In today’s highly competitive business landscape, effective product marketing is essential for businesses looking to succeed. A well-executed product marketing strategy can help businesses build brand awareness, generate leads, and drive sales. However, developing an effective product marketing strategy requires a deep understanding of your target audience, the competitive landscape, and the unique value proposition of your product.
In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the key components of product marketing and provide practical tips for developing a successful product marketing strategy. Whether you’re launching a new product or looking to improve your existing product marketing efforts, this article will provide valuable insights and actionable advice to help you achieve your goals.
What is product marketing?
Product marketing is the process of bringing the product to the market, promoting and selling it to a customer. This process involves understanding the product’s target audience and using strategic positioning and messaging to boost revenue and demand for the product.
Product marketing doesn’t cease once a product has hit the market. The process is extended after its launch to ensure that the target audience knows about the product, how it is used. Their needs and feedback are collected and analyzed to help businesses optimize their strategy and make informed decisions throughout the product’s lifecycle.
What's the difference between product marketing and conventional marketing?
Both are promotional strategies, but conventional marketing focuses on acquiring and converting potential customers. Conventional marketing often includes branding, promoting a business as a whole, and ensuring the consistency of their on-brand messages.
On the other hand, product marketing is a branch of conventional marketing. While the latter is more encompassing, product marketing is about understanding a specific product’s audience thoroughly and developing messaging and positioning for that product to them. This process covers the launch of and marketing strategy for the product. Therefore, the job of a product marketer lies at the intersection of marketing, sales, and product in a business, all with a common goal to serve the customers and help the business grow.
Product marketing goals
Product marketing is an important part of any business’s marketing strategy. Without this type of marketing, your launched product might not achieve its fullest potential and positioning in your customer’s mind and your target market. So what can product marketing help your business achieve?
- A better understanding of your customers
- Effective customer targeting
- A better understanding of your competitor’s product and marketing strategies
- Ensure the marketing, product, and sales teams are on the same page
- Proper messaging and positioning of your product in the market
- Boost revenue and improve sales
The role of product marketing
- Conducting market research: Product marketers gather information about the market, competitors, and customers to identify opportunities and threats.
- Defining target customers: The product marketing process involves identifying the customer segments that the product is designed for and developing buyer personas that represent the ideal customers.
- Developing product positioning: Based on market research and customer insights, product marketers create a unique value proposition and messaging that differentiates the product from competitors by answering questions such as:
- Why launching this product
- Who is this product for?
- What problems can this product solve?
- What makes this product unique from its competitors?
Check out our guide on how to position your brand for success
- Creating marketing collateral: Product marketers develop marketing materials such as brochures, videos, webinars, and case studies that showcase the product’s features, benefits, and use cases.
- Launching new products: They plan and execute product launches, coordinating with cross-functional teams such as sales, engineering, and customer support.
- Training sales and customer support teams: Product marketers educate sales and customer support teams on product features, benefits, and messaging, so they can effectively sell and support the product.
- Analyzing performance: Product marketers track key performance metrics such as sales, customer satisfaction, and market share to measure the success of the product and make data-driven decisions.
Overall, the role of product marketing is to help the company understand their niche market and customers, develop a product that meets their needs, and successfully bring it to market.
Product marketing strategies
Product marketing strategies are essential for businesses to ensure that their products are reaching the right audience and generating sales. A product marketing strategy can encompass a range of tactics, from defining the product’s unique value proposition, launching the product and executing a targeted advertising campaign. Let’s take a look at some of the most effective product marketing strategies that businesses can use to maximize their reach and profitability.
1. Identify your product’s target audience and buyer personas
The first step in marketing a product is to define the target audience. This involves identifying the ideal customer for the product, including their demographics, interests, and behavior. By understanding the target audience, businesses can tailor their messaging and communication channels to effectively reach and engage them.
2. Determine the unique selling proposition and messaging of your product
The unique selling proposition (USP) is the key benefit that sets the product apart from the competition. It’s important to clearly define the USP and communicate it in all marketing materials to help the product stand out in a crowded market. The USP should be relevant to the target audience and solve their pain points.
The key to differentiating your product is your product’s positioning and the message it delivers. Product positioning and messaging will answer questions from customers about your product and what makes it unique. From there, turn those answers into the main points behind your product marketing strategy.
As a product marketer, you need to make sure that your customers and audience get these answers without having to search or make assumptions about them.
Here are some example questions you’ll have to answer to develop your product positioning and messaging:
- What makes your product unique?
- Why is your product better than your competition?
- Why are your product features relevant to your target audience?
- What will customers get from your product that they can’t get from your competitors’ products?
- Why should customers trust and invest in you and your product?
Once you have the answers, compile them into a shareable report to easily capture positioning and messaging for the product by following these steps:
- Present these answers in a minimalistic way
- Use appeals to stimulate customers
- Make sure the tone of the report matches the tone of the brand
- Focus on the benefits of the product as a whole, not just a specific feature
TIPs: It’s important to make sure that your marketing team, sales team and other stakeholders are aware of the positioning and messaging of your product, so that they can convey a consistent message and ideas to potential and existing customers.
