This document outlines an agenda for a product marketing and go-to-market training session. The morning session focuses on product marketing topics like customer segmentation, positioning, pricing, and case studies. The afternoon session covers field marketing, digital marketing, and dashboards for measuring field and digital marketing efforts. Breakout groups will present case studies during the morning session.

1. Srihari Palangala
January 30, 2015
Views and thoughts expressed here are entirely mine and strictly personal.

2. Who you are, What you do and What you want out of this day
Images for the examples from basic Google searches.

3. 1. Morning Session – Product Marketing
• 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM: Introductions
• 10:00 AM – 10:45 AM: Customer segmentation & Business Positioning
(Srihari Palangala)
• 10:45 AM – 11:30 AM: Product Positioning and Messaging (Kashyap
Dalal)
• 11:30 AM – 11:45 AM - Break
• 11:45 AM – 12:15 PM - Pricing (Srihari Palangala)
• 12:15 PM – 1:15 PM – Case studies and presentation (break into 4-5
groups, 30 min prep for groups, 5 min each presentation); Each group
picks a business from within the team itself

4. 2. Afternoon Session - Go To Market
• 2:00 – 2:45 PM - Field marketing overview (Srihari Palangala)
• 2:45 – 3:30 PM - Digital marketing deep dive (Kashyap Dalal)
• 3:30 – 3:45 PM – Break
• 3:45 – 4:15 PM – Digital marketing dashboard discussion (Kashyap Dalal)
• 4:15 – 4:45 PM – Field/Sales interlock dashboard (Kashyap Dalal)
• 4:45 – 5:00 PM – Closing remarks/Q&A and Open Discussion
• Spill Over topics if time permits – Tools & Automation, Branding and PR

5. • Product Management
• Internal and inward organizational focus
• Translating external market & segment requirements to
product roadmap
• Engagement with cross functional teams to build and ship
the product
• Product and Field Marketing
• Product marketing – external focus – reaching target
segments with product messaging, pricing and offers
(more classic “4 Ps”)
• Field marketing – reaching specific geos/regions carrying
forward all products, engaging with local sales, driving
closed business in the regions
Org: Product or
Service
Product
Mgmt.
Product &
Field
Marketing
External
Market

6. “Because the purpose of business is to create
a customer, the business enterprise has two--
and only two--basic functions: marketing and
innovation. Marketing and innovation produce
results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the
distinguishing, unique function of the business.“
– Peter Drucker

7. 10:00 – 10:45 AM

8. • Why is Segmentation Important
• Reach audiences where the resonance for your message is highest
• Tailor your messages to the audiences – based on profile, pain areas etc.
• As a business you can evaluate product implications based on priority
segments being targeted
• Segmentation develops focus which is important to build customer
acquisition velocity
• With effective segmentation, you can find the most appropriate marketing
vehicles to reach audiences
• Content building - Building References, Case studies and Testimonials more
easily
Segmentation makes you start seeing your target as “chunks” of addressable
market.

9. Addressable “chunk” - Youth in middle class
families
Adjust your message to cater to the segment
(“father’s motorbike”)
Marketing vehicles - Use social media to reach
the young audiences

10. • Creating Customer Segments
• (Geo location, Biz Size/Vertical) AND (Buyer Characteristics OR Buyer
Behavior)
• Target characteristics - Geo Location, Business size/vertical (e.g., US
market – SMBs; India – Higher education institutes; India – Android
phone buyers; India – K-12 parents)
• Buyer Characteristics – where they are looking to address specific
pain points/wants (e.g., Parents monitoring and concerned about child
safety)
• Buying Behavior – where they are looking in specific areas – can we
attach (e.g., SMB DSL buyer – Cloud solutions)
Find segments where your product/Service is a Need (vs. a Want) (“Must have”
vs. “Nice to have”).

11. Clean drinking water and Data safety are examples of a strong need among
certain sections of people.
Foot massage and spa are a need for distance runners.

