This is for those who are newly starting — new to product marketing or in a new company.
What I See
As a product marketer, we serve product manager, sales, and marketing. We are often trapped in an abundance of requests between three parties. We run into situations where we are juggling multiple big and small projects at the same time.
We end up busy working on outputs.
- Fixing the website, datasheet, changing the deck.
- Manufacturing postponed, engineering postponed.
- Messaging needs to be tweaked.
It might just feel like we are making progress, but output doesn’t equal outcome.
So What?
We need something to give us a clear forecast of what’s coming our way. We need something that gives us structure.
Think of it as a TV studio. You can’t run all sets at the same time. Things need to be digested. You can’t be fulfilling all kinds of scattered fulfillments.
If we have two signals for all the products, that gives us a clear milestone for the marketing calendar.
The Two Signals — and How to Act on Them
Signal 1: When does stock arrive?
When stock is made, it becomes an asset — and an asset must be sold.
Track down that date, even if it’s an estimation. Don’t use duration; use exact dates. If it’s in the middle of the month, it’s the 15th. If it’s the end of the month, it’s the 30th. It’s okay to estimate — we’ll check with the product manager for any changes. It’s better to have a date we can adjust than to run things blindly. We are chasing outcomes, not outputs.
Signal 2: When does information go public?
That could be a website launch, a webinar, a newsletter, or a LinkedIn post. Knowing that gives us an understanding of the due dates of our deliverables.
Find out what is the event that triggers the product to market. Knowing the most important signal that the partners or the market receives gives you the ending — then you can work backward from that.
If it takes approximately two to three weeks to finish your deck, and another two weeks for the marketing team to build other types of assets, then you know you need to start working on the project earlier.
