Pragmatic Marketing New Articles Published

Pragmatic Marketing's February, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Feb 2009)

Sun, 01 Feb 2009 05:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

Gender Bias in the Annual Product Management and Marketing Survey Results
Does gender play a role in product management compensation? Does experience make a difference? A detailed analysis of results from the latest product management and marketing survey provides some interesting results.

Analysis of the Annual Survey from an Agile Perspective
"Agile" means different things to everyone. To me, it really means being efficient - and leveraging the best parts of a team. Of course, there are many different facets and "things" to agile - scrum, extreme, DSDM, getting real, etc. But what do these all mean to organizations and product managers? The annual survey can definitely shed some light on it.

What Would You Say to Your Company President?
In the latest product management and marketing survey we asked what you would like to say to your company president. Some surprising responses were provided and we compiled a cross-section of the feedback.

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Pragmatic Marketing's March, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Mar 2009)

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 05:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

Is Product Management Agile?
There's a lot of talk about Agile Product Management these days, and for obvious reasons. The thinking is that because of Agile software development, Product Managers need to change how they function and adapt themselves to a new way of developing software.

Doing Market Analysis - Easy, Right?
For anyone involved in product strategy, one of the key milestones to accomplish is market research. At its best, it uncovers that diamond in business and market research - an opportunity for a strongly profitable product. At its worst, it's a bunch of statistics in a sales presentation - after the product has launched because it seemed cool to build at the time.

Use Value Propositions to Validate Your Product
Often times, people write value propositions for their products as part of the marketing exercise in the later part of release cycle. On the surface, it sounds right, because you need to have a statement to sell your product. But think twice. Ask yourself: "why should I build a product without knowing how to sell it"?

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Pragmatic Marketing's April, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Apr 2009)

Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

Getting Through to the Corner Office: How to Make Sure Busy Decision Makers Read your White Paper
Reaching decision makers in corner offices is more important than ever. Here are two simple ways to make sure time-constrained executives read your white paper.

The Mythical Product Owner
Product Managers must quickly adapt to the Agile methodology, or face becoming sidelined. It is critical to understand the relationship between traditional and new roles within a delivery organization, particularly between the Product Manager and the Product Owner.

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The Pragmatic Marketer (Volume 7 Issue 2) is now available (30 Apr 2009)

Thu, 30 Apr 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

End Boring Marketing Now: Why a focus on sales leads and marketing ROI causes online marketing failure
Creating a World Wide Rave, in which people help tell your story, is a way to drive action. You can create the triggers that get millions of people to tell your stories and spread your ideas. But first, you've got to lose control.

How to Turn Sales Engineers into Your Biggest Fans
Here are some tips not only for a successful, working relationship, but also the fundamental activities that will turn SEs into the PM's biggest fans.

Goals, Readiness and Constraints: The Three Dimensions of Product Launch
Many companies mistakenly believe their product will sell itself and overcome any adversity. This couldn't be farther from the truth. A successful product launch requires skill, experience, market knowledge, and a process.

I Know Nothing About Naming (but that Doesn't Stop Me from Doing It!)
As a marketer for a new product, naming is something you may have to do even though you know nothing about it. There isn't a magic formula for creating a good product name, but a well-considered, rational process for picking the least awful name out of all of the possible awful names out there is better than anyone's gut feel - and, frankly, the best you can do.

Pragmatic Marketing's May, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 May 2009)

Fri, 01 May 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

Enabling Cross-Functional Teams: A Leadership Role for Product Managers
A cross-functional team helps communicate more broadly, gain alignment more easily, and builds better products. And as an added benefit, the team helps product managers spend more time in the market, figuring out what should be developed next year and the year after.

Using Twitter for Product Management
Using Twitter is not all about what you had for lunch or who you are meeting with tonight. It can be used to research markets, competitors and your customers.

Also included in this issue:

Pragmatic Marketing's June, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Jun 2009)

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

ProductCamp Best Practices
ProductCamps are taking North America by storm. If you haven't participated in a ProductCamp, you might wonder what all the fuss is about. If you have participated in one, you already know!