12. • New Products – Building to first 100 customers and Beyond
• Listen closely to customer voices in the market; Social is a great vehicle to
listen to relevant conversations (Google Alerts to get the latest
conversations/posts/etc. happening)
• Through the listening keep a keen ear to observe patterns of sections that
are interested
• Identify the highest affinity sub-segment (niche)
• Bowling Pin Strategy - Identify First Pin and then Second, Third etc. Try to
identify neighboring pins so transferring content/messages is easy
Broad awareness is not important here; You are laser focused on a specific sub-
segment – create a dent in the sub-segment (In the extreme, a sub-segment is an
individual prospect – that’s where marketing personalization kicks in fully).

13. Not just any taxi ride – but laser focus on ONLY those trying to get to the
airport.
Over the course of time, expand to offer auto rides as well.

14. • Considerations in segmentation for established products
• Can you attach to segments where your other products are sold
• Migrate customers from older product versions
• Explore messaging & reaching New segment/verticals
• Expand geographic footprint/reach (while keeping the same verticals);
• Tweak product/pricing for selling to newer segments, e.g., lower cost
variants of your product
Explore which of the above options works for you to grow your established
product business.

15. Building websites is not a new proposition – but GoDaddy and Google are
reaching new segments among SMBs in India.
Migrate older phone users with a switching benefit to the iPhone 4.

16. • B2B: Segmentation gets you to identify the target
accounts/spaces
• You will need to have tailor made messages and content for the
various profiles/personas in the target accounts (user, influencer,
buyer etc.)
More about the messaging to various stakeholders in a bit, after we cover how
we can position the business.

17. 10:00 – 10:45 AM

18. 1. Provide a wedge to open doors
• An Elevator pitch version
• A Longer version
2. Highlight product differentiators vs. the direct and indirect
available alternatives
• Overarching differentiators (e.g., “we support ALL platforms”)
are better than trying to get into nitty-gritty feature comparison
at the outset
• Lower price is not a sustainable differentiator
3. Create some FUD about other solutions
4. Create an inbound pull, people start seeing you as the
answer to an oft repeated question (or pain point)
You are an answer to a common question asked by your target segments

19. Creating an inbound pull (“Proof October 14th”) and differentiator (“…is faster
in performance”).
A conversation starter when you say you are “#1 in Social Marketing”).
Creating FUD around email solution.

20. • At the Customer
• Technology beneficiary (Segment of people who
experience a tangible impact because of your
technology)
• This defines the set of industry vertical segment(s)
you target
• The more you refine this, the better your targeting
– so try to get as specific as possible in identifying
this group (e.g., End users doing ABC & working in
ABC vertical & company size > ABC with globally
distributed offices etc.)
• Influencer (Person(s) in the account who emerge as
your champions)
• Buyer (People who make decisions and sign the check)
• It is possible that the same people are playing one or more
of these roles in the customer account

21. • The Partner
• Go to market partners
• Reseller partners
• The Investor
• The people who back you
• Key external stakeholders - the Partner and Investor, complete the
gamut to be addressed
• Clear positioning is also helpful to attract the right talent, but we
will not get in to that here

22. • At the Customer
• Technology beneficiary – How does it improve my
workflow?
• Influencer – How does it make my job easier/more
effective?
• Buyer – What is the ROI? Is there a strategic impact?
• The Partner
• Is this mutually beneficial?
• The Investor
• What is the opportunity?

23. TCO benefits (for buyer) and end user benefits (“deliver results faster”)
discussed in the above messaging from AWS.
Improvement in workflow when employee attendance can be tracked anywhere
(content for the technology beneficiary).
MessagetargetedtoTechnologyBeneficiary.
MessagetargetedtoBuyer.

