Hi there! Here’s what’s lined up for you this week:
Mon - Dos and donts if you're transitioning to a new role
Tues - Breaking into product marketing
Wed - Understanding your SaaS product
Thurs - Gathering intel against competitors who don't offer trial
Fri - Useful resources
Apart from these, I will be sharing any tips that come to my mind along the way. Stay tuned!
Hi all! I’m Swaathishree. Product marketer @FreshworksInc. A SaaS newbie with 3 yrs work experience. I can’t match the tips of Alexandra or @AMcBick yet. In case you’re looking to enter product marketing, my experience might help you. Hang in there?
#impostorsyndromekicksin
It took me 2 hours to flesh out a plan and actually start writing. By the time I finished the first-day tweets, 4 hrs were gone. The next day too. Nevertheless, I’m so satisfied and surprised at the effort I’ve put. If you're reading this, thank you! Your support means a lot :)
@pmmunderhood Love it. Looking forward to your content this week!
Thanks for this! Needed it😇 twitter.com/AMcBick/status…
@silentmarketer1 @pmmunderhood This is so cool. Looking forward to see you post 😃😃😃
Thanks! Already feeling good about taking this up😌 twitter.com/HemaSekar11/st…
@pmmunderhood @FreshworksInc @AMcBick Hi Swaathishree, thank you for putting so much effort into this, I look forward to reading your tweets!!
Hi Marisa. Nice to meet you! You market biotechnology? Interesting twitter.com/marisareinoso/…
Eyeing that product marketer role but not sure about the transition experience? Here’s what I learned.
#transition #productmarketing
Before I start, here’s my intro: That teacher's-favorite nerdy kid everyone hated till school. Realizes that life is more than ticking off parents’ wishlist. Enjoys college life, hates engineering, takes up writing internships while trying hard not to get arrears.
I land in Freshworks. 3 years. 3 roles. Content writer. Product marketer. Growth marketer. How you ask? Well-timed team restructuring. One day. I was writing articles. The next day, I was transitioning to a product marketing role. You’re right.
I stumbled into product marketing by sheer luck. But, believe me. It was so scary and frustrating at that time. Being out of my comfort zone, I hung onto my previous responsibilities for comfort. Though a new content team was formed, I still uploaded the articles.
My workload increased. My transition to product marketing slowed down. At the same time, I couldn’t bring myself to tell my manager that I was finding it challenging to do all these tasks. According to me, it meant that I was incapable.
My then manager @NutC looked at my to-do list and asked me to hand over the content-related ones to the new team. He advised that I should let people know when there’s too much on my plate instead of taking up every responsibility that comes my way. His advice was an eye-opener.
It helps me turn down responsibilities without feeling bad to this day. And back then, it made me let go of my previous duties and adapt to my new role. As I began to focus only on product marketing, I learned faster and started liking my new role.
Fast forward to today, I have:
So, if you’re moving to a new role and feeling uncomfortable, I hear you. Hold on to older responsibilities only till needed, be okay with not knowing things, and don’t bite off more than you can chew.
#beentheredonethat
Sometimes, we get so busy in our work that we fail to do things that give us ideas, inspiration and creativity. Like taking a walk, reading a story or talking with a friend.
I’ve created ~50 presentations for founders, CEOs, execs, myself over the last 5 years. Every deck I write starts on paper, following this outline:
Let’s stay in touch?
Linkedin - linkedin.com/in/swaathishre…
Twitter @silentmarketer1
#productmarketing #network
Who doesn’t have a newsletter these days?
My Substack - silentmarketer.substack.com
Not so interesting notes about me:
Consuming is not enough. Spend some time creating.
You want to enter the product #marketing world. Where do you start?
Here’s a job overview though:
If you know/learn how to:
Now, that's how you make a beautiful #story out of an A4 sheet. Loved this from Nua pic.twitter.com/GlmRPLuooJ
Tuesdays (actually all days) are for career upskilling tips and tricks!
