PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

Playbook & Toolkit

Follow this simple step-by-step playbook to develop a product

marketing plan that achieves your goals for a product.
Table of Contents PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

Framework 03

Introduction 04

stage 1 Establish Objectives 06

stage 2 Product Detail 08

stage 3 Understand Your Market 12

stage
4 Size Up The Competition 16

stage 5 Build Your Plan 18

stage
6 Launch Your Product 26

Conclusion 28

About 30
 PRODUCT MARKETING
Framework
Click the buttons below to access all related
Leverage the framework below to quickly empower training, tools, templates, and other resources.
your organization’s product marketing strategy.

1 OBJECTIVES 2 PRODUCT 3 UNDERSTAND 4 SIZE UP 5 BUILD 6 LAUNCH

Positioning Statement Market Segmentation Competitive Analysis Marketing Channel Product Launch
Objectives Scorecard
Worksheet & Analysis Tool Template Ranking Tool Team Charter

Product Applications Customer Profile Message Mapping Product Launch

Template Risk Assessment Tool
Worksheet Tool Checklist

Pricing Strategy Purchase Process Advertising Plan Product Feature

Template Diagram Checklist Request Template

Facilitating Insightful Competitive PR and

Break Even Analysis
Focus Groups Advertising Analysis

Product Profitability Advertising Calendar

Analysis & Budget Template

Unique Selling Creative Brief

Proposition Worksheet Template

Public Relations Plan

Sales and Marketing

Alignment Tool

Features Advantage
Benefit Tool

MarCom Budget
Template
 1 2 3 4 5 6
Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan Product

Introduction

What is the Purpose of this Playbook? How to Use This Playbook

To create a comprehensive, effective Product Marketing Plan that: This playbook is made up of six stages. Each stage includes
A. Achieves your goals for the product a description, steps, and action items. Action items include
B. Is aligned with your company’s marketing strategy reading our How-to Guides or doing activities with our premium
tools and templates. These resources were designed to help
This Product Marketing Plan assumes the existence of: you do three things:
A corporate marketing strategy that drives all marketing activities
in the company, including this plan you will develop.
Understand each step in the product marketing
A marketing communications plan that coordinates all product
process very clearly.
and corporate marketing communications.

Corporate Marketing strategy Adapt these proven best practices to your organiza-
tion, on your own steam

Product A Product B Complete analysis and activities faster than starting

Marketing Plan Marketing Plan from scratch with blank documents

Marketing Communications Plan

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 4

 1 2 3 4 5 6
Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan Product

Introduction

Scope of the Product Marketing Plan Outputs from This Playbook

This playbook will help you develop a plan to market a specific
Stage 1 - Establish Objectives
product or service and will work for: Product Objectives
New Products that have never been introduced to the market.
Existing Products for which you are announcing new versions Stage 2 - Product Detail
or features, or that were not effectively launched when initially Product Positioning, Product Applications, Pricing, and
introduced, or are not achieving their goals. Unique Selling Proposition

Stage 3 - Understand Your Market

To develop a strategy to govern marketing at the company level, Market Segmentation Analysis, Customer Profiles and
please use our Marketing Plan Template. Purchase Process

Stage 4 - Size Up the Competition

Competitive Analysis

VIEW RESOURCE Stage 5 - Build Your Plan

Message Map, Promotion Strategy, Sales Guide,
MarCom Budget & Calendar

Stage 6 - Launch Your Product

Product Launch Checklist

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 5

 PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

STAGE 1

Establish Objectives
Your company develops, launches and manages products to achieve certain business objectives. As you begin
the process of drafting your product marketing plan, you will need to identify these objectives or create some if
none exist. The ultimate use of these objectives is to determine whether a product is successful.
As you identify or develop your product’s objectives, make sure they are consistent with
corporate strategy and vision, appropriate for where the product is in its lifecycle,
and complementary to the positioning strategy for the product.

STEP 1: Set Your Product Objectives

 2 3 4 5 6
Introduction
1 Product Detail Understand Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Your Market Competition Plan Product
Establish
Objectives

STEP 1
Set Your Product Objectives

Action Item

Use the Product Marketing Objectives Scorecard to

document your objectives.

