Are you interested in product marketing training but aren’t sure if the skills you’ll learn will match the skills you need to be successful in the role? This article discusses the types of skills you can generally expect to learn in a product marketing course.

Product marketing training helps professionals, whether from product management, sales, or marketing, understand the nuances of aligning a product with customer needs, shaping its perception in the market and ultimately driving its success. This type of training can provide you with hands-on experience in the strategies and techniques needed to ensure a product doesn’t just exist but thrives in its market.

But exactly what will you learn in product marketing training? This is particularly important to know for those looking to enter the field of product marketing or expand their current skillset. Below are some of the essential skills and insights you’ll gain from product marketing training.

10 Skills Taught in Product Marketing Courses

The following are ten powerful skills taught in a well-rounded product marketing course. As you evaluate your options, looking for them within the curriculum will help you find a program that sets you up for success.

1. Understanding Product-Market Fit

Product-market fit occurs when your product successfully meets the needs of a specific market. A strong product-market fit is foundational to success. Product marketing training teaches you how to evaluate the market to identify whether your product is solving the right problem for the right audience. You’ll learn to analyze customer pain points and align your product’s features and benefits to meet these needs.

Why It’s Important

Understanding product-market fit can help you avoid the costly mistake of putting money behind a product that doesn’t resonate with the market. By learning how to assess this fit, you ensure that your product is positioned to meet real market demands. This can increase your chances for success and will reduce wasted time, energy and resources.

2. Market Research and Analysis

Successful product marketing is grounded in data. Training will help you master market research techniques, enabling you to gather insights into customer behavior, trends and competitor strategies. This data informs decisions that improve your marketing efforts and product positioning.

Why It’s Important

Market research and analysis provide a strong foundation for your product strategy. These skills help you make better, data-driven decisions, anticipate market changes and outmaneuver competitors. They also allow you to have a better understanding of your customers, which will, in turn, help you build products that are more competitive and relevant.

3. Crafting Effective Value Propositions

One of the most important aspects of product marketing is developing value propositions that speak to your audience. You’ll learn how to clearly articulate the unique benefits of your product in a way that resonates with potential customers, distinguishing your offering from competitors.

Why It’s Important

When you have a clear and compelling value proposition, your product will more likely stand out from the competition. Learning to craft effective value propositions ensures your customers immediately understand why your product is the best solution for their needs, increasing the likelihood of conversions and long-term customer loyalty.

4. Creating a Go-to-Market Strategy

Product launches can make or break a product. In your training, you’ll explore the steps involved in crafting a go-to-market (GTM) strategy, including determining optimal timing, messaging, and positioning to ensure a successful product introduction to the market.

Why It’s Important

A strategic and well-thought-out GTM strategy helps you get your product in front of the right audience at the right time. Product marketing training is a great way to learn how to avoid mistakes that lead to poorly planned launches. This will improve your product’s chances of early success in the market.

5. Customer Segmentation and Targeting

Understanding your customer base is key to any successful marketing strategy. The right product marketing course will offer you training and experience in segmenting your audience into distinct groups. This will help you learn to tailor marketing efforts to each segment, ensuring your messages are targeted and relevant.

Why It’s Important

Customer segmentation is how you personalize messaging. This leads to improved engagement and better conversion rates. By targeting specific customer groups, you can deliver more relevant messages and offers, which ultimately improves customer satisfaction and boosts sales.

6. Product Positioning

Product positioning is the strategic process of defining where your product fits within the market and how it’s distinct from competitors. It involves identifying the unique space your product occupies and the value it brings to customers. This sets the foundation for all of your marketing and sales efforts. Product marketing training covers the steps to position your product effectively so that customers perceive it as the best choice for their needs.

Why It’s Important

Effective positioning ensures your product stands out in a crowded market. By clearly defining your product’s place in the market, you make it easier for potential customers to understand its value. Proper positioning aligns your product’s strengths with customer needs, improving your brand’s appeal and enhancing the likelihood that customers choose your product over competitors.

7. Product Messaging

Product messaging is the process of crafting the specific language and statements that communicate your product’s key benefits and value to your target audience. It involves conveying what makes your product essential, how it solves customer problems, and why it stands out. Product marketing training provides the skills needed to create messaging that resonates with customer needs and expectations, helping your product connect with its intended audience.

Why It’s Important

Clear and compelling messaging is essential to capturing customer interest and engagement. It helps potential customers quickly understand how your product addresses their needs, making it easier for them to choose your offering. Strong messaging builds brand recognition, enhances engagement and fosters customer loyalty. These elements contribute to improved conversions and long-term success.

8. Building a Product Marketing Plan

A comprehensive product marketing plan is essential for guiding your efforts. When you take product marketing training, you will learn how to develop a robust plan that includes key elements like campaign timelines, budget allocation and performance goals. You’ll also learn how to align these activities with broader business objectives.

Why It’s Important

A structured product marketing plan keeps your efforts focused and aligned with business objectives. It should also act as a guide that coordinates marketing activities. This includes helping you ensure that efforts are measurable, on budget, delivered on time, within deadline, and that they achieved the agreed upon goals.

9. Collaboration with Sales and Product Teams

Cross-functional collaboration is essential for product success. A well thought our product marketing training program will illustrate the importance of working with sales, product and other teams. It should teach you how to effectively communicate critical elements such as value propositions so that everyone is aligned on product goals and messaging.

Why It’s Important

Collaboration between product, sales and marketing teams ensures consistency in messaging and strategy. By working together, you can avoid miscommunication, align on goals and drive product success. It helps ensure that sales teams understand the value of the product and can communicate it effectively to potential customers.

10. Metrics and Performance Tracking

Product marketing training emphasizes the importance of tracking success. You’ll learn to identify and measure key performance indicators (KPIs). This allows you to evaluate the effectiveness of your campaigns, product launches and ongoing product performance in the market.

Why It’s Important

Tracking performance metrics allows you to understand what’s working and what needs improvement. By learning to measure KPIs effectively, you can optimize your marketing strategies in real time. This is one of the most effective ways to ensure that you deliver results and have the data you need to make informed decisions.

Product marketing training equips you with essential skills for building and sustaining a product’s success in a challenging and constantly evolving marketplace. Whether you’re transitioning from product management into product marketing or coming from an entirely different industry, getting training provides practical tools, skills and insights to help you be successful. By mastering product marketing fundamentals, you’ll be better prepared to deliver value to customers, shape market perceptions and collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams—all crucial for a product’s long-term impact and relevance.

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What are the different responsibilities of a product owner vs product manager? Where do the roles overlap and do companies need both? This article answers these and other often asked questions.

The roles of Product Owner and Product Manager are often confused, leading to misconceptions about their distinct responsibilities and where each fits within a team. This longstanding debate is understandable; after all, the lines between the roles are blurred in some organizations and nonexistent in others, as one role carries the responsibilities of both.

So what is the difference between a product owner and a product manager? Understanding what makes these two roles different can help companies streamline their product development process and optimize outcomes. In this article, we will dive into the distinctions, similarities, core responsibilities and factors a company needs to consider when deciding whether to hire a Product Owner, a Product Manager, or both.

Differences Between Product Owners and Product Managers

At a high level, the Product Manager focuses on the overall strategy behind a product and the Product Owner handles the tactical, day-to-day management of the product development process. Let’s take a closer look at how these distinctions break down.
Product Managers

The Product Manager is often seen as the visionary of the product, defining its goals, roadmap and long-term strategy. They work closely with stakeholders, including marketing, sales and customer success teams, to make sure that that product meets the needs of customers and business goals. Product Managers focus on high-level strategy, defining product-market fit, prioritizing features based on market trends, and setting product goals.

Product Owners

The Product Owner is more execution-focused and works directly with the development team, especially within Agile or Scrum frameworks. They translate the Product Manager’s vision into actionable tasks and oversee the product backlog, ensuring each feature aligns with the end goal. Product Owners prioritize daily tasks, manage sprints and are heavily involved in decision-making during the development process.

You can think of it like this:

• Product Managers establish the “why” behind the product.
• Product Owners establish the “how” it gets done.

Typical Product Manager Responsibilities

The average Product Manager’s role is broad and strategic, and their responsibilities center on overall product direction and market fit.

Here are some of the primary tasks Product Managers handle:

Market Research and Strategy: Product Managers conduct extensive market research to understand industry trends, customer needs and competitive landscapes. They talk with customers and become experts in their preferences. This information guides the product’s strategic direction.

Roadmap Creation: Based on research and feedback, Product Managers create a product roadmap, outlining key features and goals over time. This roadmap is shared with stakeholders to align on priorities.

Cross-Functional Collaboration: Product Managers work with departments like sales, marketing, and customer support to make sure that the product supports company goals and meets customer expectations.

Setting Goals and KPIs: It’s the job of the Product Owner to evaluate the product’s performance and make data-informed decisions. One way to do this is to define key performance indicators (KPIs) and decide which metrics indicate success in the marketplace.

Typical Product Owner Responsibilities

Product Owners, primarily working in Agile environments, focus on managing and prioritizing tasks to ensure that the development team meets the product goals set by the Product Manager.

Their main responsibilities include:

Managing the Product Backlog: The Product Owner maintains a well-prioritized backlog, detailing tasks and requirements for the development team. They ensure the highest priority tasks align with the overall product strategy.

Defining User Stories and Acceptance Criteria: Product Owners write detailed user stories and set criteria that guide developers on what to build and how it should function, ensuring it meets user needs.

Sprint Planning and Coordination: It’s usually the Product Owner who organizes sprint planning meetings, facilitates communication between team members and ensures that everything is on pace to hit deadlines.

Feedback and Iteration: Product Owners gather feedback from stakeholders and make adjustments to the backlog in order to keep development in line with the evolving needs of the product.

Similarities Between Product Owners and Product Managers

While their focus areas differ, Product Managers and Product Owners share some similarities in their work:

Customer-Centric Focus: Both roles are focused on delivering a valuable product to the customer but come at it from different angles. Product Managers look at the bigger picture, while Product Owners focus on the immediate implementation.

Cross-Team Collaboration: Both roles collaborate with multiple teams and must be skilled communicators to gather feedback and ensure alignment.

Stakeholder Management: Product Managers and Product Owners regularly interact with stakeholders, though the nature of these interactions may differ. Both must effectively communicate product updates, changes and feedback.

Why a Company Might Have One Role or Both

Some companies choose to separate the roles of Product Manager and Product Owner, while others combine them into a single role. The decision depends on many factors, like the company’s size, structure, and the product’s complexity and development process.

Larger, Complex Products: In larger organizations or companies developing complex products, both roles are necessary to manage the product’s lifecycle effectively. The Product Manager oversees the product’s vision and strategy, while the Product Owner ensures the development team aligns with those goals.

Smaller Startups or Simpler Products: Startups or smaller teams with more straightforward products may have a single person fill both roles. In such cases, the person in charge must balance strategic planning with hands-on task management.

Agile or Scrum Environments: Agile companies often have both roles, with the Product Owner working closely with the scrum team to make sure that every sprint moves the product closer to the desired objectives. In this setting, Product Managers stay focused on market trends and customer needs.

Resource Availability: Budget constraints or team size may affect a company’s ability to hire for both roles. Companies may choose to prioritize a Product Manager for strategy-focused roles or a Product Owner for execution-focused roles, depending on current needs. In this situation, the role tends to be a hybridization of the two, handling the critical tasks of both.

It’s easy to understand why the lines between these roles have been blurred. And, though their responsibilities differ, both roles are important in delivering a successful product that meets customer needs and supports business goals. By defining the roles and their responsibilities clearly, companies can better allocate responsibilities, improve team efficiency and deliver more value to their customers.

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Product marketing managers play a strategic role by bringing a finished product to the market, positioning it effectively to the markets that want to buy it, and communicating its unique value.

Product marketing managers have a challenging job. Not only are they responsible for positioning, messaging, and promoting a product, but they are often confused with other roles! These versatile professionals walk a fine line between product and marketing. While their responsibilities might vary from company to company, fundamentally, product marketers deploy strategic marketing plans to promote products and support business goals.

In this article, we’ll define what a typical product marketing manager does. Then, we’ll outline common responsibilities, define necessary skills, and define their role within an organization. Keep reading to learn more, or use the links below to dive in.

• What does a product marketing manager do?
• What are the responsibilities of a product marketing manager?
• What are important skills for product marketing managers?
• What is product marketing’s role within an organization?

What does a product marketing manager do?

Product marketing managers create marketing launch plans to ensure new products reach potential customers. But their work doesn’t stop there! They are also responsible for marketing products through every stage of the product life cycle. Their work includes setting marketing strategies, selecting channel tactics, and establishing messaging for new and existing products. Product marketing managers may also adapt marketing strategies to fit changing markets. Beyond marketing, product marketing managers often support sales and customer experience teams to new or retain existing customers. So, product marketing managers fulfill an essential and ever-evolving need.

What are the goals of product marketing?

In their daily work, product marketing managers focus on marketing goals like growing brand and product awareness, generating engagement, and driving exposure to marketing messages. Not only are they responsible for delivering effective marketing campaigns, they are also responsible for driving business success. Product marketing supports product goals, which in turn support overarching company goals such as driving sales, growing revenue, and acquiring or retaining customers. While they shouldn’t lose sight of standard marketing metrics, product marketing managers should ensure that their work ladders up to those primary goals.

What are the responsibilities of a product marketing manager?

Product marketing managers have a few primary responsibilities that all their other work orbits around. First and foremost, they should understand the market, its problems, and how the product they are promoting solves those problems. That knowledge shapes product positioning statements, product messaging strategies, marketing channels, and communication tactics.

With that in mind, here are some key responsibilities for product marketing managers.

Responsibility #1: Product Positioning and Messaging

Product positioning and messaging help companies communicate about their products and to their target markets in ways that will resonate. Strong positioning and messaging strategies differentiate products from competitors’ products in a crowded market.

Product messaging strategy documents outline critical information reinforcing the product’s value proposition for the buyer. Furthermore, it can refute any possible concerns or pushback that a market might have against a product. Positioning strategy documents critical information about the product’s target market, including competitive advantages and expected outcomes for customers.

Proper product positioning sets product marketing teams up for successful product messaging. These documents are guidelines with need-to-know information for any teams tasked with promoting or supporting the product.

Responsibility #2: Product Marketing Strategy

Close behind product messaging and product positioning strategy comes the product marketing strategy. Product marketing strategy outlines a product marketing campaign’s broad goals. That might include debuting a new product, promoting upgrades or new features, or supporting a product through its life cycle.

Product marketing strategy allows product and marketing teams to brainstorm, build, and deploy campaigns supporting business goals. Specifically, it helps product marketing teams communicate key product messaging and connect with target audiences defined by the product positioning statement.

The Product Marketing Strategy often outlines the channels (such as digital, out-of-home, or direct sales) through which marketing messages will reach the world, as well as the tactics (such as social media thought leadership, or retail demo) the campaign will use.

Responsibility #3: Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy

Crafting go-to-market (GTM) strategies, or product launch strategies, is a high-visibility and high-impact responsibility. A GTM strategy outlines precisely how a company will debut and promote a brand-new product. It begins by documenting the market and competitive research that informed product development. Then, it outlines product messaging, positioning, and marketing strategies. The GTM strategy includes the nitty-gritty details of exactly how, when, and why the product marketing team will promote a product. It also gets into details of product pricing and distribution channel strategy. Fundamentally, the GTM strategy should include everything a team needs to know about how the company plans to make a splash with its new product. If a product has been built using product management best practices, then the GTM strategy’s quality can make or break the product’s success.

Responsibility #4: Sales Enablement

Product marketing teams often equip sales teams with important information about the product, its target buyers and users, and key points from the product messaging and positioning strategy. In addition, they may create sales enablement assets that demonstrate the product’s value and real-world applications, such as case studies, presentation decks and one-pagers. These assets help sales teams communicate with prospects and close deals.

Responsibility #5: Product Lifecycle Marketing

A product marketer’s work doesn’t end after the product launches. Most of the work a product marketing manager does occurs after completing the GTM strategy. That’s because the product life cycle extends beyond launch to the product’s growth, maturity, and eventual decline and end. Product marketing managers are tasked with successfully marketing the product to drive sales, grow revenue, and satisfy customers, even especially after the product’s launch.

Additional Responsibilities for Product Marketing Managers

Beyond their core responsibilities, product marketing managers are responsible for a variety of other important tasks that support many teams.

Customer Retention and Onboarding

Making the sale and acquiring the customer is one thing – onboarding and product adoption can be a challenge, too. In particular, SaaS product buyers and users may require extra support integrating data or learning how to use products. While customer retention and onboarding aren’t specifically within product marketing’s scope, marketing managers may need to support customer success teams. This is especially true in small organizations.

Market Research

Every product organization should be market-driven, relying on market research to inform product decisions. In larger organizations, conducting customer interviews, collecting market research, and analyzing data typically fall to the product manager or product operations manager. However, product marketing can play an essential supporting role in these initiatives or even lead them entirely.

Project Management

Launching a project or promoting new features requires product marketing to be aware of many moving pieces and changing priorities, all of which have downstream effects on audience targeting, marketing strategy, channel selection, and launch dates. Monitoring for these changes, accounting for all contingencies, and communicating changing priorities to larger teams are essential tasks.

