Observing parallels in product and growth marketing
How a personal interest in Product Marketing led me to become a better overall Marketer
I am a Growth Marketer with an interest in Product Marketing. In the last year, I’ve done countless hours of Product Marketing reading, podcast listening, and webinar watching. Throughout all of this, I have begun to realize there are many parallels in Product and Growth Marketing.
The primary responsibilities of Product Marketers align closely with the primary responsibilities of Growth Marketers.
My theory: one role is research-based, the other is metrics-based.
Let’s take a look at what I’ve seen… 👀
Messaging in Product Marketing is informed by Growth Marketing (and vice versa)
Launch strategies for a new product or feature require a lot of thought and planning. Often with a new product, different teams have different names for it. This is where messaging comes in.
As a paid media campaign manager, I’ve seen first-hand how a name can make or break a new product. Internal and external messaging (when not aligned) slows the adoption of a feature.
In Growth Marketing, we test the messaging through external media. In Product Marketing, we test the messaging through internal review and research.
Both are valid, and both inform the messaging of each other.
Competitive Intelligence and Market Analysis are critical regardless of field
Since the start of my marketing career, I have always kept tabs on my company’s competitors. Whether this comes through Slack channels where the whole team shared what they saw or my own personal analysis, I always have a pulse on the competitive market.
Keeping tabs on my competitor’s market fit and positioning informed my recommendations for creative messaging and strategy.
During the 2020 election, my job was to execute the paid media strategy for an e-comm business. When Apple rolled out the iOS14 update in early 2021, I was a Growth Marketer managing million-dollar Facebook budgets.
Understanding the impact of market timing for events outside of my control gave me insight into shifting metrics in my own campaigns.
In Growth and Product Marketing, knowing larger market shifts and key competitor insights is critical. Both help you understand why tactics are (or are not) performing.
Customer Personas come from Product Marketers, then get used by Growth Marketers
In college, I was introduced to ‘target market personas’. While the name has changed to ‘buyer’ or ‘customer’ persona, the key concept is the same.
In prior roles where a Product Marketer did not exist, the development of customer personas came from outsourced consulting. In smaller companies, personas came from whoever had the bandwidth to do the research.
No matter who compiled the information, personas were a useful tool for everyone.
As a Growth Marketer, my job was to take these personas and apply the information to our targeting and messaging strategies. I pulled the customer journey and personas together to improve media strategy.
In one role, I did this by categorizing creative and messaging based on the point in the purchase funnel. Our team had defined the persona and outlined her journey. I took that information and turned it into a growth strategy that improved campaign efficiency.
In return, I provided those results back to the team so we could tailor the persona accordingly.
In the end, Product and Growth Marketing may have different job descriptions but the work runs parallel to each other.
Agree? Disagree? Notice your own parallels in Growth + Product Marketing? Comment below or send me a message on LinkedIn!
