Product marketing
Encyclopedia
Product marketing deals with the first of the "7P"'s of marketing
, which are Product
, Pricing
, Place
, and Promotion
, Packaging, Positioning & People.
Product marketing, as opposed to product management
, deals with more outbound marketing
tasks (in the older sense of the phrase). For example, product management deals with the nuts and bolts of product development within a firm, whereas product marketing deals with marketing the product
to prospects, customer
s, and others. Product marketing, as a job function within a firm, also differs from other marketing jobs such as marketing communications
("marcom"), online marketing, advertising
, marketing strategy
, public relations
, etc.
A Product market
is something that is referred to when pitching a new product to the general public.
The people you are trying to make your product appeal to is your consumer market.
For example: If you were pitching a new video game console
game to the public, your consumer market would probably be the adult male Video Game market (depending on the type of game). Thus you would carry out market research
to find out how best to release the game.
Likewise, a massage chair would probably not appeal to younger children, so you would market your product to an older generation
.
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), 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-sheet
s, cheat sheet
s, data sheets, and white paper
s. 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.
One issue that faces Product Marketers is that they are chartered with developing much of the content for the various constituents (sales, marcom, customers, blogs, etc.). Creating content tends to be given more value than the actual research and thinking that is behind all the content.
In smaller high-tech firms or start-up
s, 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", and understand longer term market direction. When such clear demarcation becomes visible, the former falls under the domain of product management, and the latter, under product marketing. In Silicon Valley
, in particular, product marketing professionals have considerable domain experience in a particular market
or technology
or both. Some Silicon Valley firms have titles such as Product Marketing Engineer
, who tend to be promoted to managers in due course.
The trend that is emerging in Silicon Valley is for companies to hire a team of a product marketing manager with a technical marketing manager. The Technical marketing role is becoming more valuable as companies become more competitive and seek to reduce costs and time to market. Another trend is to have one Product Marketing Manager per group of Product Managers. This is the model that leads to the issue of PMMs being pressured to write content instead of connecting with the market.
Marketing
Marketing is the process used to determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It generates the strategy that underlies sales techniques, business communication, and business developments...
, which are Product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
, Pricing
Pricing
Pricing is the process of determining what a company will receive in exchange for its products. Pricing factors are manufacturing cost, market place, competition, market condition, and quality of product. Pricing is also a key variable in microeconomic price allocation theory. Pricing is a...
, Place
Distribution (business)
Product distribution is one of the four elements of the marketing mix. An organization or set of organizations involved in the process of making a product or service available for use or consumption by a consumer or business user.The other three parts of the marketing mix are product, pricing,...
, and Promotion
Promotion (marketing)
Promotion is one of the four elements of marketing mix . It is the communication link between sellers and buyers for the purpose of influencing, informing, or persuading a potential buyer's purchasing decision....
, Packaging, Positioning & People.
Product marketing, as opposed to product management
Product management
Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle....
, deals with more outbound marketing
Outbound Marketing
Interruption marketing is a pejorative term that refers to promoting a product through continued advertising, promotions, public relations and sales. It is considered to be an annoying version of the traditional way of doing marketing whereby companies focus on finding customers through advertising...
tasks (in the older sense of the phrase). For example, product management deals with the nuts and bolts of product development within a firm, whereas product marketing deals with marketing the product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
to prospects, customer
Customer
A customer is usually used to refer to a current or potential buyer or user of the products of an individual or organization, called the supplier, seller, or vendor. This is typically through purchasing or renting goods or services...
s, and others. Product marketing, as a job function within a firm, also differs from other marketing jobs such as marketing communications
Marketing communications
Marketing Communications are messages and related media used to communicate with a market...
("marcom"), online marketing, advertising
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
, marketing strategy
Marketing strategy
Marketing strategy is a process that can allow an organization to concentrate its limited resources on the greatest opportunities to increase sales and achieve a sustainable competitive advantage.-Developing a marketing strategy:...
, public relations
Public relations
Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....
, etc.
A Product market
Product market
Product market is a mechanism that allows people to easily buy and sell products. Services are often included in the scope of the term. Product market regulation is an economic term that describes restrictions in the market....
is something that is referred to when pitching a new product to the general public.
The people you are trying to make your product appeal to is your consumer market.
For example: If you were pitching a new video game console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
game to the public, your consumer market would probably be the adult male Video Game market (depending on the type of game). Thus you would carry out market research
Market research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
to find out how best to release the game.