Listing down mine. Comment yours too!
#career #tips
Want to practice writing clear instructions?
Open a how-to article of a product you use. Read it and try to do the same in the product.
Did you get stuck? Was something not clear? Wish there were more screenshots?
Note them down. Rewrite in your own words. Repeat.
How to convert features into user-focused #benefits?
It’s so tempting to say that feature X helps with…
Instead, visit review sites, Ctrl + F feature name and read what customers have written about it.
The words will start flowing. Thank me later.
How to do your SaaS product vs #competitor doc?
Sign up for their product, go through their website, reviews. Use competitor analysis tools, if possible.
Mapping equivalent plans between product and competition using pricing pages also helps. Here’s a format I recently did: pic.twitter.com/FgThVCtpWT
@pmmunderhood This is a great tip!
Glad to know! Any tips you don't mind sharing? twitter.com/fishfaceishi/s…
How to move people with stories?
There’s no shortcut for this. It is a lifelong process.
Reading about psychology can help a bit.
You can try writing, posting on Linkedin or social media to gauge which stories capture people’s attention.
Let me know if you know some tips.
I almost forgot.
Communication with multiple teams can derail your actual workday plans if you’re not careful.
Because If you’re launching a major feature, you will get DMs and emails from every team asking about the feature.
Allot some time to answer them all at once.
Someone sent me this sales deck link long back and I’ve referred to this countless times:
medium.com/the-mission/th…
Secret tip to improve your copywriting. Visit random websites, read about their industry and rewrite their landing page in a way you would understand.
Original copy vs my attempt of @BodygramJapan pic.twitter.com/jzbsGz52Cb
You can use 'Edit website' extension to test your copy on the website temporarily.
chrome.google.com/webstore/detai…
Have you ever focused so much on one thing that you don’t bother to get to know anything?
That was me when I worked on a feature launch for months together.
I would write how-tos for it, record videos, do webinars. Every to-do was related to the feature.
Unconsciously, I gave more weight to that feature over the entire product.
I signed into the product just to use that feature. If someone talked about a different feature, my ears would tune out
I would take up high-effort low-impact tasks just because it’s for that feature.
I treated it as my fave and gave it special treatment.
Even after everything was done for the feature, I was finding ways to extend instead of moving on to next project.
Looking back, I should’ve known better.
As product #marketers, we should not get overly attached to one feature.
When it’s time to move on, we move.
And at no cost should we fall back on our product knowledge.
It’s important to stay updated and keep visiting the product.
1. Explore on your own
a) Sign up for a trial version and set it up from scratch. Notice a roadblock? Note it down. Pass it on as feedback to the product team.
b) Go through the existing solution articles and training videos. Replicate the same scenarios in your trial account. pic.twitter.com/iSriRswnII
2. Check Customer Feedback
a) Obtain access to your support portal and search for the common complaints raised by customers.
b) Meet customer service folks and ask them if they get any common issues.
c) Check review sites like G2, Capterra, etc
3. Product Usage and Adoption
Know how the customers use your product, find the most used and least used features.
Data analyst team or product analytics tools might help.
If product team holds feedback calls with customers, join em.
4. Ask customer-facing Teams
Customer-facing teams have a bunch of product questions from customers.
Ask them to enter their questions in a fill-up form and take up the challenge of answering them.
You will learn a great deal about the product along with real-life use cases.
10. Your customer cares literally zero about your company, your story, your brand, or even your product. What they do care, is what it can do for them. Don’t fight this, embrace it.
4 TIPS to gather intel against B2B SaaS competitors who don't offer any trial
Come up with your product vs. competitor collateral without setting eyes on your foe👀
#marketing #spy #intel #SaaS pic.twitter.com/8LdQBviGUj
1. Find Rival Turned Colleague(s)
Ask around and check if there’s someone who has shifted from your competitor organization to yours.
Ping or email them and ask if they would like to share some info. If they agree, ask them to share their points in a doc or set up a call.
