Better Product

Product marketing is at the intersection of many teams in a product company. The work of a product marketer supports the wider product team, sales, marketing, executive stakeholders, and most of all, buyers. It’s for this reason product marketers tend to play a quarterback role, says Kim Biddings Johnson, VP of Product at BIO-key International. As Kim knows from experience, they’re responsible for not just knowing a product in and out—they have to translate its selling points for others to use. Join Kim and Tina to hear more about the opportunities product marketers can bring to your growing organization. Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.   Takeaways:   Product marketing starts from the second there’s a b

One of the fundamental strategies product marketers must lead is positioning. It’s what determines how you’ll talk about your product, your company, and your brand as you scale. So why do so many people get it wrong? Catherine Spence, VP of Global Marketing at Microblink, joins Leanna to share her best lessons on brand and product positioning, from leading marketing at an international company to her own startup, Pomello. If you’re looking to stay in your comfort zone, this isn’t the episode for you. Catherine shows us why we need to use our positioning to pick a fight and take a stand, especially in B2B SaaS.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways:  Positioning gives you focus. You can’t be eve

In today’s world, building a great product isn’t enough. You have to master your go-to-market strategy by telling a story that will leave a lasting impression on your audience. Product marketing gets you there, according to long-time product marketer and Costanoa Ventures partner Martina Lauchengco.    Martina is the author of the latest book from the esteemed Silicon Valley Product Group, LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products. Alongside Tina and Leanna, she explores how her career start as a product manager equipped her with the product curiosity and technical competence needed to thrive when marketing digital products. She shows us today how to think about product marketing as the discipline it is and how companies should be leveraging it if they want their product to be recognized and adopted.  Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders &am

Product marketing is the foundation for better product. It should play a strategic role in your business from day one. It's a product discipline to master and respect—not just a list of jobs to be done.  But product marketers continue to struggle with recognition. Because the discipline is still new, the way product leaders think about product marketing is continuously evolving.  That’s why Innovatemap’s Tina Hafer and Leanna Adeola are taking over the Better Product podcast for a special series on the power of product marketing. Alongside fellow industry experts, they’ll explore why digital products need product marketing to accelerate growth, how company leaders can best equip product marketers, and the potential product marketers have as the translation point between product, sales, marketing, executives, and most of all, your audience.  We're exploring product marketing's past, present, and future with:  Martina Lauchengco, author of LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products, and partner at Cost

How you position your product can help you connect with the people who most need it, unlocking rapid growth for your company. But first, you need a solid foundation. Today, Christian and Meghan discuss what product leaders get right vs. wrong when positioning their products. Led by Meghan’s insights in product marketing, we’ll also walk through a process any team can use to find a position that will give you a cutting edge while letting you stay true to who you are.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways:  To create a positioning strategy, you need:  A foundational statement that is the truth of your product  Benefit pillars that focus on your differentiators  A description of your product fea

For better and for worse, ego follows us all into our work lives. But leaders must pay special attention to what role ego plays in building a product. Sometimes, ego can be the charisma an early-stage founder needs to get attention for what they’re creating. Other times, ego is a roadblock that can lead to ignoring critical perspectives from users and the product team. Using Elon Musk’s Twitter purchase as a case study, today’s show explores what role ego plays in product, when to use it to your advantage, and when to empower others to take charge.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways:  Ego can help people believe in your product, but it can’t guide everything.  Strive to create a “cabinet o

Everything has to start somewhere. But in product and in life, the beginning tends to be awkward. We have room to grow, and glow, up. The real question isn’t about whether we’ll glow up, but when. Christian & Meghan walk us through their answers from working in UX, product marketing, and brand to help us all find the best moment to embrace the “product glow-up” while staying true to our vision.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways:  Don’t be afraid to get started and make a mess.  Before you can glow up, you have to find product-market fit.  Your first users are your strongest advocates; learn from them.  If you only make tweaks but avoid the overall experience, you fall behind.    Things

Product research is a discipline that’s transformed in recent years. The days of waterfall testing are over. Today, research is happening at every stage of a product’s life cycle, and there are more tools than ever before to help. But how do product teams stay focused on what truly matters? How do we single out real insights from an outpouring of data? Christian & Meghan unpack their lessons learned about product research and examine how the field has evolved. They’ll also explain why research isn’t actually about finding answers; it’s about limiting uncertainty.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways:  Product research has evolved from a waterfall approach to a continuous approach; research

Today we’re talking about love—but not in the way you think. We’re looking at the intersection of product and a timeless human experience: falling in, and out, of love. Forget couples counseling as you know it. Ours co-founders Liz Earnshaw, Jessica Holton, and Adam Putterman are using their relationship wellness platform to reduce stigma and build “software for love.” In conversation with Christian & Meghan, the Ours founders will help you cherish the couple experience (and building great products) all over again.    For more insights on how product is shaping modern health and wellness, revisit our series on Health Tech.  Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community. Takeaways Experience-driven products keep pe

Messaging is the story we tell about our product. But how do we know if we’re telling the right story? To talk about your product, you need to learn from the audience you serve, while never losing sight of the bigger picture your market provides. Christian & Meghan will share their observations on product messaging best practices and red flags to avoid; plus, they’ll explain why the best messaging is often the simplest. They’ll also attempt to message their own lives, as inspired by quotes from comment section fights and the great Humphrey Bogart.    Revisit our episode with Peep Laja of Wynter for more insights on product messaging and how to get better, faster feedback on its effectiveness.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more

Product marketing is an evolving field with much left to define about what product marketers can actually measure and support. Peep Laja founded his company, Wynter, on the belief that product marketers do better work with swift, real-time feedback on their product messaging. In today’s conversation, he explains why taking weeks (or even months) to do critical testing and validation puts your product in a losing position. He’ll also describe how Wynter is helping B2B product marketers get impactful insights on their product’s messaging & positioning, without wasting time on KPIs that keep you looking in the rearview mirror.    Want to get even better at B2B product marketing? Follow along with Peep’s How to Win podcast and the Wynter newsletter.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design

Opportunities in product today are seemingly endless. But if you’re new to the industry or looking to break in, it can be hard to know what skills you need to succeed. Many roles don’t have precise requirements, and product itself is continuously evolving. Today, Christian & Meghan will share their takes on the habits and mindsets that will serve product people at any stage of their careers. We’re talking about the impact of good taste, critical thinking, ego vs. insecurity, and how knowledge of other product disciplines can accelerate your own work.  Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community. Takeaways:  If you focus only on adhering to the process, you’ll lose sight of the why.  Design isn’t just art; it’s

It’s the series finale of Power to the People Ops, and today, we’ve got a real treat. We’re speaking with Mel Skochdopole, co-founder of Parkday—a.k.a. “the Tinder of food.” Using the power of data, Parkday curates personalized workplace meals that are tailored to everyone’s food preferences. As a result, Parkday is saving people ops leaders valuable time and protecting them from the awkward (and potentially damaging) mistake of ordering food someone on their team can’t eat. Meghan and Mel explore how food is a small but powerful way to affect work culture and how people ops products can get personalized perks right.   Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways Don’t just add workplace perks—personali

Employee engagement is at the core of what keeps people motivated, productive, and happy at work. But unlocking what keeps people engaged is easier said than done. That’s why Julie Jeannotte, senior researcher at Officevibe by GSoft, is on a journey to create a product that measures and responds to engagement. Using pulse surveys and curated conversation starters, Officevibe is measuring human nature with science and creating a space for real talk at all levels of the workplace.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.    Takeaways:  In people ops, asking questions is what matters most. But how you ask will determine what you uncover.  When employees are more engaged, they’re more productive & innovative

With an uptick in challenges like the Great Resignation and remote work, companies who are hiring today must understand people—their users—in order to thrive. Tim Pröhm, vice president at the KellyX Digital Innovation Lab, recognizes this opportunity and is using it to introduce agile product thinking and a significant digital transformation to the 75-year-old recruiting firm Kelly. Kelly impacts thousands of workers around the world each year and is setting the example for how to attract and retain talent at a critical moment. In this episode, Tim shares how his team encourages startup strategy in the enterprise world, and how they are bringing the people ops wave to new heights through Kelly’s reach.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn

Imagine a world where every person in a company is understood. They have engaging 1:1s with managers where their voices are heard, and consistent opportunities to connect with their peers—whether they work together or not. This is the future people ops products are building; and, it’s the same future John Wetzel is defining as CEO & co-founder of Gather. He explains how people ops is transforming companies, how product leaders in the space can get necessary feedback, and most importantly, how Gather strives to get people ops leaders at early-stage companies “off their islands” to deliver a better employee experience.  Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community. Takeaways:  People ops is owning more and more of

Many employers are coming to a huge realization: there’s power in investing in people. But keeping teams happy, organized, and engaged at work can be easier said than done. That’s why in recent years, dozens of digital products have emerged to give rise to the challenge. So-called people operations, or people ops, products exist to give workers better processes that can help them believe in (and stay) at their companies amid challenges like the Great Resignation. In this series of Better Product, we’re exploring how people ops products are one way employers can ensure their teams are seen, heard, and respected, and why these products are growing in popularity.    We’re talking to leaders in the people ops space, including:  John Wetzel, CEO & Co-Founder of Gather  Tim Prohm, VP at the KellyX Digital Innovation Lab  Julie Jeannotte, Employee Engagement Expert & Senior Researcher at Officevibe by GSoft   Our producer Erica is joining the conversation to ask the tough questions and be an advocate for y

Growth design is a powerful concept. It’s how we bring the goals of product marketing into focus and activate those goals through great design. As Christian puts it, it’s about evolving the areas of your product that grow metrics like revenue and users. But too often, growth design is reduced to a buzzword; to make the most of the practice, you have to consider the context in which you’re working. This episode explores what growth design looks like today, what it is not, and how it takes the best of two product disciplines, PMM and UX, to accelerate change.    Oh, and we’re trying something new with the show. Today you’ll hear a new voice: our producer Erica is joining the conversation to ask the tough questions and be an advocate for you, our listeners. Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to erica.irish@innovatemap.com to join the conversation.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered

Some of the most popular digital products today, including the world-recognized FAANG stocks, are platforms. They are spaces that facilitate communication, connection, or a specific activity core to your lifestyle or business—and in almost every case, platforms have succeeded so much because they’ve monetized the interactions that happen on them. It’s because of this achievement that many in product strive for the platform model, in what Jonathan Knee describes as “the platform delusion.” To win in product, you actually don’t need a platform; instead, Christian & Meghan explain, you can learn from the way platform leaders think, and apply those lessons to your own product vision.    Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to erica.irish@innovatemap.com to join the conversation.    Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product le

In today’s digital product landscape, the possibilities seem endless. We’re watching new products emerge to serve completely new categories—many of which, like web3 and the decentralized internet, have yet to be totally defined. Finding the answers and taking charge of a new product category, Christian and Meghan share in this episode, is up to you as the product leader. And any good journey in category creation starts with thinking about how the product you’re building can set the standard. When done well, your product becomes “the proof” new categories need to survive and thrive.  Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to erica.irish@innovatemap.com to join the conversation.  Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better product