Communication and Stakeholder Management

Communication and stakeholder management go hand-in-hand with project management. Product marketing managers should have excellent written and oral communication skills. They often distill and distribute information to different internal and external audiences. That might include sending project updates via email, verbally communicating high-level goals and strategies in leadership meetings, or distributing marketing briefs. Indeed, strong communication skills intersect with stakeholder management, ensuring that critical stakeholders like executive leadership or customer advisory boards receive the necessary updates or that their feedback is incorporated whenever appropriate.

What are important skills for product marketing managers?

Beyond their day-to-day responsibilities, product marketing managers need diverse skills to succeed in their roles. Here are some of the hard and soft skills that support daily work as a product marketing manager.

Hard Skills for Product Marketing Managers

• Market research: Knowledge of the product’s market, target markets, desirable audiences, and competitors.
• Product positioning: Thorough understanding of the product, the market problems it solves, and how it might appeal to its target audience.
• Marketing strategy and channel knowledge: Understanding how to leverage different marketing channels and tactics to promote the product.
• Data analysis: Ability to analyze marketing campaign and performance data to gather insights about the impact of product marketing campaigns.

Soft Skills for Product Marketing Managers

• Project management: Monitor and update messaging strategies, channel selections, and bidding tactics.
• Budget allocation: Manage marketing budgets based on product priorities.
• Communication: Proactively share updates with internal and external audiences.
• Collaboration: Work with cross-functional teams to ensure campaigns launch on time and with the latest and greatest messaging while securing stakeholder support for major initiatives.

What is a product marketing manager’s role within an organization?

As you’ve probably learned, product marketing managers are essential to promoting products to their intended target audience in a way that drives the product’s and business’s goals. So, where does product marketing fit within an organization?

Product marketing managers work in the gray area between product management, marketing, sales, and customer experience. They often work closely with product managers to understand a product’s target market, features, and capabilities well before launch. Conversely, they may collaborate with or oversee marketers who deploy product marketing campaigns. Product managers are responsible for using market data to create products, and product marketing managers are responsible for promoting those products to their target markets.

Career Paths for Product Marketing Managers

Some Product Marketing Managers may manage teams of direct reports or may be individual contributors within their organizations. Depending on the structure of the organization they work in, product marketing managers might report to higher-up product or marketing team members. As such, the titles that go along with career advancement largely depend on the organization’s structure. Product marketers might advance into Director or Vice President (VP) of Marketing roles and eventually take on Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or VP of Marketing roles. Consequently, marketing managers who are passionate about product might advance into Director or VP of Product roles.

How to Become a Product Marketing Manager

If the aims and responsibilities outlined above appeal to you, you might be a good fit for a product marketing manager role. While some professionals may begin their careers in product marketing roles, it’s also common for people to change careers from product management, marketing, or communications into product marketing. Product Marketing Manager roles typically require a few years of professional experience in product or a related field. Whether you have direct product marketing experience or are hoping to break into product marketing, pursuing certifications and courses can help you in your job search and help you perform more effectively in your roles.

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Choosing the best product marketing course can be the difference between gaining the skills you need to meet your goals or wasting your time and money. This article talks about how you can sort out your options and select the perfect course for you.

Choosing the right product marketing course is an important decision that plays a significant role in shaping your professional future. Whether you’re exploring new career opportunities or looking to deepen your expertise, product marketing is a valuable discipline with a broad range of applications. With so many course options available—from online programs to in-person workshops—it’s essential to find the one that best aligns with your goals and learning style.

This article will help you navigate the different types of product marketing courses available and provide tips for making the right choice for your career.

What is Product Marketing?

Product marketing is a critical function that sits at the intersection of roles such as marketing, product management and sales. Its primary focus is to bring a product to market, ensure it is well-positioned to meet customer needs, and drive demand. Product marketers are responsible for understanding the target audience, defining product messaging, setting up go-to-market strategies and enabling sales teams to communicate the product’s value effectively. They must collaborate across teams to ensure the product’s success throughout its lifecycle, from launch to customer retention.

Who Goes into Product Marketing

Some people go directly into product marketing as their career of choice; however, many more are transplants from a variety of other fields. For example, those in marketing, sales and product management may transition into product marketing. These fields have skills that are directly relatable and may find it easier to make the move into product marketing.

However, there’s no limit on what careers can successfully transition into product marketing. So, no matter your background, gaining expertise through product marketing courses can prepare you to take advantage of career opportunities within the field.

Types of Product Marketing Courses

Product marketing courses come in various formats, each one designed to cater to different learning styles and career objectives. Below are some of the most common types of courses available:

Online Courses

Online product marketing courses are increasingly popular due to their flexibility and convenience. Offered by many well-known institutions and platforms, they range from short courses focusing on specific aspects like product launch strategies to more comprehensive programs. Most online courses allow students to learn at their own pace, making them ideal for working professionals. Some platforms offer courses from industry experts and access to a library of resources, providing high-quality education with the advantage of learning remotely.

In-Person Courses

In-person product marketing courses offer an immersive learning experience, often involving live interactions, workshops and real-time feedback from instructors. These courses may be more intensive and time-bound compared to online programs. Attending an in-person product marketing course can be especially valuable if networking is important to you, as it allows direct interaction with peers and instructors. In-person learning might also suit your learning style. However, this format may be less convenient for those with busy schedules or location constraints.

Certificate Programs

Product marketing certificate programs provide students with a certificate and recognized credentials upon completion. These programs may be available online and in-person, and they typically provide deeper topic coverage than product marketing courses might.

For example, they may offer deep dives into topics like customer research, product positioning and go-to-market strategies. A product marketing certificate can be a good way to add credibility to your resume and demonstrate your commitment to your professional development.

Degree Programs

While degrees specifically in product marketing are less common, marketing degrees often offer concentrations or electives in related areas like brand management, product development or strategic marketing. A degree program provides a comprehensive education in business and marketing principles. This provides you with a well-rounded foundation that can be valuable if you’re considering a long-term career in marketing or leadership roles. However, degree programs typically require a significant time and financial commitment and are not essential for many roles as a product marketer.

How to Evaluate a Product Marketing Course

Choosing the right product marketing course involves evaluating it closely to make sure that it aligns with your professional goals, schedule and learning style. Below are key considerations to help guide your decision:

Course Content and Specialization

Look for well-rounded courses that cover the topics you’re most interested in or that fill in gaps in your current skill set and help you reach specific career goals. For instance, if you lack expertise in go-to-market strategies, a product marketing course or program that has a strong focus on product launches may be especially beneficial. Review course syllabi to ensure they offer a balanced mix of theory and practical application.

It is, however, important that the program provides you with a broad range of applicable skills so that you have comprehensive knowledge and skills upon completion.

Review course syllabi to ensure they offer a balanced mix of theory and practical application. You will, of course, want to ensure the program is otherwise well-rounded.

Instructor Expertise

The instructors’ credibility and experience play a significant role in education quality. Opt for courses taught by professionals with substantial experience in product marketing. Research the instructor’s background to ensure they have relevant expertise and insights that will add value to the course.

A few relevant things to look for when researching an instructor include the following:

• Industry experience and organization they’ve worked for
• LinkedIn profile and any recommendations
• General reputation in the field
• Publishing credits
• Speaking credits
• Years as instructor
• Recognition

Earning a certificate is often a way to enhance your resume and show that you’re serious about career growth. If this is your goal, it is important to select a product marketing course from a reputable and recognized institution. Accredited programs that have name recognition are often viewed more favorably by employers and may hold more weight when applying for jobs or promotions.

Cost and Time Investment

Consider the financial and time commitments required for the course. Some courses are more affordable or even free, but they may lack the depth and certification of more comprehensive programs. These may also lack the name recognition it takes to help you stand out when it comes time to apply for promotions or new job opportunities. It’s essential to balance the cost with the value the course offers in terms of knowledge, skills, and career advancement.

Learning Format

Whether you prefer online or in-person learning is another crucial factor. Online courses offer flexibility, making them ideal for balancing work and study. On the other hand, in-person courses may provide a more engaging experience with opportunities for direct interaction and networking. Hybrid options may also be available, combining the benefits of both. Take close stock of your personal learning style, preferences and schedule before making a commitment to a product marketing course.

Alumni Success and Services

Hearing about the experiences of others is a great way to see how the course has helped them in their careers. Courses with a track record of alumni success stories are often a good indication of their effectiveness and relevance in the industry. Additionally, a product marketing course that offers an alumni community with resources can help you stay sharp long after the course is complete.

Networking Opportunities

Some courses, especially in-person or cohort-based online programs, offer networking opportunities that can be invaluable. Whether through group projects, discussion forums, or alumni events, networking with peers and instructors can help you build professional connections in the industry. Alumni communities also provide networking opportunities.

