Product marketing can be a complex and challenging role. There are multiple responsibilities to juggle, from market research to content creation, and it's not always clear how to measure success. Unfortunately, many marketing teams set vague goals and objectives, which can limit the impact of the product marketing function.
But don't worry, we've got you covered. In this article, we'll provide you with a framework to consider for your product marketing team, so you can improve buyer education tied to revenue generation and measure success using sales velocity as a metric. Let's dive in!
The Challenge of Measuring Business Impact in Product Marketing
Product marketing is a critical function in any B2B organization, responsible for positioning and messaging, market research, competitive intelligence, content creation, sales enablement, pricing, and packaging. But because of the breadth of these responsibilities and their collaborative nature, it isn't easy to judge business impact.
Product marketing is often judged based on the volume of activities, rather than their impact on the bottom line. This can be frustrating for product marketers and limit their upward mobility in comparison to other functions like demand generation.
An Alternative Approach to Product Marketing
To overcome this challenge, we recommend taking an alternative approach that focuses on improving buyer education tied to revenue generation. Here's how you can do it:
- Step 1: Set the objective to improve buyer education tied to revenue generation.
- Step 2: Start by isolating high-intent inbound demand ("Hand Raisers") and have product marketing focus on the efficiency with which your company can take a prospect interested in your product and turn them into a customer.
- Step 3: Measure success using sales velocity as a metric, as it's an efficiency metric. Your product marketing function should focus on at least one of the components (new opportunities, win rate, cycle time, ASP).
What You're Optimizing in the Above Steps
The goal of this approach is to optimize the buyer journey to educate before engaging. Here's what you're optimizing in the above steps:
- You don't want sales spending all their time educating buyers.
- The better educated, the faster a prospect becomes a customer.
- Prioritize education on what prospects ask in the sales process.
- Mid-late stage objections inform positioning and messaging.
- Mid-late stage objections inform competitive intelligence.
- Mid-late stage objections inform packaging and pricing.
Prioritizing Product Marketing Activities Based on Business Impact
With this approach, you can prioritize product marketing activities based on their impact on the bottom line. Your relationship with sales will improve, and your team will feel empowered to drive results that matter.
This is not an exact science. It's more of a mindset shift that requires you to try new things and make changes as needed.
Some people might argue, "But product marketers have so many other responsibilities."
They're right, but that's exactly the issue.
Some questions to consider:
- How can you optimize your product marketing strategy to better align with your overall business objectives?
- Are there any other metrics you could use to measure the impact of product marketing beyond sales velocity?
- How can you ensure that your product marketing activities are focused on the needs of your buyers and the bottom line of your business?
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