VIEW RESOURCE

Begin this step by asking whether there is a vision for how this
product should contribute to the success of the business. If a
product was developed with a specific mission in mind, under-
stand that mission and set your objectives accordingly.
Typical product marketing goals are listed below. Observe that
some of these objectives conflict with each other:
Revenue – achieving predetermined levels of sales
Market share – to grow your share of the market, often by
taking it from a specific competitor
Other – profit, initial orders, perception of market leadership
or other goals can exist for a product

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 7

 PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

STAGE 2

Product Detail
Establish a baseline for use in the balance of this playbook by ensuring there is a shared
understanding and an appropriate level of detail with supporting data for each of these areas:

STEP 1: Develop Position and Definition

STEP 2: Define Product Applications
STEP 3: Identify the Differentiators
STEP 4: Define Your Pricing
STEP 5: Draft Your Unique Selling Proposition
 1 3 4 5 6
Introduction Establish
2 Understand Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan Product
Product
Detail

STEP 1 STEP 2
Develop Position and Definition Define Product Applications

Action Item Action Item

Stake out a defensible market position for this product Define the primary application for the product and any
and craft a Positioning Statement to serve as a platform secondary applications. Use the Product Applications
for your marketing communications. Use the Positioning Worksheet to help complete this step.
Statement Worksheet to help complete this step.

VIEW RESOURCE VIEW RESOURCE

What elements are included in your Positioning Statement? What elements are included in the Product Applications Worksheet?
Who your product is for Applications description
What it is Type
How it’s different User
What primary benefit it provides Impact
Evidence that supports your claims Value Proposition or Benefit

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 9

 1 3 4 5 6
Introduction Establish
2 Understand Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan Product
Product
Detail

STEP 3 STEP 4
Identify the Differentiators Define Your Pricing

Action Item Action Item

What product features provide you with a competitive Use the Pricing Strategy Template to complete this step.
advantage and create value for the customer? Use the
Competitive Analysis Tool to help complete this step.

VIEW RESOURCE

VIEW RESOURCE

As you determine your pricing, consider these factors:

What is your pricing objective (e.g. to maximize profit, maxi-
mize share, enhance brand perception)?
Differentiation doesn’t come from only technical product innova- How does the proposed pricing compare to the competition?
tions. Other sources of differentiation are: Based on sales projections, how soon will you reach
Terms Break Even? Use the Break Even Analysis Tool to help
Pricing determine this.
Packaging How profitable are the other products in your portfolio? Use
Distribution the Product Profitability Analysis Tool to help determine this.
What discounts, rebates, coupons, or special pricing will you
Helpful Hint – Don’t proceed beyond this step until you have use and for how long?
identified some differentiation that is meaningful to your market.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 10

 1 3 4 5 6
Introduction Establish
2 Understand Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan Product
Product
Detail

STEP 5
Draft Your Unique Selling Proposition

Action Item

Use the Unique Selling Proposition Worksheet to craft your

product’s Unique Selling Proposition (USP).

VIEW RESOURCE

Your USP should reflect your positioning (Step 1) and should answer
the customer’s question, “Why should I buy from you?”
Unique: describes your differentiators
Selling: directed toward customers and is for use in sales
encounters
Proposition: invites action on the part of the customer in
favor of your product

Example – Domino’s Pizza: “Fresh, hot pizza delivered to your

door in 30 minutes or less – or it’s free.”

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 11

 PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

STAGE 3

Understand Your Market

Is the market for your product substantial, and against whom will you compete?

The steps in this stage will have you consider your market, your customer, market size,
purchase process, access, and priority.

STEP 1: Identify Market Segments

STEP 2: Profile the Buyer
STEP 3: Analyze the Purchase Process
STEP 4: Ensure Access to Customers
STEP 5: Validate Your Market Position
 1 2 4 5 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail
3 Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Competition Plan Product
Understand
Your Market

STEP 1 STEP 2
Identify Market Segments Profile the Buyer

Action Item Action Item

Use our Market Segmentation & Analysis Tool to analyze Use the Customer Profile Template to describe the buyer
the markets your product could serve. for your product.

