Repair the Broken Product Marketing Through the use of Thematic Product Launches
Does your marketing department for products struggling to coordinate marketing resources in order to handle an unending flow of new product launches with vague date of release as well as a constant stream of product managers who want to receive a lot of interest from marketing departments with every new announcement? Is there some better ways to manage it?
- Make sure you give the highest level of attention for each and every new product launch.
- Develop a captivating story for your product that is more than its parts.
- Make sure marketing is organized and organized so that they are able to provide their best work to promote new products.
If you're dragging yourself to a halt with the constant cycle of product roadmaps, the never-ending "t-shirt" dimensions to calculate agile project estimates or slipping dates to release your product or worrying about letting your supervisors down, it's time to think about thematic product releases. Discover how in this segment of Growth Stage!
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Podcast Full Interview: Audio
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Transcript
David Vogelpohl () (00:04)
Hello everyone! Welcome to the Growth Stage podcast by . I'm your host, David Vogelpohl. I support the digital product community through my work with . It is my pleasure to bring the very best from community-to-community to you here on the Growth Stage podcast. This episode, we're going to talk with someone who is uh, really important for me. We collaborate on . He's going to be talking about how the marketing of products has gone wrong and the way to fix it using thematic
new product launches, we'd like to welcome the new member of Growth Stage Mr. Braden Steel. Braden, welcome.
Braden (00:39)
Thank you, I appreciate your introduction. I'm eager to discuss the marketing of products this morning.
David Vogelpohl () (00:44)
Awesome. and I'm so glad to have you as a part of Braden. Then I felt a flash of fear because I'm not often able to pronounce your name in a loud way. There's a possibility that this is an unusual pronunciation that I forgot to, I forgot over the years or something. But welcome to this site. Yes, absolutely. The topic Braden is going to talk about are his opinions on weaknesses in traditional product marketing, and how to improve the way we do is using periodic thematic launches of products.
Braden (00:58)
Yeah. Yes, I'm grateful.
David Vogelpohl () (01:14)
To provide the highest quality of care to new product launches to ensure that you tell a comprehensive tale of the product that shows how it is worth more than the components. It will allow marketing to be more planful and aware so that you deliver the highest quality work on your product releases. I was at Spryng held by Wynter, W -Y -N -T -E -R, I'm sure, and S -P –R –Y -N I'm not sure about that however it's a conference.
The roundtable was discussing the different issues and problems related to marketing. The topic of product marketing was discussed. People were concerned that they were exhausted dealing with every single release of a feature, or new release of products, and making an impact each and every one of them. The topic of thematic releases for products came up somebody was in the group that suggested the idea, and we voted to implement it around a couple of quarters ago.
Then I thought it would be fun to talk about the topic in this blog this morning. It's done, Braden, are you eager to get started?
Braden (02:18)
Yeah, let's do it. I'm excited to discuss the subject. it. it. it.
David Vogelpohl () (02:20)
Alright, good deal. I've been around for some time however I do not have the correct answer for this question. What was the first thing you bought on the internet?
Braden (02:28)
This is a great concept. I was thinking about the topic. I was thinking about it during the junior year of high school. It was the hottest place to shop on eBay. Then I purchased a PlayStation 2 with a bundle of games. There were sporting games, and other games. Then I debated the decision of whether to buy the item. Then I decided to and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. I had a great deal of enjoyment from that console, and also had lots of enjoyment.
Another option is to use my own money I ever earned was a didgeridoo was the very first thing I bought with my own funds on the internet. That's the third alternative.
David Vogelpohl () (03:06)
Everything is fine. I like how you differentiated between the money you own and your parents'. how was it like, the money of your parents? What was the method you utilized to finance your PSP?
Braden (03:14)
Yes, I could have earned it through pruning the lawn or weeding the plants or whatever. But, it is just like the actual salary I earned through my own efforts.
David Vogelpohl () (03:24)
If you're cutting lawns, that's your money, Braden. That's fine. It's true that I lost my footing in the intro But, can you talk about for the viewers what it is that you're doing at work or about how you work in this place?
