In product management/marketing, we are always writing benefit statements, value propositions, sales words in an effort to promote what we think sets our products apart from the competition. But, at the end of the day, when you’re called upon to put those benefits to work, how do you respond?
I’m all about tying everything back to the product, and I could do that on this as well.
But on this long holiday weekend, take a moment and remember those who have come before us and allowed us to get to this point and live our lives the way we do.
In whatever way works for you, please honor Memorial Day. (And, while the day off may be only valid in the US, the sentiment can be carried throughout the globe.)
Yesterday a professional companion Adam Bullied wrote in his blog, Write That Down, about a Twitter chat in which he participated. While he enjoyed the experience with colleagues who have “forgotten much more than he will ever know”, his conclusion was that he “couldn’t get in to the depth required for a topic an include examples – all within 140 characters.”
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Ever see a restaurant commercial on TV with some awesome food photography? You know, the pictures looks so good, it inspires a craving for the food. Like the famous sandwich shop with stores on almost every corner. Advertising works. But do your marketing communications efforts over deliver?
As a product manager/product marketing manager, we all know that the development of Personas goes a loooong way in making our lives easier. In product management, if you have a persona representing your target market as you are developing features, it is an easy thought to ponder “What would John say about this? Would this solve Mike’s problem How much would Bill pay for this?” In product marketing, having a persona developed as you are building out positioning and sales tools makes it easy and simple to help explain your product’s story “This is how Jane feels about the problem, and this is how we solved it. When you talk with Sue, point out how this helps her. Carol will love this feature because it does that.” High-level examples I know, but the gist of the message is, persona development makes our lives – and jobs – easier
Okay, this is going to make some people, more than one, upset. I’m not calling you out here, but asking you to think.
I know it was a joke. And, yes, it was innocent enough. And, believe me, anyone who knows me will tell you that I love a good joke and even a good prank. But, it got me wondering.
I’m interviewing with companies for my next great opportunity. And, when I was speaking with a company, the conversation went like this:
Interviewer: “You have a mix of technology and product management and marketing. Where on the spectrum do you really enjoy being?”
Me: “Actually, neither end. I am about the market and solving the problems the market has.”
And, my question to you is as a product manager/product marketing manager how would you answer this?
I read an interesting post from Larry Dunivan (on Twitter as @larrydunivan) senior VP of global HCM products at Lawson and owner of the Perceptive HR Technology blog. In the post, Larry discusses how he is managing his communication with the various social media options now available. Jeremiah Owyang (on Twitter as @jowyang), the esteemed Forrester social media analyst, has also written about this very challenge in the recent past on his blog.
And, it got me thinking.
