Whenever you want to bring a product to market, there are several key steps to get right.
From nailing your cross-functional strategies to really making sure your product roadmap’s understood by the stakeholders involved, there’s quite a lot to consider.
Equally important and an absolute must to cross-functional effectiveness? Your product positioning.
In the lead up to our #GTM24 LA event, we met with one of the speakers, Kasey Stinson, whose event topic focuses on the importance of having a sound product position and message in place. More than that, she underlines the value of how a clear story can bring teams together.
Read on to discover why she thinks your product story could encourage better collaboration and also attract the right audience.
Can you introduce yourself and describe your role?
My name is Kasey Stinson, and I’m currently Vice President of Sales Enablement and Product Marketing at PSCU Co-op Solutions. We're a financial technology company that supports credit unions in driving sustainable growth, product innovation, and a future-focused member experience.
My role involves leading product positioning, messaging, developing sales tools and training, overseeing the product from development through launch and in-market strategy, and managing any additional enhancements.
In your own words, briefly describe product positioning’s value.
Ensuring that your product positioning is accurate is crucial for making sure your messaging resonates with your customers and that your product appeals to them.
The essential element here is to focus on the outcomes your product delivers and the problems it solves for your customers. It's about moving beyond merely discussing the features and benefits. Instead, aim to craft a narrative that genuinely connects with your target audience.
Why do you think a clear product story brings teams together?
A clear product positioning from the start ensures that all subsequent components, like messaging, sales tools, and go-to-market strategies, are aligned. This alignment is achieved through collaboration with stakeholders such as sales teams, product teams, and marketing, ensuring a unified approach to the product strategy.
To achieve this, it's imperative to bring together various key stakeholders.
This includes your sales team, who will be directly engaging with customers. They possess a deep understanding of the customer's current issues and challenges, providing invaluable insights that can shape your product's positioning.
It's equally critical to involve the product owner to gain a comprehensive understanding of the product's features and capabilities. By integrating the sales perspective with the product information and your marketing expertise—including a thorough analysis of the industry and audience needs—you can develop a well-rounded and compelling positioning narrative.
At our LA event, you’ll be sharing some best practices. Could you briefly mention some of those?
I'll discuss the importance of involving the right stakeholders, understanding your audience, and using tools to ensure alignment and documentation of key criteria to really get your product positioning and messaging right. Ultimately, we’ll look at how this approach helps in measuring results based on your efforts.
Equally, I think it’s critical to get different perspectives from different industries to really positively disrupt your processes and come up with something that might be better or more effective for you.
How do you maintain a unified messaging strategy through any unexpected changes?
So, I like to think of arriving at the ultimate positioning and messaging as a road trip.
You know where you're starting, where you want to end up, and you know your destination, but maybe you don't know exactly which roads you'll take to get to that final destination.
Inevitably, you might encounter detours or need to make adjustments. The critical point is that everyone is aligned with the same North Star and use tools and processes to continuously document and revisit the original messaging and positioning. This ensures the team can adapt to changes, and remain unified.
When you're all able to stay in sync through some of these processes, you're able to stay on the same page. And you’ll arrive at that final destination for a fantastic trip or vacation, which is your product launch and your go-to market.
Want to attend this event?
At Go-to-Market Alliance, we're always looking for ways to engage our lovely community members. Where better to network with like-minded pros and discover the latest industry trends than by attending one of our upcoming events?
Join industry leaders (like Kasey) at our #GTM24 LA event as they share their tried, tested, and proven strategies that you can adopt right away.
Check out our brochure for more details, and see you there?
