What is a Product Marketing Plan?
We have talked previously about what product marketing strategy is. As a natural follow-up, what is a product marketing plan?
The term “product marketing plan” has similar challenges as the term “product marketing strategy”, in that the phrase can mean different things depending on the company.
In some cases, “product marketing plan” refers simply to the outbound plan for executing the marketing strategy. This outbound marketing plan is sometimes called a “channel marketing plan”, “GTM (Go-to-market) marketing plan” or “launch plan”.
This outbound (product) marketing plan would include:
- Marketing Channels — what channels will you be using for your marketing? Paid media? Social? Public relations? Influencers?
- Marketing Initiatives — what specific initiatives and activities are you engaging in within each channel? For example: retargeting on Facebook, cart abandonments via email, geographic specific landing pages for SEO, webinars targeted towards sales departments.
- Calendar of Marketing Initiatives — when does each activity start and stop? How do the initiatives work together to drive frequency of message?
- Creative and Messaging — what do the advertisements and content look like? What are the specific messages being used to attract customer attention?
- Performance Impact and Budget — what is the expected performance, spend and ROI of the marketing activities?
In other cases, this “product marketing plan” may also include elements of the product marketing strategy, which is often addressed in a separate strategy document but is sometimes combined with the outbound plan.
Elements of the “inbound” product marketing strategy which may be included are:
- Business Performance Analysis
- Market Trends
- Business Opportunity
- Segmentation and Targeting
- Key Customer Insights and Target Audience Personas
- Competitive Analysis
- Positioning
- Product Roadmap
- Pricing and Packaging
- Branding and Naming
- Point of Sale or RTM (Route-to-market) strategy
- Success Metrics
See this post for more details about those strategy elements.
Regardless of whether the information is presented separately or combined, and regardless of the name actually used for the document within your company, the outbound product marketing plan is a critical piece for how the marketing strategy actually gets executed and how you are actually able to drive growth for your business.
So whether you or someone else owns it, make sure it’s a good one.
If you’re just starting out in product marketing or considering a career transition, check out my product marketing classes:
- Product Marketing Bootcamp class for new and aspiring marketers to learn the essentials of end-to-end strategic product marketing so they can launch with confidence. Learn more.
- Product Marketing Resume Boost is the only online course that teaches you how to tailor your resume specifically for product marketing manager roles. Learn more.
