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Product marketing managers oversee a broad range of tasks typically performed by individuals within the company. This new position presents challenges in aligning communication across various teams, but it also offers a unique opportunity for the individual who assumes the role. It’s about determining how these tasks contribute the most value to the company.

System Approach to Cover the Gaps

Everything begins with a deep understanding of the product itself. While the delivery team hones in on the ideal user’s needs, bringing the solution to market requires identifying who genuinely benefits from it. Striking a balance between buyers and users isn’t always easy—some might see added features as disruptive to the experience. However, when done right, these features can become your secret weapon in standing out from the competition.

Imagine a scenario where the user is completing a purchase and comes across cross-selling opportunities. Alternatively, if the user is prompted at the final step to consider upgrading their existing choice, these strategies can significantly enhance the business’s cash flow benefits.

The Product Marketing Manager’s efficient communication only addresses one aspect of the recipe for success. While acknowledging the priorities of stakeholders from the product, sales, and marketing teams, it is crucial to consider the broader picture and how competitors are positioning themselves.

Understanding the Alternatives and the Competitors

In business, competition is everywhere. Whether is about entering a crowded market or pursuing a bold, innovative ‘blue ocean strategy,’ users always have options to solve their problems. The key is to understand those alternatives—how they’re meeting customer needs today and where there’s room for you to do it better.

The alternatives are subject to validation based on common sense and in-house expertise in most cases. Understanding the actual product of competitors across a company’s websites, social media platforms, and networking accounts requires significant effort. Structuring a systematic approach is a monumental task.

Such research should yield the following outcomes:

• Alignment with the company’s product and business goals.
• Consistency.
• Measurability.
• Adaptability over time.

However, there is one source that is often overlooked for achieving these results. The list below rightfully places it at the top.

Initial Action Plan for B2B Go-To-Market

1. Find a well-maintained listing directory where the competitors are presented.

2. Identify the main category with direct alternative solutions.

3. Examine the structure of the information and determine the user’s value in making the final decision.

4. Make a table to hold all the data.

5. During the process of gathering information, it’s important to remain flexible and brave enough to step back.

This approach, when applied to software, is relatively straightforward. Mobile app stores or Shopify listings are excellent examples of aligned communications. The mandatory fields and content limits serve as a foundation for organising the data for subsequent analyses. This principle holds true when examining marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay.

Placing the offered solution in the main category is often a straightforward task.

However, in some cases, it is necessary to read critically. For instance, the product may provide a resolution to a complicated issue. Alternatively, the company may be investigating opportunities to change its target market. These are rare situations anyway.

Paying close attention to every detail when examining the available data in the listing is mandatory. Thoroughly analyse the visuals (icons, screenshots, and multimedia examples), the offer in each header section (name, brief description in the directory list, and listing itself), the key features, and the presentation content.

Various tools are suitable for automating the process of generating the research table. However, this will limit the flexibility and, more importantly, the actual understanding of the perception built in the audience by the competitors. It requires a significant time investment, with substantial benefits.

Data-Driven Decisions from the Beginning

The saying “For business decisions, we need data; for everything else, in God we trust.” highlights a fundamental truth—good market strategies are built on solid information. Back in the day, businesses relied mostly on financial records, but today’s world demands a much broader understanding of the market and its players.

Go-To-Market strategies are complex solutions to not-so-simple tasks. Splitting them into small, actionable steps with stable foundations comes with a cost. Those efforts, done in the right way, at a later stage, are the investment in a framework for success aligned with efficient communication with the internal and external audiences.