Product marketing roadmaps are not common in most B2B organizations, but they are incredibly beneficial. Essentially, these roadmaps guide your salesforce to the most profitable markets, helping them achieve sales targets and revenue goals more efficiently.
What is a Product Marketing Roadmap?
A product marketing roadmap visually outlines the product or service solutions that will generate the most revenue in each market segment, based on the business priorities in those segments. It answers the crucial question: Which solutions will drive the majority of our revenue in each market segment?
This roadmap combines strategy and execution, detailing how product marketing and sales plan to meet their revenue goals for the year. The execution part includes the necessary actions and materials to generate demand and support the sales process.
A product marketing roadmap answers five key questions:
1. What are the top investment priorities of our target customers?
2. Why are these priorities critical to their success?
3. What challenges do they face and why?
4. Which of our solutions align best with their priorities?
5. What actions and materials are needed to maximize revenue from these solutions?
Product Marketing Roadmap vs. Product Roadmap
The main difference is in their goals. A product marketing roadmap aims to maximize short-term revenue from existing solutions, while a product roadmap focuses on future growth from solutions yet to be developed. Despite this difference, they are closely related; what’s developed this year will influence next year’s marketing roadmap.
Do I Need a Product Marketing Roadmap for Each Product?
No, you don’t need one for each product. Prioritize products that align best with your customers’ top business initiatives, and integrate other products into the sales process when they can enhance your competitive position. This approach prevents overwhelming your sales team and makes it easier for them to present a compelling value story.
Who’s Responsible for Creating the Product Marketing Roadmap?
Though it’s a team effort, the head of product marketing or the portfolio marketing manager usually takes the lead in organizing the content and presenting the plan to key stakeholders, such as sales, customer success/account management, and the executive team.
Product Marketing Roadmaps and Sales Enablement Tactics
If product marketing managers view the salesforce as their primary customer, they should focus on three tasks each year to enhance sales success:
1. Identify the top market segments, ideal customer profiles, and corresponding business solutions that will generate the most revenue for each segment within the year.
2. Craft a simple, conversational value story tailored to each segment. Ensure it’s easy for salespeople to understand, repeat, and explain why customers should care. Customers buy because they feel understood.
3. Implement demand generation plans to engage decision-makers, boosting the effectiveness of sales conversations from the start.
The Bottom Line on Product Marketing Roadmaps
A product marketing roadmap can be likened to defining your path to a destination and following turn-by-turn directions to get there. The strategy part outlines the target markets, solutions, and revenue potential, while the execution part details the steps needed to generate demand, build pipelines, qualify prospects, and close deals.
Both product marketing and product roadmaps are crucial for stakeholders as they delineate your direction, methods to get there, and necessary tactics for success.