Research Services

Product Marketing and Management

When is product management not product management? When it’s product marketing, of course. We aren’t trying to be glib, but the reality is that far too many organizations continue to twist the roles and responsibilities of these related, yet different functions. It’s not surprising as to why; product marketing is usually borne out of product management, meaning that unless its evolution is distinct and complete, overlap and confusion reign.

The role of product marketing is evolving from a product-focused to a solutions-oriented function. This move toward solutions positioning in a b-to-b organization will have a significant impact on the legacy product marketing functions. While the range of tasks does not change much, the way in which they are carried out certainly does.

Product Marketing and Management™ (PMM) provides the best practice research, benchmarking data, analytic models and thought leadership on the definition, structure, and responsibilities of the product marketing and management functions, as well as their place in the marketing organization and their relationship to other business units. PMM delivers objective data and intelligence to compare and contrast your own efforts to peer organizations, and provides thought-provoking research on industry trends, best-in-class go-to-market strategies and budget and resource allocation data.

OPERATIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Compare how your product marketing organization stacks up against your peers
Understand the strategies, tactics and tools that best-practice organizations are using to ready products and services for the marketplace
Assess the impact of your product marketing and product management functions with models, tools and frameworks that will allow you to fine tune processes and linkages with other functions
Gain the latest insight and research from industry thought leaders on how the product marketing and management functions are evolving in the b-to-b environment

REPRESENTATIVE COVERAGE AREAS

Strategy – Understand how the role of product marketing in the b-to-b environment is shifting from product-focused to solutions-oriented, and what is required to make the shift
Solution Marketing – Understand the evolutionary stages in the product to solutions shift; horizontal vs. vertical positioning; and alignment with reputation building and communications activities and with the sales readiness function
Demand Creation – Improve relative targeting and target market definitions and alignment with field marketing, and learn how to account-base market
Sales Readiness – Ensure you are equipping the sales function with the resources they need to effectively sell your portfolio of products and/or solutions into the market
Technology – Learn what solutions and services are available to aid the product marketing function in enabling sales readiness

REPRESENTATIVE MODELS

Solutions Model – details the requirements to move from stage to stage in the product to solutions evolution
Market Definition Bull’s Eye – a set of characteristics that combine to provide a thorough market assessment
Marketing Playbook Model – a four layered model on how marketing should develop playbooks
Account-Based Marketing – a perspective on why product marketing must be leveraged for current and key account marketing

DELIVERABLES

Incorporating PMM into your workflow is easy. Interact with SiriusDecisions research analysts in the manner that suits your needs. You may contact our analysts by phone, send an inquiry by e-mail or participate in interactive webcasts and in-person forums with analysts and peers. You will also have access to published research, presentations and rich media-based content on demand via the client portal.

Research:

Research Briefs: Monthly research notes that frame executive-level sales and marketing issues in a concise layout. Three to four briefs are delivered to you each month, and are archived on the research portal.
SiriusPerspectives: A monthly newsletter in a concise layout that provides a high-level overview of a sales and marketing topic dealing with demand creation, sales optimization or reputation development.
Vendor Profiles: Reviews of emerging suppliers who may be beneficial to your demand creation efforts. SiriusDecisions also plots suppliers on our vendor matrices, allowing you to analyze and narrow your choices.
Core Strategy Reports: Provides key observations and commentary on SiriusDecisions presentations introducing critical models, frameworks and strategies. Tackles more complex sales and marketing issues, and introduces new areas of research in a white paper format.
SiriusTools: Frameworks, models and issues spectrums that allow you to more easily visualize and communicate your challenges, and to determine the most appropriate courses of action.
Rich Media: Webcast archives in rich media format that can be replayed at your convenience, shared with team members or used for training purposes.

Analyst Inquiry: Unlimited analyst inquiry privileges are offered as part of PMM membership; you can schedule analyst time via phone or email. Discussions often focus on best practices, data, analytic tools or vendor reviews.

Product Marketing Audit: Each year SiriusDecisions will benchmark your product marketing and management performance against our SiriusIndex™ of Fortune 500 and SMB companies, and provide an independent perspective of your performance compared with your peers.

