Product Marketing is Broken. Make It Right with Thematic Products Launches

Are you and your team of product marketers struggling to coordinate marketing resources to deal with an unending stream of product launches, with vague release dates and an endless stream of product managers demanding a lot of attention to marketing for every launch? Do you know of a better way to do it?

• Be sure to pay the greatest concentration to the latest launch of new products.
• Be sure to tell a story that is overarching and is more valuable than just the individual parts.
• Marketing should be organized and thoughtful, so that they are able to be the best they can to promote new items.

If you're dragging yourself by a constant stream of product roadmaps, endless "t-shirt" sizes for agile project estimations, slipping releases of your products or fretting about failing to keep your team's productivity up It's probably an ideal time to start thinking about the topics for your product launches. Find out how to achieve this in this episode of Growth Stage!

|

Complete Interview with a Podcast Audio

     Listen online or find the podcast via other platforms.

Audio Podcast Interview Full: Video

Transcript

David Vogelpohl () (00:04)

Hello everyone! Welcoming to our Growth Stage podcast by . I'm your host, David Vogelpohl. I support the digital product community through my work . and I am humbled to be providing the very best from this community back to you in The Growth Stage podcast. In this episode, we're speaking to an individual who is uh, truly special for me. I work with him here at . We'll be discussing about how product marketing has been broken and the best way to address it with thematic

New product launches are always welcome. We'd love having you join us at Growth Stage Mr. Braden Steel. Braden, welcome.

Braden (00:39)

Thank you for your kind words. I truly appreciate the introduction. I'm excited to discuss advertising for products in the morning.

David Vogelpohl () (00:44)

Awesome. It's a pleasure to work with you with us at Braden. There was the feeling of being anxious because I'm not often able to pronounce your name in a loud voice. And then I wondered, what if it might be an odd pronunciation I didn't remember to pronounce, lost in the past, or what have you however, I'm happy to welcome you to the forum. Of course, it is. What Braden will be talking about are his thoughts on the weaknesses of traditional product marketing as well as the methods of how we, as a society, are using monthly thematic launch of products.

Braden (00:58)

Yeah. Yes, I'm grateful.

David Vogelpohl () (01:14)

To ensure that you pay the highest concentration to the announcements of your products ensure that you have the perfect product story, one which is more valuable than its parts, and aid marketing in becoming more strategic and attentive to deliver the highest quality work on your product releases. I was at Spryng organised with Wynter, W -Y -N -T -E -R, I believe I saw S -P -R -Y -N G. However, it's not an event.

There was a roundtable to discuss the many problems and issues in marketing, and the issue of product marketing was brought up. A lot of people felt that they were dragging their feet and had to deal with every single feature launch or new product launch, and trying to make a big impact for every single thing. The topic of thematic releases for products occurred to me. Another member of the group had suggested it that we decided to take it into consideration a few years ago.

Thus, I thought it would be fun to discuss the topic here today. Also, Braden, are you willing to start the conversation?

Braden (02:18)

Yeah, let's do it. I'm looking forward to discussing the topic. it. it. it.

David Vogelpohl () (02:20)

Alright, good deal. I've been looking for period of time, however I don't know the answer to your question. Did the item you purchased first come from you purchased on the internet?

Braden (02:28)

It's an interesting topic. I thought about it. This was the time of junior high school. eBay had reached its peak. Then I purchased the PlayStation 2 with a bundle of games. The bundle included sports-related games as well as some other games. It was then that I pondered whether or not to purchase it. Then I decided to buy the console and absolutely loved the game. I got plenty of value from the console and had lots of fun.

A different option is to pay my own cash. My first item I made was a didgeridoo was the first thing I purchased using my personal money. That's the third option there.

David Vogelpohl () (03:06)

You're fine. I like the distinction of your own money in comparison to what the same as the money of your parents? How did you go about it? employed to pay for your PSP?

Braden (03:14)

There's a chance that I earned this from trimming my lawn, cutting my garden or something. Another was my actual income from my job which I had to earn by myself.

