When Marketing meets Product
It sounds pretty obvious that Marketing and Product work great together. In fact, they must work together, otherwise, what are you doing?
Yet, what continues to amaze me, as a Digital Marketing Strategist, is that working closely with a Business Analyst who is knowledgeable in Agile methodologies has a huge favorable impact on your work and objectives.
But how?
In a world where Technology-focused businesses are so relevant and in which non-digitally native companies are going through a Digital Transformation whether they planned it or not, Marketing sometimes is conceived as a soft practice. Spoiler alert, it’s not.
While we do count with great soft skills, Marketing Strategists can be pretty technical, definitely goal advocates, and most clearly metrics and KPIs-oriented. So how does Product get into this equation?
Well, if you have a business analyst in your team helping you, then you know.
Product professionals will absolutely prepare you and train you so you and your team are the most focused and yet flexible group of people.
A Business Analyst will:
- Help you build a clear roadmap. An actionable mid-term roadmap will make a change of course just that, instead of a headache.
- Make your workflow tangible (Jira, I’m looking at you) and easy to be explained to your client.
Which brings me to the next point. Value. Added value.
Added value
Outputs and deliverables truly scale. Since Product Managers and Marketing Strategists do share a holistic vision of products and of businesses, they both have tools to showcase how the actual work that a Marketing professional does, impacts the business. Yes, metrics do that too.
Imagine what happens when you add a blueprint, a canvas, or a simple workshop to engage your key stakeholders.
The blend of marketing and product tools and methodologies is just made in heaven.
So, it’s my 2020 advice that you pair with a great Business Analyst or Product Manager if what you are looking for is causing a huge impact on your client’s business and on your own career path.
And it’s also my advice that if you are neither, yet you have the ability to bring them together to launch a product, a service, an app, a content plan, or even a virtual education platform, you do that.
Because the impact in your business goals will be measurable, strategical, and scalable.
To quote one of my favorite Product Managers “ We now have a North Star.”
