If you watched a lot of television in the early 2000s, you may remember Apple’s “Get a Mac” campaign, which featured John Hodgman in a sultry suit as a PC and a young, relaxed Justin Long as a Mac.
More than 66 ads, this Effie Award-winning campaign positions Apple as the coolest computer product on the market—and the most functional, educating potential customers about the many features of the Mac, from its movie-editing capabilities to its magnetic power cord.
This memorable and highly effective advertising campaign is an example of superior product marketing.
What is product marketing?
Product marketing can be defined as the process of bringing products to market. But it can mean a lot or a little. Where does product marketing begin and end? There is no direct answer to this question. Some companies have product marketers who are focused on launching new products. But others expand the scope of product marketing to inform and guide product development, as well as ongoing sales strategies years after the product’s debut.
To take a broader view, think of product marketing as the intersection of product and market. Market demands will inform what products are made and how they are presented to potential consumers in every marketing campaign. In this sense, product marketing can cover every aspect of product development, launch and sale.
What do product marketers do?
Since product marketing definitions can vary, the role of product marketers can vary greatly depending on their industry and company. Product marketing can be a shared responsibility across several different people and departments or it can be a role held by a product marketing manager. There may even be a dedicated product marketing team. Some of the main responsibilities of product marketers include:
- Conduct and analyze market research
- Assist in product development
- Positioning and messaging for new products
- Develop and execute multichannel product launches
- Measure product and campaign success through customer feedback and key performance indicators
Product marketing vs. brand marketing
Product marketing differs from other types of marketing in that it focuses exclusively on the product and is based on the belief that the product that best serves the market will always win, regardless of other influences. In other words, that a great product can make market.
Brand marketing, on the other hand, is based on the belief that other influences determine what wins. This could mean that the emotional connection between the brand and the customer will affect them more than the details of the product. Sometimes, especially in smaller companies, the marketing manager will be responsible for both product marketing and brand marketing, and a marketing campaign may include elements of both.
Product marketing vs. product management
Product management is about creating a product and ensuring it performs optimally for the customer. Product marketing, on the other hand, is more about positioning the product in the market and communicating its benefits to the target audience. Without product marketers, product managers would have no ideas for new products or feedback to improve existing products. And without a product manager, product marketers would not have a working product to sell to customers. This symbiotic role is usually performed by different people working collaboratively.
Product marketing roles and responsibilities
Product marketing is involved in every step of developing a product, bringing it to market, and promoting a product once it is released.
1. Market research
Those involved in product development need to see their work through the lens of product marketing from the start. This includes market research. To determine if a product idea is worth investing in, it can be helpful to try to answer questions like the following:
- How many people are interested in this type of product? Has that number increased?
- How much is the average person willing to pay for this type of product?
- Why are people attracted to this type of product? What do they want from it?
- Who will be your competitors in this field? What are they doing? And how can you make your product better or different?
- Of the people interested in this type of product, who could be better served with something new, and how?
2. Product development
Product marketers share their learnings from research with product developers and are consulted throughout the development process to ensure the product will meet consumer needs.
3. Positioning and messaging
As the product development stage nears its end, product marketers begin work on positioning and messaging: how the company will tell the world about the product. Product placement is usually determined by answering several versions of the following questions:
- Who is the target audience for this product?
- What does this product do?
- What customer needs does this product solve?
- Why should customers use this product? Why would they like it?
- How is this product different from its competitors?
4. Product launch
Product launches are dynamic and multi-channel efforts. Product marketers are in charge of creating a launch plan, which includes:
- Detailed schedule
- Special messages to be launched on company website, social media, email and blog
- Paid advertising packages, which may include digital advertising and IRL (outside the home) advertising such as billboards
- PR efforts, which may include reaching out to magazine editors to let them know about the product
5. Post-launch
The product marketer’s job does not end when the product reaches the market. They will monitor sales and engagement to learn which channels and messages are most effective, and make decisions about rejecting underperforming strategies and changing winning strategies.
For example, you can test the positioning of different products in a series of ads. If a clear winner emerges, the product marketer may replace the underperforming creative with the most effective message.
Product marketers will also collect and analyze customer feedback, and integrate your new product into your ongoing multi-channel marketing plan.
Measuring product marketing impact
Product marketers are responsible for many different metrics, including:
- Sale. Clear and valuable, sales are often one of the first metrics a product marketer will look at to determine the success of a campaign.
- Product use. Does your product live up to its promises? Understanding how and why people use your product can provide important information. If your product is an app, product usage is easy to track. Companies that sell physical goods can obtain some of this data with surveys and product reviews.
- Share. A growing market share, calculated by dividing the company’s sales by the industry’s total sales, is a good indication that your business’s success is following or exceeding the market.