David Vogelpohl () (03:24)

If you're trimming your lawn, you're making money. Braden. That's great. You're right that I gave the impression of giving away some information in the introduction However, would you like to communicate your thoughts with viewers about the process you're using or in how you work in this area?

Braden (03:27)

Sure, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, sure. That's why I'm the Director of Product Marketing, Senior of . My duties include everything that goes to market for our various products as well as the various industries which we work involved in. When a new product or service is launched that's when we're able to manage all messages related to the product and around the product in addition to providing assistance for video games or B2B, and other areas we're eager to sell to. Merchant of Record.

Our method is to take all the information right at the touch of a mouse to the experience of selling. We partner with SaaS businesses, gaming companies B2B firms that use AI as well as other companies similar to this. that. that. that.

David Vogelpohl () (04:18)

Excellent, excellent. Then, as you explain the kind of work you completed, you covered many different aspects. The work you did covered product launches, feature releases. In addition, you spoke about verticals. You mentioned B2B SaaS and video games. The modern marketer frequently embraces this form of vertical positioning in relation to a particular product. This, I believe, even further amplifies the difficulty of product marketing.

Then, what can be a problem in the advertising of goods? Was there something that wasn't working with the traditional approach?

Braden (04:56)

Yes, that's an great topic. The fact is, the release of a product depend on many aspects that are outside of the control of the marketing director for the product. In the case of engineering problems, if there's customer commits that are required, and sales become an issue, it's as"hey, we need to finish this product before the time it's ready to be released. It's not easy to understand the moving pieces involved in these launches. So, working with the teams from product development to obtain the commitment dates, as well as to understand

when are these products going to be made available for sale? What exactly does "release" mean? Does it mean that the software is generally accessible or is it still in the beta phase? We're waiting for the next one to arrive, so when do we want to discuss the software? What are we'd like to discuss? Do we have the ability to discuss this since we're testing the product? It raises many concerns, and a great deal of confusion is triggered by the particular way of thinking about how engineering and product works. So I believe that the main problem is

it's so difficult to know what's coming, it's hard to visualize the end product, and then think about the release date and plans for making sure that the product is prepared for release. The problem is that managers such as myself get you know, one week prior to launch just one week before GA, and the product manager says, This is going to be ready. Then, go and complete this task. It's like Hold for a while. It's not the only thing I've have to complete. It's true that you've spoken about verticals. It's been discussed.

It's true that it takes much the time. The issue I'm forced to decide and contemplate is how manage the launch and the other duties that I have to complete, even though I do not have any say in the date of the launch?

David Vogelpohl () (06:40)

In case you're running a floating timeline, and so the software isn't ready. There's a glitch that's discovered prior to the date. They manage to get through the release, and are able to finish it on time. They're trying to coordinate the resources of other marketers in addition to designers and webmasters and content creators and other like this. This arrangement of floating dates is what I'm hearing. What about the other part? Just like that one I've...

As have worked as a marketing manager for various products at various times. I'm like, I feel that every time I speak to someone from a product team, you'll hear them announce that they're making X and am planning to create a huge announcement regarding the announcement. Do you think your expectations of the volume of work involved in this new release can often become excessive? Is that part of what's wrong with the traditional approach to product marketing?

Braden (07:28)

Yes, absolutely. You know, those product managers are product managers for a reason. They're the ones who control these product. They're incredibly happy about the item. They've worked on them for up to several years that they've worked hard to bring the products released. Naturally, they'll want the same level of support that they get from these products. It's difficult to get someone from the management team you and say I'm very excited about this feature.

I'm looking for a great amount of assistance and here's a summary of my ideas as and to inform you that we're going to hit the brakes a little in order to consider such as A, B, or C. However, I'm just not in a position to aid you or, as you are probably not in the mood or it's difficult for me to keep a steady connection with the managers of the product as they may think that they aren't worth helping the cause they're trying to help, or doing things differently. This isn't the case, obviously, you don't wanna aid everyone else you can to.

