Product-Led Marketing: The Missing Piece(s)
More and more often, businesses are focusing on a Product-Led Marketing strategy. It sounds fancy, but all it really means is that the PRODUCT is front and center in marketing efforts.
It's primarily used in industries where people assume the product itself is the primary driver of customer acquisition, engagement and retention. Industries like: 1) technology and software, 2) consumer electronics, 3) gaming, 4) mobile apps, 5) eCommerce platforms, 6) FinTech, 7) healthcare technology, and 8) EdTech.
In these strategies, the emphasis is on creating a compelling PRODUCT experience that naturally encourages users to adopt, use, and advocate for the product; with the goal of driving organic growth and reducing reliance on traditional marketing tactics.
But does it actually work?
I mean, think about the apps you use on a daily basis. How many of them did you try JUST because they exist?
I mean, there are 1.83 million apps available on the Apple App store.
How many of them do you have?
And how many great ones are sitting there with hardly any users because they focused only on the product experience and not a market or brand experience?
There's something missing here.
But luckily for you, were' going to explore that today 😉
So if you've been using a Product-Led Marketing strategy and it's not generating the growth that you want, read on :)
The Journey to The Missing Piece
While we go through this journey, let's make one assumption (which makes me uncomfortable, but it's important in this case):
Your product has a validated Product-Market Fit.
Without that, a Product-Led Marketing strategy is folly. Product-Led ANYTHING will be folly.
But let's go back to our assumption.
Your product rocks. And it fills a desired need in the market. And you've put a LOT of effort into making it best-in-class, as in, you have a defined competitive advantage against your competitors.
And YES, you HAVE competitors. Even if you think your product is the only one of it's kind, at the end of the day, buyers will find SOMETHING to compare it to 😉
Step One: People Need to Know It Exists
Remember the 1.83 million apps in the app store. You don't want to be "just another one".
Think about your experience downloading apps. I'll use my experience with searching for a speedometer app for my son.
I go onto the App Store and search "speedometer". Personally, as a marketer, I always SKIP the sponsored apps, because I know just because they're sponsored, doesn't make them good. I look at the star rating, and choose the best one.
To some degree, it's a gamble. But hey, it's a free app, so no risk.
If I don't like it, I'll delete it and download another one.
Now, having a Product-Led strategy actually helps here, because if you KNOW it's super easy for people to switch, you KNOW you have to have a good experience to keep them.
And so long as people don't have to pay, it can get you there.
But what happens once people are making an investment assessment?
The missing piece? How do people FIND you? Do you want to bet on luck that people find you in a search? Or do you want to give people a REASON to search you out? Oh, and it's important to note that someone just SEEING a digital ad is NOT a reason to search you out 💡
Step Two: People Need to EXPERIENCE the Value
So let's assume you get people to actually hop on a free trial. At some point, they're going to have to PAY for their access. And in that time, a few non-ideal things can happen:
People don't even use the product within their trial and simply cancel
People don't see the value in the product and cancel
People can't do what THEY need to do in a trial and cancel
People actively don't like the experience and tell their friends the product sucks
Now, with a Product-Led strategy, there's generally only ONE experience that's being created for people. And if people need to accomplish different things within their trial that HAVEN'T been optimized for, the likelihood that they stick around (in a meaningful way, anyway), is super low.
So now, you've got TONS of people on free accounts, needing lots of client support to get their value out of the product, which is a costly investment. And in addition, there's high turnover in customer service arenas which means you'll likely be constantly hiring...another costly activity.
And you might just think, "well that's an operations problem, not a marketing problem, so what does that matter to me?" Well, if the goal is to sell product at the end of the day, then it certainly DOES matter.
The missing piece? Assuming that another department is structured well enough to support this kind of marketing strategy. Yes, we may be starting relationships in marketing, but if we can't map how those move through the entire organization, it doesn't do us a lot of good.
Step Three: People Need to WANT to Keep Using It
Tools are coming and going all the time. I mean, when Facebook was new, I was all about it! Using it to connect with other University students in North America (yeah, I was part of THAT evolution of Facebook). But now, I kind of hate it. Why? Because it doesn't MATCH my needs.
That's why I like LinkedIn. For today, it matches my needs.
And that might be different in 10 years time.
Now again, you might assume that your Product-Led Marketing program takes this into account. I mean, I'm sure your watching the data for patterns in how people are using it, what kind of people are using it, and where people are getting the most value.
And if you're not, PLEASE start doing that.
But what you're customers need today isn't what they will need tomorrow. And managing that from a product side is one thing. But managing that from a CONNECTION side is another thing.
You see, when it's easy to quit something people will.
But what makes something harder to quit?
A connection. A "WE" that people don't want to give up.
Honestly, this is the greatest success for Apple (IMHO).
They create a place where you BELONG. Not just a product you buy.
The missing piece? I'll call it a Connection Experience. And it's MORE than just a Product Experience. It's the feeling that, even if you don't really NEED the product (or service) any more, that you don't want to let go of what someone (or some brand) has created for you. I mean, do you really NEED that Starbucks coffee? Or do you do for the experience?
Product-Led; not Product-ONLY
I think one of the biggest errors I see with Product-Led strategies is that they STOP with the product. But just because something is LED by something, doesn't mean it's the ONLY thing you need to consider.
When we LEAD with something, it's about setting a process in motion. And your product CAN set a marketing and sales process in motion.
But what kind of motion that is, is up to you.
Any motion isn't necessarily FORWARD motion.
Any motion isn't necessarily without FRICTION.
Any motion isn't necessarily repeatable or scalable.
Any motion isn't necessarily generating you ROI.
If you want YOUR business motion to be smooth, forward motion that generates ROI in a repeatable, scalable way, your product CAN'T dictate the entire journey.
At the end of the day, the reason people STAY with you is because of YOU.
Your Brand Experience.
The experience of Your Product AND Your People AND Your Processes (to name a few).
The whole SHEBANG.
So sure, you can CREATE your strategies from a Product-Only view.
OR, you can create based on the real, wholistic experience people will have of you.
If you want to choose the latter, and feel like you need some support, let's chat 😊👍
