“Still Open” and “Ready to Ship” are important differentiators in times like these.
Pro tip: Be yourself.
Three Slack Channels Every Marketing Team Needs to Make Now
There are three Slack channels every marketing team needs. (We set it up this way at Crux.)
- #marketing
This channel is for anyone and everyone at the company to see announcements from marketing and see when things ship. They can also come and share info or ask questions. It’s the internal Twitter account for the marketing team.
Status: Public Invite: Everyone
- #marketing-team
This is the channel for the in the weeds collaboration. People who care a lot about what’s happening inside the inner workings of projects can dip in to check out what’s happening. Working on a project? It mostly happens here.
Status: Public Invite: Marketing team and key stakeholders
- #marketing-team-internal
This is just for team members to communicate about internal logistics like: “here’s the new zoom link” or “I’m running late, can you start the meeting without me” or “here’s a relevant meme”.
Status: Private Invite: team only.
There’s actually a fourth channel that I’ve found helpful, but that’s for another post! (It’s a feed channel that rolls up notifications from Zapier.)
Study Human Behavior and you won’t need to focus on hacks, tips, or tricks anymore. The best part is that the syllabus is all around you. At the store, on your street, in your org. Decisions are made everywhere all the time. Your #marketing superpower is learning how to notice.
We really are all living in the world of Franchise IP.
Keep your receipts.
I’m currently working on a big culture project at my company. We’re developing new values, behaviors, and onboarding. These three books have been very influential in the process. An Everyone Culture The One Thing Working Backwards
The Rehearsal on HBO Max is a singular experience.
Your job as a product marketer is to gather and share knowledge.
Of course there’s more to it, but in the end you have to be a journalist working a beat; who translates the information you collect for a non-technical audience.
Almost no one published podcasts on Saturday morning. But that’s the day I have the most free time.
11:35 AM. On a Tuesday. Put in the work early on what you know works so you can spend the rest of the day experimenting and creating new value.
There’s a #marketing lesson in here somewhere
Best laundry basket I’ve ever known. It’s the right height to fly under the dryer door. It’s light and easy to stow away. And it reminds me of table side 🥑 guacamole.
The best stuff isn’t always positioned correctly.
#productmarketing
Brand can buy your offering a “fast pass” to the consideration set.
Lack of brand can buy your offering a “fast pass” for the race to the bottom.
A penny saved is a penny earned.
A penny invested in providing value to your customers earns you 3:1 LTV:CAC.
#productmarketing #saas
Most SDR outreach is wayyyy too needy.
Customers and prospects don’t typically care that the quarter is about to close.
Spend time getting internal buy-in for your launch strategy. Ask for feedback and involve more people in the process as you refine your message. People who have weighed in will feel more invested in the product launch when it comes time to rally the team.
#productmarketing
Friction is the enemy of adoption.
Friction is the enemy of adoption.
Along with the broader marketing group, it’s on folks in product marketing and demand generation specifically to act as a path clearer for the customer. Removing unnecessary steps everywhere will eventually help fill the funnel with happy customers. It’s on leadership to have the patience to stick with it.
Yesterday was a rare day. Not that many meetings. But my calendar was still full of things that are important to me. If you don’t prioritize your personal priorities, are they even priorities?
Take a walk. Networking. Giving yourself permission to actually take a lunch. Proactively sharing your project status. These are the foundation for being able to do the work in the gaps there.
Jargon Surgery in Meetings
Time for some more jargon surgery. Acronyms and BizSpeak in meetings are the worst. But not for the reason you might think.
Most people aren’t going to stop to explain them for you. They’ll just keep going and assume you know what they’re talking about. But it’s not their fault. It’s yours.
If you hear an acronym or term you don’t know yet… ASK.
People don’t know what they don’t know and they will definitely assume you understand the words they use if you dont… ASK.
For the managers out there, take time to explain the terms you hear people using when addressing your team.
Whether it’s offering commentary in the zoom chat alongside the conversation, or directly asking the speaker to define the term for your team, it’s on you too.
I’ve personally witnessed a colleague stop to do help teach his team and it inspired this post.