David Vogelpohl () (08:26)

Yeah. You're viewing it from the point of view of a go-to marketing campaign around an event. But you're also dealing with the floating date of the traditional model, as well as each and every product manager, as well, and just like you stated, with the amount of time and money that they're putting into the project, they're thinking, lets create a huge splash on this. But, when you consider all the expectation, and with the floating dates It feels like you're not doing the best job you can. You feel like you're distributing you across a variety of things which creates a challenge to complete your very best. This is what I'm feeling. Do you think that's right?

Braden (09:01)

Yeah, yeah, that's right. The result is the point where all aspects fall down in a single moment. Then you must find out a way to accomplish all of them. There are only 24 hours in a single day, not to mention, you know, working for all hours of the day and anxiety of having to think about everything in mind, take this extremely technological method and.

reduce them to something that is market facing. So yeah, there's many obstacles to be overcome.

David Vogelpohl () (09:35)

So you alluded to this just a moment ago, in the course of discussing supporting PMs and their relationship with PMMs and PMs the sense of. If you're feeling you are a fan of the old-fashioned model of product marketing, would you think there's a disagreement with PMs or PMs?

Braden (09:58)

Yes, that's it. There have been times when I've had to admit that, yes that it's an uncomfortable conversation to simply declare that I cannot afford to support the direction you want to go. You know, in these instances, you need to listen and try to understand what the PM is seeking, but it certainly may create tension. In reality, it's all about good communication when you're in situations where it is necessary the presence of mind and be involved in those discussions, being alert.

Make sure you're clear and efficient in tracking your progress doing by being transparent, logging your progress and in this case making use of thematic launches to get around some of the issues which comes with launching a traditional product.

David Vogelpohl () (10:41)

There are Product Managers asking for the biggest potential megaphone for their announcements. There's the other marketing departments asking"Can be we more strategic so we are able to do a better job? It's also been mentioned that you're switching to thematic releases of your products. So let's just start simply. What exactly is a thematic release?

Braden (10:59)

Yeah, great question. Thematic releases refer to the bundling of items under a umbrella of a topic. For instance, B2B as the umbrella and other products are a part of the theme.

David Vogelpohl () (11:16)

If we're discussing themes-based releases, then I'd guess that we're talking about not one each week. This could be the case if you're very committed, however is it at a quarterly basis or monthly?

Braden (11:30)

Good question. We release a spring and summer release, as well as a autumn release. People aren't around in the festive season at the end of the year, which is why we don't make it available during this time. But, we only release three releases in a year. Also, we do occasional release every now and then and in the interim.

David Vogelpohl () (11:45)

The product organization will state that each quarter, we'll see an enhancement in the design of this particular item or range of products and we're going incorporate it into the marketing the product and then we'll attempt to make it real by launching a massive campaign. Does it comprise the parts of all of the different product lines as well as feature release in that area?

Braden (12:08)

Yes, it will. It is made up of those parts. As we review the map of our customers and ask, okay what do we have planned for next year? This helps us classify those products within themes. Thus, we don't need to take a step in the downward direction to say, it's time to decide the theme A. What is the products that are pertinent to theme A? Instead, let's look at what are the suite of products that are planned to launch in the coming year?

Then what's the main concept which all these items will fall within in these times of year.

David Vogelpohl () (12:44)

This means that you'll be able to use it, and you'll increase it. You might have a gap of a quarter, maybe at the time of publication or some other thing however it may have been delayed or something else, you'll recognize that the moment it happens. Yeah. That means that you're segregating the GA or, as you prefer, from the promotion.

Braden (12:51)

That's correct, yeah.

That's correct. Yeah. That's the strategy. this is the reason we've incorporated the plan, and have got GA actions that we carry out because these products need to be promoted when they are launched. Therefore, as a component of the process that is thematic, we are able to have GA tasks, and thematic actions that we could apply to each product.

David Vogelpohl () (13:18)

Every new product that you want to purchase to, can be included in the thematic releases. There is also a small version of the GA rollout. This means you have the double dip, it is what it sounds like.

