Product marketing is a sub-field of

marketing Marketing is the act of acquiring, satisfying and retaining customers. It is one of the primary components of Business administration, business management and commerce. Marketing is usually conducted by the seller, typically a retailer or ma ...

that is responsible for crafting the messaging, go-to-market flow, and promotion of a product. Product marketing managers can also be involved in defining and sizing target markets. They collaborate with other stakeholders including

business development Business development entails tasks and processes to develop and implement growth opportunities within and between business organizations. It is a subset of the fields of business, commerce and organizational theory. Business development is the cre ...

sales Sales are activities related to selling or the number of goods sold in a given targeted time period. The delivery of a service for a cost is also considered a sale. A period during which goods are sold for a reduced price may also be referred ...

, and technical functions such as

product management Product management is the business process of planning, developing, launching, and managing a product or service. It includes the entire lifecycle of a product, from ideation to development to go to market. Product managers are responsible for ...

and engineering. Other critical responsibilities include positioning and sales enablement. Product marketing deals with marketing the product to prospects,

customers In sales, commerce, and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product, or an idea, obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or an e ...

, and others. Product marketing works with other areas of marketing such as

social media marketing Social media marketing is the use of social media platforms and websites to promote a product or service. Although the terms e-marketing and digital marketing are still dominant in academia, social media marketing is becoming more popular for b ...

marketing communications Marketing communications (MC, marcom(s), marcomm(s) or just simply communications) refers to the use of different marketing channels and tools in combination.Tomse, & Snoj, 2014 Marketing communication channels focus on how businesses communicate ...

online marketing Online advertising, also known as online marketing, Internet advertising, digital advertising or web advertising, is a form of marketing and advertising that uses the Internet to promote products and services to audiences and platform users. ...

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

marketing strategy Marketing strategy refers to efforts undertaken by an Organizational structure, organization to increase its sales and achieve competitive advantage. In other words, it is the method of advertising a company's products to the public through an est ...

, and

public relations Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...

to execute outbound marketing for their product.

Role

Product marketing addresses five strategic questions: * ''What'' products will be offered (i.e., the breadth and depth of the

product line In marketing jargon, product lining refers to the offering of several related product (business), products for individual sale. Unlike product bundling, where several products are combined into one group, which is then offered for sale as a uni ...

)? * ''Who'' will be the target customers (i.e., the boundaries of the market segments)? * How will the products ''reach'' those customers (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 should we ''position'' the product in the minds of the customer? Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) act as the voice of the customer and answer the previously mentioned questions. PMMs execute their strategy using the following tools and methods: * Customer insights: interviews, surveys, focus groups, and customer observation. * Data analysis: internal and external data. * Product validation: test and validate product ideas (the minimum viable product or rapid prototyping), before committing engineering resources. * Market testing: optimal prices and marketing programs are developed through A/B testing of elements including language (copy), prices, product line-ups, and visuals. PMMs drive customer engagement by gaining a deep understanding of the product through its lifecycle. This

product lifecycle In Industry (economics), industry, product lifecycle management (PLM) is the process of managing the entire lifecycle of a product from its inception through the Product engineering, engineering, Product design, design, and Manufacturing, ma ...

includes pre-adoption, post-adoption/purchase, and after churning. PMMs collect customer information mainly through surveys and interviews. However, when available, PMMs will use product usage and competitive data to collect information. Users participating in the feedback process are not allowed to write their own answers. Instead, they have a limited set of choices to select from. This restricted selection of options is used to gather information that helps inform the product roadmap and ultimately improve customer engagement.

Relationship to other roles

Product marketing is generally different from

. The product marketing manager creates a

market requirements document A market requirements document (MRD) in project management and systems engineering, is a document that expresses the customer's wants and needs for the product or service.Shired, DianMRD – Market Requirements Document Birds-Eye.Net. Accessed 09. ...

(MRD) and gives it to the Product Managers. The product manager then gathers the product requirements and creates a

product requirements document A product requirements document (PRD) is a document containing all the requirements for a certain product. It is written to allow people to understand ''what'' a product should do. A PRD should, however, generally avoid anticipating or defining ...

(PRD). After that, product managers give the PRD to the engineering team. These roles may vary across companies. In some cases, product management creates both the MRD and the PRD, while product marketing does outbound tasks. Outbound tasks may include trade show product demonstrations and marketing collateral (hot-sheets, beat-sheets, cheat sheets, data sheets and

white papers A white paper is a report or guide that informs readers concisely about a complex issue and presents the issuing body's philosophy on the matter. It is meant to help readers understand an issue, solve a problem, or make a decision. Since the 199 ...

). These tasks require skills in

competitor analysis Competitive 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 a ...

market research Market research is an organized effort to gather information about target markets and customers. It involves understanding who they are and what they need. It is an important component of business strategy and a major factor in maintaining com ...

technical writing Technical writing is a specialized form of communication used by many of today's industrial and scientific organizations to clearly and accurately convey complex information to a user. An organization's customers, employees, assembly workers, engin ...

, financial matters ( ROI and NPV analyses) and product positioning. Product marketer's typical performance indicators include feature adoption, new revenue, expansion revenue, and

churn rate Churn rate (also known as attrition rate, turnover, customer turnover, or customer defection) is a measure of the proportion of individuals or items moving out of a group over a specific period. It is one of two primary factors that determine the ...

. Product marketers are responsible for creating content for various purposes including sales, marketing, communications, customer engagement, and reviewers. In most cases, the existence of

collaborative consumption Collaborative consumption is the set of those resource circulation systems in which consumers both "obtain" and "provide", temporarily or permanently, valuable resources or service (economics), services through direct interaction with other con ...

leads to a decrease in product marketers' profits. On the other hand, consumers who share their goods in a sharing-based market are more willing to pay more for a higher quality product than if they were not in a sharing-based market.

Qualifications

The standard educational requirement to become a product manager is a marketing or business degree. This can include a Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA), Master of Business Administration (MBA), Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Science (M.S.) in Marketing, and Master of Arts (M.A.) or Master of Science (M.S.) in Industrial-Organizational (I/O) Psychology. A focus in advertising, public relations, communications, graphic design, and other related fields is helpful. Real-world work experience in related disciplines will help improve qualifications. Effectively communicating in a second language is an invaluable asset for those working on a project with global or wide-scale implications. Additionally, a unique qualification for product managers is having a background in engineering or computing because it allows for easier interaction with the technical staff.

References

Bibliography

* Bodlaj, & Čater, B. (2022). Responsive and proactive market orientation in relation to SMEs’ export venture performance: The mediating role of marketing capabilities. Journal of Business Research, 138, 256–265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbusres.2021.09.034 * Moon. (2020). The Strategic Impact of Collaborative Consumption on Product Marketers. eScholarship, University of California.

External links

* {{Media manipulation Product management