Five Answers Every PMM Needs

Product Marketers: Here are five questions you need answers to before you do anything else (Product Managers, you should also know this before any development gets done).  

These might seem simple and obvious, but I have yet to be handed a new product to market that came pre-packaged with this information ready to go. I attribute most of my marketing failures to not having a sufficiently convincing answer to at least one of them. 

1. Who is this for? 

What sort of organization, what industry, which users, what size? Who will care about what it does, and who won’t? Do you know this persona? Does your sales team? Do you have a way to get your promises and pictures of a brighter future in front of them? In almost every case, there will be more than one persona in the mix, and they may have very different agendas. The DevOps engineer might not prioritize a dramatic expenditure cut if it makes her life more difficult. However, the CFO’s AI-powered financial model may be less sympathetic to that cause. 

2. Which of their problems does it solve, or what new opportunities does it bring? 

We focus a lot on identifying the problems our product solves, but a more powerful message can often be about the new opportunities we can create for a customer. I can’t emphasize enough the need to actually be able to picture exactly what the ‘after’ looks like for your customers. The minute you start writing about things you can’t close your eyes and imagine, your credibility and authenticity begin to erode. Sure, you might not have ever been in that person's role, but I bet you can find someone who has, and you’re devilishly persuasive, so get them to describe it. In detail. 

3. Why will they love it?

There will be features in your products that are table stakes, and things that your customer will think are great. Maybe it’s just a better UI, maybe it’s an innovative way to do something. Know the things that will catch their attention and what will give you the edge in getting them to take the next step in your carefully constructed buyer's journey. Again, you’re going to need to have a deep understanding of your customer and their needs to answer this convincingly. 

4. Why is it better than the competition? 

The first thing to know here is that it’s only better if it matters. The best-smelling car on the market probably doesn’t outsell the competition.  This, somewhat predictably, goes back to the deep understanding of your customer and their (professional) issues.  Knowing what benefits will delight your customer and how your offering is better than the competition’s will help you emphasize your benefits. Equally important is knowing where you may be weaker, and what you’re going to do about it. 

A side note here is that one of the better uses for generative AI is grabbing product information from your competitors and helping you build comparison tables—but remember that Claud (or whoever) doesn’t know what matters to your customer, so appraise the results for relevance. 

5. Can I prove my answers? 

Depending on your industry and the cynicism of the buyers, having solid, demonstrable proof of your claims can be nice to have or absolutely essential. When I was buying things, I treated terms like ‘industry-leading’ or ‘best-in-class’ as a prelude to a probable lie. If you are the best, then prove it. Use analysts, documentation, test results, or any other verifiable claims. If it’s a matter of your opinion, then say so (and maybe say why). 

Finally

I’m a slow learner. It’s taken me well over a decade of success and failure to codify these simple questions. I hope that I can save some of you some time, some heartaches, and some pointless back-and-forth with your product managers. 

I'd be glad to hear your thoughts on the questions I've missed.