An Incredibly Short Guide to Product Marketing Strategy
A go-to answer for the next time planning season comes around.
Whether your company’s planning season is annual, bi-annual, or (Lord, help you) quarterly, at some point in the near future, you’re likely going to be asked:
So, what’s the product marketing strategy?
Here’s a short - and slightly contentious - answer:
There is no product marketing strategy.
Why? Because a company’s product marketing strategy should be its business strategy.
Product Marketing’s work should encompass - and enable - product, marketing, sales, customer success, and more. Outside of the operational parts of a business like Legal and Finance, product marketing touches almost every part of the business. So why would it need its own strategy?
High-performing product marketing teams sit at the heart of the business strategy, working on the company’s hardest problems. At their best, they help shape big decisions - like which audience to prioritise, what the long-term product narrative should be, or how to position the company against new challengers.
Asking them for a separate strategy is a distraction. Or worse, a detour that could send the team off course.
So instead, focus them on the company strategy. Or better yet, ask them to help write it. And let them drive a big slice of it.
Free your PMMs up to spend planning season doing work that actually moves the business forward - like sizing up new market opportunities or determining the positioning for the product you’re launching next half.
Cheers! 👋
(If you’d like to discuss what a business strategy powered by product marketing looks like, get in touch - I’d love to help.)
The Product Marketer is a London-based consultancy, helping ambitious companies across Europe - and the wider EMEA region - achieve world-class product marketing. If you’d like to discuss raising your company’s product marketing game, just reply to this email.