Within the world of marketing there are numerous areas of specialization. One of the most critical, and often one of the most confusing and least understood, is Product Marketing. This blog will help you quickly and easily understand what product marketing does, where product marketing is located within the organization, and why product marketing provides such a critical marketing function.

1. Introduction to Product Marketing
Overview
Within the world of marketing there are numerous areas of specialization. One of the
most critical, and often one of the most confusing and least understood, is Product
Marketing.
The Product Marketing function occupies a unique spot in the corporate marketing
structure. This is because unlike other marketing teams that only have one specific
responsibility or function, Product Marketing is often considered to be the “marketing
hub” (or clearinghouse) for information about the company’s products. Because of this,
Product Marketing has multiple responsibilities and typically engages with multiple
organizations across the business on a regular basis.
This blog will help you quickly and easily understand what product marketing does,
where product marketing is located within the organization, and why product marketing
provides such a critical marketing function.
What Product Marketing Does
In most businesses, Product Marketing’s primary function is to take the detailed
information about a product from the product development and product management
teams and convert that information into more easily understood customer-facing
information. This is done to help clarify what the product actually does, and, more
importantly, to clearly describe the problem(s) that the product addresses or solves for a
customer. This information is then used in a variety of different ways.

2. However, if you try to find a definition of Product Marketing in a dictionary, you’re likely
to find numerous, often conflicting definitions, but none of them capture the full scope of
what Product Marketing actually does. This just highlights the confusion that exists
around this important marketing function. That’s why I define Product Marketing at a
high level as, “the process of promoting and bringing a product for sale to the market.”
Sounds straightforward, right?
It’s not really, because that process includes everything related to bringing a new
product to market. Depending on the company, Product Marketing is responsible for
some or all of the following:
 Understanding competitive products, their features, and how they are positioned
 Analyzing and understanding customer issues, pain points, needs and wants
 Knowing which channels customers use to do research and find information on
potential solutions
 Developing and executing the go-to-market strategy
 Developing the product value prop, messaging and positioning
 Developing reference material that is used for internal, as well as external,
communications
 Developing content that informs and educates
 Driving awareness and demand for the product
 Ensuring sales and channel partners have all the right tools, training and
information needed to sell the product
 Working closely with field marketing, sales and channel partners
In other words, Product Marketing owns the entire process required to successfully
launch, drive awareness of and sell a product.
But Product Marketing is involved in a lot more than just launching products. After a
product is launched, Product Marketing may also be involved in one of more of the
following types of activities:
 Developing new content and materials to continue to inform, educate and
engage with new customers after the initial sale
 Working with various internal organizations on developing new messaging,
positioning, and materials to help move potential customers through the sales
funnel
 Developing and updating existing content and materials to inform, educate and
engage with existing customers
 Meeting with customers alongside sales and partners
 Capturing feedback and input from customers, sales, partners, and the
marketplace and provide that information back into the product development
organization. This information may consist of new features customers would like
to see, fixes to be made, the direction the market is moving, information on

3. competitive products, etc. That information is then used to help inform, update,
change and drive the product roadmap.
 Beginning to plan for the next product launch or update
These activities help keep the business connected to and engaged with their customers.
That is why, from pre-launch, to the product launch, to post-launch, to planning for the
next launch, Product Marketing is one of the most critical marketing functions that exists
within a business. Without Product Marketing, businesses would be unable to
successfully position and launch new products into the marketplace.
Where Product Marketing Is Located Within the Company
Depending on the type of business and the corporate structure it uses, the Product
Marketing function may be located in various different organizations. While there is no
right or wrong location, there are several common structures that this blog will discuss.
Here are some of the most common locations for where the Product Marketing function
may be located within a company:
1) Many large corporations often have a stand-alone Product Marketing
organization that supports different business units and/or products. This type of
Product Marketing organization is usually an overlay to the product lines and
works well when all the products have similar features or provide similar
functionality.
2) In large companies, Product Marketing may be part of a Product organization.
This type of structure typically includes product development, product
management and Product Marketing functions. This type of structure provides
the tight alignment that must exist between the marketing and development
functions. If there are multiple products, there may also be multiple Product
Marketing teams, each one focused on a specific product line.
3) If the company is very engineering-, technology- or product-driven, the Product
Marketing function may be located within an Engineering organization. This type
of structure ensures tight alignment with the engineering teams.
4) If the company is smaller, Product Marketing may be part of a Corporate
Marketing or other Marketing organization. This type of corporate structure often
does not have a separate Product Marketing team, but instead just assigns
product marketing tasks as needed.
5) In some businesses, Product Marketing may even be part of the Sales
organization. This type of structure is usually used when Product Marketing is
considered to be primarily a support function to sales.
Ultimately, where the Product Marketing function resides and what the reporting chain is
will depend on the type of company and what the specific business requirements are.
Regardless of where exactly within the business it is located, Product Marketing is one
of the most critical marketing functions that exists. However, in order for Product

