What common mistakes do product marketers make when communicating technical features?

You absolutely need to use the language your audience understands. For example, I mostly work with tech startups. I often end up in projects where 95% of the employees are technical engineers. They have no patience for marketing jargon. So I need to explain things in words they use on their day-to-day. When you do that, the chances of the sale are much higher than when using industry-specific jargon.

This is where it's critical to be talking to customers constantly! That allows you to have a better idea of the exact words your customers are using so that you can reflect those in your own messaging. Another thing I notice that's related to jargon: companies often make their most technical launches about them instead of the customer. For example: "We're so excited about our new ai feature!" instead of "You can now do x, y and z easier and faster". We get so overly focused about seeming like we're the most technologically advanced solution that we forget that all customers care about is being great at their jobs and driving an impact with their work. They want to know how our technology helps with that.

Marketers often focus on what the product does (features) rather than what the customer gains (benefits). Tip: For every feature, ask "So what?" to find the benefit. For instance, instead of "Our camera has 20 megapixels," use "Capture every detail with our 20-megapixel camera for memories as sharp as the moment they happened."

This might be the #1 mistake product marketers make in their messaging and campaigns. This happens when product marketers don't fully understand their product and audience. To combat this, product marketers need to use their org's product(s) and engage with customers, prospects, churned customers, buyer committees, and keep an eye on the broader ecosystem. By understanding the forces at play, product marketers can better prioritize benefits, not features, because they understand the unique value the product offers.

Three things I focus on so I don't miss out on tailoring my messaging: > Addressing buying committees, but not boiling the ocean trying to address everyone by name. Spend time parsing out the target buyers, users, influencers, and gatekeepers. Then develop messaging. You don't need to be everything to everyone. Consider key attributes about the committee roles and incorporate themes into your messaging. > Keeping the feedback loops going Stay close to your customers, community, and internal GTM team. Keep your ear to the ground and see if there are small messaging pivots you can make. > Grounding myself: * what do I know? * what questions do I need to answer? * what can I use, or who can I talk to and validate these ideas?

Considering the considerable resource strain we know product marketers often work under, while I fully believe in audience tailored messaging; be careful not to try to do too many segments. Remember that product marketing originates much of the work across the marketing team, and every added segment/audience is a multiple of that work. So be pragmatic, identify your most important customer; then identify your most important audience within that customer - then perfect messaging towards that audience first.

Buyers are skeptical (!!!!) and are often weighing options when it comes to their resources (time, effort, budget), so they seek proof of a product's value and its ability to solve their problem. To overcome this, product marketers need to prioritize using customer stories and emotional engagement to demonstrate the product's real-world impact - especially in terms of time and money saved. Get started by repurposing customer feedback into reviews or using a review platform, maintaining/owning a consistent review capture process with other GTM teams (sales/cs/product), and show appreciation to customers for their advocacy. This approach of building in stories builds trust, makes your brand more memorable, and the product more compelling.

While we think we make purchase decisions rationally, we often make them based on emotion and then search for the facts to justify our emotional decision. Respond to your buyer's fears and wants.

What I've found helpful to get out "we've always done it this way, so we'll do it this way": Start by gaining a deep grasp of the problem at hand and your audience's objectives (saving time, driving revenue, etc.). Then create a few hypotheses and SMART goals. Why? Because - without those you will be optimizing messaging on assumptions which is NOT how you win hearts and minds (and budgets) in this economy. Don't shy away from conducting quick surveys or consulting customers/communities. Seeking validation at every step ensures that you're tackling the right problem, showcasing the right feature, and paving the way for a more iterative process when it comes to adapting messaging.

Not testing your message is a biggie. When we come up with a message, it's easy to think as a job well done, and implement that across the website and marketing materials. You just want to get it done. I get it. But. It's extremely difficult to get the message right and the message might not resonate with your target audience for a number of reasons. It's also relatively easy to test the message quite quickly and efficiently: - In mass-market B2B: Create a Display Google Ads campaign and drive people to the landing page and into the product. Measure CTR% on the ad level and the conversion on the LP. - In enterprise B2B: Pitch using the new message to 5 people. You'll quickly find if people are responding or not.

Features are the enabler to benefit, which a target audience will gain value from. Work backwards from value in your articulation. PMMs should see features merely as a taxi for benefit, with value being the destination.

Neglecting the customer's perspective and use cases, lacking clear storytelling and visuals, and being inconsistent in messaging. Overpromising, underestimating competitors, not training sales teams adequately, and ignoring customer feedback are also key pitfalls to avoid.