VIEW RESOURCE VIEW RESOURCE

Why segment the market? Create Customer Profiles based on market research data, not intu-
ition. Each of the following types of buyer should have a profile:
1. Few companies have the resources to vigorously pursue all
markets for their products. End-user
2. Segmentation leads you to the market niche that represents Economic buyer
the best opportunity. Technical buyer
3. You can fully commit to owning the top priority segment and
more easily say “no” to distractions.

It is typically more useful to define and describe your target

market segments more narrowly than broadly. At the conclusion
of this step, you will have defined your segments and estimated
the Total Available Market for your product.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 13

 1 2 4 5 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail
3 Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Competition Plan Product
Understand
Your Market

STEP 3 STEP 4
Analyze the Purchase Process Ensure Access to Customers

Action Item Action Item

Create a process map to illustrate the purchase process Make sure you can effectively access customers in your
for your product. Use the Purchase Process Diagram to target segment(s).
help complete this step.
Consider the following as you evaluate your ability to access
customers in your target segment(s):
1. What types of media do they consume?
2. What are their trusted sources of information?
VIEW RESOURCE 3. What professional associations do they belong to?
4. What types of promotions have been effective?

Your purchase process map should include:

The stages in the purchase process and what happens in
each one
The influencers in the decision to buy
The length of time estimated for the process to complete

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 14

 1 2 4 5 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail
3 Size Up the Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Competition Plan Product
Understand
Your Market

STEP 5
Validate Your Market Position

Action Item

Based on the completion of the first three stages of this

playbook, does the market position you defined using the
Product Positioning Worksheet (Stage 2, Step 1) still make
sense? If not, refine your positioning now.

Consider the following questions as you validate your positioning

work:
1. Is the differentiation identified in Stage 2 substantial and capable
of providing a sustainable competitive advantage?
2. Is the target market segment identified in Stage 3 still valid?
3. Is your market position defined narrowly enough that only your
product can occupy it, at least initially?
4. Have you tested your market position with an external audience,
ideally with your target segment? (If you are considering the use
of a focus group, read our Focus Group Guide)

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 15

 PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

STAGE 4

Size Up the Competition

Your product marketing plan must consider the competition – direct competitors,
indirect competitors, and substitutes. In addition to knowing who they are, you will compare:
features, function, price and quality, advantages and disadvantages.
The goal of this stage is to know where each competitor is vulnerable
and to exploit that in your product marketing plan.

STEP 1: Complete a Competitive Analysis

STEP 2: Anticipate the Competitive Response
 1 2 3 5 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand
4 Build Your Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Plan Product
Size Up the
Competition

STEP 1 STEP 2
Complete a Competitive Analysis Anticipate the Competitive Response

Action Item Action Item

Refer to the analysis completed in STAGE 3, Step 2 using Discuss the possible range of competitive responses to
the Competitive Analysis Template to understand the your product announcement, and plan a set of responses
extent to which competing solutions are meeting the should they occur. Use the Risk Assessment Tool to
needs of your target market segment. complete this step.

VIEW RESOURCE VIEW RESOURCE

Areas of focus for this analysis: Common competitive responses to new product threats:
Why are customers buying competing solutions? Public relations or advertising to blunt your product’s
From the customers’ perspective, what are the differentia- advantages
tors for each competing solution? Pricing actions
How is each solution positioned in the market? New product announcements or feature enhancements
Litigation over patents or other intellectual property

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 17

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

STAGE 5

Build Your Plan

Using the work you completed in the previous stages of this playbook,
you will now describe how you will achieve sales.

STEP 1: Select your Channels

STEP 2: Draft and Prioritize Key Messages
STEP 3: Create an Promotion Strategy
STEP 4: Ensure Sales & Marketing Alignment
STEP 5: Prepare a Sales Guide
STEP 6: Build your Budget
STEP 7: Create a Schedule
 1 2 3 4 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 1 STEP 2
Select your Channels Draft and Prioritize Key Messages

Action Item Action Item

Use the Marketing Channel Ranking Tool to prioritize ways Use the Message Mapping Tool to document the key
to generate leads and create sales. messages that are important for your target audience to hear
about your product.

