What Is Product Marketing? How to Market Products Well

Product marketing covers a fairly broad scope of work. It includes many important skills that make connecting with customers more effective. So what exactly is product marketing? How important is marketing for a product to a business? Let's find out with Mona Media in detail in the article below.

What Is Product Marketing?

Product marketing is the process of developing and carrying out a marketing strategy. It helps a business introduce its product to the market and generate interest and positive engagement from customers.

A person who does product marketing is called a Product Marketer. By definition, product marketing covers all the activities involved in bringing a product to market. These include market research, competitor analysis, product pricing, advertising, PR and sales.

The goal of Product Marketing is to bring a company's product to potential customers. The aim is to raise awareness of the product and generate revenue for the company.

What role does Product Marketing play in marketing?

Product Marketing helps a business strengthen the presence of its products and services through these activities:

• Researching competitors in the market.
• Learning what users need and the problems they face.
• Positioning the product or service strongly in the market.
• Distinguishing the business's products and services from others.
• Using customer feedback to improve products and services or create new ones.

Product marketing is a key factor in the success of business campaigns. It is what drives customers to buy and maximizes the value of the product in the customer's eyes. Product marketing also puts product knowledge to work to bring revenue and growth to the business.

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What does Product Marketing involve?

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1. Product management

• Product release: For companies with many SKUs and product segments. Schedule when each product goes on and comes off the shelf to manage inventory.
• Product selection: Focus on versions: colors, designs, capacities, processors. Helps evaluate products in a focused way and push sales.
• The product's selling advantage: Pick the strongest advantage. It positions the product and matches what customers need.
• Product launch briefing: Summarize the user research, the current market and the product positioning.

2. Inventory management

• For businesses that make and sell hardware, inventory management is very important. If there is not enough stock on display, or the stock does not match customers' requirements for model and style, the result is that the business goals all fail.
• In inventory management, the product marketer needs to plan product quantities. Distribute stock inside and outside stores based on average daily sales.

3. Price and promotion management

Consider the selling price carefully, because it affects two things:

• Market size in the price segment → number of products sold → product inventory.
• Ability to sell the product within the price segment.

4. Budget management

Budget management is very important in the course of doing business. Calculating the revenue for the full quantity of goods expected to sell is an essential step. You can add market research to learn about potential customers, then draw up a suitable sales plan.

You also need to set the investment costs for each item, such as marketing, staffing and operations management, to work out the overall cost. Setting the net profit target is also an important step in budget management.

5. Project management

To manage a project effectively: Define the business goals and the target users. Also track these KPIs:

• Sales: Step up the marketing strategy. Develop new products to reach the sales you want.
• Profit: Apply a cost-reduction strategy. Or simply raise the selling price to increase profit.
• Overall market share and market share by region/channel: Analyze the market and apply a suitable strategy to grow market share.
• Buyer attributes: Research customers to understand their needs and develop products that fit.
• Loyal customer rate: Build good relationships with customers to raise the share of loyal customers.
• Share of customers who ask about the product when they walk into a store: Promote the product effectively to raise the share of customers who ask about it.

To succeed in a project. You need to set up separate specialist teams and make sure every aspect of the project is managed and monitored closely. The key teams are:

• Market intelligence team: Investigates the market, competitors and consumer trends. Produces the best assessments and forecasts for the project.
• Planner team: Includes specialists in sales, marketing, commerce and other areas, to plan and carry out product distribution, advertising and marketing strategies, along with other commercial activities.
• Supervisor team: This is the top management group, made up of members of the board of directors (BOD). It makes sure every project activity stays on schedule and that the goals are met in the end.

To carry out the plan smoothly. You need to set the key milestones and the specific activities for each one. The milestones include:

• New version launch date: This is the most important milestone. Launch preparation must be finished before this date.
• Promotional programs: To increase sales, plan promotional campaigns. They must fit the business goals.
• Launch date: Set the product launch date. Confirm it is ready so it lines up with other activities, usually a promotion or an ad campaign.
• Time to take it off the shelf: Once the product has reached its sales target, decide when to take it off the shelf to prepare for the next activities.

To make sure the plan is completed fully and effectively. We need to define the items to carry out, as follows:

• Session kick-off Launch date (Launching date)
• On-sale date (1st sale)
• Orders / returns (Pre-order programs)
• Promotions across the whole life cycle (Lifetime promotions)

Who needs Product Marketing?

Three kinds of business can apply a Product Marketing strategy, all with the aim of improving business results and promoting the brand.

1. Businesses introducing a new product to the market

Here, Product Marketing plays an important role in researching and analyzing users' needs and tastes. As a result, the business will build a product strategy that meets customers' needs and expectations.

