I’ve been working in product marketing my entire professional career (and then some — I started marketing local businesses online back in high school) and obviously, in the last twenty years a lot has changed.
More Selective Audiences
As it’s gotten easier to deliver our messages to people, our audiences have gotten more selective because they’re exposed to more sophisticated messaging now than ever before. What’s more, most businesses are targeting the same people over and over again. Your average B2B SaaS product, for instance, is targeting executives; your average B2B tech company is generally targeting leadership, engineers, and IT professionals; your average B2C health SaaS is generally targeting middle/upper class families. Because your audience’s attention is in high demand, if you want your brand to earn that attention your marketing must be masterful.
More Competition for Your Product Marketing Materials
Plus, as our world has gotten more and more integrated and interconnected, our audiences tend to compare our marketing to all marketing, not just the marketing put out by our competitors. That means that even if you’re the smallest startup in the world, your prospects are comparing your product marketing collateral to top brands like Apple.
All of that to say, the noise out there has reached fever pitch and your audience is overwhelmed (just like every audience). Worse, recessions mean budgets tighten and the cost of a bad decision becomes much more severe leading to prospect becoming more indecisive.
Recession Slow Downs Frustrate Sales and Marketing Teams
A sales and marketing team’s natural inclination to buyers dragging their feet is to inundate them with more content, more marketing, more contact. And, as you might intuitively know, studies show all this does is lengthen buying cycles and turn off prospects.
To help leadership teams manage product and content marketing in a recession, I’ve launched a podcast. I’m also offering one-on-one conversations, consultations, and services. If you’d like to bring me onto your team full time, please reach out — I’m looking for exactly the right leadership role to hold my attention for the long term and would love to discuss your company’s needs.
