Thanks everyone who participated in this webcast from The Association of International Product Marketing and Management (AIPMM).
Often too much activity in Product Marketing is guided by assumptions, internal discussions, and anecdotal information. If we are serious about being great at Product Marketing, and delivering powerful tools for our sales and marketing teams, we must develop a deep (or dare I shall say intimate) understanding of our target markets. In this webinar, we'll show what you must learn about your target markets and how to do it.
About the Speaker
Tom Evans is Principal at CompellingPM and is an internationally recognized authority in product management, global marketing, business partnerships and entrepreneurship. In his extensive experience, he has helped start-ups through Fortune 500 companies create and launch winning products and has led business development efforts in the US and global markets.
About AIPMM
The AIPMM is the hub of all things product management. It is where product professionals go for answers. With members in over 65 countries, it is the worldwide certifying body of product team professionals.
It is the world's largest professional organization of product managers, brand managers, product marketing managers and other product team professionals who are responsible for guiding their organizations, or clients, through a constantly changing business landscape.
AIPMM's certification programs are internationally recognized because they allow product professionals to demonstrate their expertise and provide corporate members an assurance that their product management and marketing teams are operating at a high competency level.
Visit www.aipmm.com.
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Articles: http://www.aipmm.com/html/newsletter/article.ph
8. How to Develop a Deep Understanding
of Your Target Markets - The Starting
Point for Great Product Marketing
Tom Evans
CompellingPM
@compellingpm
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9. Bad Product Marketing
• Not gaining a deep understanding of your
target markets!
– We have internal discussions about profiles and
needs of our buyers/user.
– We use anecdotal information that might come
from sales people or executives.
We fail to discover the real profiles and needs.
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10. Results of Bad Product Marketing
• Messages don’t resonate with target buyers
• Marketing and sales tools fail to motivate
buyers
• You don’t get good leads
• Sales people try to sell to the wrong people
for the wrong reasons
Then you wonder why your product isn’t selling
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11. Required Knowledge of Our Buyers
• Who they are
• Why they buy
• How they buy
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13. Defining Personas
• Buyer & User Personas
• Personas are a representative buyer or user
(stereotypical)
• Can be multiple personas per buyer/user role
• Easy to visualize & understand
• Keeps us focused on their context
• Useful for product development & marketing
• Needs to be based upon research
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14. Typical Personas
• Executive Buyer (Economic Buyer)
– Interested in solving major business issues
– Has final approval authority
• Technical Buyer
– Does it meet certain criteria & expectations
– Can say no, but not yes
• Users
– Day-to-day user
– Wants to do their job better
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15. Knowing the Personas
• Key goals & challenges
• Job responsibilities & typical tasks
• Typical background (demographics, skills,
education, etc)
• Key problem scenarios
– What drives them to use your product
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16. Questions to Ask
• What are top of mind of issues for you?
• What are you most important job
goals/objectives?
• What does your typical day look like?
• What are the hardest and easiest things about
your job?
• What are your career goals?
• What do you like to do and not like to do – within
your job as well as personal activities?
• Also – consider observation
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18. Why Executives Buy
• Key market trends & business drivers
• What must they do to compete, create a
competitive advantage, increase revenue, cut
costs, improve customer loyalty, etc.
• Establish company as a leader
• What is the ROI
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19. Why Middle Managers Buy
• Make their teams more effective
• Enable team members to spend time on more
valuable tasks
• Reduce costs of their operations
• Raise their visibility in the organization
• Advance in their career
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20. Why Users Buy
• Do their task more effectively
• Reduce time spent on mind-numbing activities
• Gain greater job satisfaction
• Increase financial rewards
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21. Why Technical Buyers Buy
• Raise their visibility in the organization and
industry
• Interesting and new challenge
• Career advancement
• What makes them say no?
– Doesn’t meet their standards
– Adds tasks to an already overloaded team
– More difficult solution than alternatives
– Can’t get the right resources
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24. Discovering the Buying Process
• What are the typical phases of the buying process?
• Who are the typical buyers & influencers?
• Who is involved at each phase?
• What are their main concerns at each phase?
• What are they doing at each phase?
• What are the typical barriers to moving ahead?
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25. Buying Process – Recognize Need
• What causes them to recognize this need?
• What compelled them to search for a
solution?
• Who makes the decision to begin looking for a
solution?
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26. Buying Process – Information Search
• Where do they begin their search for
information?
• What terms do they use?
• Why do they choose these sources v. others?
• Who are the respected thought leaders in their
industry?
• What information is/was most useful?
• What questions are they trying to answer?
• Who is involved in this process?
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27. Buying Process - Evaluation
• How do you decide which alternatives to
evaluate?
• What are the most important considerations for
the product and vendor?
• What are must haves? (Would eliminate an
alternative)
• What are the most important nice-to-haves?
• What key questions are you trying to answer?
• What are you biggest concerns?
• Who is involved?
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28. Buying Process – Purchase
Decision
• Who is involved in the purchase decision?
• How do you conduct the final buying process?
• What are your key concerns?
• Who makes the final decision?
• How do you negotiate?
• What key information do you need from a
vendor?
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29. Buying Process – Post Purchase
• How do you evaluate the success of the
purchase?
• When do you make additional purchases?
• Who is involved?
• What are key considerations to continue the
relationship?
• What would it take for you to consider making
referrals/testimonials?
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30. How Do You Learn This
• Current Products
– Speak to customers
– Part of Win-loss analysis
• New Products
– Part of market validation process
• Engage Product Management
• Insights from Executives and Sales Team
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31. How Do You Use This?
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32. Summary
• Conduct research to understand your buyers
and users
• Use that knowledge to more effectively guide
your go-to-market strategy
• Achieve better focused and more effective
marketing tools, marketing programs and
sales execution
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33. My Next Webinar
From Messaging Nightmare to Messaging Delight
– How to Create a Powerful Messaging Platform
Aug 2, 2013
http://www.aipmm.com/aipmm_webinars
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34. Upcoming Training
• Optimal Product Management & Product
Marketing
– Sep 9 – 11 (Austin)
– Oct 14 – 16 (Dallas)
• AIPMM Certifications
– Aug 6 – 7 (CPM – Austin)
– Aug 8 – 9 (CPMM – Austin)
More dates/locations - www.280group.com
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35. Free 1 Hour PM/PMM Consult
• First ten to submit information on form
• http://compellingpm.com/freeonehour/
• Please include background on topic or issue
• Must include company info (no Gmail)
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