2. Companies/businesses that want to change their product positioning

Sometimes a business wants to reach more target customer groups. It has to do this by changing the product positioning. Product marketing helps the business learn more about customer needs. From there it can build a strategy that reaches more potential customers.

3. New companies/businesses

All newly founded companies/businesses benefit. Positioning the brand in the market is essential to attract customers' attention. Product Marketing will help the business identify its target customers. It would also build a suitable strategy and strengthen brand recognition in the market.

However, for established businesses and startups alike, to get the most out of Product Marketing, you need a specific plan that points in the right direction. Investing time and resources in researching and analyzing the market and customer needs is very important, because it makes it possible to build the strategies that work best for the business.

Steps to build a product marketing strategy

Step 1: Define your customer profile and target audience

Defining the customer profile is an important step in product marketing. The product marketing manager needs to understand the customer profile well to set a suitable marketing strategy and adjust features and quality. This meets consumers' and customers' needs. It also keeps the business on track and increases sales by using customer feedback.

Step 2: Build, manage and carry out the product's marketing strategy

Once the customer profile is drawn, the business needs to build a detailed Product Marketing plan. The plan covers goals, communication campaigns, the marketing strategy, channels, timeline and budget, and the results to be achieved.

Step 3: Make sure sales and marketing have all the materials to win customers

With the product marketing plan in place, Marketing and Sales work together to market the product. The company needs to identify the right target audience and help customers understand the product (using catalogs, accompanying features and so on).

Coordination between departments keeps communication consistent and gives customers accurate information. This builds customers' trust when they use the company's products and services.

Step 4: Carry out and manage the product launch process

Product Marketing is a key factor in managing the launch of a new product, and in updating new features and services more effectively. Product Marketers need to make sure every department works quickly and flexibly, so the product launch succeeds.

Step 5: Report on Product Marketing performance

In Product Marketing, a performance report is an important way to track and adjust the product marketing plan. A performance report includes the following information:

• Daily and monthly active users.
• Revenue goals.
• Use of assets to promote the product.
• The sales team's confidence in promoting the product.
• Marketing qualified leads (MQL) and sales qualified leads (SQL).
• Customer satisfaction, measured with NPS.

Step 6: Make sure the product meets the needs of the target audience

Among the 7 tasks of Product Marketing, making sure the product meets customer needs is very important. The business needs to understand customers' pain points and focus on solving them to meet their needs.

This is both an opportunity and a challenge for the business. If customer needs are met properly, the Product Marketing campaign will be highly effective.

Step 7: Keep the product's features relevant over time

To keep your product going over time, you need a flexible product marketing strategy that responds to customers' changing and growing needs, expectations and challenges.

To keep the strategy effective, manage every small change in your product marketing strategy. Update or revise the core product whenever needed.

How to carry out a product marketing strategy

Method 1: Market segmentation

A business will have many market segments. Depending on the needs of each segment, choose the one that fits best. The better the segment, the more effective the strategy.

Method 2: Targeting and positioning the business

The purpose is to build a plan and a strategy that is more attractive to the target customers. To earn maximum profit, the target segment must be as precise as possible.

For a business to gain a competitive edge in the market, it has to focus on a positioning strategy. To bring out what is special about the product, there must be a complete plan. The goal is to raise awareness of a new product or new brand.

Method 3: Plan the promotion strategy

How do you raise awareness, secure the customer segment and earn the profit you want? This is a hard question for businesses that have just entered the market. A good promotion strategy helps the business optimize costs, especially for companies with limited finances.

Promotion tactics include:

• Distribution activities for new products and new brands.
• Product advertising plans.
• Social media advertising plans.
• Public relations/PR
• Plans for exhibitions and product launch events
• Plans to monitor progress, check and assess how much has been completed.

Product Marketing trends in 2023

1. Putting customer experience first

This marketing trend is also known as “Personalization” focusing on understanding and analyzing customer data to deliver personalized experiences.

Example: The #SpotifyWrapped from the Spotify app compiles each user's songs and listening statistics for the year. By personalizing the marketing campaign, you can increase engagement and attract new customers. This trend is likely to keep growing.

2. Video as the main marketing tool

Video marketing is the future of the industry Digital Marketing. Right now, the most common form of video marketing is short vertical video on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube Shorts and similar platforms. Other social media platforms are also bringing video marketing to users. According to HubSpot research, short video is the most popular form of social media marketing and has the highest ROI. 30% of social media marketers plan to invest in it, ahead of other marketing trends in 2022.

3. Product-led growth

Product-led growth is a model that focuses on end users and the product to attract, retain or expand customers. Customers can try the product or use the service free before deciding to buy. This Product Marketing trend has become the preferred growth strategy of SaaS (Software as a Service) companies worldwide.

4. Driving user conversion

Content Marketing Colocation is a an important strategy that helps companies connect directly with customers. With the growth of technology and social media, content marketing has become a very effective way to promote a business. By providing quality content, companies can attract customers' attention and build credibility for their brand.