Braden (03:27)
Sure, yeah, yeah.
Yeah, sure. As a Product Marketing senior Manager at . My job is everything go-to-market for all of our products, and also the different industries we work within. Once a product has been released, I'm responsible for all aspects of communication that is associated with that product as well as around it. And then providing support for things like B2B, games and various other areas that we're eager to selling to. We are a registered merchant.
This means that we consider everything starting from the buy button onwards in a digital product sales experience. We work in collaboration with SaaS companies, gaming firms AI companies, B2B firms and many other organizations like. that. that. that.
David Vogelpohl () (04:18)
Excellent, excellent. Now, when you describe your work completed, it's clear that you covered many different aspects. There was a touch on new product launches as well as feature releases. In addition, you spoke about verticals. It was also mentioned that B2B is a category. SaaS as well as video games. Modern marketers tend to prefer vertical positioning in relation to a particular product. This adds to the difficulty of marketing products.
What do you think could be wrong with marketing for products? Was there anything that wasn't working with the old methods?
Braden (04:56)
Yeah, it's a really great query. You know, product releases depend on many moving factors beyond the reach of the marketer's products. Examples include engineering problems and commitments to customers are required in the event that sales have to make an enormous impact, it's like, hey, you have to complete this item prior to the time that another product is released. And there's a lot of moving pieces around these product launches. Thus, working together with teams within the product team, to establish the dates for commits and to better understand,
What time will these items be released? What exactly does "release" mean? Does it mean that the software is generally accessible or is it currently in the beta phase? When the questions start to arrive, and at what moment do we need to talk about the software? What is it that we'd like to discuss? Do we have the right to discuss it since we're testing the product? A lot of questions being raised and a great deal of confusion that stems because of this particular way of how engineering and product operates. And so I think one of the main issues is
There's a reason why it's so hard to see the finished product, then plan around a release date, and plan the product to be prepared to go. And so what can happen is that product marketing professionals like myself end up, knowing, for example, one week or two prior to the release date just a week before GA and one week prior to GA and the product manager says, this will be accomplished. And then, get to and complete the job. And then, it's like I'm clinging to. I got other stuff that I needed to complete. You've talked about verticals. We've been talking about that.
Yes, it's huge time too. So the main question I've been asked to answer and thought about is: how can I complete the product launch work alongside the other aspects that I have to complete in the absence of any control over the date of launch?
David Vogelpohl () (06:40)
You've seen these floating timelines, and the product's not prepared. The team discovers a flaw just before the date. They are able to push ahead with the release and get the publication out earlier. You're trying to coordinate resources with different marketing and design teams, and webmasters, as well as content people and stuff similar to this. The arrangement you've created of floating dates is the one I'm hearing. Is there a different aspect? Like the one I've...
It's true that I've worked in the area of product marketing at various times throughout the years. I'm thinking, I feel that each time I talk to an individual from the field, you'll hear them announce that I'm making a public announcement about X and I'm going to present statements about it. do you feel like expectations about the amount of work required for these diverse product launches are overwhelming? Are you of the opinion that this is part of what's broken with the traditional method of marketing for products?
Braden (07:28)
Yes, absolutely. It's true that the product managers are product managers because of a reason. They're the ones who own these products. They're incredibly happy about this products. It's been in development it for, you know, many years working to bring these items out. Therefore, naturally, they'll need all the help they can get with these items. It's difficult to get executives of the team responsible for product development to come before you and say I'm really excited about this new product.
I'd like a lot of support, so here's a complete list of my ideas, and to have to tell you that we're going to hit the brakes for a moment to accommodate reasons A, B or C. And I'm unable to help you or help since I'm not capable of achieve it, and that's difficult to sustain a strong relationship sometimes with the product managers since, you know, you might think they do not want to assist them, or some other reason, which does not happen. Obviously and you're not trying to aid the most people you are able to.