24. • At the Customer
• Influencer,
• Establish trust, credibility and confidence since you are a new player; Co-
Marketing and References are helpful here
• Access to, and showcase detailed technology benefits, including feature
matrix (Industry awards also help)
• Have a compelling set of collateral to help your Sales win against
competition
• Technical (before & after) comparison studies – e.g., Whitepapers;
• That this is quickly becoming an industry best practice with business benefits
• Answer FAQs;
• Show how it makes their job easier – for e.g., fewer things to do; fewer
decisions to take; fewer trouble tickets; ease of setup/deployment and
maintenance etc.
At the customer, establishing and winning the Influencer is the first step.
Influencers need to be champions for your product cause

25. • Customer
• Technology beneficiary,
• Improved productivity benefits;
• Easier to use than what you are accustomed to;
• Show how their peers are benefiting – through case studies; If relevant,
how other departments in the organization also benefit
• Drive the urgency – why should they have the technology now?
• Buyer,
• Show the business benefit in the investment;
• Third party validation voices (e.g., Analyst);
• Partner
• Content to show the interlock, i.e., how the technologies complement each
other
• Content to help them make the sales pitch (for resellers)
• Investor
• Your (& team) conviction, backed with data

26. Some things that your marketing content is covering – removing myths &
establishing credibility and responding to FAQs; and showing how others are
benefiting from a solution (peers benefiting).

27. • Like everything in your venture journey, it is “never
a done deal”
• You have placed a stick in the ground, but be ready to
pivot where necessary in terms of refining the messaging
and content
• Be particularly ready to iterate and refine the
‘technology beneficiary’  Segment, Segment, Segment
– your success around customer acquisition velocity
largely depends on nailing this
• Build your first version of the positioning and collateral
after you have the first few (4-6) customers – so you have
some external validation & input
• Your marketing collateral (blogs, whitepaper, data sheets,
website etc.) should continuously reflect your positioning

28. 11:45 AM – 12:15 PM

29. • Product Trials and Seeding – get prospects to try the
product/service before buying
• Importance of Seeding
• Prospects self-select when they choose to evaluate your product
• It is a good indicator for qualified interest
• You have a qualified base; Better chances to nurture the prospect to drive
conversion to paid
• Target and Improved Personalization - Send tailored communication
based on what the prospect is evaluating/trying to do
• Demonstrate network effects where possible (increased value of a product
by virtue of others having it) – important when you are trying to create a
standard across a community

30. Free trials – who should be eligible? All visitors? A section of them?

31. • Considerations
• Remember it is a first experience of the product – so it is important to
provide a great customer experience
• People might prefer to try before purchase (especially if high value
product) – also depends on the regions (behavior in emerging markets
different from developed markets for instance)
• Effectively & clearly including this in the Call To Action on the web pages

32. • Building a Successful Experience
• Low touch model for trials – so prospects get the product and relevant content
easily; Building an effective self-serve model (easy to get started)
• Monitor the metrics – e.g., (a) on conversion of trial-ers to paid members
(promos if necessary) (b) active use of the product during the trial etc.
• What information to collect prior to allowing the trial (optimum balance –
collect only that data which can be meaningfully used to increase conversion
to paid)?
• What is a the critical point when a trial user is “hooked” (quick proof points)?
E.g., is it engagement or is it a successful POC?
• Evaluate the duration of trials (30 days? 60 days?) – what is a convenient
duration?
• Evaluate the scope of trials (will you offer full product or only parts of the
product selectively)
• Trials can be instrumented – with Product hooks to know what features are
being used, frequency of use etc. – important input to product management
• Personalized communications can be sent based on prospect’s trial experience
– plenty of optimization and A/B testing options on conversion

33. Make your trial sign-up easy – for e.g., allowing prospects to use other popular
authentication mechanisms

34. • Product Pricing options to consider
• How is competition pricing the product? How do you want to price relative
to competition? Is it a new product with no competition (in which case you
have more freedom on pricing decisions)?
• Value based pricing (what are the Alternate options for the user/what
benefits does it offer to users – evaluate this and base your price on the
value offered to the user)
• Cost+ : Mark up a price based on the cost for building the product; This is
probably the worst option since it ignores demand and top line value
elements
• Premium Pricing: Price to what the market will bear (sustained or price
skimming)

35. • Pricing – Fixed price (upfront) payment or Subscription?
Subscription pricing also changes the dynamics of marketing to
the customer
• What is your Free Strategy?
• Freemium - Give basic product (limited use of features) or some parts of
the product free and charge for others
• Freemium is an extended trial; Prolonged seeding mechanism
• Freemium options, e.g., Free product to specific segments; Free users are
customers as well since they invest time using the product – so product
needs to perform well and deliver value;

36. Product can be made free for certain segments – like Education in this Autodesk
example.
Service can be free for a certain time (Spotify, though not in India). Other
options – limit features, capacity, users, limited/no support, time.

