It’s common for product marketing job descriptions to include a line or two about working with market plans to generate leads for the sales force. But, are the number of leads really the right metric for product marketing? Wouldn’t it be better if product marketing is tasked with generating demand?
No, I’m not splitting hairs. There is a difference.
Whether you are a product manager or a product marketer, you need to get over your product. I know, you spend your days – and nights – thinking how wonderful your product is, how you can improve it, and why others haven’t seen the same vision you do. Maybe, just maybe, the answer is – your product is not what they seek.
What?!? Heresy you say! Of course they need, and want, my product. Well, maybe not. Think about it. It’s about the customer, the buyer, the market – not you. (more…)
Traditional new product launch has included catching a new product as the development organization tossed it over the fence. Product marketing would dust off their launch check list and make sure that all the tactics were accomplished. They would book appearances at trade shows, write press releases, design data sheets, plan direct mail campaigns to current customers, research advertising opportunities in trade publications and other assorted tasks on the checklist. (more…)
Throughout this blog we’ve looked at buyer personas. More recently we looked at turning sales into our partners; and, even more recently, at the sales funnel. But, what all sales – B2B and B2C – come down to, in a single word, is trust. (more…)
Last week, David Edelman, the leader of McKinsey’s Digital Marketing Strategy, posted an article titled “The Funnel is Dead.” In this piece, he professes that the traditional sales funnel is dead, because it’s outdated. He goes on to say that today’s consumer “takes a much more complex iterative path thru and beyond purchase” and proposes a new model for the consumer product decision journey (CPDJ). (more…)
