#inbound2013

An Inbound Marketer’s Guide to Product MarketingHow marketers can improve the top line with product content and sales enablement tools.

Rick Burnes

1 What is Inbound Product Marketing?

2 The Starting Point: Your Buyer Persona

3 7 Steps Needed to Nail a Product Launch

4 4 Pieces of the Sales Enablement Foundation

1 What Is Inbound Product Marketing?

“Don’t talk about the product.”David Meerman ScottInbound Marketing Godfather

HubSpot’s early growth was fueled by its inbound marketing story, not its product story.

Here’s the problem with that ...

Answers to ‘What does HubSpot Sell?’

Survey conducted in November 2011.

No Product Knowledge

Deep Product Knowledge

No Product Knowledge

Deep Product Knowledge

No Product Knowledge

No Product Knowledge

What’s HubSpot?

SEO

Website

Social Media

Blogging

Landing Pages

Lead Manageme

nt

Email Marketing

Marketing Automation

Marketing Analytics

So we started to do product marketing.

Product

content.

Great product marketing is a great product story.

It’s told through product launches and sales enablement.

And in an inbound world, it’s driven by content & data.

2 The Starting Point: Your Buyer Persona

Who are you writing your product story for?

Image: Kadient marketing team, via David Meerman Scott.

• Formalize your persona

profile in internal

documents

• Follow your customers

home

• Collect assets and

documents they use

• Conduct win/loss

interviews

• Conduct user testing

• Keep updating the profile

Buyer Persona Tips

To teach the persona, have new hires write case studies.

Once you know your buyer, map their journey to your company.

Once you know your buyer, map their journey to your company.

Step #1: Find the Right Interview Subjects

50% From Your Funnel

50% Not From Your Funnel LinkedIn

Groups, social networks, and PPC can all work.

Closed won and lost deals are usually best.

Step #2: Interview to Document the Path

Forks: Which ebooks did she read? Who did she talk to?

Routes: What steps did she take to make a decision?

Use Sources to See How Buyers Find You

Use Conversion Assists to See Buyers’ Influences

Step #3: Share and Implement

Framework Route-Level Data

Fork-Level Data

Brand Awareness Search Searched for “small business heathcare plans”

Triggering Event Executive identifies need.

Board decides to improve benefits.

Research & Evaluation

Product research via content.

Downloaded pdf of healthcare services.

Decision Contract signed. Negotiated for security and consulting exceptions.

A T

ypic

al Jo

urn

ey

Core knowledge

for your team.

Guide for launch

and enablement priorities.

+

3 7 Steps Needed to Nail a Product Launch

1. The story clarifies

2. It has reach3. It sells

Let’s look at 7 steps to executing a product launch effectively.

Flickr Photo: SeanJCPhoto

• Sit in on product testing

• Test your messaging

• Use social networks + Amazon gift

cards to get participants

• Keep testing lightweight

• Participate in the beta program

(encourage development of one if

you don’t have one)

Step #1: Product Research

Flickr Photo: Barack Obama

Important information to spell out early

on:

• Elevator pitch

• Target audience

• User benefits (problems it solves)

• Key features

• Competitive positioning &

differentiation

Step #2: Spell Out the Story

Focus on the buyer’s journey, e.g.:

• ‘What is [Your Company]?’ video

• ‘What is [Your Company]?’ page

• Launch video (what’s new?)

• Product web pages

• Product deck for sales

• Case studies

• Related top-of-the funnel content

Step #3: Start Creating Your Content

Make the audience forget you’re pitching them.

It’s easy to forget case studies. Don’t.

Polish product content.

Step #4. Setup a launch war room.

• Who’s most likely to create content

about your launch? Maybe:– Partners– Customers– Analysts– Influencers

• Create content and resources that

make it easy for them to write

about your product.

• Create sample or template blog

articles.

Step #5: Engage Your Community Pre-Launch

Step 1: Create an exclusive sales

beta program staffed with top-

performing reps.

Step 2: Work with top reps to identify

and create key sales collateral for

launch.

Step 3: Train the rest of the team

based on what you’ve learned in

steps #1 & #2.

Step #6: Prepare Your Sales Team

If you’re launching via a big presentation, do an internal dry-run.

Step #7: Spell Out a Launch Plan

*Directly Responsible Individuals, a concept HubSpot borrowed from Apple.

Create a document that spells out the plan minute-by-minute, with DRIs* for each action.

How do you know if you’ve been successful?

1. Did the story clarify?

2. Did it get reach?

3. Did it sell?

Does your persona understand your product and its positioning?

Bounce Rate Is a Signal of Comprehension

Was your message amplified by on-message third-party content?

Did your launch generate a bump in coverage of your product?

Did you generate good leads from launch-related offers?

Are more customers using the new products?

Share of customers using HubSpot’s Salesforce.com connector, by cohort.

4 4 Pieces of the Sales Enablement Foundation

Why sales enablement?

Launches drive awareness here

Sales takes over here …… but there’s a lot marketing

can do to make sales more productive.

Sales Yield: % of leads worked by sales that convert to customers.

More productive = higher sales yield.

“Could you write this

email to my

prospect.”

A Typical Sales Enablement Pitfall

But of course!

Not Scalable

Thank you. I looked

at one of them.

Another Typical Sales Enablement Pitfall

Sir, I created 100 PowerPoint decks for

you.

Waste of Time

Let’s look at 4 pieces of a strong sales enablement foundation.

Flickr Photo: Martin Lopatka

• What is the sales process?

– What are the steps in the sales process?

– What’s the best process for training?

– How do you hold reps and managers

accountable for learning?

• What is the product story?

– Who are you selling to?

– What is the value?

#1 Push for Sales/Marketing Alignment

Flickr Photo: QUEEN YUNA

Create content to answer common

questions, in a scalable way:

• What is it?

• How is it different?

• How much does it cost?

• Your most frequent objections.

#2 Focus on Content for the Buyer’s Journey

Are your key content assets being used?

Throw Out Your Demo Decks

Website content is richer, and you control the story.

Are there survey tools you can create?

HubSpot’s 40-question assessment tool has a 25% close rate vs. 9% for all worked opportunities.

Make sure your happy customers are creating content, too.

Some channels that can work well:

• Internal wiki (eg, Confluence)

• Inside the CRM (eg Salesforce,

Chatter)

• Sales ideas site

• Q&A forum

• Email

• Internal meetings

• Webinars (large teams)

#3 Build Effective Communication Channels

When you create internal forums, reps answer their own questions.

Measure the Content Your Reps Are Using

Possible elements of a scalable

training:

• Use multiple channels

• Regular product quizzes

• Wiki pages with Q&A forums

• Manager-driven assessments

• Certifications

#4 Create Scalable Product Training

Publish Results So Reps Take Quizzes Seriously

How do you know it’s working?

Percentage of the Reps Who Demo’d Specific Apps

Measure What Your Reps Are Selling

Did you improve sales yield?

5 Final Thought

Great product marketing is a great product story.

But your ability to tell that story depends on big assumptions that may be out of your control.

What can an individual do to ensure success?

Work at a company you believe in.

Thank You.Questions?