The 10 biggest challenges of product marketing

Product marketing comes with a host of challenges. In fact, 71 percent of CMOs think they don't have enough budgetto fully execute their strategy. So, product marketing isn't easy.

Some say product marketing should lie with the sales team, while other pin marketers for the task. On the other end, some people believe it’s more or less the same as a product manager’s job.

So, even before we uncover the challenges of product marketing and what to do about them, let’s define product marketing.

What is product marketing?

Product marketing is the process of driving demand and adoption of a product through a go-to-market strategy, product messaging, thought leadership, and the creation of awareness among target customers.  

It encompasses go-to-market strategy, product positioning, market research, messaging, thought leadership, and creating awareness among target customers. Crucially, it also involves measuring and optimizing key performance indicators (KPIs) such as product adoption rate, customer lifetime value (CLV), and net promoter score (NPS).

In short, product marketing involves: 

• A go-to-market strategy involving market trends
• Awareness campaign based on customer needs
• Product positioning and messaging  
• Thought leadership to establish the authority of the product 

Now, let's explore the most pressing challenges facing product marketers today and digital marketing strategies to overcome them. 

Product marketing challenges and what to do about them

Now that we have that in check, what are the most common challenges and pain points that product marketing faces? And how can you counteract them to increase adoption, awareness, and revenue generated from your product launches in real-time?

1. The disconnect between marketing, sales, and product teams

Perhaps one of the biggest challenge you’ll hear product marketers lament is siloed efforts. Even if the roles in a company are well designed, there’s always different product marketing-related activities other teams are doing.

These siloed efforts result in disarrayed metrics, accountability issues, and of course, an unsuccessful product marketing campaign. 

The main reason why this happens is that each team has its own data, metrics, objectives, and so on. Instead of an orchestrated product marketing campaign bringing in the ROI, you have unclear results and lots of room for error.

How exactly do you rein in this issue and help your product marketing manager (PMM) keep their sanity? We say the best solution is the use of an automated marketing project management software, or a content marketing platform, if you will. 

A marketing project management software like Optimizely Content Marketing Platform can help your team in the following ways.

• Better communication: Through a centralized system of assigning instructions and receiving feedback, your team will be able to work more in sync and find customer success.
• Promote accountability: You’ll now know who’s the owner, responsible for delivering, approving, and pushing out each campaign.
• Manage your workflow: There won’t be an issue of missed deadlines or forgotten tasks because every activity is set clearly and assigned to the person responsible.
• Centralized digital assets: Not finding the assets you need during a product campaign is one of those headache-inducing moments.  But with marketing project management software, all teams can easily access everything.

A CMP brings all these features under one roof. Some of the biggest companies out there with 90+ marketers use Optimizely's Content Marketing Platform (CMP) to orchestrate campaigns and keep everyone sane.

2. Product positioning and messaging

Getting a new product to the market and getting consumers to like it is always hard, thanks in no small part to the numerous options and competition out there. 

This becomes more challenging because if you can’t strike a chord with your target audience, then product adoption becomes tricky. 

There are two sides to this challenge: the risk of your messaging and positioning sounding the same as all the competitors in the market or going overboard with messaging that no one responds to.

You can remedy this with better research and getting to the thick of how customers use your product. For instance, use beta testing feedback to determine the key benefits users get from your product. 

Or, if your product is already out in the market, you can probe customer reviews to understand how and why people are choosing your product. And if your product isn’t a favorite despite your marketing efforts, which issues are the culprits? 

Even better, conduct surveys of early product adopters. In your survey, make sure to include questions such as:

• If the product was non-existent, would you be unhappy?
• What main benefits do you receive from the product?
• If the product was non-existent, which alternative would you use?

On the other hand, if your product’s market is relatively new, then you’ll need to do a lot of explaining. You might have to convince buyers why they need your product in the first place, as they may not be aware of the problem it solves.

Finally, understand that before buyers purchase or change products, there are factors that will make them want to adopt your product, known in marketing parlance as:

• Pull: Features of your project will make customers want to try it. Create differentiation
• Push: Negative aspects of a current product will make customers want to switch to yours

However, there are also factors that will keep a customer from your product:

• Habit: Buyers may not be prepared to learn new things
• Anxiety: Buyers have concerns you need to address first before product adoption

If you know the motivation factor behind a buyer’s decision, you can better decide how to position your product and what messaging to use.

3. Proving product marketing ROI

Another challenge you might experience in product marketing is proving ROI.

Product marketing is not sales, nor is it marketing per se. There are slight perceived differences that may make it hard to prove the exact value product marketing brings.