Tips to Help You Decide

If you’re still unsure about which product marketing course is the best fit, here are some additional tips to help you decide:

Identify Your Career Goals

Before choosing a course, reflect on your long-term career aspirations. Do you want to become a product marketing manager, focus on launching products, or work in a specific industry? The course you choose should align with these goals.

Assess Your Current Skills

Take stock of your current marketing skills and identify any gaps. Choose a course that will help you develop in areas where you’re lacking, whether that’s strategic thinking, customer insights, or product positioning.

Consider Your Learning Style

Think about how you learn best. If you’re a self-starter who enjoys flexible learning, an online course may suit you. If you prefer structured environments with real-time feedback, an in-person course might be better.

Start Small if Unsure

If you’re new to product marketing, consider starting with a short introductory course or workshop. This will allow you to gauge your interest in the field without committing to a long-term program. You can always opt for more advanced courses once you’ve established a solid foundation.

Choosing the best product marketing course requires careful thought and consideration of your career goals, learning preferences, and budget. By evaluating the type of course, the expertise of the instructors and the relevance of the content, you can find a program that not only enhances your marketing skills but also positions you for success in the competitive field of product marketing. Whether you opt for an online, in-person, or certificate course, the right choice will provide you with the knowledge and tools to excel.

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Product marketing connects products with the people who need them most. Learn what product marketers do, why they are essential to a product’s success, and how you can build a career in this field.

It’s an age-old question: If a tree falls in the woods but no one’s around to hear it, does it make a sound? In the product world, we might reframe the question as follows: If a company builds a great product, but no one knows about it, does it impact the market?

This explains why product marketing is essential to a product’s success. Without a deep understanding of how to talk about your product and generate excitement for it, your product may see a lackluster launch and underperform. Luckily, by understanding its key functions and how to incorporate them into a broader product strategy, you can use it to your advantage and support business success.

Ready to learn how? Keep reading or use the links below to explore the topics that most interest you.

• What is product marketing?
• What does product marketing do?
• Why is product marketing important?
• How to build a career in product marketing

What is product marketing?

Product marketing is the process of bringing a finished product to your market, positioning it effectively, and communicating its value to the target audience.

To do this right, you must understand your market’s problems and how your product solves those problems. Armed with that information, you can shape your product positioning, messaging, and channel strategy. Product marketers can create buyer personas, product positioning statements, and go-to-market plans to shape their marketing and communication strategies.

What does product marketing do?

Product marketing sits at the intersection between product, traditional marketing, sales, and customer experience. It takes information from many different sources and influences how a company talks about a product and who it talks to. To accomplish this, product marketers are typically responsible for product positioning and messaging, marketing strategy, supporting customer onboarding and retention, and sales enablement.

Product Positioning and Messaging

Simply put, product positioning is what you want to communicate, and product messaging is how you will communicate it.

Product positioning involves documenting market needs and articulating how a product meets those needs. It’s also an opportunity to show that your product beats competitors’ products. Ultimately, completing product positioning will help you define how your product stands out in the market and exceeds what competitors can offer.

Product messaging helps all your marketing materials sing from the same songbook. It’s a blueprint for communicating how the product solves market needs, why it will resonate with buyer personas, and exactly why it’s different from competitors’ products.

In a nutshell, messaging is the game plan for communicating the broad ideas identified through positioning.

Product Marketing Strategy

Strategy is how a company positions, prices, and promotes a product from launch through the product life cycle.

• Product positioning helps teams decide how to talk about the product to its target audiences.
• Product pricing involves determining the best price for the product based on its value for customers, competitors within the larger market, and company goals such as driving revenue or retaining customers.
• Promotion encompasses the plans for bringing customers to the point of sale, the messaging you’ll use, and the channels through which you’ll engage prospective customers and nurture them to the point of purchase.

Product management is responsible for building products the market loves, and product marketing ensures that the target audience knows about those products.

Supporting Customer Retention and Onboarding

Remember, product marketing doesn’t end after launch —it supports the product’s success throughout its life cycle. Products, markets, and target audiences may evolve and change over time. These strategies help companies retain customers who may otherwise consider and purchase other products. It can also engage and convert new customers who may not have known about the product when it was released or who may benefit from new features.

Aligning Product Marketing Strategy with Business Goals

Product marketers are often tempted to focus on metrics like paid ad click-through rate (CTR), leads, or the PR’s earned audience value. However, it’s important to remember that the business’s goals are your goals. If the company aims to sell a new product or upgrade existing customers, product marketing goals must be tied to primary business objectives like sales, revenue growth, or customer acquisition and retention.

To show their impact, product marketers need to demonstrate how their marketing initiatives support business growth goals.

Why is product marketing important?

Product marketing is important because it gets the product in front of the right people and encourages them to buy it. A product management team might build an exceptional product, but it won’t matter if your target market doesn’t know about it or see its value.

Aligning Teams Around the Customer

Product managers develop products from concept to launch, but product marketers are responsible for promoting them during launch and beyond. To accomplish that, they must ensure that all teams—including sales, operations, customer experience, and product, are attuned to how the product solves customer needs. They use buyer personas and market research to craft messaging, product positioning, and sales enablement assets.

So, product marketing ensures that all outbound communication and customer interactions are guided by the customer’s needs (not just the company’s revenue goals).

Driving Product Growth and Innovation

Because of their close partnerships with marketing and customer experience teams, product marketers are often among the first to hear feedback from product users. That feedback might come from social media sentiment, reviews, or support call logs.
That creates a unique opportunity to escalate customer pain points to product teams. Additionally, that information can inform how sales teams approach conversations with their prospects or how marketing communicates important product information.

It’s not all negative! Positive customer feedback can encourage product teams to focus on experiences that users love and even shape marketing campaigns.

Sales Enablement and Cross-Functional Collaboration

Product marketers’ first-hand market insights can benefit sales teams, too. They can leverage their knowledge of the market to help create sales enablement tools, resources, and training. They can also share common market pain points and articulate how the product solves them. With this information, sales teams can build scripts and think ahead to counter common concerns.

How to build a career in product marketing

If you’re interested in a career in product marketing, you’re in luck! It is a fast-growing field with no standard career path. Professionals in these roles often have backgrounds in traditional or digital marketing, product, sales, and even engineering. Product marketing managers are often called a “Swiss Army Knife,” so an unconventional background or skillset can work to your advantage.

Origins of Product Marketing

Historically, marketing focused on growing the brand and driving sales. Product marketing began to gain traction as companies moved toward product-led growth (PLG) in the 2010s. PLG is a business strategy that relies on products to acquire new customers, retain existing customers, and achieve business goals. PLG prioritizes specific products over the brand and enables prospects to engage with your product through the sales cycle.

Key Skills Needed for Product Marketing

Product marketers must balance hard and soft skills to succeed in their roles. This field is deal for professionals who enjoy working on dynamic, evolving projects and have the skills to work cross-functionally to bring a product to the market and ensure its success.

Hard skills:

• Market research and competitor insights: Knowledge of the product’s market, target markets, desirable audiences, and competitors.
• Product and positioning expertise: Thorough understanding of the product and the market problems it solves.
• Marketing strategy and channel knowledge: Understanding how to leverage different marketing channels and tactics to encourage audience members
• Data analysis: Ability to analyze marketing campaign and performance data to gather insights into campaign performance and adapt strategy based on findings.

Soft skills:

• Project management: Monitor and update messaging strategies, channel selections, and marketing budgets based on product priorities.
• Communication: Proactively share updates with internal and external audiences/
• Collaboration: Work with cross-functional teams to ensure campaigns launch on time and with the latest and greatest messaging while securing stakeholder support for major initiatives.

While this isn’t an exhaustive list, honing these skills can set you up for success as your career progresses into leadership roles.

Difference Between Marketing vs. Product Marketing

While both require knowledge of industry trends and best practices, there are some notable differences. Product marketing supports specific products by increasing awareness, generating leads, and driving sales. Product marketers’ work extends beyond the go-to-market strategy and product launch and supports the product’s entire lifecycle through growth, maturity, and decline. On the other hand, general marketing might focus on growing the brand itself or divide its focus amongst the company’s entire portfolio.

Product Marketing Career Paths

Professionals in this field often begin as or become Product Marketing Managers in the early stages of their careers. From there, they might evolve into a Director or Vice President (VP) of Product Marketing role. These roles might best suit professionals passionate about supporting specific products rather than brands.

By branching into broader channel marketing experience, product marketing professionals might take on Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) or VP of Marketing roles. Those more passionate about feature development and market research may pursue a product leadership role like VP of Product or Chief Product Officer (CPO).

The post What is Product Marketing? appeared first on Pragmatic Institute - Resources.

This article covers what you need to know about the role of product leadership, with common skills, responsibilities, and challenges.