David Vogelpohl () (08:26)
Yeah. That's why you, regarding managing the market in the wake of the new product. You're dealing with floating dates within the conventional model, and every product manager and rightfully so, like you said, with the money and effort they're investing in and it's like that we need to make a big impact on this. but with all of those demands, as well as the date dates floating around and bouncing around, you feel as if you're not doing what you could be doing. There's a lot of pressure to meet everything and finding it hard to really do your best work is something I'm getting. Does that sound like you?
Braden (09:01)
Yeah, yeah, that's right. You end up at an area in which many things are ruined in one second. You must then determine the best way to handle every single thing. It is not just that there are one day in the year, and not even, that's right, throughout the day as well as pressure that comes with being able to keep all of these issues on your radar. Take the time to learn these aspects of technology and.
reduce them to an item that's market-oriented. That's why there are many issues to face.
David Vogelpohl () (09:35)
You mentioned this in the past when discussing the support for the product managers as well as the relation to PMMs and PMMs if you want to. Do you think you're a big fan of the traditional model of marketing to products, do you think it causes some friction with PMMs and PMs?
Braden (09:58)
Yes, I think this is the situation. I've experienced situations where yeah, it's certainly had tension-filled conversations where I have to simply out admit that I did lack the resources to assist you. When this happens, it's crucial to remain attentive and know what the PM's eyes are at. However, it can create tension. And, you know, the key is to have a good, clear communication to situations where, you know, you have to be present and paying attention.
having a clear understanding, and being proficient in logging the changes you're making, and when it comes to using the method of thematic launches in order to stay clear of a lot of that challenge which is typical of traditional product launches.
David Vogelpohl () (10:41)
You've now got product managers requesting the largest possible megaphone in their announcements. You have the marketers saying"Can be we more strategically focused so that we can do more effective work? We've talked about moving to themes in your product launches. Let's start by defining the fundamentals. What is a thematic release?
Braden (10:59)
Yeah, great question. Thematic releases combine products under the topic. In this case, B2B as the umbrella and all the products support the theme.
David Vogelpohl () (11:16)
So when we talk about thematic releases I'm guessing that you're not talking about one every week. Perhaps it's because you're very aggressive. But what if you released them in a regular manner, like quarterly or each month?
Braden (11:30)
Good question. There is a spring release or a fall and summer release. The public isn't in the holiday season until the conclusion of the year, so we don't release the album in that period. True, we release it only three times every year. There are also ad-hoc releases every now and then.
David Vogelpohl () (11:45)
This is why the company's goal is to announce that every quarter, we'll see this improvement in the theme of this specific product or line of products and we'll bring this into advertising for the products, but we're planning for it to be real with an extensive campaign. What are the different aspects of all the releases and items within that topic?
Braden (12:08)
Yes, it is. It contains those components. We then review our clients plans and decide What are we planning for this year? This helps us arrange those items within themes. There isn't always the top down or saying that we'll have to figure out the theme of A. What products have relevance to theme? Instead, we'll take a look at what products will be released in the coming year?
And then what's the subject thing that these products could be classified under in these seasons.
David Vogelpohl () (12:44)
So you'll have this, you'll amplify the volume. You might be behind by one quarter, maybe on the release date or something, but there may have been a delay, imagine, and you'll know it's. Yeah. This means you're not separating from the GA for the time that you wish to, with respect to your promotion.
Braden (12:51)
That's correct, yeah.
That's correct. Yeah. That's an approach, you are aware that we've implemented the strategy, and we've implemented GA actions are carried out because these products need to be promoted after they've gone live. And so we are part of the thematic process, we can have GA actions and themes that we are able to use for every product.
David Vogelpohl () (13:18)
So everybody, every new release or product, kind of gets to follow along with the themes that are released. Also, there is a sort of shorter version that is similar to reasons, such as the GA rollout successfully. This means you have additional dips here, appears.
Braden (13:31)
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. And it's been really helpful by ensuring the internal team members have access to GA. This means that customer satisfaction doesn't come from being able to get the feedback of clients. Customers are saying"Hello, I'm using this wonderful product. I'd like to learn more about the product. The team for customer success wasn't set up. This isn't the case because at GA we're releasing FAQs and message that are based on value to ensure our internal teams understand what's happening.
