Resources for Product Marketing: Everything You Need to Know in 2022

Looking for the top 2022 product marketing resources? You are fortunate.

SaaS companies are increasingly relying on product-led marketing methods as the industry becomes more cutthroat. Therefore, in order to stay relevant in a field that is always evolving, product marketers need to regularly refresh their abilities.

From tools and blogs to courses, we've assembled a list of the top resources to get you going.  

Let's get going!

TL;DR

• Product marketing is the process of bringing a product to the market, promoting it, and selling it to customers.
• It is a strategic form of marketing that focuses on the product itself and uses it as the driving force for your company’s growth.
• In this era of product-led growth, product marketing can’t be ignored.
• SaaS companies are increasingly investing in product marketing to stand out in a competitive market with effective product launches, positioning, and improved product experiences.
• To excel in your role as a product marketer you need to stay updated on best practices, industry developments, and all other product marketing strategies.
• Product marketing resources include different formats, from video content to podcasts, blogs, and best tools.
• Tools like Userpilot and Mailchimp simplify your work processes and help you create personalized experiences to keep users engaged both in-app and by email.
• Additionally, you need conferences and events to expand your network and learn from experts directly.
• Another source of product marketing resources is industry reports and benchmarks.
• The State of SaaS Onboarding is the yearly review of onboarding flows of more than 1000 SaaS companies, created by Userpilot and The State of SaaS meta report is a summary of other SaaS reports.
• Product marketing certifications and training are also useful in improving your skills and credibility.
• CXL’s Product Marketing certification course is an industry standard. This particular course is taught by the top 1% of product marketers from companies like Drift and Uber.
• It is suitable for your entire team and they give you a 7-day trial for $1.
• Other kinds of useful product marketing resources include books, podcasts, and blogs just like Userpilot’s.

‍

What is product marketing?

Product marketing is a field that sits at the intersection of product development, marketing, sales, and customer success. It is simply a form of marketing that is focused on selling your product to both existing customers and new ones.

It differs from traditional marketing, which only focuses on customer acquisition and brand promotion. A good product marketing strategy covers every stage of the funnel and ensures your product is the driving force behind customers’ progression.

Best product marketing tools

Product marketing managers need tools that automate, customize, and track their campaigns. Here are some product marketing tools that you should have in your stack.

User onboarding tools: Userpilot

Userpilot is a great tool for product onboarding and adoption. It also has a lot of great functionalities that help you to create several customized product experiences. From personalized onboarding flows to in-app engagement experiences like announcements and new product updates.

You can also use it to collect customer feedback and analyze customer engagement with your product across multiple segments and at different stages of the customer journey. The best part of this tool is that it’s code-free.

Project management tools: Monday

Monday is an excellent project management system. With this tool, you can easily organize and assign team projects, collaborate with team members, and track progress in real-time.

Monday allows integration with multiple third-party tools, such as Slack, Google Calendar, and Zoom.

Email marketing tools: Mailchimp

MailChimp is an email marketing platform that helps marketing teams create and send automated emails to multiple segments of users. With this tool, you can

• Design your marketing emails to match your brand style
• Attach triggers to email flows so they go out only at the right time and to the right people
• Track their performances using its powerful data analytics feature

Product marketing reports, statistics, industry benchmarks

Keep up to date with the product marketing industry and best practices by reading reports and statistics. There are many of them out there, but these are some of the best.

State of SaaS onboarding report

The State of SaaS Onboarding is a comprehensive report by Userpilot. Each year we analyze the onboarding practices of over 1,000 SaaS companies to show you what’s working, what’s not, and how to improve your onboarding flow.

Product Marketing Alliance stats

The State of Product Marketing is a yearly report by Product Marketing Alliance on product marketing trends. This contains research and interviews with over 100 product marketing managers from different companies and across different seniority levels to give you insight into everything you need to succeed as a PMM.

Open view Benchmarks and Research

This analysis of various State of SaaS reports has identified key trends, findings, and discrepancies. The research is comprehensive – taking in 300-page goliaths, graph-heavy slide decks, extensive expert interviews, and comprehensive benchmark data – to show what the global SaaS landscape looks like.

Best product marketing conferences and events

Conferences and events are a great way to not only learn how companies are growing, but also build a network of other product marketers. In addition, you can get direct access to some of the brightest minds in the industry.