37. • Introducing Product SKUs
• Aim to maximize your share of wallet from the prospect
• Recognize that prospects are at different requirement levels
• For e.g., introducing SKUs for Enterprise (Premium), SMBs (Intermediate),
Individuals/Consumers (Basic) (Free product can be outside of this)

38. • Co-marketing helps when
• Partners are trying to reach the same sub-segment, but cross footprint
expansion is possible to each other marketing databases OR
• Sum is greater than the parts (bundling opportunities – e.g., better
workflows/value for customer) OR
• Special pricing or promotion incentives can be offered
• Marketing to/through top influencers in the space

40. 2. Afternoon Session - Go To Market
• 2:00 – 2:45 PM - Field marketing overview (Srihari Palangala)
• 2:45 – 3:30 PM - Digital marketing deep dive (Kashyap Dalal)
• 3:30 – 3:45 PM – Break
• 3:45 – 4:15 PM – Digital marketing dashboard discussion (Kashyap Dalal)
• 4:15 – 4:45 PM – Field/Sales interlock dashboard discussion (Kashyap
Dalal)
• 4:45 – 5:00 PM – Closing remarks/Q&A and Open Discussion
• Spill Over topics if time permits – Tools & Automation, Branding and PR

41. 2:00 PM – 2:45 PM

42. • Direct (from you) or Indirect (through a partner)
• Direct
• Online purchase & fulfilment (e.g., eCommerce, SaaS subscriptions)
• Direct Field Salesforce (Inside sales, Account Managers, Business
Development)
• Indirect
• Reseller partner
• Solution partner
• Via partner bundling

43. Pros Cons
Build a direct relation with customer Legal contracting etc. will be required
for every transaction through salesforce
No margin loss Direct liability/exposure to
solution/product deployment & use
People costs with Salesforce (not
applicable with online fulfilment though)
Pros Cons
Leveraged model – build scale and
reach quickly
Provide margin for intermediate
partners
Lesser exposure/risk Invest to build relevant mindshare and
business growth
Direct
Indirect

44. • Online – Digital Marketing
• Offline
• Events, Tradeshows, Sponsorships
• Other media – TV, Radio, Print
• Tele-calling
• Contact discovery
• PR, references
• Industry awards

45. • Content driven marketing (Drives Inbound, Self Selected audience largely)
• Company Website & Visitor Conversion
• Blogs
• Whitepapers
• Online Videos
• Social
• Search SEO
• Online seminars
• Online forums
• Content on 3rd party sites
• Mobile (App)
• Reaching prospects (Advertising to prospects)
• Email
• Banner (Display)
• Search SEM
• Mobile (SMS)
Time and effort;
Generally low on $
cost though
Time, effort &
involves $ cost

46. 1. A blogger had posted an online review about a competing product – we
immediately found this online
2. We were able to engage with the blogger and highlight our product differences
3. As a result, the blogger posted a review of our product as well and amplified
our message to his audience (all of whom are again relevant readers)
4. All this happened in 2 days! With <1 hour of effort from us. How would this have
worked in an Offline world?

47. Content
Objective 
Marketing
Collateral
Awareness Lead Gen Nurture Thought
Leadership
Website X
Blog X X
Search SEO X X
Online Forum X X
3rd party
Articles
X
Email X X
Social X X
Mobile (SMS) X X
Whitepaper X X X
Online Seminar X X
Banner X X
Search SEM X X
Online Video X

