As To B companies face the pressure of intensifying market competition and changes in the economic environment, the position of product market has become increasingly special and critical. In To B business, value delivery HE Tuber is the key factor for success. The homogeneity of products and the concentration of competing products in the market require a refocus on product value. How PM helps companies create value, the author describes this, hoping to be helpful to you.

In the past two years, with the intensification of market competition and changes in the economic environment, it is obvious that many To B technology companies are facing tremendous pressure. Many companies have resorted to layoffs and shrinking marketing budgets to survive the cold winter, but the product marketing position has received more attention.

As an Ex-product marketer, I would like to share with you the special features of this position today.

To B business, value delivery is the key

Everyone will mention the word value delivery when talking about To B business . Indeed, because the decision-making chain of To B business is long, it is not easy to make impulsive decisions, and every link needs to be polished patiently.

In the early days, there was no homogeneity in the products on the market. As long as you developed a good product, you could easily gain customers; later, competing products emerged one after another, and what began to compete was the sales conversion ability of each company; in the era of traffic, many manufacturers did not hesitate to Spending money on advertising is just to quickly monopolize the market through brand reputation.

Now, as the market calms down, everyone is focusing on product value again, thinking about how to make customers understand and pay for the value.

The reason behind this is simple: when there is no money, companies only pay for what is most needed and valuable at the moment . Within the team, the product marketing manager is the soul of delivering value.

Product market, the center of value transmission

Just think about whether this situation occurs within your company:

Each team has a one-sided understanding of the product business, has inconsistent external output standards, and has been questioned by customers about its professionalism.

Without understanding the current market situation and competitors, it is impossible to accurately express to customers the difference between its own positioning and its competitors.

Throughout the entire marketing chain, it is impossible to provide the differentiated content that the other party needs based on different roles.

Not understanding its own core selling points, it has implemented "Wangpo-style marketing" all year round. Even though Lei Sheng is a major customer, it remains unmoved.

…

Product marketing managers are here to solve these problems. In the To B field, what customers buy is not a specific product/service, but the value that this product/service can bring to him.

To better realize PMF (Product-Market-Fit), you need to accurately understand the value of the product; determine product positioning and find accurate target customers; formulate appropriate product marketing strategies and work closely with the marketing and sales team to deliver value to market.

The picture below simply expresses the location of the product market. It is more like a link, linking the product, marketing and sales teams, while also continuously empowering these three teams.

How product marketing managers help companies create value

To give a common example, students who work in the To B market often find that the leads attracted through various channels are actually only superficially interested people, and it is difficult to efficiently convert them into business opportunities.

Sales often report that when they take the initiative to communicate with these customers, they often spend a lot of time confirming needs, and later find that there is a discrepancy with the customer's original understanding.

This is because customers have only reached the interested stage in the purchasing journey, and their purchasing intentions have not yet matured. There is still a long way to go, such as procurement project preparation, competitive product analysis and comparison between products from different suppliers, and internal preparations after the company implements the product.

These contents are areas that To B manufacturers have not covered in the past when advertising and content marketing. We call them deep water areas . Therefore, there is an obvious gap, and this link requires the intervention of students from the product market.

In the product market workflow, the core is to choose the appropriate GTM (Go-To-Market) strategy for the product, which is the process of bringing the product or service to the market so that target customers will pay attention to it and be willing to pay for it.

To do this process well, the following major processes are usually inseparable👇:

Define market segment problems, assess market segment maturity, and identify target customers.

Analyze users and decision makers, and build exclusive segmented portraits for users in different industries.

Research competing products and understand their product positioning and strategies. Identify your own differentiated advantages.

Plan and execute marketing plans according to different stages/industries and market teams.

In this process, the product marketing manager will produce a lot of valuable content, which can help customers understand the differences between different products on the market, guide how to quickly implement the process, and assist customers in completing research and preparation work.

In the past, customers may have insufficient understanding of the industry and products, and lack the ability to filter out the massive amounts of complicated information on the market. However, the product market can provide them with a lot of help in this process, thereby significantly shortening the order signing cycle.

Only by embracing change can we cope with uncertainty.

The business society is experiencing many changes every second, and the future is also full of uncertainties. As the main player in the enterprise who is always aware of the market, the product market needs to have the acumen to respond quickly according to the latest changes.