Product marketing: what is it and why is it needed in IT

Launching a new product on the market and promoting it are the tasks of product marketing. How this direction differs from conventional marketing and how to become a product marketer in IT — let's figure it out together with Starcom Kazakhstan marketer Maxim Nokhrin.

What is product marketing?

Product Marketing, or Product Marketing, is a branch of marketing that includes the promotion and management of the product life cycle. It covers everything from market research and customer needs analysis to product development, positioning, launch, and support. Product marketing is needed, for example, when launching a video game or a calorie counting app on the market.

Product marketing is the link between the development team, marketers, and the sales department. With its help, the company can quickly respond to the requests of the target audience and improve the product.

Product marketing is a separate area at the intersection of different areas

The task of any marketer is to attract customers. Product marketing has the same goal, but it requires a deeper dive. Product marketing begins at the stage of creating a product: it is responsible for ensuring that the product satisfies the needs of users, determines market positioning and how the product's values are conveyed to the client. In addition, the marketer analyzes competitors and collects consumer feedback to make updates.

A marketer must be well versed in the product, so he works in a cross-functional team: with a product manager, a performance manager, an analyst, PR, and other specialists.

What tasks are included in product marketing

Audience research

For example, before launching a new application, you need to understand who will use it, what needs it should cover, and what is important to the end customer. To do this, marketers conduct surveys, questionnaires, castdevs — interviews with representatives of the target audience — and transfer the data to the development department or product manager.

Positioning

This is planning what place the product will take in the market. Positioning determines how a product differs from competitors and why people need it. An important part of this stage is the development of a unique selling proposition (USP). This is the benefit that the customer receives when choosing a product.

Advancement

When a product is ready for release, it is important to understand how to tell a wide audience about it. At this stage, the marketer chooses communication channels and comes up with an offer that can attract attention and convey the values of the product. For example, some companies offer free demos to customers so that they can test the software and decide whether to buy the full version.

Support

After launching a product on the market, you need to get customer feedback to supplement and improve it, refine positioning, and collect analytics. A product marketer must constantly monitor performance indicators and, most importantly, be able to interpret this data. The main metrics in product marketing:

CPA (Cost Per Action) is the cost of attracting one lead to a product. By lead, we can mean, for example, downloading an application or connecting a product in an already installed application.
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the cost of attracting one customer who has purchased a product. This is a key metric since the goal of a product marketer is to attract customers. And the more users for fewer resources the marketer attracts, the better for the company.
CRR (Customer Retention Rate) is the percentage of users who continue to use the product after a certain period of time. For any product, it is important not only to attract a customer but also to retain it, so the marketer must keep an eye on this metric.
LTV (Lifetime Value) is the amount of money that a company receives from one customer for the entire period of interaction with the product. The sustainability of the business model largely depends on this metric.
NPS (Net Promoter Score) is the degree of customer loyalty and their willingness to recommend the product to others. This metric allows you to keep your finger on the pulse and understand in time that you need to fix some bugs or work on the service.

How Product Marketing Differs from Regular Marketing

Product marketing originates in classical marketing, but still these areas differ in two criteria.

Purpose:

Traditional marketing focuses on achieving a company's financial goals and attracting new customers. But it can also have image goals, for example, informing about the brand and increasing loyalty.
The product marketing concept is aimed at promoting one specific product.

Tooling:

Classical marketing uses wide communication channels to reach as many audiences as possible: PR, events, targeted advertising, mailings, etc.
A product marketer must select specific channels for communicating with a specific audience, for example, with designers.

Product marketer, product manager and brand manager

A product marketer is also called a Product Marketing Manager (PMM). Because of this, there is often confusion with the product and brand manager.

A product manager is responsible for product development, development strategy, and lifecycle management. It focuses on functionality, interacts with development teams, and determines what improvements the product needs. This is more technical work.

A brand manager deals with the overall perception of the brand and reputation in the market. He makes sure that all products and marketing materials are in line with the company's strategy.

A product marketer works at the intersection of these roles. He focuses on launching and promoting a specific product and is also responsible for ensuring that it meets the needs of the client and the business.

How to become a product marketer in IT

Product marketers are needed in different companies, regardless of the industry. These can be both b2c and b2b spheres. As part of import substitution in Russia, many goods are created both in physical production and in the digital environment. Therefore, everyone who develops and brings new products to the market has a need.

To work in IT companies, a specialist needs to understand how a particular product works. Especially if it is a b2b sphere and the end consumer will be the client's IT department. Also, a marketer must be able to explain complex technical details in simple language, understand how all the "features" work in order to tell customers about it.

When working with IT products, the marketer will have access to various data on the basis of which he can make decisions. To do this, you need to pump analytical thinking and logic.

The easiest way to become a product marketer is if you are already working as a project manager or a regular marketer. You know how the market works, you are familiar with marketing tools and know how to use them. In this case, the missing information can be studied independently, for example, with the help of books:

"Inspired. Everything a Product Manager Needs to Know," Marty Kagan. A book about the principles of designing and launching breakthrough products. Everything from the distribution of roles in the team to the creation of a marketing strategy.
"On the hook. How to Create Habit-Forming Products" by Nir Eyal. The book explains how to create a sought-after product. The author explores how psychology affects consumer behavior and gives the reader the opportunity to take a fresh look at marketing.
"Product marketing for love. How to Create and Promote Best-Selling Products" by Martina Lauchengko. A guide for product marketers using the examples of cases from Apple, Netflix, Dropbox, and Microsoft.

If you have no experience in marketing or IT, it is best to start with a classical education at a university or take an online course. When choosing a program, it is worth finding out who will be the teacher. In my opinion, the best knowledge can be provided by practicing marketers.

Also, curiosity will help any specialist. There is a lot of self-study content on the Internet, and if you do not have enough soft or hard skills, you can find books and lectures for yourself. It is useful for a product marketer to have a broad outlook, read and study open market and consumer research. You can subscribe to channels with business and marketing news.

Product marketing is the main thing

Product marketing is a branch of marketing that involves managing the life cycle of a product, from market research before development to post-launch support.
Product marketing differs from traditional marketing in that it focuses on a specific product, rather than on the broad financial or image goals of the company.
A product marketer, or Product Marketing Manager (PMM), should not be confused with a product or brand manager. The PMM focuses on the promotion and positioning of the product, while the product manager is responsible for its development and functional characteristics, and the brand manager is responsible for the overall perception of the brand.
To work in IT, a product marketer must understand the technical nuances of the product in such a way as to convey them to the client in a simple and understandable way, as well as be able to work with analytics.
The easiest way to move into the product line is from traditional marketing or project management.
In order to become a product marketer from scratch, you should get a classical education at a university or choose an online program taught by practicing specialists.