Seth Temko

I think many people view machine learning as a much to little framework. I will take much data/info/input and reduce to some much smaller quantity. For most creatives this is seen as "limiting" or "restrictive" and the antithesis of creativity. In fact, algorithms boiled down to their simplest value is Solving a Problem in the Fewest Steps Possible. In fact, you can pose the problem to solve being the inverse of reduction and have the algorithm suggest all the things you haven't considered which is an expansive framework -- start from little and expand to much. This makes sure you haven't missed what is possible. Then you can have the algorithm asks questions to get you back to the best, single path.

Product marketing professionals need to allocate a lot of time with customers and prospects. The customers themselves communicate needs, pain points and goals. Listen, ask probing questions and meet face-to-face. Get into their operations. When you hear the same things from multiple people you're on to something. Write a case study and share.

Customers, customers, customers... you need to be constantly talking to operators in your industry with a deep understanding of their goals, needs and pain points. When you can be the voice of the market you'll up your game in every way and deliver more value to your current company or any future one you work with. Be organized about it. Set a goal of one new customer conversation a week. Document your conversations. AI notetaking is a God send but minimally create an organized spreadsheet. Quarterly write up a summary of trends, commonalities, break out ideas and share appropriately inside and outside your business. You will then "be the expert" and the quick proxy for the voice of the customer.

What does the pipeline look like? Do you have a top of funnel, middle of funnel or end of funnel challenge? For that matter, do you even have measurements? I'm assuming you're already in market so what's the data? Top of funnel challenge, then examine market segment, audience and product market fit. Middel of funnel, dig into process, chances are you are creating way too much friction, like lack of product information (this includes pricing), delays in demos, lack of proposal follow up, etc. End of funnel, look at sales team, process and proposals v. competitors -- marketing can't help much here but they sure can learn a lot at this stage. Make sure you conduct closed/lost interviews which is best done by a third party.

Be the avatar of your customers! Product marketers need to be maniacal about understanding and representing the viewpoint of the customer. You really can't spend enough time with them and learning about their operations, pains, needs and attitudes. Then you need to bring that understanding into the business, all departments, all the time to build not just customer understanding but empathy and a potent desire to help.

I've always seen product marketing as a straddle between understanding software development (one foot there) and understanding go-to-market (the other foot). When you have a foot in each camp you can help bridge the communications that both teams use that is effective in delivering value. How do you do that? Understand your specific market focus, determine market needs, map product value to those needs, confirm value delivery and document/write from that value delivery perspective. You'll need two sets of writing -- one for revenue and one for product. Ultimately it all maps back to customer segment focus and value delivery. How to start? Spend time with perspective customers. They'll tell you everything you need to know. Just ask.