analytics and Thoughtspot. For analyzing customer feedback and insights, it is important to have a good understanding of customer sentiment tools. These include LoopVOC and Prodsight. They need to keep an eye on competitor behavior and trends over time.
Strategic Planning & Business Skills
It is important to understand the ABCs of your business if you wish to venture into product marketing. Once you are confident, find at most a few people you admire and learn from. Get to know them and seek their advice. You’ll learn all the necessary skills to make your product and even more importantly, how to keep it successful throughout its development.
Helping Mentality
We discussed earlier how customers have pain points. Your product must be able to solve these pain points with empathy. However, you should also have a genuine desire and desire to help.
This is evident in the practice of creating buyer personas. While pain points are an important part of these documents you should not just list them. Talking to customers one-on-one is a good way to get into their issues.
It is not possible to do this without genuine compassion.
Technical understanding
Product marketers will be better able to communicate the value of the product and distinguish it from the rest by learning more about its technology. Product marketing should explain the technical advantages of functionality and provide assets like screenshots and videos that demonstrate how it works. It is important to combine technical expertise with customer empathy to communicate the value of your solution effectively to your target customers.
Must Read: What is a Fractional CMO
Take Away
Product Marketing Managers are needed to provide market and user insight. You should be able to understand how to collect and form insights. PMMs are rich in market research and user studies, so it is a good idea to do one. You should think about how they are done. PMMs can often help gather insights from research, product data, and marketing campaigns. They share these with the product and marketing teams, as well as customers.