Likewise, a massage chair would probably not appeal to younger children, so you would market your product to an older generation
Generation
Generation , also known as procreation in biological sciences, is the act of producing offspring....
.
Role of product marketing
Product marketing in a business addresses five important strategic questions:- What products will be offered (i.e., the breadth and depth of the product line)?
- Who will be the target customers (i.e., the boundaries of the market segments to be served)?
- How will the products reach those (i.e., the distribution channel and are there viable possibilities that create a solid business model)?
- At what price should the products be offered?
- How will customers be introduced to the products (i.e., advertising)?
Product marketing vs. product management
Product marketing frequently differs from product managementProduct management
Product management is an organizational lifecycle function within a company dealing with the planning, forecasting, or marketing of a product or products at all stages of the product lifecycle....
in high-tech companies. Whereas the product manager
Product Manager
A product manager investigates, selects, and develops products for an organization, performing the activities of product management.A product manager considers numerous factors such as intended demographic, the products offered by the competition, and how well the product fits with the company's...
is required to take a product's requirements from the sales and marketing personnel and create a product requirements document
Product requirements document
A product requirements document is a document written by a company that defines a product they are making, or the requirements for one or more new features for an existing product...
(PRD), 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
Marketing Requirements Document
A market requirements document in project management and systems engineering, is a document that expresses the customer's wants and needs for the product or service.It is typically written as a part of product marketing or product management...
(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-sheet
Beat-sheet
A beat-sheet is a document used in marketing, typically created by a product marketing manager.A beat sheet is also used in screenwriting to outline the major dramatic moments of a screenplay or movie.-External links:...
s, cheat sheet
Cheat sheet
A cheat sheet or crib sheet is a concise set of notes used for quick reference. "Cheat sheet" may also be rendered "cheatsheet".Cheat sheets are so named because they may be used by students without the instructor's knowledge to cheat on a test...
s, data sheets, and white paper
White paper
A white paper is an authoritative report or guide that helps solve a problem. White papers are used to educate readers and help people make decisions, and are often requested and used in politics, policy, business, and technical fields. In commercial use, the term has also come to refer to...
s. This requires the product marketing manager to be skilled not only in competitor analysis
Competitor analysis
Competitor analysis in marketing and strategic management is an assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of current and potential competitors. This analysis provides both an offensive and defensive strategic context to identify opportunities and threats...
, market research
Market research
Market research is any organized effort to gather information about markets or customers. It is a very important component of business strategy...
, and technical writing
Technical writing
Technical writing, a form of technical communication, is a style of writing used in fields as diverse as computer hardware and software, engineering, chemistry, the aerospace industry, robotics, finance, consumer electronics, and biotechnology....
, but also in more business oriented activities like conducting ROI
Return on investment
Return on investment is one way of considering profits in relation to capital invested. Return on assets , return on net assets , return on capital and return on invested capital are similar measures with variations on how “investment” is defined.Marketing not only influences net profits but also...
and NPV
Net present value
In finance, the net present value or net present worth of a time series of cash flows, both incoming and outgoing, is defined as the sum of the present values of the individual cash flows of the same entity...
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.
One issue that faces Product Marketers is that they are chartered with developing much of the content for the various constituents (sales, marcom, customers, blogs, etc.). Creating content tends to be given more value than the actual research and thinking that is behind all the content.
In smaller high-tech firms or start-up
Startup company
A startup company or startup is a company with a limited operating history. These companies, generally newly created, are in a phase of development and research for markets...
s, 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", and understand longer term market direction. When such clear demarcation becomes visible, the former falls under the domain of product management, and the latter, under product marketing. In Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
, in particular, product marketing professionals have considerable domain experience in a particular market
Market
A market is one of many varieties of systems, institutions, procedures, social relations and infrastructures whereby parties engage in exchange. While parties may exchange goods and services by barter, most markets rely on sellers offering their goods or services in exchange for money from buyers...
or technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
or both. Some Silicon Valley firms have titles such as Product Marketing Engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
, who tend to be promoted to managers in due course.
The trend that is emerging in Silicon Valley is for companies to hire a team of a product marketing manager with a technical marketing manager. The Technical marketing role is becoming more valuable as companies become more competitive and seek to reduce costs and time to market. Another trend is to have one Product Marketing Manager per group of Product Managers. This is the model that leads to the issue of PMMs being pressured to write content instead of connecting with the market.