Braden (13:31)

Yeah, that's right. Yeah. This has really assisted by ensuring the internal team members can access GA. Thus, the success of our customers doesn't happen through getting feedback from our customers. Customers are saying: Hello, I'm using this fantastic product. I'd like to learn more about the product. The team for customer service was not set up. This isn't the case as in GA we'll be releasing FAQ documents, as well as value-based messages to ensure that our employees know what's happening.

In addition, your most frequently used marketing message such as those that you mentioned, may delay the release of certain messages. If your product is scheduled to launch in January but you do not have a theme-based release in April, the product will not receive sufficient marketing coverage early on however it'll get the chance to take part in an even bigger marketing push in the coming months.

David Vogelpohl () (14:17)

If you thought it was extremely tactical, would you add the X you know, an additional release between the thematic releases in the event that you've got some such as GA dates for the same highly strategic product you've been waiting for?

Braden (14:30)

Yeah, absolutely. We also have some ad-hoc releases that we are able to help with. we try to limit those to a couple of releases whenever we are able to. We've devised a method that we use with your team of product developers, we have an exchange and then discuss the fact that we you have a great product. This feature isn't part of the same category, but it's really important for reason A, B and C. The plan is to talk about it as a group to make sure everyone's understanding the procedure we'll use. It's likely to receive a distinct consideration.

This means that you don't need to worry about 15 different products suddenly crashing down at the end of every quarter. It happens the case when products are delivering everything at the same time.

David Vogelpohl () (15:08)

Thank you.

One of my top business quips is actually, observation that the executive Q3 is when they begin Q3 while the engineering team Q3 is the time to finish Q3. This suggests that the teams are all sort of obviously sliding in there at the near-end of their quarterly OKRs. Yeah. Okay. I'm glad you got it.

Braden (15:33)

Yeah, exactly right.

David Vogelpohl () (15:38)

You have a theme that's due to release in future quarters or this one, but you've got a brand new product or feature which isn't compatible with this theme. Is it one of those unique ones you mentioned that could come out between the release of the theme?

Braden (15:55)

It's exactly what you'd expect. So, I'll present you with an example of our ongoing work. We released payments early this year. There were a variety of new features for payments. One payment that fell through the cracks in technology and was not able to reach until the time of its launch is Google Pay and everyone knows Google Pay. Then that we got together to look at Google Pay and think, how could we help promote Google Pay? It's not a business-to-business feature. So, yes we made a tiny version of the feature for Google Pay.

I've made a couple of documents to go along with it. They are FAQ documents, blog posts or blog posts that are promoted on social networks similar to that.

David Vogelpohl () (16:29)

So what should you do when you've got this kind of anchor product release as well as a thematic release that isn't as good? It seemed like you had one of the anchor products, perhaps, but in the theme release Apple Pay slipped from or Google Pay slipped from. What do you do? Do you wait to announce this thematic release until anchor products are included? What else can you do?

Braden (16:54)

Yeah, I mean, it depends. Sometimes it's waiting to see. There's been instances of waiting and seeing. It was interesting talking to the people in charge of the product yesterday who said to me that B2B may be an option to keep an eye on and come in a bit towards the end of this year. However, the advantage of the theme-driven launch is that there's not a deadline to adhere to. We're setting that deadline for us. And so if we need delay that deadline a little so that we can better meet the engineering deadlines and product We can.

or we can adjust those themes at any point. If one of the major elements suddenly does not launch, we could pick up some of the lesser elements for a perfect package to fit a motif in an alternative fashion. This is the reason why there's the flexibility in this design that allows for an opportunity for changes throughout the course of the year.

David Vogelpohl () (17:47)

It's an excellent idea. So as I think of an old-fashioned advertising campaign that is used to announce the launch of a new feature, it's like an announcement blog post, maybe a press release or a post on social media, or even an email to our customers, send our customers emails such as this. How is thematic release different in terms of structure?

Braden (18:07)

Yes, I've discussed the issue before. A majority of these things are still happening. The current time of thematics events continue to happen however there are what we'll call GA actions. We have various internal enablement, in -app notifications. If someone has access to this device or software, they could access it. We're providing that technology to our clients and our internal teams. We also separate that technology from the this theme release.

