A tactical guide to product marketing in an inbound world. The presentation covers best practices for buyer personas, buyer's journeys, product launches and sales enablement.

1. #inbound2013
An Inbound Marketer’s
Guide to Product Marketing
How marketers can improve the top line
with product content and sales
enablement tools.
Rick Burnes

2. 1 What is Inbound Product Marketing?
2 The Starting Point: Your Buyer Persona
3 7 Steps Needed to Nail a Product Launch
4 4 Pieces of the Sales Enablement Foundation

3. 1 What Is Inbound Product
Marketing?

4. “Don‟t talk
about the
product.”
David
Meerman Scott
Inbound Marketing Godfather

5. HubSpot‟s early growth was
fueled by its inbound
marketing story, not its product
story.

6. Here’s the problem with that ...
Answers to
„What does
HubSpot Sell?‟
Survey conducted in
November 2011.

7. No Product
Knowledge
Deep Product
Knowledge

8. No Product
Knowledge
Deep Product
Knowledge
No Product
Knowledge
No Product
Knowledge

9. What‟s HubSpot?
SEO
Website
Social
Media
Blogging
Landing
Pages
Lead
Management
Email
Marketing
Marketing
Automation
Marketing
Analytics

11. So we
started to do
product
marketing.
Product
content.

12. Great product
marketing is
a great product
story.

13. It‟s told through
product launches
and sales
enablement.

14. And in an
inbound world, it‟s
driven by content
& data.

15. 2 The Starting Point: Your
Buyer Persona

16. Who are you
writing your
product story
for?
Image: Kadient marketing team, via David Meerman Scott.

17. • Formalize your persona
profile in internal documents
• Follow your customers home
• Collect assets and documents
they use
• Conduct win/loss interviews
• Conduct user testing
• Keep updating the profile
Buyer Persona Tips

18. To teach the
persona,
have new
hires write
case studies.

19. Once you know your
buyer, map their
journey to your
company.

20. Once you know your
buyer, map their
journey to your
company.

21. Step #1: Find the Right Interview Subjects
50% From
Your
Funnel
50% Not
From Your
Funnel
LinkedIn
Groups, social
networks, and
PPC can all work.
Closed won and
lost deals are
usually best.

22. Step #2: Interview to Document the Path
Forks: Which ebooks did she read? Who did she talk
to?
Routes: What steps did she take to make a decision?

23. Use Sources to See How Buyers Find You

24. Use Conversion Assists to See Buyers’
Influences

25. Step #3: Share and Implement
Framework Route-Level Data Fork-Level Data
Brand Awareness Search Searched for “small
business heathcare
plans”
Triggering Event Executive identifies
need.
Board decides to
improve benefits.
Research &
Evaluation
Product research
via content.
Downloaded pdf of
healthcare services.
Decision Contract signed. Negotiated for
security and
consulting
exceptions.
ATypicalJourney
Core
knowledge for
your team.
Guide for
launch
and enablement
priorities.
+

26. 3 7 Steps Needed to Nail a
Product Launch

28. 1. The story
clarifies
2. It has reach
3. It sells

29. Let‟s look at 7 steps to
executing a product
launch effectively.
Flickr Photo: SeanJCPhoto

30. • Sit in on product testing
• Test your messaging
• Use social networks + Amazon gift cards
to get participants
• Keep testing lightweight
• Participate in the beta program
(encourage development of one if you
don‟t have one)
Step #1: Product Research
Flickr Photo: Barack Obama

31. Important information to spell out early on:
• Elevator pitch
• Target audience
• User benefits (problems it solves)
• Key features
• Competitive positioning & differentiation
Step #2: Spell Out the Story

32. Focus on the buyer‟s journey, e.g.:
• „What is [Your Company]?‟ video
• „What is [Your Company]?‟ page
• Launch video (what‟s new?)
• Product web pages
• Product deck for sales
• Case studies
• Related top-of-the funnel content
Step #3: Start Creating Your Content