No Time Marketing Truths
Sometimes, it's the little things that make a big difference. Here are 10 "no time" tips to improve your marketing results.

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The Pragmatic Marketer (Volume 7 Issue 3) is now available (1 Jun 2009)

Mon, 01 Jun 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

Industry Immersion
An important part of being a product manager lies in understanding the industry where your product competes. Contrary to popular opinion, you don’t actually require hands-on market experience to understand a market. What you really need is the determination to immerse yourself in it.

Heard What You Said. Now What Did You Mean?
Now that you’ve created the personas of your prospective buyers and positioned your products for them, how do you communicate your unique value? Simply put, your messaging must create awareness in your audiences and compel their action.

Ask the Expert
How do you measure the results of product management?

Alignment - A Little-Known Aspect of Product Management
Knowing and understanding the customer is often called alignment. This article provides a foundation for the concept of alignment and relates it to several key components of the Pragmatic Marketing Framework.

Pragmatic Marketing's July, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Jul 2009)

Wed, 01 Jul 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

10 Ways to Identify an Impending Launch Disaster
There are ten easily identifiable signs to watch for that can help forecast if a product launch may be in trouble and suggested course corrections to make before it's too late.

Building an Online Listening Post for Customers
Businesses use their online communities to harness "collective wisdom" to guide their strategic and tactical product and marketing decisions. In the process of co-creating with the customers, companies can build and strengthen customer relationships.

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Pragmatic Marketing's August, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Aug 2009)

Sat, 01 Aug 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

I'm Agile? I'm Agile. I'm Agile! Becoming an Agile Product Manager
After 18 months of practicing Agile product management, I am finally feeling more like a yogi rather than a victim of medieval torture. Here are five things I learned along the way.

What We All Really Want is ATTENTION
Entrepreneurs, CEOs, and business owners want people to pay attention to their company. Marketers, PR pros, advertisers, and salespeople are on the payroll for one reason: To generate attention.

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The Pragmatic Marketer (Volume 7 Issue 4) is now available (1 Sep 2009)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

The Freemium Business Model and Viral Product Management
Ever scratch your head and wonder why you can use your favorite application for free? How can a business actually make money (and stay in business) when they offer their product for free? When does it make sense for a company to offer a free version of a product that competes with their own for-a-fee version of the same product?

Ask the Expert
How can we reflect our products’ evolution in their names?

Expand Your Comfort Zone: A Product Management Quiz to Point You in the Right Direction
This quiz can help you assess your effectiveness in working with Sales, Engineering, and executives. It’s a bit like the Myers-Briggs test, but just for product managers. If you are a product manager torn in many directions, give it a go, and see how your score matches up against the product management archetypes.

Marketing Up (and Down and Across) in a Down Economy
Does a changing economy really call for a change in how we do business? Well, not exactly. Assuming that we’re already following best-practice marketing approaches, we’re already part of a lean, ROI-oriented, targeted awareness, and demand-generation marketing machine.

Pragmatic Marketing's September, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Sep 2009)

Tue, 01 Sep 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

On Reqs and Specs
Can you believe the angst between product managers and developers? Many product managers think their developers are incompetent. Many developers don't think product managers bring any value to the process. We all want to get products to market but our understanding of roles keeps getting in the way. Who writes requirements? Who writes specifications? And what's the difference between a req and a spec?

Time Management for Product Managers
Product Managers are faced with a constant struggle to manage their time effectively. I have relied on a prioritization matrix developed by Stephen Covey to ensure I focus my attention on those activities that contribute towards my strategic goals. Without doing so, I have found that it is too easy to get consumed by non-important tasks.

Also included in this issue:

Pragmatic Marketing's October, 2009 E-Newsletter is now available (1 Oct 2009)

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 04:00:00 GMT

In this Issue:

The Cost of Knowing
If the job of the product manager is to be the messenger of the marketplace, then it's also the job of the product manager to justify the costs of acquiring that knowledge. So why is that so hard?

Real World Twitter Usage for Product Managers
Discovering and validating problems in the market is a critical success factor for any product manager. Today, using Twitter provides the ability to discover problems, aggregate feedback, and find people to contact for additional research.

Also included in this issue: