Product Marketing Bootcamp

“Product marketing strategy” can encompass many aspects of strategy — business strategy, marketing strategy, GTM (go-to-market) strategy and product strategy. The exact components can differ depending on the company but they often include the following: 

1. Business Situation Analysis: For products that are already live, evaluate current business performance and identify gaps and opportunities for future strategy.

2. Market Trends: As a business, you will experience headwinds (push against you and make progress harder) and tailwinds (push you forward and make progress easier). In this section, articulate key category and industry trends that can impact your business growth. 

3. Opportunity Sizing: Determine how big the market is that you can capture. This opportunity should be measured in the number of customers as well as the amount of revenue that can be obtained in your category (often referred to as TAM, or Total Addressable Market).

4. Customer Segmentation and Targeting: Split your potential audience into groups (or “segments”) based on the different needs that those groups have. Then, analyze those segments to determine which one is the best one for your product or service - i.e. which one has needs that your product or service can best solve, and that will become your target audience.

5. Target Audience Personas and Insights: Gain a deep understanding of your target audience's demographic profiles, needs, motivations, and purchase influencers. These insights will shape your positioning, product roadmap, and launch plan.

6. Competitive Analysis: Evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of your competitors so you can determine where and how you will compete best against them. 

7. Positioning: Craft a compelling key message that communicates the unique benefits of your product to customers. What is the ultimate message that you want your customers to know about you?

8. Product Roadmap: Determine which products and features are needed to deliver value (and unique value) to your target audience.

9. Pricing and Packaging: At what price will customers pay for your product? What are the prices, plans, and bundles that will maximize the revenue you can achieve?

10. Branding and Naming: Define the branding and naming conventions for your product and its key features so you can build brand recognition.

11. POS (Point of Sale) or RTM (Route-to-Market) Strategy: Determine how you will sell your product—whether through online platforms, mobile apps, or a sales force.

12. Success Metrics: Identify which key performance indicators (KPIs) are critical as barometers of success.

The strategy may also incorporate aspects of the outbound product marketing plan, which includes channel and media marketing plans and essentially share how the strategy will be brought to life. Whether it is included in the same document or not, the marketing plan is always an accompaniment to the product marketing strategy.