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Philosophy
Product Marketing
is both an art and a discipline. In one sense it is the intersection
between a company’s technology and the unmet needs of its market.
It’s critical to understand the technological assets of the company,
where its key points of differentiation lie, and the directions
in which those technologies can be easily extended. These technological
assets need to be conceptually overlaid on market maps of consumer
segments, and competition. Where the two intersect, opportunity
lies.
“Strategy is
easy, but tactics are hard”
This quote comes from the famous venture capitalist, Arthur Rock
who helped finance companies such as Apple, Intel, Fairchild Semiconductor
and Compaq. He writes:
Good ideas and
good products are a dime a dozen. Good execution and good management—in
a word, good people—are rare. To put it another way, strategy is
easy, but tactics—the day-to-day and month-to-month decisions required
to manage a business—are hard. That’s why I generally pay more attention
to the people who prepare a business plan than to the proposal itself.
But really—strategy
is hard, tactics are hard
The truth is that coming up with interesting ideas is pretty easy.
Toss some creative people together, add a dash of inspiration, and
you’re bound to come up with more ideas than you can possibly execute
on. Winnowing through those ideas, finding the gems and developing
them is harder. Turning raw ideas into strategies that support a
business is a real challenge. This is, in some sense, the "art"
of Product Marketing.
Furthermore, developing
the tactics—programs, objectives & milestones, timelines—and executing
on them, is hard. It requires a good staff, excellent management,
and single-mindedness. This is the "discipline" of Product
Marketing: 10% inspiration; 90% perspiration.
GoThisWay
has a proven record of developing ideas, turning them into strategies,
and executing on the tactics necessary to make them successful.
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