Product marketers often find it challenging to quantify the influence of their sales enablement input.

For instance, how does one quantify the value of resources such as product presentations, product sheets, or demos on a website? Do these items contribute to the bottom line, or is the buyer’s decision based on something else?

Plus, how is your presence on social media, especially on LinkedIn if you're in the B2B space, impacting the product marketing strategy in your target market? 

Surely there’s got to be a link. But without the data to prove it, getting executive backing for future product campaigns becomes challenging. Convincing other teams to back up the product marketing without this linkage data spells disappointment.

So, what can product marketers do about it? 

Getting into a partnership with the marketing and sales analytics teams is a step in the right direction. The data and analytics from these two teams can help find correlations to determine ROI.

A CMP makes it super easy to access other campaign analytics that’ll come in handy in proving value. You can get insights on:

• Lead generation tracking
• Opportunities and deals influenced
• Operational efficiency
• Campaign performance 

This way, you’ll always have reporting on the value of product marketing ads to your overall business goals.

4. Scaling product marketing campaigns

There’s always going to be inefficient resources and smaller budgets where product marketing is concerned. In fact, per Gartner, marketing budgets fell from 11% to 6.4% of company revenuein 2021.

When you couple this with the modern-day complex customer bases, then things start to really get difficult.

Here’s where learning to prioritize essential product marketing activities becomes crucial. Of course, you want to cover all bases, but it won’t be realistic for you, your team, and most likely your budget.

As a marketing professional, what can you do to ensure that you are scaling and bringing results to the table for stakeholders? 

To scale effectively and deliver results, you need to first define your goals:

• Non-negotiable: Core objectives crucial for product success
• Negotiable: Flexible goals that can be adjusted as needed

Then balance reactive and proactive marketing:

• Capitalize on trends for quick wins
• Focus on proactive strategies for long-term success
• Use data analysis to determine priorities

Finally, leverage marketing project management tools:

• Gain performance insights
• Automate workflows
• Integrate campaigns across platforms

5. Insufficient customer data

Even after months of research, there is bound to be a gap in your product marketing data. That’s because consumers now use an omnichannel approach to research and purchase. 

They can do product searches on their phones and end up buying through their desktop or laptop. The challenge is that most teams don’t have the complete picture of this data.

Sometimes, the data is there, but it’s not easily accessible, or as we had mentioned, it’s siloed into different departments.

In product development and marketing, you’ll often have to make do with what’s available. But first, you have to unify the data into a single platform that is easy to access, approve and validate. 

Again, you can choose to focus on broad metrics while you collect and leverage other data that is still helpful to your product campaigns. Either way, whether you need data on competition analysis or social trend analytics, Content Marketing Platform can help you access it.

6. Adapting to the rise of product-led growth 

The shift towards product-led growth strategies, particularly in SaaS and tech products is putting the product at the center of the customer acquisition and retention strategy.  

• Develop in-product onboarding and education materials  
• Focus on user activation metrics and product adoption rates  
• Collaborate closely with product teams to ensure features align with marketing messages 

7. Marketing in the smart devices era

The increasing prevalence of voice-activated devices and smart home technology is changing how consumers discover and interact with products.     

• Optimize product information for voice search queries  
• Build content that answers common voice search questions 
• Consider how your product integrates with smart home ecosystems 

8. Incorporating sustainability

A 2021 study found 85% of consumers have adopted more sustainable purchasing habits in recent years.    

• Highlight sustainable aspects of your product in marketing materials  
• Develop a sustainability story for your product and brand  
• Engage in cause marketing related to environmental issues  

9. Crisis management 

It is important to maintain transparency and open communication channels with customers.   

• Develop a crisis communication plan specific to your product  
• Create scenario plans for potential product-related crises  
• Train team members on crisis response protocols  

10. Remote/hybrid work in product marketing  

The shift to remote and hybrid work models has impacted how product marketing teams collaborate and execute strategies.     

• Invest in collaboration tools designed for distributed teams  
• Develop clear communication protocols and create virtual spaces for creative collaboration  
• Implement regular virtual team-building activities to maintain cohesion 

Simplify product marketing 

Challenges in product marketing are always going to be there. Success requires a combination of data-driven decision-making, technological adoption, and a willingness to adapt quickly to changing market conditions. 

By addressing these challenges head-on, product marketers can position themselves and their products for success in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Remember, the key is to remain agile, continuously learn, and always keep the customer at the center of your strategies. 

No matter your current situation, what would help is if all your marketing lifecycle, from planning and creation to storage, to testing, distribution, and analysis is in one workplace. That is exactly what you can do with Optimizely One. It's everything your marketing team needs to stay aligned.