Here are the top three product marketing conferences and events.

Product Drive Conference

The Product Drive Conference is a 2-day event powered by Userpilot. It is an assembly of product experts from industry-leading organizations and an excellent opportunity for product marketing teams to learn all about the different aspects of product marketing, growth, analytics, operations, and leadership.

The best part of this event is that it’s free to attend. All you need to do is book your space and you’re good to go.

Check all the talks from last year.

Product Marketing World summit

The Product Marketing World Summit is the largest gathering of PMMs worldwide. Product marketing experts from leading startups from around the world attend this summit which takes place in different locations and at different times to share their experiences, challenges, and strategies with other product marketers.

Tickets to this event cost anywhere from $795 to $1,695.

Product Marketing Festival

The Product Marketing Festival is a virtual event hosted by Product Marketing Alliance for product marketers to learn and discuss all things product marketing. It is an opportunity for you and your team to learn from over 70+ experts.

Struggling with things like building product marketing campaigns that work for your product’s target audience? This event covers that topic pretty well. The live broadcast is also free to attend, but if you’d like access to replays, you’ll have to get an annual membership of $499.

Product marketing podcasts

If you’re more inclined to audio stories and lessons, then podcasts are a great product marketing resource for you. The best part of this is that some are live recorded, allowing you to ask questions and get direct answers.

Some good product marketing podcasts are:

Product heroes

The Product Heroes podcast is a series of interviews with product entrepreneurs and leaders delivered by Userpilot. The events are live so you can ask questions, or listen to the recordings to catch up in your free time.

Product Marketing Life

This is a biweekly podcast show by Product Marketing Alliance and is perfect for product marketing managers who like to stay updated on industry trends. Each interview covers the lives of product marketers from some of your favorite companies while also bringing you deep dives into product marketing.

Are you looking for inspiration to build your next product launch go-to-market strategy? Want to increase sales with storytelling or do you just want to know how to further your product marketing career with expert tips? Then you should listen to this podcast.

The Product Marketing Experts

Product Marketing Experts is a weekly show hosted by Marcus Andrews and Andrew Lopes. Each week these hosts chat with a product expert from one of the fastest-growing SaaS companies in the world to bring your insight into their experiences and also their work processes.

If you’re interested in learning how top companies implement strategies, build and manage their teams, and other product knowledge, you can find it here.

Best books for product marketers

Staying up to date on what’s new in product marketing is essential for product marketing managers. You can learn a lot about product marketing from books because they teach you the subject from the point of view of an expert.

Here are three of the best books to help you improve your product marketing skills.

Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind by Al Ries and Jack Trout

Although this book was originally published in 1981 before the explosion of digital marketing strategies, it’s still a necessary read for any product marketer. Al Ries and Jack Trout expose readers to a new technique for reaching and connecting with customers outside of traditional advertising.

They use case studies from several companies to show the importance of positioning and good customer communication/product messaging that is useful even in today’s world.

Crossing The Chasm: Marketing and Selling High-Tech Products to Mainstream Customers by Geoffrey Moore

Another classic product marketing book, Crossing The Chasm by Geoffrey Moore is especially useful when planning product launches or disruptions into new markets. Choosing the right target audience and buyer personas to focus on is one step. Getting them to successfully progress along the customer lifecycle journey is another.

In this book, the author covers how to sell and market your high-tech product to the different types of customers you’ll encounter. He’s grouped them into categories like early adopters, innovators, early and late majority customers, etc. Here, you’ll learn how to close the gap between each customer group and increase the overall adoption of product features.

Product-Led Growth by Wes Bush

Product-led growth has become the go-to growth and marketing strategy for many SaaS companies.

In this book, Wes Bush challenges traditional marketing practices which emphasize the need for a sales team to succeed. He teaches the different strategies needed to build a product that sells itself. This book covers several topics from customer acquisition to reducing churn, and others that are of importance to product-led teams.

Conclusion

Product marketing is always evolving. That’s why you need to keep learning and upgrading your skills. The resources in this post are useful for you to perform better at your current company. They can also help you position yourself for better opportunities.

For most SaaS companies, especially the product-led ones, the success of the entire company sometimes lies in your hands as the product marketer. Building the right team and choosing the right strategies are essential and you can learn a lot from the resources outlined above.

‍