VP of Marketing @ vFairs | Newsletter: Behind Product Lines | Talks about Product Manager & Product Marketer collaboration
A product launch should NEVER be the end goal for product teams. It should just be the first milestone of executing a go-to-market plan. Many B2B SaaS teams make the mistake of over-indexing on the launch. Let me know if this sounds familiar: → Product rolls out a feature. → PM hands it off to product marketing. → PMM rushes to craft messaging & launch plans. → PMM coordinates the launch with the marketing team. → PMs & PMMs move on to the next thing on the roadmap. 📛Customers rarely hear about the feature again. A launch is a time-boxed activity phase. It creates awareness to only those audiences who chose to pay attention at that time. Segments like future prospects, busy customers during the launch days, end users on vacation, etc., are missed out. A better model > → PM & PMM align on feature & how it aligns with the strategy → As the feature is developed, PMMs carefully figure out launch & GTM → When the feature hits production, the launch activities are initiated → After the launch, the feature is weaved into the marketing narrative → This means updates to landing pages, emails, sales narratives, creatives, etc. → The feature is periodically re-promoted e.g. when a related roadmap item is released ✅ "Suitable" new prospects & customers are continually made aware of the feature. Common objection: "How is it sustainable to keep promoting every feature when the product footprint is large?" 1- Every feature carries a different weight. Features that are auxiliary functions and table stakes don't need to occupy promo bandwidth. You want to focus on the finite set of critical differentiators and innovations you've launched. 2- Even if you lack the bandwidth to promote, embedding new features into the marketing fabric by updating collateral can still deliver the intended impact. So, what happens after the launch? Where are the features re-promoted? The "where" depends on the go-to-market motions that were "chosen" when crafting the GTM strategy. As a refresher, here's the sequence PMMs follow: → GTM Strategy: Plan to bring a product to market. Ex: target market, value prop, pricing model, offer, GTM motion, channels etc. → GTM Motion: Approaches to execute the GTM strategy Ex: marketing-led, outbound, paid media, marketplace, founder-led etc. → Channels: Mediums used to reach customers Ex: LinkedIn, X, Facebook, Tiktok, Youtube, Email etc. → Tactics: Specific actions within channels Ex: Blog, podcast, how-to guide, e-book, infographic, webinar etc. One doesn't need to be omnipresent across all GTM motions. That's not practical. Most products start with one solid motion and expand to two or three over time. For example, 👉🏻 Loom got traction from a Product Hunt campaign. 👉🏻 Hubspot started with inbound marketing 👉🏻 Figma started with cold outbound. 👉🏻 Canva initially got press. --- What does your go-to-market model look like?
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