Product marketing is one of the newest and crucial trends in the marketing software industry nowadays. People often find it challenging to maintain and clearly define their products and their marketing. Product marketing does not only refer to the sale; it also involves enhancing brand awareness and converting prospects into target customers via various channels.
In this article, we will discuss what product marketing is and how it is important for businesses. We have also mentioned some steps that you can follow to do it the right way. So without further ado, let’s jump right into it.
What Is Product Marketing?
The process that we have to go through for bringing a product to the market, which includes both sales and promotions, is generally called product marketing. It does not only happen before the launch of the product, but it also continues even after the product has been launched in the market.
When you continue product marketing after the launch of the product, it makes sure that the right audience knows all about your company and the products you sell. Throughout the product marketing cycle, you constantly look at the feedback of the users and make the necessary changes in the products to improve their performance. This means that in product marketing, marketers have to do a lot more than what is visible from a distance.
Product marketing is confusing. Some people connect it with the sales, while the other says that it sits with the product. Even on search engines, we get contradicting definitions. Most of these definitions are contradictory because they are based on outdated marketing textbooks. It is essential to know where this confusion is coming from- not knowing what product marketers actually do might be one of the reasons.
If we know a tad bit about the responsibilities of a product marketer, then understanding product marketing becomes easier. A designer is responsible for designing great products, engineers for building them properly, salespeople for bringing business, finance for keeping a record of expenses, and a support team to keep the customers happy. Unlike these positions, the job of a product marketer varies from company to company. At some places, the product marketer is responsible for positioning, at some their focus is on sales and adoptions of the product, while at some places they are expected to perform both tasks.
Now that we have a fair idea of what product marketing is, let’s move on to why it is so essential for businesses.
Importance Of Product Marketing
For every business, the process they go through for marketing their product determines how the customers are going to take it. Product marketing gives your product an opportunity to fully capitalize on its potential among the relevant customers.
To understand why it is such an essential process for every company, you should have a knowledge of what it actually does:
- It allows you to know your potential and existing customers in a much better way
- You can target your buyer’s persona easily
- You can ensure that the product is positioned accurately in the market
- It helps you keep the development, marketing, and sales team on the same track
On top of all this, with product marketing, you can make consistent improvements in the quality of the product. It creates a feedback loop that communicates everything about the product to the customers. The marketing team might not care about the onboarding process, but the truth is that the first few weeks are incredibly crucial for establishing a great user experience.
In the initial phase, customers might have some issues regarding how to use the products; this is where product marketing comes into the picture. It makes the transition from sale to service completely seamless.
Do It the Right Way
There are various steps in the process of product marketing, and it is crucial to tick all the necessary boxes in order to get the desired output. We have already discussed why product marketing is important for companies; here are five steps that need to be spot-on and synchronised to make a perfect product marketing strategy.
Build Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
In this article, we have often mentioned that getting customer feedback and improving your product consistently is extremely important. But how can one do this right from the beginning? Well, there’s no better way than to build an MVP. A minimum viable product is a product that has just enough core features to attract the early-adopters. It gets real-world feedback about the ability of the product to solve the problem in the early stages.
By following this strategy, you can minimize the loopholes and will be able to launch your product a bit early. Launching the product early will ensure that it stays relevant to the market. MVP gives you a much better idea about your customer base and product performance.
Positioning the Product
Everyone in the marketing industry is well aware of how beneficial it is to have unique features in the product. After formative research, you are well aware of who your customers are and how your product solves their problems. It is then essential that you offer something better and different from your competitors. Because if your product does exactly what its competitors do, then why would customers be willing to pick you over everyone else?
Positioning and messaging allow you to set your product apart. With proper positioning, you’ll be able to answer every question that arises in the mind of customers whenever they consider your product.
You can let sales and development teams know what you aim to do around the product while positioning. This way, you can ensure that everyone in the company stays on the same page and works in the same direction. Simply put, every team in the company will be consistent with the content, and even customer support can help the existing customers with better information.
Setting Product Goals
After building an MVP and positioning the product, it’s now time to define objectives and parameters for the product. In most cases, these parameters are different and depend highly on the type of product, company, and PR campaigns. You should set these goals by keeping your company and its product in mind.
Here are some of the most common goals of product marketers:
- Bring a boost in the revenue of the company
- Convince the competitor’s customers to switch
- Improving brand recognition by increasing market share
- Get engagement from customers
As we mentioned, you can set any goal based on your company and product, but you must ensure that the goals you set are realistic, attainable, specific, and time-bound.
Finding the Right Price
Now the goals of your product are set, but before you launch it in the market, you have to set the right price for it. You can use the cost of the product and the goal of the company to determine its price. For setting up the right price, you can take competitive pricing and value-based pricing into account. In competitive pricing, the price of your product will be based on the somewhat similar product that your competitor offers. However, if you go with value-based pricing, you can maximize your gains.
Launching the Product
After you’ve cleared these levels, it’s time to jot down all details about the product launch and everyone’s responsibilities. You have meetings before the launch to make the process smoother, and this is what we call the climax of product marketing. For every product marketer, this is the defining moment. This is when the wheel touches the concrete for the first time, and the customer starts knocking on the doors.
Conclusion
Product marketing has become a crucial part of every industry and is responsible for launching the product in the market. The product marketer is expected to take care of various things and streamline the flow in such a way so that the company launches the best possible product in a very short span. In this article, we discussed its importance and also gave you the path to do it correctly.
About The Author
Vibhu Dhariwal is Co-Founder & Director of Marketing at Digital Gratified, a Digital Marketing & Web Development company. He likes sharing his experience in outreach marketing, link building, content marketing, and SEO with readers. To know more about him, you can connect with him on LinkedIn.
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