And then the go -to market messages, as you mentioned, may be a bit slow sometimes. If your product is set to release in January and you do not have a themed release until April, your product may not be getting the same level of attention from marketing early However, it'll still be able be part of the larger campaign later throughout the year.
David Vogelpohl () (14:17)
If you thought it was extremely strategically, would you be willing to add an X or an even bigger release in between these thematic releases? If you have some, that GA date of a similar extremely strategic product that you've been waiting for?
Braden (14:30)
Yeah, absolutely. Therefore, we do offer a few ad-hoc releases that we can aid with. We'll try to limit them to a couple of releases if we can. And we've built a process that involves you and your Product team. We engage in a dialogue and declare that we are aware of this amazing function. This doesn't fall under the definition, yet it's crucial for reasons A, B and C. So we've planned to do this as a group to make sure that everyone is aware of what we'll be doing. Also, as we've said this is a distinct attention.
The advantage, however, is that it's not possible to deliver 15 items all at once, crashing to the floor when the time comes to close each quarter. That's typically the case in cases where products provide everything at the same time.
David Vogelpohl () (15:08)
Thank you.
My most-loved business quips is not an improbable joke, but rather an observation. The concept is that executive Q3 means the beginning of Q3, whereas the engineering team Q3 signifies the conclusion of the Q3. It sounds like they're, well, sliding through the end of Q3 in order to get the quarterly OKRs. Yeah. Okay. I've got it.
Braden (15:33)
Absolutly right.
David Vogelpohl () (15:38)
You have a theme due in the coming quarter or perhaps in the near coming months or years, but you're making a huge announcement for a new feature or product which isn't in line to the overall theme. Is it any of the unique ones that you've been talking about, which could come up in between the release of the thematic theme?
Braden (15:55)
Absolutely, exactly as you would expect. Therefore, I'll provide you with an example of what we're up to. We released the payment in the early part of this year. We were able to offer a variety of interesting payments. One of the payment options that we just couldn't get to it by when the launch happened would be Google Pay and everyone knows Google Pay. So, as you can imagine, we sat down to look at the feature and asked, how do ensure that we are in the right direction when we promote Google Pay? The feature isn't an B2B product. So we have released a new version of the service for Google Pay.
I have created some documents to accompany it. FAQs are a post or blog article which is promoted via social media sites like this.
David Vogelpohl () (16:29)
What happens if you've got this kind of release for an anchor product and a thematic release that isn't as good? It sounded like you still were using of the anchor products that were present in the thematic release that Apple Pay slipped from as well as Google Pay slipped from. What should you do? Wait for the thematic release till the anchor products will be included? Or what do you do?
Braden (16:54)
Yeah, I mean, it depends. It's often waiting and seeing. It's happened. True, I had a conversation with the Product team in the morning. They said, Hey, B2B might be something we should look and see in the next few months this year. The advantage of a theme-based launch is that there's no deadline to meet. The deadline is set by us. So if we have to extend that deadline just a bit so that we can better meet the deadlines of manufacturing and product development, we are able to.
Or we could alter the themes at any time. If a major new feature isn't or launched, we might take a few additional features in order to create a collection which matches the theme in an alternative way. That's why we have possibility of altering this design to accommodate the shifts that take place all through the year.
David Vogelpohl () (17:47)
OK, that makes sense. When I consider a traditional promotional campaign of the release of a new feature such as the announcement blog. It could also be an official press release or posting on social media or emailing our clients. Contact potential customers, etc. of things. How does thematic release differ from one another in terms of structure?
Braden (18:07)
It's true, I've mentioned this earlier. Many of these things remain in the process. In the current time, they are taking place, nevertheless, we get what we call GA task. There is a lot more beyond internal enablement for app notifications. When you allow access to a device or software We're providing that technology to our customers as well as them, the internal teams within us. This access is separate from the theme version.