Successful products don’t happen by chance; they result from strategic product vision, strategy, and execution (not to mention old-fashioned hard work). As product offerings grow and evolve, many teams may identify a need for dedicated guidance and leadership. But what exactly does product leadership do, and how does it differ from product management?

We’ll explore the responsibilities and skills required for product leadership roles and how they differ from product management. Read on to learn more, or jump to a topic:

• • Defining Product Leadership
  • Common Job Titles for Product Leaders
  • Essential Skills for Product Leaders
  • Common Responsibilities for Product Leaders
  • Product Management vs. Product Leadership

What is Product Leadership?

Product leadership refers to building and launching successful products through comprehensive product strategy and visionary leadership. It doesn’t just mean product managers with leadership skills. Product leaders are responsible for setting product strategy and overseeing team development. In essence, they shape a company’s culture around products.

How Does Product Leadership Support Business Goals?

Product leaders ensure the company develops products that meet the market’s needs and align new products with the company’s product vision and strategy. They are stewards of the product strategy and ensure that all products support bottom-line goals like driving revenue, capturing new customers, or retaining existing customers.

What are Product Leadership Job Titles?

Product leadership can refer to a specific role or collection of roles responsible for developing and championing products within an organization. It might encompass senior-level team members who oversee the product team and help the company pursue strategic product opportunities. It can include these job titles like:

• Vice President of Product
• Vice President of Product Management
• Head of Product
• Head of Product Management
• Director of Product
• Director of Product Management
• Group Product Manager
• Chief Product Officer (CPO)
• Chief Marketing Officer (CMO)
• Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Product Leadership Career Path

Product leaders often start in supporting roles such as product manager or marketer. As they advance to senior, director, or even VP of Product or CPO roles, professionals with product experience may take on leadership responsibilities.

Product Leadership Skills

This role requires a blend of technical and product knowledge, general business knowledge and essential leadership skills.

Product leadership aims to create stakeholder engagement and team buy-in to create successful products. It should also foster collaborative and inspired team environments so companies can create and deliver products that fit their markets.

• Leadership: Product leaders with strong leadership skills can confidently guide their teams through periods of stress and uncertainty. This helps create buy-in to the company’s vision from the product team and aligns different teams with strategic product goals.
• Communication: Clear written and verbal communication skills can help communicate complex directives in simple, easy-to-understand ways. Strong presentation skills can also help product leaders advocate for products and plans.
• Data Analysis: Market research and discovery are essential to building good products. Product leaders must interpret complex data to identify pervasive market problems, project returns for product development and understand user feedback.
• Project Management and Prioritization: Although product leaders are not responsible for daily work, they are often responsible for starting projects and may need to support their teams as they guide products to the finish line.
• Business Acumen: Product leaders should understand financial principles, market dynamics and strategic planning.
• Problem-solving: This skill is two-fold: Product leaders should be able to solve problems for customers (after all, this is what product management is all about!) and for their teams. Launching and maintaining products requires cross-functional teams to balance competing needs and priorities.
• Interpersonal skills: Empathizing with other team members and building connections can help identify solutions to complex problems and forge alliances within your company.

Product Leader Responsibilities

Product leaders take on high-level strategic initiatives that ensure product teams are aligned with overarching business goals. Their responsibilities vary between organizations but commonly include:

• Hiring, coaching and mentoring the product team
• Providing data, equipment, time, or logistical support resources
• Projecting costs and revenues
• Setting product development timelines
• Monitor and allocate budgets based on team needs and goals
• Translating company goals into a product vision and working with product teams to develop strategies that support those

Since product leaders are often in senior-level roles, they are typically not responsible for product teams’ day-to-day management or operations.

Product Management vs. Product Leadership: What’s the Difference?

Although product leadership and product management each focus on creating successful products, they have different responsibilities. So, what’s the difference between them?

Product leadership sets the high-level product vision and strategy, whereas product management coordinates the day-to-day work of developing and launching products.

Here are some differences:

• Product leaders often oversee multiple products or product portfolios, while product managers typically oversee specific products or features within a portfolio.
• Product leaders mentor and support career development for their teams, whereas product managers focus on coaching and skill-building for their direct reports.
• Product leaders are primarily responsible for interfacing with C-suite executive teams, investors and other high-profile stakeholders, while product managers are primarily responsible for interfacing with internal teams.

However, product leaders and product managers share some significant similarities:

• Both take on supervisory responsibilities and may manage multiple team members.
• Both roles regularly use product planning, project management, problem-solving and collaboration skills.
• Both leaders and managers leverage data to build and launch products that people really want.

Product leadership roles may vary depending on the company’s size, industry, and allocation of product responsibilities. In small or new companies, executives like the CMO or CEO often take on these roles. Product leaders can also include senior-level team members from other fields, such as engineering or marketing.

Different Companies, Different Responsibilities

Product leaders’ responsibilities can vary depending on the company’s size and growth stage.

Small Companies and Startups: In small teams, employees often wear multiple hats and are responsible for product management, product marketing, sales and customer support. Product leaders may take on responsibilities that typically fall to an entry-level product employee or vice versa. In these contexts, product leaders often must work closely with company founders, who may have a specific vision for product offerings.

Mid-Size and Scaling Companies: Product leaders have many responsibilities but may have more opportunities to specialize and focus on the product vision. They are less focused on launching products and more focused on scaling, retaining customers and acquiring new customers. Product leaders may oversee one or a few product managers, and as the team grows, they can delegate daily operational tasks to their product managers.

Large and Mature Companies: Product teams have more members and are more structured. Having more team members allows product leaders to focus on optimizing existing products, growing their market share and aligning products and features with the company’s wider goals.

What’s the Future of Product Leadership?

Product leadership constantly evolves to meet product teams’ needs and capabilities like other product roles. Product leaders can use AI to improve processes, streamline workflows, and remain competitive in the marketplace. Additionally, they should keep a pulse on new data analytics and reporting tools to gain deeper insight into changing market conditions and customer needs. An increased emphasis on user experience and human-centered design in products requires product leaders to understand design and UI/UX principles.

Above all, product leaders set the tone for their team. For this reason, leaders should encourage their teams to learn and incorporate new technologies into their daily work.

The post What is Product Leadership? (With Job Titles, Skills and Responsibilities) appeared first on Pragmatic Institute - Resources.

This article explores how to plan, evaluate, and maximize the ROI of professional training programs. It offers practical tips for making the most of your training budget and demonstrating business impacts.

In today’s fast-paced business environment, organizations must invest in training and professional development to stay competitive. But investing in training without understanding its return is a missed opportunity. To ensure your efforts drive real value, it’s essential to calculate and communicate the return on investment (ROI) of training.

This article explores how to measure the impact of your training programs, from setting clear objectives to using proven evaluation frameworks. You’ll also learn how to make the most of your training budget and overcome common barriers to achieving meaningful results.

• How to Plan Your Training Budget
• How to Calculate Training Budget
• Frameworks for Calculating Training ROI
  • The Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation
  • The Phillips Model of Learning Evaluation
  • Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method
• Barriers to Using Training Budget (and How to Overcome Them)

How to Plan Your Training Budget

Professional training (or, known by its other names, continuous learning or professional development) has benefits for employees and employers. According to research from Deloitte, Employees who receive regular training are more productive and engaged, and regular training creates a product, innovative work environment. Building soft and hard skills has benefits all around, but it can be challenging to find the bandwidth and budget to ensure that individuals and teams receive the training they need to build their professional skills and careers.

Proactively planning a training budget can help you take advantage of the resources your company offers. Understanding what skills or knowledge your team needs to develop, and identifying the business impacts of that development, can help you plan for the expenses and advocate for the resources to pursue training.

Why It’s Essential to Use Your Training Budget

Many organizations and companies have a dedicated budget allocated for training and professional development. These budgets are typically allocated in the prior fiscal year, as the organization forecasts its revenue, profits, and expenses. Training budgets are often considered “use it or lose it” expenses that may be reallocated for other expenses or departments. Not taking advantage of training could put individual contributors and teams on the back foot, lacking the necessary training to build innovative products and stay ahead of market demands.

How to Calculate Training Budget

But to reap these benefits, organizations need to use their training budgets wisely. That means not just offering opportunities for training and development but also evaluating their effectiveness and impact on the business. When training budgets go unused, they can reduce your potential training ROI. When you plan strategically and track outcomes, training becomes an investment, not a cost.
Here are steps you can take to accurately calculate your training budget.

Set Clear Objectives and Metrics. Before determining that a training program is the right solution, conduct a needs assessment to identify performance gaps and analyze if training is the best way to address them. This involves asking key questions to evaluate the true needs and root causes, such as:

• Is there a legitimate business or skills need not currently being met?
• Is training the right solution? Traditional training is most effective when there is a knowledge or skills gap.
• What are the specific goals we hope to accomplish?

