This document discusses how product marketing can evaluate its effectiveness and positively impact revenue. It proposes that product marketing provide "sales enablement services" to reduce friction in the buying process. This involves equipping salespeople to have valuable conversations with customers at each stage. It outlines goals like building market presence, sales pipeline, and improving sales outcomes to achieve greater profitability. It recommends ways to get started, including becoming experts on buyers, identifying and correcting bottlenecks in the sales funnel, and taking ownership of win/loss analysis.

1. Discussion Document
Mark Shapiro
Agile Product Marketing Group
5.3.2014
How do you measure up? A crowd-sourced,
cross-pollinated discussion on evaluating
product marketing effectiveness

2. The
Format

3.
When
it’s
all
said
and
done
What
can
product
marke4ng
do
to
posi4vely
impact
revenue
when
they
aren’t
the
one’s
doing
the
selling?

4. Product
Marke1ng
Product
Management
Focused
on
the
PRODUCT
Understands
the
CUSTOMER
Focused
on
the
CUSTOMER
Understands
the
PRODUCT
Goal/Responsibility
Understanding
and
defining
the
hardware
and
so0ware
environment
in
which
the
product
will
operate,
and
how
the
customer
will
use
the
product.
Key
Ques<ons:
• What
is
the
problem
that
the
product
solves?
• How
does
it
solve
it?
• How
does
it
work
in
its
hw/sw
opera<on
environment
Goal/Responsibility
Understanding
and
defining
the
context
in
which
the
customer
is
making
the
buying
Commitments
Key
Ques<ons:
• Why
would
the
customer
want
the
product?
• Why
would
the
customer
pick
this
over
other
op<ons?
• Do
Nothing
• Compe<<ve
Product
TASKS
Define
PRODUCT
landscape
•
Opera<ng
condi<ons
of
the
product
• Iden<fy
compe<<ve
offerings
from
a
product
capabili<es
point
of
view.
PRODUCT
defini4on
• Define
func<onal
requirements,
specifica<ons,
UI,
OS,
memory
,
power
etc…
• How
do
product
features
meets
customer’s
needs
• Tes<ng
cer<fica<ons,
interoperability,
standards
requirements
• Iden<fy
how
compe<tors
will
respond
technically
to
product
PRODUCT
focused
Sales
Support
•
PRODUCT
TRAINING
• Customer
engagement
at
boTom
half
of
funnel
as
necessary
TASKS
Define
CUSTOMER
landscape
• Understand
and
ar<culate
customer’s
problems
and
needs
• Understand
and
ar<culate
the
current
solu<ons
to
these
needs
PROMISE
defini4on
• How
do
customers
gain
advantage
from
product
features
• Iden<fy
compe<<ve
advantages
of
product
as
they
relate
to
customers
needs
and
alterna<ve
solu<ons
• Iden<fy
compe<<ve
response
to
promise
VALUE
Focused
Sales
Support
• SALES
TRAINING
• Customer
engagement
at
top
of
funnel
•
Lead
Genera<on
&
Sales
Tools
Roles
&
Responsibili1es
First
Let’s
Set
Some
Parameters

5. Product
Marke1ng
Provides
Sales
Enablement
“Services”
To
Reduce
Fric1on
in
the
Whole
Buying
Process
Product
Marke<ng’s
role
is
to
equip
all
customer-­‐facing
employees
with
the
ability
to
consistently
and
systema<cally
have
a
valuable
conversa<on
with
the
right
set
of
customer
stakeholders
at
each
stage
of
the
customer's
problem-­‐solving
life
cycle
to
op<mize
the
return
of
investment
of
the
Sales
organiza<on
(<me
and
effort
required
to
close
sales
).
Not
just
focused
on
the
top
of
the
funnel
5

6. Guiding
Principals:
Goals
and
Objec1ves
• Build
Market
Presence
– Thought
leadership
– ‘get
found’
more
easily
online
via
search
engines,
blogging
and
social
media
sites.
– Gain
coverage
by
press
and
and
industry
analysts
• Build
Sales
Pipeline
– Leverage
lead
conversion
techniques
so
that
we
have
increasing
number
of
marke1ng
qualified
leads
• Improve
Sales
Outcomes
– Methodically
convert
leads
to
customers.
Eliminate
random
acts
of
Sales
enablement
and
provide
Sales
with
tools
and
training
to
op1mize
selling
1me
based
on
mutually
agreed
upon
approach
• Learn
what
works
and
where
to
invest
– Measuring/Analyzing
our
programs
so
that
we
can
become
more
effec1ve
over
1me
– Determine
our
leads
and
customers
paths
to
conversion
as
they
work
through
our
sales
and
marke1ng
funnel
• Achieve
greater
profitability
– Increase
efficiency
by
applying
learning
to
ac1vi1es
in
a
scalable
and
repeatable
manner
Establish
measurement
for
each
of
these
goals