As of now, instead of paying an eye to the majority of these similar features, since they are accessible in pieces and bits it's possible to make an even more compelling of the overall value of all of these capabilities. This is a huge difference that I see which isn't possible with a release that is released pieces over the course of the calendar year, or even the quarter.

David Vogelpohl () (19:04)

Yeah. You are able to elevate your story. As an example which I believe is ideal to me is the enhancement in the quality of life. These improvements have been extremely difficult to engineer but do not necessarily render the product commercially viable. Because, do isn't it? A person who's on the opposite side of the fence doesn't know there's an issue or even something. It's often difficult for Phil or the product manager, to announce, Hey y 'all, we've solved the issue. when in reality it is in fact beneficial for both the business as well as clients.

Braden (19:08)

Yeah.

David Vogelpohl () (19:34)

It's a good thing that thematic releases don't only give you the chance to talk with your friends but also improve the story by introducing a couple of additional quality of life improvements.

Braden (19:43)

Yes, absolutely, and you can access a lot of features benefit by this. They would not be able to benefit from marketing or, in some cases, an announcement that is quick in Pendo. Instead, they're put on a website that's an online landing page alongside the bigger features that, well, do, as you said, use the megaphone. There's plenty to gain from the small things, such as enhancements in quality of life.

David Vogelpohl () (20:08)

So, has this strategy worked? What percentage of time?

Braden (20:13)

This is our third. Next month, we'll be having our third thematic launch this on July.

David Vogelpohl () (20:20)

Okay, so three quarters have passed are you satisfied that it has improved your capacity to manage marketing resources and assist in the launch of new product launches? Are you able to judge?

Braden (20:33)

I'd say it's certain to be improved from my side. I think the improvement I see is not only can I better support, the product team as well as not only support them but also work with other departments in marketing, specifically demand generation. They have a lot of lead-time now, which they did not have prior to these products.

And we are able to slot them in to campaigns that we previously had to work for. This is probably the greatest advantage. But then the other benefit is that it has opened the door for us to think of alternative ways of expanding vertically, such as video games, that we may not have had the time or manpower to push those verticals forward.

David Vogelpohl () (21:28)

You mentioned the video games section in the past. The business has had customers who play video games for quite some time from when it first started business. You talked about the company shifting its focus to the segment of video games. Are you of the opinion that segments may play an integral role in thematic releases or do you think it's more in line with elements?

Braden (21:51)

Yes, segmentation plays important role. As I've said, the next release is centered around B2B. It's a market we're hoping to sell to, and we're excited to expand to. It's possible to imagine that we'll be playing video games, too. We've mentioned that we've improved Our Apple Pay and implemented Google Pay. Also, the expansion the vertical theme does not provide you with the ability, but also allows you in terms of...

You get the advantages of the theme-driven launch. However, it also offers the advantage of coupling things like thought leadership into the thematic launch, which you may be unable to incorporate with a traditional launch. Therefore, you'll be able to benefit from the larger launch, and greater value in these events to your bigger business.

David Vogelpohl () (22:44)

Excellent. This has been really interesting, Braden. I'm glad that you were able to speak with us on air regarding this. This was an amazing discussion with Spryng in Austin. I had the idea to have it on the show however, this was a great discussion. Thank you for taking part of the show.

Braden (23:01)

Yeah, absolutely. Thanks for having me to join you. I had a blast.

David Vogelpohl () (23:04)

Awesome. If you'd like to learn more details about the activities Braden is working on and possibly his next thematic album, visit .com. Thank you to everyone for being part of this episode of Growth Stage. Your host is David Vogelpohl. I am a huge fan of the online community that offers digital products as part of my job at . It's my pleasure to share the best of this community here on the growth Stage. Thank you for your support.

David Vogelpohl David is the CMO of . In the last 25 years, David Vogelpohl has led teams who have developed top engines for expansion and developed software for major businesses like WP Engine, Genesis, AWS, Cloudflare, and other brands.

Article was first seen on here