Quality content also makes customers trust the brand more. It increases user conversion and sales.

Product Management vs Product Marketing

Areas of focus

• Marketing will study media channels and the target audience to better understand their interests, behavior and opinions and create strategies to raise awareness of the product.
• The team will use many marketing methods such as content marketing, brand marketing, KOLs, sponsorship and more to convey the product's benefits and build a strong, friendly brand image that meets customer needs.
• Product marketing focuses on understanding the product, the competitive market and the customer. The aim is to position the product and the target customer, so the product can be improved and its reach to customers optimized.

Products

• Who is it sold to?
• What is the product's difference or competitive advantage?
• What is the product's highlight for communication and sales?
• Does the product have any other features or strengths?
• Or could other versions or colors be released to meet more customer needs?

Market

• Where is the product sold?
• Is the market large?
• Through which channels is the product sold?
• How much does the market affect the product?
• Which customers has the product been introduced to?
• Which regions has the product been promoted in?

Clients

• What are customers' buying behaviors?
• What do customers dislike about the current product?
• Might customers like the product more if other features or services came with it?

Focus stage

• During product development, the Marketing and Product Marketing teams play an important role in making the product succeed. Marketing focuses mostly on the product launch stage. That includes promoting the product, building the brand image, attracting customers and increasing sales.
• A website, on the other hand, is Product Marketing focuses mostly on the pre-launch process, from when the product is in testing, collecting feedback and setting the main milestones for the project.
• Product Marketing is also responsible for driving the product's development, studying and assessing the competitive market, and setting suitable marketing strategies so the product reaches the right customers and achieves the best business results.
• During the pre-launch period (usually 4-6 months), the product marketing team works hard to collect and sort information from many sources. This covers product information and its strengths and weaknesses compared with competitors. They put a lot of effort into finding the best way to introduce the product.

Examples of Product Marketing

1. Billie

Billie is a popular razor brand for women. It worked to hold its own in a competitive market by creating a unique competitive advantage.

By allowing body hair to be shown in its ads, Billie won consumers' attention and created a new approach to beauty and body care.

This advertising approach got Billie's audience talking about the brand and appreciating the honest portrayal of women's bodies and body hair. That difference is what made Billie stand out from other razor brands and products.

2. Apple

Apple is one of the world's leading technology and software brands, with well-designed products that are useful to users. Apple's Product Marketing focuses on user benefits more than product features. Apple uses the features in its products to build its brand identity and create a distinctive story. As a result, customers easily recognize the products and understand how to use them.

Apple encourages people to buy through this storytelling. Apple's success comes from these strategies:

• Focusing on product quality
• Highly innovative product design
• Developing its own operating system
• Applying a distinctive pricing strategy
• Emphasizing user experience
• Building ties with its customer community
• Marketing content focused on user benefits

3. Honda

Honda has succeeded in diversifying its products and building a well-known brand in the market thanks to:

• Offering a wide range of vehicles for every kind of customer.
• Focusing on service quality, including warranty and after-sales care.
• Using KOLs in its communication campaigns to great success.

4. Coca-Cola

Coca-Cola keeps researching and developing new products such as Joy bottled water and Samurai energy drink. It also still offers a wide range of traditional products to meet customer needs. Coca-cola applies a differentiation strategy in Product Marketing and has been successful over the years by:

• Raising brand recognition with its red and white colors.
• Continually improving packaging to suit tastes and different holidays.
• Continually expanding the product range. Positioning the brand with constant advertising.
• Increasing the depth of its product lines. The article above makes clear that
• Product Marketing is a broad field that takes many kinds of knowledge and skills.

Brand Marketing and Product Marketing

What Is Brand Marketing?

Brand Marketing is a brand promotion strategy. It includes activities such as advertising, PR, sponsorship and others that increase brand recognition and the brand's value in customers' minds.

Brand Marketing vs Product Marketing

So what is the difference between Brand Marketing and Product Marketing?

Product Marketing focuses on the product to attract customers. Brand Marketing builds influence through the brand's emotional connection with customers. Marketers at small companies are often responsible for both Product Marketing and Brand Marketing. Depending on the campaign, a marketer will combine the two.

Why Product Marketing and Brand Marketing need to be aligned

What is the point of aligning Product Marketing and Brand Marketing? It is necessary to make sure the strategies and activities of the two functions are consistent and support each other. Product Marketing focuses on the product and the market, while Brand Marketing focuses on brand image and the company's long-term vision. Combining the two strengthens the brand and delivers better business results.

The article above makes clear that Product Marketing is a broad field that takes many kinds of knowledge and skills. Mona Media we hope you now understand the concept and the issues around it. Prepare well so you can carry out an effective strategy!