Events: Peer interaction is a valuable way to understand how other are solving similar issues, and to build your network. PMM membership includes bimonthly Webcasts and quarterly half-day research forums, as well as discounted pricing on all SiriusDecisions conference.

Below, please find a partial list of recently published PMM research.

Brief
The Innovation Council: Key Decision Gates

Executive-level innovation councils ensure that the organization invests in offerings that are aligned with strategy, are in accord with other business units and have the highest prospect for success. In this brief, we define the structure and responsibilities of the innovation council, including questions that should be answered at each decision gate.

Brief
Account-Based Models: Is Sales Ready?

Moving to an account-based model may seem like a natural progression for a sales organization as its customer base matures. The change, however, requires a well-planned strategic transition. In this brief, we outline a decision process to help b-to-b sales organizations determine whether they are prepared for the transition to an account-based model.

Brief
Introducing the SiriusDecisions Innovation Strategy Framework

In this brief, we introduce the SiriusDecisions Innovation Strategy Framework, a model that organizations can use to rationalize their investments across four quadrants of customer-driven innovation.

Brief
Product Lifecycle Investment Decisionmaking

After an organization’s commercially released products or solutions have been scored using the SiriusDecisions Product Portfolio Optimization Framework, the product team must agree on thresholds that offerings must meet to qualify for various investment levels. In this brief, we discuss the next steps for offerings whose scores classify them into three investment levels: grow and enhance, maintain and sunset.

Brief
Creating the Future Roadmap

In this brief, we present four best practices for documenting a future roadmap and successfully communicating an offering’s long-term possibilities.

Brief
The CEO Persona: Content and Tactic Preferences

In this brief, we present findings from our 2012 C-level buyer persona study, focusing specifically on the content and tactic preferences of the CEO buyer persona.

Brief
Aligning Product Management and Demand Creation

In this brief, we identify activities and deliverables within the SiriusDecisions Product Marketing and Management Model that help product management to maintain close alignment with demand functions.

Brief
Optimizing the Product Portfolio

In this brief, we introduce the SiriusDecisions Product Portfolio Optimization Framework, a best-in-class tool for determining which commercially released products or solutions require a strategic change.

Brief
The Human Resources Head Persona: Content and Tactic Preferences

In this brief, we present findings from our 2012 C-level buyer persona study, focusing specifically on the content and tactic preferences of the head of human resources.

Brief
B-to-B Personas: Customer Role Attributes

Marketers must understand the shift in perspective that happens once a buyer becomes a customer. In this brief, we explain how to extend the b-to-b persona model to incorporate customer roles.

Brief
Customer Advocacy Programs: Customer Lifecycle Assets

In this brief, we review options for customer reference assets and interactions for each stage of the customer lifecycle.

Brief
B-to-B Market Sizing: A Disciplined Approach

In this brief, we present four steps to effectively size a market, which helps gauge the opportunity for a new offering as well as prioritize investments during annual business planning.

Brief
The CSO Buyer Persona: Content and Tactic Preferences

In this brief, we present the content and tactic preferences of the chief sales officer (CSO) buying persona, based on our 2012 C-level buyer persona study.

Brief
The Role of the Functional Specification in Product Development

In this brief, we explain the role of a functional specification and share best practices for its creation and use.

Core Strategy Report
The SiriusDecisions Campaign Implementation Process

In this SiriusDecisions Core Strategy Report, we identify the steps involved in developing and implementing integrated campaigns and highlight operational considerations for each step.

Brief
The CMO Buyer Persona: Content and Tactic Preferences

In this brief, we present findings from our 2012 C-level buyer persona study, focusing specifically on the content and tactic preferences of CMOs.

Brief
Conducting a Best-in-Class Beta Test

In this brief, we describe a step-by-step process for planning and executing a successful product beta test.

Brief
Designing a Product Prototype

In this brief, we explain how to determine the right format for a product prototype, what elements to include and how to involve key stakeholders in its creation.

Brief
Building a Persona-Based Content Framework

In this brief, we present the components of a best-in-class content framework designed to guide product, solution and industry marketing leaders in developing a persona-based strategy and process for content creation.

Brief
Customer Advocacy Programs: Buying Cycle Assets

In this brief, we review options for customer reference assets and interactions for each stage of the buyer’s journey.