Dave Wilt

Head of Product Marketing, Affinity

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I've been working in B2B tech for, um, decades and in Product Marketing for, well, fewer decades. Like you, I am here learning about PMM because it keeps evolving and is never the exact same challenge from company to company. I've been a part of w...more

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Product of course wants a new product out in market ASAP. Do you have any tips on how you can negotiate with them to prioritize a solid launch which may mean a couple extra weeks of planning? What's a solid timeline in your opinion?

Dave Wilt

Affinity Head of Product Marketing | Formerly Apptio, Ariba, Puppet • March 31

I agree with Jodi's criteria here, and from her blog I particularly agree with messaging being validated (clear, compelling, credible and competitive.) Other potential go/no-go criteria could include whether CS and Support are ready to answer questions, SalesOps/RevOps is ready to process an order (for short sales cycles)... Having these (or other) criteria agreed to in advance by leadership and baked into the launch process is a big help to avoid the situation in the future, less so if you have a product gun to your head right now. What's the point of launching a new product you aren't ready to sell? For B2B direct sales models, Sales can help make a better decision for the company. If Sales has been burned in the past they can be granted a go/no-go veto and use their judgment with criteria vs. perhaps urgent revenue objectives. What's the point of launching a new feature aren't ready to support? If not too bureaucratic for your culture, you could have heads or appointed reps from Sales, Marketing, CS and Product all give green lights (turn their keys?) before launching. Of course, be careful what you wish for. If PMM is on the hook for those 3 criteria and it's you asking to delay revenue (in their eyes), you may be on hot seat to explain "why it takes so long" so be prepared. You may also need to reframe the question from "will this delay revenue" to "will this hurt revenue overall." Launches help generate revenue because they focus the attention of some part of your target audience on what you have to say for a few brief, shining moments in the buyer journey, from a LinkedIn post to a landing page to an initial sales conversation. That attention is increasingly expensive and valuable and most of it cannot be rehydrated at some future date when the messaging, customer evidence and sales pitch are better. The customer checked out your landing page, or talked to a rep, and was underwhelmed. Most are not giving you a second chance for the appropriate amount of whelming, so why blow it? Attention is a terrible thing to waste.

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