48. Must Have Good to Have Nice to Have
B2B • Website & Visitor Conversion
• Blog
• Search SEO
• Email
• Whitepapers
• Social (e.g., own LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter)
• Online seminars
• Banner
• Search SEM
• Online forum engagement
(3rd party)
• Mobile (SMS or App)
• Contributing to Third
party website – content
• Online videos
B2C • Website & Visitor Conversion
• Social (e.g., own LinkedIn,
Facebook, Twitter)
• Search SEO
• Banner
• Email
• Blog
• Online videos
• Mobile (SMS or App)
• Online forum engagement
(3rd party)
• Whitepapers
• Search SEM
• Contributing to Third
party website – content
• These are broad guidelines for a marketing mix;
• You must determine the exact mix based on your specific
product/service and business

49. • B2B
• LP needs to provide information relevant to the
incoming segment traffic; Customize the
information highlighted on LPs
• Have 1 or 2 prominent calls to action on the LP
(Register Here, Download Trial etc.); Don’t go
overboard asking for Info when they register
• Monitor bounce rates of the landing page
• B2C
• It is more important to get the visitor to engage –
e.g., on a travel portal, visitor could buy a ticket
without having to create a log-in
• Some form of ‘instant gratification’ is more
important (e.g., quickly finding what they are
looking for)
Example: Salesforce page with
‘Contact Me’ as a CTA

50. Tactic Challenges Some things you could try
Website Conversion Build segment based messaging; Try A/B tests; Bring in
external credibility/references
Blog Creating relevant and interesting content;
Frequency of posts
Engage the entire team to contribute – this is a culture;
Discipline to 2 Posts/week
Search SEO Showing up among top results for keywords Get expert help on SEO; Are there related words you
can optimize for?
Online Forum Finding the right forums;
Engaging with caution (avoiding backlash)
Setup Google alerts; Learn Advanced Google search
really well! Don’t be pushy about your agenda
3rd party article This requires time! Make product marketing responsible for this
Email Low open rates (<8-10%) Try other formats – e.g., plain text; Pick different days;
Some vendors give great reports on email tracking;
Social Sustaining engagement Build a content roll out calendar; Stick to it!
Whitepaper Creating engaging content Hire techno marketers (i.e., your marketing person
should have a good technical background)
Online Seminar Driving the right audience Co-marketing; Try renting external databases
Banner Click fraud Pay per lead; Move away from CPM
Search SEM Conversion Improve your CTA; Try a different CTA
Online Video Expensive, if you engage external vendors Record and build your own videos – tools available

51. • Build your persona slowly, do not be brash or impose yourself
(or your brand) online
• Invest the time to find the online influencers in your business; and
then build engagement with them; e.g. – offer to do a guest
post on their blog etc.
• Be ready for positive and negative comments – take them in
your stride and make corrections where necessary
• People are generally approachable and they help – so engage
when you are ready

52. • My recommendation
1. Start with Online – build up your ‘Must have’ tactics
2. Add Offline when you have the resources
3. Then leverage your established Online presence to amplify your
Offline
• Offline marketing vehicles
• Events, Tradeshows & Sponsorships
• Other media – TV, Radio, Print
• Tele-calling
• Contact discovery
• PR & building customer references
• Industry awards

53. Awareness Consideration Purchase
Ensuring that
the prospect is
aware of the
product
Getting the
prospect to try
or consider
your product
prior to
purchase
decision
Driving the
purchase of
the product
(closure of
business with
prospect)

54. Awareness Consideration Purchase
New Visits to
website
Inquiries
received Revenue

55. Awareness Consideration Purchase
Search, Email,
Display, Social,
PR/AR
Online and
Offline events
Tele-calling
Website leads
Promotions
(Pricing)

56. • Marketing – generates qualified leads that have the potential
for business closure (in a certain time period)
• Marketing hands off the leads to Sales
• Sales converts a portion of the leads to closed business
• Marketing – should ideally influence 15-20% of the closed
business (i.e., 20% of the closed business in a quarter should
come from Marketing leads)
• Marketing generates qualified leads to support the Sales funnel
from opportunity identification to closure

57. • spalangala@gmail.com
The content in the deck is what I am sharing based on my experience and learning over the years; I
hope it helps you in your startup journey as you distil some of the information and apply some of
the points in your own context(s).