At the moment we are focusing instead on the many things which are similar to, you know, hey, this feature is accessible and fragmented, we are able to describe the positives of the features. This is an enormous difference that I've observed is not possible to do when releasing something you know, by piecemeal release throughout the course of the quarter or the year.
David Vogelpohl () (19:04)
Yeah. It also appears to increase the value of your narrative. Because I think an example that I think best fits my needs is the quality of life enhancements that are hard for engineering but do not necessarily improve the value of the product. Because, do isn't it? Anyone who's outside doesn't even know that there was a problem or something. It's often difficult for Phil as an employee of a marketing department, to get out there and say"Hey everybody, we fixed this. In reality, the fix proved to be a huge benefit for the customer and to the business.
Braden (19:08)
Yeah.
David Vogelpohl () (19:34)
So it's felt like thematic releases do not just permit users to sort of let go of the megaphone nevertheless, they could elevate the story of some additional quality of life enhancements.
Braden (19:43)
Absolutely, yeah, you are able to access that many functions gain of this. They wouldn't get marketing activities or, you know, a brief announcement on Pendo. Instead, they live on a page that is a landing site alongside larger features which, yes, get to be able to share that megaphone. There's plenty of benefit for the smaller things, like a better living quality.
David Vogelpohl () (20:08)
So, now that you have this approach How many quarters of your time are you?
Braden (20:13)
It's our third launch, we're getting ready for the third theme's launch month which will be in July.
David Vogelpohl () (20:20)
Three quarters of the way through the program, do you agree that it's increased your capacity to coordinate marketing resources and also support the latest product launches, or do you think it's too early to judge?
Braden (20:33)
It's likely that it has improved, from my perspective. The thing I've observed is that not only can I better support, the team behind the product, but not just support them well, but also work with other marketing as well as demand generation. They have increased leads now that they did not have prior to the product.
We can also incorporate things that were once challenging to implement. This is probably the most significant advantage. But, another benefit is that it's opened the door for us to pursue vertical growth within other fields like video games as well as other games. Previously, we could not have had as much resources or time to push the verticals ahead.
David Vogelpohl () (21:28)
You spoke about the video game segment for some time it was in existence with video gamers for quite a while nearly since the inception of the company. It was said that the business getting more involved within the sector. Do you feel like segments can play a part in thematic releases, or do you think this is more akin to thematic releases?
Braden (21:51)
Segments definitely play a big part. It's true that I've mentioned that the next release will be around B2B. It's a market we hope to enter and that we're enthusiastic about growing into. It's possible to envision a future that we're pursuing in the space of video games also. The last time we talked, we've upgraded Our Apple Pay and implemented Google Pay. Also, expanding with vertical themes doesn't just provide you with the option however, it also provides you with the ability to...
Its benefits are exactly the same like the theme-driven launches but it has advantages of incorporating things like thought leadership into the theme-driven launch. This is something that you'd not able to incorporate into the normal release of a product. And so you can gain a larger, possibly an additional push for your marketing campaign, and get more benefits from these releases for your broader organization.
David Vogelpohl () (22:44)
Excellent. Well, this has been very interesting Braden. I am very grateful for your being on the air to speak regarding this. The conversation was fascinating in Spryng this week in Austin. The idea was to sort of take it on stage, however, it was an absolute blast. Thanks for coming on.
Braden (23:01)
Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate you inviting me to join you. The evening was great fun.
David Vogelpohl () (23:04)
Awesome. If you're interested in learning more about the projects Braden is putting together and possibly his next thematic release, go to .com. Thank you for taking part in this week's episode on Growth Stage. Your host this week is David Vogelpohl. I love supporting the community of digital product developers as part of the job I take on as . And I love to bring the very best that this community has to offer on the Stage of Growth. Stage. We are grateful for everyone's help.
David Vogelpohl David is the CMO for . Since the age of 25, David Vogelpohl has led teams building elite engines of expansion and created software for top companies including WP Engine, Genesis, AWS, Cloudflare, and several others.
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