33. Make the
audience forget
you‟re pitching
them.

34. It‟s easy to
forget case
studies.
Don‟t.

35. Polish product
content.

36. Step #4. Setup a
launch war room.

37. • Who‟s most likely to create content
about your launch? Maybe:
– Partners
– Customers
– Analysts
– Influencers
• Create content and resources that make
it easy for them to write about your
product.
• Create sample or template blog articles.
Step #5: Engage Your Community Pre-Launch

38. Step 1: Create an exclusive sales beta
program staffed with top-performing reps.
Step 2: Work with top reps to identify and
create key sales collateral for launch.
Step 3: Train the rest of the team based
on what you‟ve learned in steps #1 & #2.
Step #6: Prepare Your Sales Team

39. If you‟re
launching via a
big
presentation, d
o an internal
dry-run.

40. Step #7: Spell Out a Launch Plan
*Directly Responsible Individuals, a concept HubSpot borrowed from Apple.
Create a
document that
spells out the
plan minute-by-
minute, with
DRIs* for each
action.

41. How do you
know if
you‟ve been
successful?

42. 1. Did the story
clarify?
2. Did it get reach?
3. Did it sell?

43. Does your persona
understand your
product and its
positioning?

44. Bounce Rate Is a Signal of Comprehension

45. Was your
message
amplified by on-
message third-
party content?

46. Did your launch
generate a bump
in coverage of
your product?

47. Did you generate
good leads from
launch-related
offers?

48. Are more
customers
using the
new
products?
Share of customers using HubSpot‟s Salesforce.com connector, by cohort.

49. 4 4 Pieces of the Sales
Enablement Foundation

50. Why sales enablement?
Launches drive
awareness here
Sales takes over here …
… but there‟s a lot marketing can
do to make sales more
productive.

51. Sales Yield: % of leads worked by sales that convert to customers.
More productive = higher sales
yield.

52. “Could you write this
email to my prospect.”
A Typical Sales Enablement Pitfall
But of course!

53. Thank you. I looked at
one of them.
Another Typical Sales Enablement Pitfall
Sir, I created 100
PowerPoint decks for you.

54. Let‟s look at 4 pieces
of a strong sales
enablement
foundation.
Flickr Photo: Martin Lopatka

55. • What is the sales process?
– What are the steps in the sales process?
– What‟s the best process for training?
– How do you hold reps and managers accountable
for learning?
• What is the product story?
– Who are you selling to?
– What is the value?
#1 Push for Sales/Marketing Alignment
Flickr Photo: QUEEN YUNA

56. Create content to answer common
questions, in a scalable way:
• What is it?
• How is it different?
• How much does it cost?
• Your most frequent objections.
#2 Focus on Content for the Buyer’s Journey

57. Are your key
content
assets being
used?

58. Throw Out Your Demo Decks
Website
content is
richer, and you
control the
story.

59. Are there survey tools you can create?
HubSpot‟s 40-
question
assessment
tool
has a 25%
close rate vs.
9% for all
worked
opportunities.

60. Make sure your
happy
customers are
creating
content, too.

61. Some channels that can work well:
• Internal wiki (eg, Confluence)
• Inside the CRM (eg Salesforce, Chatter)
• Sales ideas site
• Q&A forum
• Email
• Internal meetings
• Webinars (large teams)
#3 Build Effective Communication Channels

62. When you
create internal
forums, reps
answer their
own questions.

63. Measure the Content Your Reps Are Using

64. Possible elements of a scalable training:
• Use multiple channels
• Regular product quizzes
• Wiki pages with Q&A forums
• Manager-driven assessments
• Certifications
#4 Create Scalable Product Training

65. Publish Results So Reps Take Quizzes Seriously

66. How do you know it‟s
working?

67. Percentage of the Reps Who Demo‟d Specific Apps
Measure What Your Reps Are Selling

68. Did you improve sales yield?

69. 5 Final Thought

70. Great product
marketing is
a great product
story.

71. But your ability to tell
that story depends
on big assumptions
that may be out of
your control.

72. What can an
individual do to
ensure success?

73. Work at a
company you
believe in.

74. Thank You.
Questions?