7. How
to
Get
Started:
Know
the
Customer
and
the
PROCESS
Become
the
experts
on
your
buyers
Set
a
quota
that
requires
product
marketers
to
interact
with
poten1al
buyers,
outside
the
office
and
write
up
what
they
learn.
Start
with
eight
or
ten
per
quarter.
These
are
interac1ons
that
are
not
conducted
as
part
of
a
sales
call.
IdenGfy
and
correct
boIlenecks
in
the
funnel
Conduct
ongoing
analysis
of
deals
looking
at
the
each
step
in
the
funnel.
Iden1fy
where
deals
are
geZng
stuck
and
focus
on
correc1ve
measures.
IdenGfying
paIerns
over
a
series
of
deals
and
avoid
drawing
conclusions
from
a
single
deal,
which
could
send
you
on
a
wild
goose
chase.
Removing
a
boIleneck
in
the
funnel
can
have
much
more
impact
on
sales
throughput
than
genera1ng
more
leads.
Take
ownership
of
win/loss
analysis
Not
forensic
style
of
win/loss
analysis
where
you
look
for
the
person
to
punish
for
not
winning
the
deal.
It’s
the
type
of
win/loss
analysis
where
you
idenGfy
paIerns
that
can
lead
to
potenGally
huge
revenue
improvements.
Product
marke1ng
managers:
own
this
ac1vity
in
collabora1on
with
product
manager
counterparts.
Each
has
a
different
filter
on
the
ac1vity
that
results
in
iden1fying
different
insights.

8. What
can
product
markeGng
managers
do
to
posiGvely
impact
revenue
when
they
aren’t
the
one’s
doing
the
selling?
How
about
some
Metrics
like:
• Measure
sales
cycle
and
reduc1on
in
cycle
1mes
• Iden1fied
and
removed
bo]lenecks
• Effec1vely
increasing
the
volume
of
opportuni1es
(not
just
leads)
• Effec1vely
increasing
closure
rates
• Track
use
of
marke1ng
created
assets
and
effect
on
sales
process
–
test
what
works
and
what
doesn’t
at
the
bo]om
of
the
funnel

9. What
Happened
?
A
LOT
of
FOOD
for
Thought
Generated
Session
started
10:30
Session
ended
11:20
Session
lasted
50
Minutes
This
was
really
helpful
!
Definitely
not
a
linear
format
or
conversa4on
Thanks
for
doing
this
-­‐this
was
great
!
A
lot
of
great
dialog
and
idea
sharing
!

10. Takeaways
• It’s
really
hard-­‐
most
people
are
so
heads
down
working
on
specific
deliverables
–
measurement
is
given
li]le
considera1on
• Measurement
is
focused
mostly
on
top
of
the
funnel
and
is
now
greatly
aided
by
marke1ng
automa1on
and
analysis
tools
• Measure
what’s
important
–
not
just
what’s
easy
to
measure
• Measure
wins/losses
against
targeted
segments
– If
product
is
designed
for
manufacturing
but
we
lost
a
deal
in
banking
then
not
the
fault
of
marke1ng
tools
designed
for
mfg.
targets
– Ensure
Sales
is
going
acer
the
right
prospects
whenever
possible
• Measure
bo]om
of
the
funnel
not
just
the
top
• A/B
test
tools
provided
to
sales
• Align
communica1ons
between
Sales
and
Marke1ng
to
establish
milestones
and
outcomes
>>
then
measure
against
achievement
• Test
sales
understanding
of
messaging
– During
training
– On
sales
calls
• Set
goals
for
external
events
– Establish
expecta1ons
and
metrics
– Track
contacts
and
conversa1ons
– Map
to
outcomes

11. Con1nue
the
Conversa1on
Mark@marketwithagilty.com
+1.862.245.1697
@maahktweets
www.linkedin.com/in/markshapiro
www.marketwithagility.com