4. Marketing to be the most effective, it must be located where it makes the most sense for
it to be able to support the specific business requirements. That is why there are several
different locations where the Product Marketing function can typically be found.
Why Product Marketing Is Critical to the Success of a Business
As stated earlier, Product Marketing’s primary function is to help bring products to
market. It does that through a variety of tactics and channels. But before Product
Marketing can do that, it must gather all of the required information about the product
from the product development, engineering and other teams that are involved in
developing a new product.
Depending on whether it is a new product that is being brought to market or is a revision
to an existing product, the required information that must be gathered may contain
some or all of the following: what the product does, how the product works, detailed
specifications, revision information, functional information, integration requirements,
technical information, installation instructions, operating instructions, user guides,
benefits information, and more.
Product Marketing then uses that information to develop the product value prop,
messaging, positioning and customer-facing content in a format that potential customers
will be able to use and understand. This content may take the form of use cases, white
papers, case studies, articles, blogs, slide decks, demos, videos, or whatever format is
most effective in communicating information about the product to the customer.
In effect, Product Marketing provides a translation function – taking complex information
about the product from the product developers and translating it into more easily
digestible, easily understood customer-facing content. This is one of the most critical
functions that Product Marketing provides.
In order to effectively develop this type of content, the Product Marketer must have an
in-depth understanding of not only what the product is, but what it does, how it does it,
and what the customer pain point or issue is that the product solves. He must also have
detailed knowledge and understanding of the customer, their business, their industry,
the market and the competition. Because of this, the Product Marketing function is often
one of the few organizations in the business with the full view and understanding of not
only the product, but the customers, market and competitors as well, so it is able to
provide valuable insight and information to various other internal organizations. This is
another reason the Product Marketing function is so critical.
After Product Marketing develops the content, it is then leveraged and used by different
organizations across the business. While some organizations may use the content as it
was originally developed, others may modify it (such as posting smaller sections as
tweets or creating corporate communications and announcements based on it). All of
these actions also help drive awareness of the new product into the marketplace, to

5. industry analysts and to customers. The sales and channel teams also use the material
to help move customers through the sales funnel, which in turn drives sales.
The content that Product Marketing develops is also often used as source material by
Sales Enablement and Training organizations to create sales and channel training and
enablement materials. In some cases, if those organizations don’t exist, the Product
Marketing team may even have the responsibility for developing the sales and partner
training and enablement materials as well.
And as previously mentioned in Part One of this three-part series (“What Product
Marketing Does”), Product Marketing is responsible for developing the Go-To-Market
plan for the product, as well as managing and supporting all activities related to the
product launch.
Not only does Product Marketing play a critical role in the launch of products, it also
interacts with numerous internal and external departments and organizations. These
may include: the Product Team, other Marketing and Communications functions, the
Sales organization and Channel Partners, Field Marketing, Customer Success, Sales
Enablement and Training organizations. And unlike most other marketing functions,
Product Marketing often engages directly with customers alongside Sales, Channel
Partners or Field Marketing.
This is why Product Marketing is so critical to the success of the business and is one of
the most critical marketing functions that exists. In addition to developing the necessary
strategy and content required to successfully launch new products, it also provides
information to and passes information between multiple organizations within the
business, engages with customers, and helps drive awareness and sales of the
products.
SUMMARY
Whether developing launch plans and go-to-market strategies, researching the market
and the competition, or creating messaging, positioning and content, Product Marketing
is one of the most critical and strategic functions that exists within a business. Combine
that with interacting and engaging with numerous internal organizations, as well as with
sales, partners and customers, and you can see why Product Marketing is considered
to be one of the most confusing and least understood areas of marketing.
However, the depth and breadth of knowledge and skill required to successfully perform
all of those diverse activities is the reason that Product Marketing is also one of the
most critical, if not the most critical, areas of marketing that exists within a company.
© 2021 – Richard Hatheway / Catalyst Strategic Marketing