2. Start with the Competitor’s Website
Go through their pages, note down the features they have focused on, download their pricing manual.
To find something specific, do a Google search. You might come across older documents, forum threads, etc.
If you find something interesting, don’t forget to copy-paste them in a doc along with the URL. It will help you compare the points with your product.
Using a competitive intelligence tool that gives info on your competitor and their strategy can save lots of time.
3. Deep Dive into the Knowledge Base
While the competitor’s website gives you an overview, it’s the knowledge base where lies the treasure.
It can be a bit tricky to find the knowledge base. Yet, with some Google search and link following, you will be successful.
Once you arrive there, all you need to do is go through solution articles and watch product videos.
If you see a statement, picture or video that will work to your product’s advantage, screenshot it before you bookmark the URL.
4. Browse the Product Review Sites
Sites like FinancesOnline, G2 Crowd, TrustRadius, etc. have a trove of information about your competitor in the form of customer feedback and ratings.
As you browse and compare various review sites, note down patterns to compare.
That's about it.
It doesn’t matter if the competitor doesn’t offer any trial. You can still gather intel with research and patience.
Hit ❤️ if you found this thread useful.
If you ever find yourself needing a reason to go after your dreams, here are six 🔥 What's your favorite one? Credit: @resetnyc pic.twitter.com/l7zWcRKw99
In today’s world, having a weakness is no more a weakness.
There are so many tools, newsletters, extensions, blogs, communities, and books out there.
We know some. We don’t know many.
When we discover a fitting tool that eradicates our #weakness, our joy knows no bounds!
I had a weakness.
I ended up writing the same set of words over and over.
I knew other similar words.
It’s just I didn’t remember to use them until I saw them.
Here’s where Thesaurus.com is a life-saver.
All I need to do is type a word, select a similar word and use it.
A collection of resources and tools have shaped me as a person and continue to do so.
Listing them in this thread. Feel free to comment your faves!
Attaching the sheet with links to all and why I find em useful at the end of the thread.
Worthy newsletters:
@MarketingBrew
Chitthi from @MadOMarketing
The CMO Journal, by @_sairamkrishnan
@davegerhardt Marketing Group
3-2-1 Thursday by @JamesClear
Pop Neuro by @PrinceGhuman248 and Matt Johnson
@SidekickMB
@five_books
Enabling websites:
@answerthepublic
@GoogleTrends
Free Slogan Maker by @Shopify
@internetarchive Wayback machine
Botframe by @almonk
Improving productivity:
Work cycles by @ultraworking
@pomofocus
Must-read books:
Thinking, Fast and Slow by @kahneman_daniel
Homo sapiens by @harari_yuval
How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie
Product-led onboarding by @RamliJohn
Influence by Robert Cialdini
Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries, Jack Trout
Chrome Extension power-ups:
GoFullPage - Full Page Screen Capture
Hypothesis - Web & PDF Annotation
Edit website
All memes in one scroll😌
#MEMES
twitter.com/i/events/14286…
Here's the link to every resource along with what's in it for you:
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d…
It's Friday already and here's a roundup of my tweets @pmmunderhood
If you're a product marketer or aspiring to become one, this is my gift for you😌
Want that gated content so bad but don't want to give your email address?
As a marketer, I probably shouldn't tell you this hack. I'm just nice, you know?
Use temp-mail.org/en/ to generate a temporary email address, get that content, and dispose of it.
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/swaathishree-sridhar/
- https://silentmarketer.substack.com/
- https://medium.com/the-mission/the-greatest-sales-deck-ive-ever-seen-4f4ef3391ba0
- https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/edit-website-extension/flaminmoaihaimhjbohfnbkklgonhjej/related?hl=en
- https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1srzcr3fdrqeFfo_bH_w6Hp4yGdjZOcMKyvLi8g3tB8w/edit?usp=sharing
- http://thesaurus.com/
- https://temp-mail.org/en/