VIEW RESOURCE VIEW RESOURCE

Use what you’ve learned during the preceding Stages and this tool What are message maps?
to narrow the approaches you could take. Areas of focus for this Message maps provide a method for brainstorming and
analysis: prioritizing potential message based on their credibility,
Brand Promotion Quality effectiveness, and resonance.
Lead Quality Once you have analyzed the relative strengths and weak-
Cost Per Event nesses of each message, a bubble chart message map is
automatically generated.
Use the results of the Message Mapping tool to guide your promo-
tional activities.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 19

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Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 3 STEP 3 (cont.)

Promotion Strategy (Advertising) Promotion Strategy (Public Relations)

Action Item Action Item

Briefly outline your advertising strategy and key publications. Include information regarding the key publications and
If you are planning to do online advertising and pay-per-click, newswire services you will be using to get exposure in
include some of the keywords you will be targeting. relevant mainstream media. Use our Public Relations
Plan for additional tools and templates.

VIEW RESOURCE PUBLIC RELATIONS PLAN

Playbook & Toolkit

VIEW RESOURCE

Key templates in this section include:

Follow this simple step-by-step guide to develop a to develop
a public relations strategy and program that drives measurable results..

PR planning tips:
Advertising Plan Checklist
Consider pre-announcing to select members of the media to
Competitive PR and Advertising Analysis Template
boost your chances of coverage.
Advertising Calendar & Budget Template
In addition to a press release, have product photos, customer
Creative Brief Template testimonials, and other resources that make it easy for the
media to cover your product announcement.
Helpful Hint – Complete your ad planning far enough in
advance to secure ad space to coincide with the launch date.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 20

 1 2 3 4 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 3 (cont.) STEP 3 (cont.)

Promotion Strategy (Web & Online) Promotion Strategy (Social Media)

Action Item Action Item

Provide a description of major website improvements and Document your social media strategy. Consider leveraging existing
projects that will be completed in the following 12 months. social networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc.

Web promotion tips: Social Media promotion tips:

Ensure you have the technical resources committed to load It is better to choose one or two social media channels and
web content on your site at the time of your launch and do them well than to try to do them all without the resources
product announcement. to do them all well.
Make sure all new content is optimized for search. Promoting a contest related to a product or product launch is
Test content and cart solutions with all popular browsers. an effective way to gain a following.
Use discounts and coupons that are exclusively for social
media followers.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 21

 1 2 3 4 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 3 (cont.) STEP 3 (cont.)

Promotion Strategy (Mobile Marketing) Promotion Strategy (Events)

Action Item Action Item

If you are doing mobile marketing, talk about how the program List the key events, conferences, and tradeshows that you
will work, who it will target, and what the key success metrics plan to attend.
will be.

Key templates in this section include:

Mobile Marketing tip: Tradeshow ROI Calculator
Mobile marketing is as simple as having a website optimized Events Database Template
for mobile browsers, or as intricate as developing a special- Conference Budget Template
ized mobile app.
Event Planning Checklist
Before investing in a mobile marketing initiative, under-
stand what your customers would like to see in the way of Helpful Hint – In addition to tradeshows, events can also include
mobile content. Use the Mobile Marketing Usage Survey ribbon cutting, seminars, and online events (webcast), etc.
to research this.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 22

 1 2 3 4 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 3 (cont.) STEP 4

Promotion Strategy (Other) Sales/Marketing Alignment

Action Item Action Item

Join marketing programs with partners, email marketing, Use the Sales and Marketing Alignment Tool to make
content marketing, special pricing, coupons, sponsor- sure these functions are prepared to work together to
ships, inbound marketing strategy, etc. facilitate the success of this product’s marketing plan.

Make sure that your promotional strategy considers the commu-

nications and timing of those communications to Employees,
Current customers, Business partners, Channel partners. VIEW RESOURCE
Key sections of the Demand Metric Website include:
Email and Content Marketing
Partnerships and Channels
Customer Management This assessment will consider, from both the Sales and Marketing
perspective:
Relationships Messaging & materials
Culture Metrics & value measurement
Systems Lead generation & pipeline management

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 23

 1 2 3 4 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 5 STEP 6
Prepare a Sales Guide Build your Budget

Action Item Action Item

Leverage the Features Advantage Benefit Tool by using Use the Marketing Communications Budget Template to
the differentiators and USP (Unique Selling Proposition), create a budget for the promotion strategy you developed
publish a guide for internal use by the sales channels in Step 4 of this Stage.
based on these differentiators rather than on price.