This ensures that the entire company will agree on the content and information they share about your products. Additionally, you can provide this information to your support team if necessary, as they can place support calls and work with your customers who are already invested in the product.
Set goals for your product
Once the target audience and USP have been defined, it’s time to develop a marketing plan. This should include a budget, timeline, and tactics for reaching the target audience. Some effective marketing tactics include advertising, social media, content marketing, email marketing, events, and influencer marketing.
The goals will vary depending on your specific product, the model of the company you work for, your overall marketing goals, etc. The goals of your product should be specific to your business and situation. Let’s take a look at some of the goals that product marketers aim for:
- Increase revenue
- Interacting with customers
- Improve market share
- Acquire customers from competitors
- Increase brand awareness
Price your product
Pricing your product is an important aspect of your overall marketing strategy. The price you set for your product can impact your sales, profitability, and overall success. Here are some steps to help you price your product effectively:
- Determine your costs: Calculate all the costs associated with producing and delivering your product, including manufacturing costs, shipping, packaging, and any other overhead costs.
- Know your target audience: Understand your target audience’s willingness to pay for your product, their preferences, and what they value.
- Research your competition: Research your competitors’ pricing strategies, including their prices, discounts, and promotions.
- Set your pricing strategy: Choose a pricing strategy that aligns with your value proposition and business goals. Some common pricing strategies include cost-plus pricing, value-based pricing, and competition-based pricing.
- Test your pricing: Consider testing different price points with your target audience to determine which price point generates the most sales and profitability.
- Monitor and adjust: Monitor your sales and profitability regularly to determine if your pricing strategy is effective. If not, adjust your prices accordingly.
Remember that pricing is not a one-time decision, it should be a continuous process that considers changes in the market, competition, and your costs. By following these steps, you can set a pricing strategy that maximizes your profits and ensures the success of your product.
Step 5: Launch your product
The long awaited day has come. This is one of the most exciting parts of product marketing–launching your product. Now it’s important to know whether you would want to conduct a soft launch of your product before a hard launch, depending on your confidence in your product. Here is the difference between the two:
Soft launch vs. hard launch
A soft launch is a limited release of a product to a select group of customers or a specific market segment. The goal of a soft launch is to test the product and gather review and feedback before a full-scale launch. Soft launches are typically low-key, with minimal marketing and promotion. Soft launches are useful for identifying potential problems and making adjustments before a full-scale launch.
A hard launch is a full-scale launch of a product, with a significant marketing and promotional campaign. The goal of a hard launch is to create buzz, generate interest, and drive sales. A hard launch can involve advertising, events, influencer marketing, and other marketing tactics to reach a broad audience.
When to use each approach?
A soft launch is ideal when:
- You want to test your product in a real-world setting
- You want to gather feedback from customers
- You want to identify potential issues and make improvements before a full-scale launch
A hard launch is ideal when:
- You are confident in your product and believe it will be successful
- You want to create buzz and generate interest
- You want to drive sales and revenue quickly
For whichever launch method you choose to proceed with, there should be product-related information such as positioning and messaging so that potential customers can learn all about your product, including product features, what makes it unique, pricing, customer demos, tutorials, and any other materials you’ve created and want to share. Make sure all of this information is communicated in your product description.
Remember that this is a process that needs to be thought of and updated as products change or evolve so that they remain relevant to the customer.
How to market a product
Develop a messaging framework:
Develop a messaging framework that helps your content and social media team communicate your value proposition to your target audience across all marketing channels.
Choose your marketing channels
Choose the marketing channels that are most effective in reaching your target audience, such as social media, email marketing, influencer marketing, content marketing, events, and advertising.
Develop a content strategy:
Develop a content strategy that aligns with your messaging framework and engages your target audience.
Develop a budget:
Develop a budget for your marketing plan that aligns with your business goals and allows you to execute your marketing tactics effectively.
Set goals and metrics:
Set specific, measurable goals and metrics for your marketing plan, such as website traffic, lead generation, engagement, and sales.
Implement your marketing plan
Implement your marketing plan by executing your tactics, monitoring your metrics, and making adjustments as needed.
Evaluate and optimize:
Continuously evaluate and optimize your marketing plan by analyzing your metrics, adjusting your tactics, and experimenting with new approaches.
Product marketing is essential for businesses looking to promote and sell their products effectively. By conducting market research, analyzing the competition, developing clear messaging and positioning, creating effective content, and executing promotional tactics, businesses can build brand awareness, drive sales, and stay competitive in their market.
By following these key components, businesses can develop a product marketing strategy that effectively communicates the unique value proposition of their product to their target audience.
If you find this article helpful, make sure to check out “Digital Marketing Trends in 2023” and other insights.
