Product Marketing should be using storytelling at every stage of the product life cycle, here’s why
Product Marketing should be using storytelling at every stage of the product lifecycle and can be super effective in bringing together stakeholders and getting cross department buy-in.
Product marketers flex different skills at different stages of a company’s maturity. One skill we rely on no matter where we are is storytelling. Online resources abound with positioning frameworks to craft messaging that resonates with customers. But if you only consider how storytelling applies to external audiences as you’re preparing to launch, you've missed out on countless opportunities to flex this skill at key points along the roadmap with internal audiences. Getting internal stakeholders aligned, telling the same story, and empathizing early with your customer is an underestimated element of a successful launch.
Internal storytelling vs external storytelling
First, let’s establish how storytelling differs with internal audiences (company stakeholders) vs external audiences (your customers). Applied externally, storytelling should inspire action—typically, a purchase. As you craft messaging and positioning, you are building a story that centers your customer; they are the hero. After all, a person isn’t buying a product, they’re buying a better version of themselves. Your job as a PMM is to know your customer inside and out and understand how this product solves a problem in their life.
In contrast, internal storytelling supports a different outcome. Your job is to get stakeholders to empathize with the customer and root for their success. More broadly, you also need to contextualize the launch within your company’s own story. Illustrate how this product connects to the company’s mission. Remember, your company is on a hero’s journey of its own where each launch plays a supporting role in reaffirming its purpose. When done well, a clear story that lands with your internal stakeholders is one way to build allies who can help move your launch forward.
Now let’s review some key principles of good storytelling and explore how you can apply these ideas at various stages early in your GTM.
Know your audience and how much backstory they need
A story that fails to move its audience is just an anecdote. A good story always starts with the audience in mind. Consider how much context you need to share to set a proper scene. Think through how your audience might react, and which parts they’ll respond to.
How this relates to product marketing
PMMs are the connective tissue between product, sales, and marketing. Each team has its own goals, language, and even culture. Tap into your inner anthropologist and learn what motivates each group and how to best communicate with them. For example, since sales teams are a company’s front lines, they’ll already be aware of customers’ problems. Save the customer research deck for your next presentation to leadership. Instead, paint a picture of the product’s benefit to the customer in a way that’s crisp, memorable, and ready for Sales to use—and most importantly—close deals with. Think beyond how product positioning and actually imagine in detail how the customer’s reality improves. For example, if you’re an e-commerce platform provider, your customer isn’t just growing her small business, she’s building a life she’s always dreamed of/creating opportunities for others/becoming an important part of her local community. Capture these values and integrate these ideas into sales enablement collateral. Remember, the relationship between PMM and Sales is highly symbiotic, so leverage it to continuously revise material. Your Sales counterparts will appreciate the extra effort.
Senior leaders, on the other hand, aren’t in the day-to-day trenches, so more context helps to bring them along the GTM. Use data to substantiate your story, but draw upon emotion to drive it home. This is where your ability to combine analytical and creative thinking shines. In your next presentation with leadership, pull in supporting quantitative data to set the stage. Think industry trends, business metrics, or research studies, then narrow your scope and focus on your ideal customer. Spark an emotional connection with them by incorporating source material that brings them to life. Get as close as you can to presenting a real customer in your personas instead of stock images; try finding an actual customer photo. Play a sales recording of a prospect verbalizing pain points that captures the weary tone in their voice. Save yourself the time of searching for such a clip by putting this request on Sales’ radar earlier.
Raise the stakes to elicit sympathy for the customer
Good stories have conflicts that move things forward. Better stories introduce tension by raising the stakes. Conflicts show what a protagonist stands to gain by overcoming obstacles. Conversely, high stakes imply risk and suggest our protagonist has something important to lose. Framed this way, your story will introduce suspense and trigger the audience’s urge to know what happens next?
How this relates to product marketing
It’s well documented that our minds tend to recall negative experiences more easily than positive ones. It’s easier to avoid something painful than to move toward something good. Take advantage of this mental bias to help stakeholders build customer empathy. Similar to how you helped Sales connect the product’s benefits to the positive change in a customer’s life, take time to imagine what’s at stake if customers don’t use your product.
Getting clear on the product’s problem space is crucial. This stage of the development cycle is the most ambiguous and is a hotbed of strong opinions. In conversations with the Product team, cut through ambiguity by surfacing voice-of-customer insights early and often. If you don’t already have a robust VOC program, it’s a great idea to start one. As you gather insights, pay special attention to how customers describe their frustrations in sales calls, NPS survey responses, and qualitative interviews. At the end of the day, the decision to buy your product will depend on three factors: quality, service, or cost (in price or time). Quantify the benefit of using your product against the status quo or a competitor and you’ll have an idea of what’s at stake for customers if they forgo purchasing.
A memorable customer persona is all in the details
Bring your story to life with specifics. Just as you think about your audience, do the same with your customer. What motivates them? Is there something unexpected about them? What is their state of mind?
How this relates to product marketing
Being a PMM is an act of empathy. Walk in customers’ shoes by consuming the same marketing channels they do, attending the same events, and interacting with them in real life. Get as close as you can to seeing life from their POV. For example, tap into your network to find a small business owner to shadow for a few hours. Your goal is to pick up details and context you wouldn’t notice by analyzing data at your desk. The added insight will make your personas sympathetic and memorable to internal audiences.
Make the most of the opportunity by creating a list of questions you want to answer upfront. Think through how the information will supplement what you already know about your customer while avoiding selection bias. Leave room for being surprised. Because if something surprises you, chances are it’ll make an impression on those you share it with too. Use all of it to build a compelling persona your stakeholders can’t help but empathize with.
Use every opportunity to test and tweak your words
Stand-up comics are excellent storytellers who embody this idea of experimenting with their words. They carefully consider word choice and word order and then test their material in front of a live audience. If their joke doesn’t land, they revise. Product marketers can benefit a lot from this practice.
How this relates to product marketing
Because product marketers are in such cross-functional roles, there will always be opportunities to refine how you present your launch plan. Learning how to confidently convey your ideas will get you far as a product marketer. Just as you formulate crisp product positioning statements, challenge yourself to describe your launch strategy in one sentence. Practice this on team members first before bringing it into larger forums. If you feel uncertain about your strategy, it will come across in how you present it and cause unnecessary confusion later on.
Casual interactions with colleagues are also excellent opportunities to test your product positioning. One question that works well is simply asking, “how would you describe this product to a friend?” The goal is to capture an understanding of the product in plain speech without the bloated jargon that messaging templates often introduce. Start this process early, look for themes, refine, and then test with actual customers.
Once your strategy, messaging/positioning, and personas are in a good place, socialize them internally, and don’t be afraid to be a broken record. Make use of company-wide meetings, internal newsletters, and high-visibility presentations to share widely. Using all these strategies to get everyone aligned and telling the same story ensures a smoother launch later on.