Once you’ve confirmed that training is the appropriate solution, conduct a needs analysis to shape the program’s specifics. Define the target audience, desired behaviors, important skills, and performance objectives. This analysis informs the learning objectives, instructional methods, content, and assessments.

With your needs assessment and analysis completed, you can establish clear KPIs and metrics aligning with the goals. Tracking progress towards the targeted outcomes will demonstrate how well the training addresses the original identified needs.

Collect Baseline Data. To measure the effectiveness of your training program, it is essential to establish a baseline by collecting data before the training begins. This data will serve as a reference point for evaluating the program’s impact. Collect relevant metrics such as sales figures, customer satisfaction scores, or employee performance metrics.

Implement Evaluation Methods. Select appropriate evaluation methods for each level of the chosen evaluation model. Use surveys, interviews, assessments, or performance evaluations to gather data and measure the impact of the training. Ensure that the evaluation methods align with the objectives and desired outcomes of the program.

Analyze Data and Identify Patterns. Once you have collected the data, analyze it to identify patterns and trends. Look for correlations between the training program and the desired outcomes. Identify areas where the program has had a significant impact and areas that may require improvement.

Calculate ROI. Calculate the ROI by comparing the financial benefits of the training program with the costs incurred. Consider both the tangible benefits, such as increased revenue or cost savings and the intangible benefits, such as improved employee morale or enhanced customer satisfaction.

Communicate the Results. Share the findings of your evaluation with key stakeholders and decision-makers. Clearly communicate the training program’s impact on the organization’s performance and the ROI. Use compelling stories and data to demonstrate the value of the training and justify future investments.

By following these strategies, organizations can effectively calculate the ROI of their training programs and make data-driven decisions to optimize their learning and development budget. Calculating the ROI of training programs involves assessing the financial impact of the training on the organization’s bottom line. It goes beyond measuring the number of participants or the satisfaction of learners. Instead, it focuses on quantifying the tangible benefits that training brings to the organization, such as increased productivity, efficiency, and revenue.

Frameworks for Calculating Training ROI

Organizations can utilize various evaluation frameworks and models to measure the ROI of training. Let’s explore three widely used models that can help you assess the impact of your training programs effectively.

The Kirkpatrick Model of Training Evaluation

The Kirkpatrick Model is a well-established framework for evaluating the effectiveness of training programs. This model includes four levels of analysis that provide a systematic approach to evaluate the impact of training and making data-driven decisions.

• Level 1 – Reaction: Immediately after completing training, gather participant feedback. Conduct surveys or interviews to assess their satisfaction with the training, the relevance of the content, and their overall experience. With this information, you can gauge the program’s initial effectiveness and make improvements.
• Level 2 – Learning: Evaluate the knowledge and skills the participants acquired with quizzes, tests, or practical demonstrations. This level helps determine whether the training program successfully imparted the desired knowledge and skills to the learners.
• Level 3 – Behavior: Measure the participants’ application of their newfound knowledge and skills in the workplace. Monitor how participants implement what they have learned and observe any changes in their behavior. This level provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of the training in driving real-world application and behavioral change.
• Level 4 – Results: Assess the training’s impact on organizational performance with metrics like increased sales, improved customer satisfaction, reduced errors, or enhanced productivity.

The Kirkpatrick Model helps organizations establish a clear chain of evidence linking the training program to tangible business outcomes. By quantifying the results, you can determine the overall effectiveness and ROI of the training program.

The Phillips Model of Learning Evaluation

The next framework for evaluating training effectiveness, the Phillips Model, expands upon the Kirkpatrick Model by incorporating cost-benefit analysis. Because it considers the financial implications of training programs, this model helps organizations pinpoint ROI.

• Level 1 – Reaction: Gather participant feedback to assess their reactions and satisfaction with the training program.
• Level 2 – Learning: Evaluate the knowledge and skills acquired by participants during the training using formative and summative assessments.
• Level 3 – Application and Implementation: Assess the extent to which participants apply their learning on the job. Measure the behavioral change and observe how the acquired skills are implemented in real-world scenarios.
• Level 4 – Impact: Determine the overall impact of the training on the organization’s performance. Look for measurable outcomes, such as increased revenue, cost savings, improved customer satisfaction, or enhanced employee retention.
• Level 5 – ROI: Calculate the financial return on investment by comparing the benefits gained from the training with the costs incurred. Consider the costs of developing and delivering the training program and the potential financial benefits of improved performance.

The Phillips Model provides a more comprehensive evaluation of the training program’s financial impact by considering the costs and benefits. Organizations can make informed decisions about future training investments by quantifying the ROI.

Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method

Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method takes a different approach to evaluating the impact of training programs. This method gathers qualitative evidence through case studies and individual success stories.

• Identify Training Goals and Expectations: Clearly define the desired outcomes of the training program and identify what success looks like.
• Identify Outliers: Select individuals who have demonstrated exceptional performance or failed to meet expectations after the training. These outliers will provide valuable insights into the impact of the training.
• Conduct In-Depth Interviews: Interview the top performers and those who struggled to implement their experiences with the training. Explore how the training influenced their work and identify the factors contributing to their success or difficulties.
• Document Results: Use the interview findings to create case studies highlighting the most compelling success stories. Additionally, compile a report that identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the training program and provides recommendations for improvement.

By focusing on qualitative evidence and individual stories, Brinkerhoff’s Success Case Method offers a more nuanced understanding of the impact of training programs. It can be particularly effective in situations where quantitative data alone may not fully capture the value of the training.

Barriers to Using Training Budget + How to Overcome Them

Despite an organization’s best intentions, sometimes there are financial, logistical, or cultural barriers to training.

• Lack of Awareness: Decision-makers may not clearly understand the available training options or their potential impact on the organization.
  • How to Overcome: Clearly communicate what training entails for your team, the knowledge and skills that the team may gain, and the common benefits of of training.
• Ineffective Evaluation: Organizations often struggle to evaluate the effectiveness of their training programs. Without proper evaluation, decision-makers may hesitate to allocate additional time or funds to training initiatives.
  • How to Overcome: Create systems to gather data and track key metrics to evaluate the results of training.
• Insufficient Planning: Failure to plan training initiatives strategically can lead to poor utilization of resources.
  • How to Overcome: Organizations must develop a comprehensive training plan that aligns with their business goals and ensures maximum return on investment.
• Inadequate Support: Employees might not feel incentivized to pursue training without proper support and encouragement from management.
  • How to Overcome: Work to create an organizational culture that supports and encourages training.
• Lack of Flexibility: The training programs might not be flexible enough to accommodate employees’ diverse needs and schedules.
  • How to Overcome: Offering training that is accessible and adaptable based on the needs of employees and company goals can help utilize the training budgets more effectively.
• Impact on Employee Productivity: Concerns about productivity loss during training periods can deter organizations from fully utilizing their training budgets.
  • How to Overcome: Demonstrating the long-term benefits of training on employee productivity and organizational success can alleviate these concerns.

The post How to Calculate Training ROI  appeared first on Pragmatic Institute - Resources.

First-year customers are at the highest risk for not renewing. That’s a problem because If you can keep a customer for about three years, there’s a good chance you’ll keep them for the next 10 years or longer. 

That is where you get that lifetime value. 

A retained customer is about five times more profitable than bringing in a newly-acquired 

customer and retained revenue are worth even more. 

So Why Are First-Year Customers the Hardest to Keep? 

There are a few reasons why first-year customers leave. Under many circumstances, customers may have unusually high expectations in terms of how much value they’re going to get in a single year. For some products, it takes some time for value to build. 

And at the end of the day, it always comes down to value.

Value is like beauty. It truly is in the eye of the beholder. 

If there’s one thing that will drive you absolutely crazy, it’s when you know, and you can empirically prove to a customer, that they’re getting tremendous value from their investment and they still cancel.

On the other side of that coin, you may actually have a customer who, you know, is not getting great value and they consistently renew. 

You can certainly improve your value proposition by ensuring that the whole onboarding process is nice for the customer. You only get one opportunity to make a good first impression. It’s worth it, they’ll contribute more to the bottom line than if they were only around for one year because they were oversold and over-promised something that didn’t deliver them value. 

Customer retention should be determined by both qualitative and quantitative data. Curiosity should drive you to try and understand at what point you might lose a customer, and your answer should come from data—or all you’re doing is guessing.

Roles Involved in Retaining Customers (It’s Not Just the Sales Team) 

Many times sales representatives talk to their customers 30 to 60 days before the renewal date, and the customer indicates they have no plans to renew. Then when you ask why, they will say, “because I’m just not getting the usage that I expected, I’m not getting the value that I expected.”

By this point, it’s likely too late to retain the customer. The salesperson might explain that the customer leaving was from lack of value. In reality, however, it was the lack of engagement. 

Companies expect so much from sales teams and they manage many accounts. There are two other roles that can support customers long before the sales team calls them to renew. 

1. Customer Engagement Managers answer questions and reach out to customers to make sure things are going okay. It’s all about monitoring the customer’s usage throughout the year. When training is necessary, absolutely provide that type of training. 
2. Marketing Team/Partners can develop any number of different campaigns that provide support and answer common questions. 

How to Talk the Talk and Walk the Walk 

You want to talk to customers. You want to understand why they renew and why they don’t. And, sometimes you learn more from the customers who don’t. 

The goal of these conversations is to attempt to prove and improve the value proposition. 

At the end of the day, you have to ask yourself, does the customer feel like they are getting a good return on their investment? And the onus is on you to prove that to them. 

Don’t expect them to invest the time to prove it to themselves. Sometimes they know it, sometimes they don’t. Equally important, is when there is a situation where a customer is not getting commensurate value for their investment, then you must utilize intervention methods.

Modern Trends in Customer Retention

In recent years, customer retention has undergone a transformation due to technological advancements. Companies are leveraging cutting-edge technologies and data-driven strategies to understand and cater to their customers more effectively. Here’s a closer look at some modern trends in customer retention:

Data Analytics

Data analytics plays a pivotal role in customer retention strategies. By analyzing customer data, companies can identify patterns and trends in customer behavior. For example, analytics can help in predicting which customers are most likely to churn, allowing companies to take proactive measures to retain them. Data analytics also enables segmentation of customers based on various attributes, making targeted marketing campaigns more effective.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning

AI and machine learning are at the forefront of customer retention efforts. These technologies can be employed to make sense of large volumes of data and draw insights that might not be evident through manual analysis. For instance, machine learning algorithms can predict customer churn by analyzing various data points such as purchase history, customer service interactions, and social media activity. AI can also facilitate personalized customer interactions through chatbots and virtual assistants.

Personalization

Customers today expect personalized experiences that are tailored to their preferences and needs. Personalization in marketing communications, product recommendations, and customer service can significantly enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty. For example, sending a customer special offers on products they have previously shown interest in can make them feel valued and more likely to make repeat purchases.

Subscription Models and Recurring Revenue

The rise of subscription models, particularly in the software and media industries, has led to a shift in customer retention strategies. Companies with subscription-based business models need to continuously provide value to retain customers. Implementing features like automated subscription renewals, tiered subscription plans, and customer loyalty programs can be effective in maintaining recurring revenue streams.

Omnichannel Customer Engagement

Engaging customers across multiple channels (such as email, social media, mobile apps, and websites) in a seamless manner is essential in today’s connected world. An omnichannel approach ensures that the customer’s experience is consistent and integrated across various touchpoints. This also enables companies to gather data from different sources to create a more comprehensive view of the customer.

Community Building

Building a community around your brand is becoming an important retention strategy. Through forums, social media groups, or even in-person events, companies can foster a sense of belonging among their customers. This not only helps in retaining existing customers but also turns them into brand ambassadors who can bring in new customers through word-of-mouth.

Voice of the Customer Programs

Listening to customer feedback and acting upon it is crucial for retention. Voice of the Customer (VoC) programs help companies collect, analyze, and act on customer feedback. This can include surveys, customer reviews, and social media listening. VoC programs help companies understand what they are doing well and what needs improvement.

In conclusion, modern customer retention strategies require a blend of technology, data analysis, and a customer-centric approach. As the landscape continues to evolve, companies need to stay agile and adapt their retention strategies to meet the changing expectations of their customer base.

A Case Study in Revenue Retention 

By Joe Douress

When I was in the legal field, this particular business was growing quickly. Our company helped law firms find clients. It was all happening at a time when we were making the transformation from print to web. 

Early on we were at a 25% growth rate and we maintained that over a four to five-year time horizon. 

But here’s what’s interesting: we were bringing in up to 6,000 new customers a year.

Those 6,000 customers on an average contract value were in the $2,500 to $3,000 range, but on an annual basis, we were bringing in anywhere from $17 million to $21 million a year in new business. 

When we started looking at the second-year retention rate, the retained-revenue rate, we were all shocked to see that it was only about 52%.

Meanwhile, the business as a whole had a retained-revenue rate closer to 90%, but we had first-year customers that we were losing at a high rate. 

We were trying to sell too much, perhaps too soon. So when we looked at the data. 

What we learned was that, if you sold a subscription between $2,400 – $3,000, we had a better chance of retaining that revenue because the customer felt what they were getting in return was commensurate with what they’re paying for the service.

But it was at this time where we were also developing lots of new products that law firms were intrigued by and eager to purchase. We had a sales team that was eager to go out and not only sell a basic subscription but also an enhanced subscription. 

It almost was impossible for us to actually deliver enough value in that first year to justify that investment the second year. 

It was difficult to renew it in the second year because the price was too high and the value we were delivering was not enough for that law firm to say, “yeah, we’re going to go for it a second year.”

A couple of things we did to solve the problem was first to communicate the situation to the sales team. 

In addition, we carved off a small group of four customer support representatives whose focus went from just providing general customer support to focusing only on these first-year customers. We called it the priority services team. 

Their goal was to prove that the law firm was receiving tangible value and a return on investment. As a result, We saw the retained revenue rates increase the first year by five points. 

Now that may not sound like a lot when you’re going from 50% to 55%, but if you consider that the revenue is in the $16 to $20 million range, a five-point improvement in retention is real money. 

The post Why Revenue Retention Is Hardest During the First Year (And How to Get Customers to Renew) appeared first on Pragmatic Institute - Resources.

Netflix is one of the largest streaming services in the world, with over 230 million subscribers. The company was founded in 1997 as a DVD-by-mail rental service. In 2007, Netflix launched its streaming service, allowing users to watch TV shows and movies on their computers. Initially, the streaming service was offered as a free add-on for DVD rental subscribers, but in 2010, Netflix began offering its streaming service as a standalone service.

Netflix mainly competed against Amazon Prime (September 2008) and Hulu (October 2007) for market share in the first decade after they launched streaming. However, in the last five years, some of Netflix’s biggest competitors today entered the market, including Disney+ (November 2019),  AppleTV+ (November 2019) and HBOMax (May 2020). 

The influx of new services launched the “streaming wars,” and they slowly started chipping away at Netflix’s goliath-sized market share. In fact, in the first quarter of 2022, Netflix lost more subscriptions than it gained for the first time in 10 years. The company lost 1.2 billion subscribers by the end of Q2 last year. 

While these streaming services don’t have as many subscribers as Netflix, they are growing fast and pose a real threat to Netflix’s potential growth. 

The Problem 

Account sharing has been a long-standing issue for the company, with over 100 million households estimated to be sharing accounts. There are even some state and federal laws designed to address the problem. 

In 2011, Tennessee passed a “Login Law” that makes it illegal to share passwords to sites like Netflix and iTunes.The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) prohibits sharing passwords and can be considered a federal crime. However, enforcement is rare. 

As Netflix continues losing prospective and current subscribers to other streaming services, they are concerned that password sharing could limit their growth in ways detrimental to their longevity. 

However, at times, password sharing was embraced by the platform and largely overlooked. 

Now, the company is looking to reverse its stance on password sharing. As a result, they are pursuing revenue growth at the expense of revenue retention. 

A Business Problem, Not A Market Problem 

The market likes the relaxed password-sharing approach because many people flocked to Netflix when it first launched for convenience and affordability. Netflix wants to protect its revenue stream and increase its market share. 

NPR conducted a recent survey asking what users want from a streaming service. Their top concerns were cost, ad-free options and original programming. 

But Netflix isn’t focusing on the market needs, and in some cases, is doing just the opposite of what the market wants: 

1. Subscription fees increased in January 2022 (from $14 to $15.50 for the standard plan). And they’ve offered a new ad version at a lower cost. 
2. In 2023, Netflix plans to reduce the number of originals released. 
3. They plan to phase out 30-day free trials. 
4. Netflix has no interest in live TV or live sports. 
5. Netflix has also canceled several popular shows. 

And most notably, they’re cracking down on sharing logins outside the household. 

“They are taking the easiest path to increasing revenue, but they are not solving a market problem. In fact, they might be creating a market problem, which could backfire, resulting in them losing market share,” said a Pragmatic expert. 

Every company needs to increase their revenue, that’s true. There are other ways they could have gone about doing that wouldn’t alienate their base.

If the listened to their market, they might find other options: 

• • Pay per view sporting events
  • Additional fee for specialty content 
  • Purchasing or renting previously retired content 
  • Streaming parties as an add-on experience 

Plus myriad options that could come out with additional market research and data. 

Paid Sharing | The Launch 

To address the account sharing problem, Netflix introduced a “paid sharing” trial in Chile, Peru and Costa Rica. 

Under this trial, an account holder pays an extra $2.99 for a person outside the household to access the service. However, it’s still unclear how much that could cost in the U.S. (potentially anywhere from $2.50 to $4.50 for each account).  And users must connect their viewing device to their home’s WiFi and watch something on Netflix at least once every 31 days.

Although the trial was accidentally launched across Netflix’s help center pages in other countries, the company quickly took down the information and updated the article to only apply to the three trial countries.

In a statement, Netflix said, “For a brief time yesterday, a help center article containing information that is only applicable to Chile, Costa Rica and Peru went live in other countries. We have since updated it.”

Netflix could have launched in their test markets more quietly to understand better how the broader market might respond. Additionally, they seem to have failed to prepare their sales and customer service teams with sufficient training, creating confusion in the market, which is the last thing you want in the middle of a launch. 

In an attempt to help people add sub-accounts or transition to their own accounts, the company gave subscribers the ability to convert user profiles into new accounts and a dashboard to let users log out of devices remotely. 

In the first three months of 2023, Netflix expected to roll out paid sharing in other countries.

Netflix also said, “From our experience in Latin America, we expect some cancel reaction in each market when we roll out paid sharing, which impacts near-term member growth. But as borrower households begin to activate their own standalone accounts and extra member accounts are added, we expect to see improved overall revenue, which is our goal with all plan and pricing changes.” 

The enforcement of these paid-sharing fees is less clear now than in Netflix’s previous language about account sharing. The current policies hinge on a user’s account’s “primary location” and the devices connected to the Wi-Fi network. 

The company uses the IP address from the Netflix device or app to determine the device’s general location. The main account holder will have to set the primary location, and if they don’t, the service will automatically set one based on IP address, device IDs and account activity.

However, the company has not specified how it will enforce these restrictions against watching Netflix from a different household. And Netflix’s help center states that the company doesn’t collect GPS data to determine the precise physical location of a device.

The Market Response 

So far, the market is pushing back against the new paid-sharing plans. Specifically, people are expressing frustration and confusion. 

• What are the rules when someone frequently travels or stays in different locations for long periods of time? 
• How do you comply with the 31-day rule if your account is on multiple devices? 
• What does this mean for college students, elderly parents, those who travel for a living or families living in more than one location per year?  

Is Netflix the Next Blockbuster? 

We all know Netflix played a pivotal role in Blockbuster’s decline and eventual bankruptcy. But if we look back, several key factors lead to Blockbuster losing its customer base. 

1. Blockbuster increased its late fees. That earned the company nearly $800 million, but at the cost of frustrating its customers. 
2. The company couldn’t keep up with the technology and convenience offered by its biggest competitors, Netflix and Redbox. The company tried to compete by offering its online rental service, but it was too little too late. Blockbuster was already facing declining revenue and high debt levels, and the new venture only added to its financial problems.
3. At its peak, the company had accumulated significant debt, primarily through investments in new stores and technology and expensive marketing campaigns. The company’s large debt load made it difficult for Blockbuster to adapt to changes.

Ultimately, Blockbuster failed to listen to the market because they were too focused on their traditional business model of renting physical DVDs and Blu-rays. They were slow to adapt to the changing market and the shift towards online streaming services.

Now there is only one Blockbuster store in Bend, Oregon. They just released their first commercial in a “really, really long time.”

It is difficult to predict the future of any company, but failing to listen to the market will always have consequences. Netflix began trending on TikTok and Twitter, where users expressed their frustrations. And the stock took a hit since its peak in October 2021 ($630.31), and it’s currently trading at $357.50, as of February 14, 2023. 

Blockbuster didn’t see streaming as a threat until it was too late. Netflix isn’t looking around at their competitors to see what problems are solving and they are not doing their own market research. 

“Netflix defeated Blockbuster by listening to the market. There was a need to have easier access to entertainment. Now, they think they know their market so well they don’t have to listen anymore, but the market is always changing. Other streaming services should look at this whole situation as a cautionary tale,” said one Pragmatic expert.  

Learn How to Become Truly Market-Driven with These Pragmatic Courses: 

Foundations 

This course will teach you how to gain a deep understanding of the market and the challenges it faces. With this knowledge in hand, you can start building and selling products that people actually want to buy. You’ll also learn how to master the Pragmatic Framework. 

Learn More 

Insight 

Learn how to turn data into actionable insights that drive successful product decisions. With Insight, you’ll gain a deep understanding of how to identify patterns within your data to prioritize the problems you should be solving. This grounded and actionable approach will enable you to employ a scalable and repeatable process for all your data projects, making it easier to strengthen your roadmaps, go-to-market plans, presentations and more.

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Launch 

Unleash the full potential of your organization with Pragmatic’s Launch course. Get the tools and training you need to execute successful launches and align your team around the same strategies and goals. 

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The post Case Study: A Look at Netflix’s Paid-Sharing Experiment appeared first on Pragmatic Institute - Resources.

Ralph Vetsch has served as VP of Sales for several B2B technology companies and is sharing his real-world experience with channel readiness. 

The primary role of the sales organization is to sell. The primary role of the product and marketing organizations is to make selling easier.  

Too often, product management and marketing teams simply toss their products, marketing materials, and sales leads over the wall to the sales team. There is insufficient regard for how easy the product is to sell (or even if it is ready), whether the sales materials effectively accelerate the customer’s buying journey, or whether the leads are qualified.   

A reliable sign of lack of sales channel readiness is finger pointing and poor relationships among sales, product and marketing teams. 

It’s vital first to understand what it means to be “channel ready.” Based on our experience with dozens of B2B companies, organizations that treat product readiness and sales readiness as separate, linear components of the process are typically not as successful as organizations that see product and sales as a collaborative effort to ensure that the sales organization (either direct or indirect) is channel ready. 

While the details determining channel readiness will often differ from organization to organization, we have identified eight key action items that make up the minimal list of elements that should be in place.   

The Channel Readiness Action List

1.Defining the target customer(s):  

Identify the ideal customers. Define the target customer and the characteristics that make up that target customer. The more granular, the better. Channel ready organizations go beyond industry sector and firmographic data. They include psychographic and behavioral data to understand the customer’s decision journey, what motivates them and how they make decisions.

Learn More: Definitive Guide to Buyer Personas 

2. Aligning the sales process with the customer buying process:  

Have you defined (and documented) the sales process that maps to the buyer journey? Do you understand how marketing can increase sales’ effectiveness at each stage of the journey? Do you know which customer journey stages are most likely to slow the sales cycle—and do you have the right sales tools to address those?

Read: Mapping Your Sales Tools to the Customer Journey

3. Defining and addressing the competition: 

Do you know who or what your actual competition is? Are you losing most business opportunities to other vendors? Or to the status quo? Or to the customer’s decision to do it themselves (in-house)? Do you have the strategies and tools to address all of your competition?

Learn More: [Distinctive Competency] What Companies Can Learn from the Tennis Elbow Queen

4. Understanding and addressing customer objections:  

Do you have a documented list of common objections with how and when to handle them? Are your sales teams amply trained and rehearsed to identify and combat objections effectively?

Learn more:  Advanced Strategy For Building Effective Sales Battle Cards

5. Defining effective pricing:  

Does your pricing make sense? Is it easy to understand? Can sales correctly price the opportunity on their own? Are your sales teams too prone to drop prices to win business? Do they have sufficient training and tools to reduce the need to discount?

6. Generating mindshare and interest:  

Do you know how to get target customers to pay attention and truly understand your offering and its differentiation? Do you have a list of (magic) questions the sales team can use to establish the need and urgency and define the solution?

7. Building credibility and reducing perceived risk:  

Do you have a documented list of customer success stories that sales can use to show the customer that you can be trusted to be their business partner. Do you have the processes and tools to ensure that sales can quickly identify the best customer success stories and reference that best align to their specific sales opportunities?

8. Offering supporting technical details: 

Do you have documented product specifications that tie back to benefits that can validate your product with the customer and thwart the competition? Do you have the processes and tools to ensure sales can quickly access the most applicable and valuable technical details that best align with their specific customers’ needs and the competitive situation. 

Of course, collecting and communicating this information is not easy. Data collection and consensus building is needed to arrive at the answers. That consensus building starts with the collaborative alignment of product/marketing and sales teams. While this may be daunting for many organizations, ensuring a channel ready sales channel should be one of the product and marketing teams’ top priorities.   

Find Your Next (Or First) Pragmatic Course 

Pragmatic Institute offers eight product courses to help you take your career to the next level: Foundations, Focus, Market, Build, Design, Launch, Price and Insight. Use our course selector tool to help you identify which course will help you achieve your goals. 

Utilize the Course Selector Tool

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