The new year gives each of us an opportunity to take a fresh look at our products. But a product marketer's job is multi-faceted. Our responsibilities can be overwhelming. And that is before we get mired in the flames of fire drills.
If you have only 5 key activities to focus on that will help you build your professional success this year, what would they be?
Here is my top five list.
- Talk to your customers and prospects.
- Revise your buyer persona(s).
- Review your product's benefits, features and value.
- Identify and fill gaps between your prospect's buying process and your marketing and sales processes.
- Embark on a mini web content overhaul.
A lot has changed in the past year. The on-going economic downturn has altered business-as-usual. Chances are that you have already seen your own traditional assumptions ripped apart. Use the new year as an opportunity to find out what is going on in your customers' and prospects' world. Listen for new pains and new challenges that can open up new opportunities for your company.
If you don't have buyer persona(s) that encapsulate your knowledge about your key buyers, create them. The challenges of the past year are sure to have changed your buyer's attitudes, motivations, behaviors, and size of their pocket book. Use your conversations with customers and prospects to glean this critical knowledge. You will be amazed how your efforts with buyer personas will stimulate internal conversation and open up new avenues for success.
Over the past year, the business environment has likely changed your prospects' and customers' needs and priorities. Now is the time to check to see whether what your products deliver align with those needs and priorities. If they don't, you will find it an uphill battle to sell this year.
Identify product changes that must be made. Investigate new product opportunities that are uncovered.
We forget that our prospects have options. Every time your marketing or sales activities don't meet the prospect where they are in their buying process, you create a gap. You may think that gaps are o.k. Your lead nurturing program or sales rep will step in and save the day. Think again. Gaps are open invitations for your prospect to get their needs met elsewhere -- talking with others, searching the Internet, and finding your competitors. Gaps sabotage your own marketing and sales efforts.
If you haven't mapped out your prospect's buying process, now is the time to do so. By doing so, you won't lack for new and innovative product marketing ideas for the year.
If I could pick one product marketing activity that offers the biggest bang for the buck, it would be improving the web site content and flow. Your web site has the greatest opportunity for engaging your prospect and ushering them through the majority of their buying process. To do this, it must anticipate the prospect's questions, concerns, and objections. It must encourage exploration by different types of buyer modalities. It must speak to the interests, needs, and motivation of the prospect. And it must do so in the prospects' language.
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