VIEW RESOURCE VIEW RESOURCE

Provide the rationale for the USP. For each product differentiator, Why is developing a Marketing Budget important?
describe: Increases credibility for Product Manager
A definition of the feature Organizes cost categories in a logical manner
The advantages it creates Ensures proper allocation of resources
The benefits it provides
Helpful Hint – If you completed a Break Even Analysis, make
Using the product applications identified in Stage 2, provide use sure that your budget reflects those assumptions.
scenarios.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 24

 1 2 3 4 6
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the
5 Launch Your
Objectives Your Market Competition Product
Build Your
Plan

STEP 7
Create a Schedule

Action Item

Use the Marketing Communications Calendar Template

to create a schedule for the promotion strategy you devel-
oped in Step 4 of this Stage.

VIEW RESOURCE

The communications you prepare may include:

Advertisements Mobile Marketing
Public Relations Events
Social Media Other

Helpful Hint – Ensure that each communication properly

reflects the key messages you identified.

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 25

 PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

STAGE 6

Launch Your Product

What type of launch is appropriate?
For a new product, a formal product launch process is recommended.
For an existing product with significant new functionality, a formal product launch process also is
recommended.
For an existing product with minor enhancements, a product announcement is probably adequate.
A formal launch process often takes months to plan and execute properly.
Leave yourself plenty of time to do a launch well.

STEP 1: Form a Launch Team

STEP 2: Launch Event
STEP 3: Manage Product Feature Requests
 1 2 3 4 5
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the Build Your
6
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan
Launch Your
Product

STEP 1 STEP 2
Form a Launch Team Launch Event

Action Item Action Item

To conduct a formal product launch, select members for Write your launch plan using the Product Launch Checklist
the launch team from each of the functional areas that have to document responsibilities, due dates, and launch activities.
a stake in a successful product launch. Use the Product
Launch Team Charter to define roles and responsibilities.

VIEW RESOURCE VIEW RESOURCE

Your cross-functional launch team should include a representative A comprehensive Launch Plan is built around a detailed set of
from: launch activities:
Marketing Customer Support Each activity is assigned to a responsible member of the
Public Relations Sales Launch Team
R&D Manufacturing The Launch Plan serves as the project management docu-
ment for the launch
It is helpful to include a Launch timeline as a communica-
tions tool and to keep the Launch on schedule

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 27

 1 2 3 4 5
Introduction Establish Product Detail Understand Size Up the Build Your
6
Objectives Your Market Competition Plan
Launch Your
Product

STEP 3
Manage Product Feature Requests

Action Item

Use our Product Feature Request Template to stan-

dardize the feature request intake process so that you can
effectively manage, evaluate, and prioritize new requests
appropriately.

VIEW RESOURCE

Key Benefits of this document include:

documents feature requests from customers
defines process for requesting new features
considers impact of non-completion
requires signatures for approval
save 2 hours on writting & formatting

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN 28

PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

Conclusion
At the end of any business process, it’s always a good idea to review it
and identify areas for improvement.

We can help. Demand Metric has the tools and expertise to help you
successfully market your products:
Create or audit your product marketing plans
Assist with using any of the tools referenced in this playbook
Provide hands-on marketing assistance to accelerate achieving your
product’s goals
PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

About ANA
The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) makes a difference
for individuals, brands, and the industry by driving growth, advancing
the interests of marketers and promoting and protecting the well-
being of the marketing community.

Founded in 1910, the ANA provides leadership that advances marketing

excellence and shapes the future of the industry. The ANA’s member-
ship includes more than 1,000 companies with 15,000 brands that
collectively spend or support more than $400 billion in marketing
and advertising annually. The membership is comprised of more than
750 client-side marketers and 300 associate members, which include
leading agencies, law firms, suppliers, consultants, and vendors.

Further enriching the ecosystem is the work of the nonprofit ANA

Educational Foundation (AEF), which has the mission of enhancing
the understanding of advertising and marketing within the academic
and marketing communities.
 PRODUCT MARKETING PLAN

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