The relationship between internal stakeholders and a technology solution under evaluation, deployment or management, is far from simple. Different kinds of product roles are involved and it’s important to understand them, writes marketing operations specialist Steve Petersen in his latest contribution to MarTech.

“There are plenty of different types of product roles out there, and they are certainly confusing at times,” he writes. As with anything in life, there are variations from situation to situation… This explanation pulls from the specific methodologies that I’ve been exposed to and trained in, and hopefully this explanation will help distinguish these closely related roles in a way that helps explain how they fit into the martech space.”

Steve identifies and explains the following roles: product sponsor, product owner and product manager, and examines some of the similarities and differences between owners and managers. “There are rarely pure textbook implementations of these methodologies,” he admits. “A product owner may work with several development teams. A product manager may oversee a portfolio of products while their counterparts at another organization may only deal with one. Theory rarely fits the real world with consistency.”

Read more here.

Brands that have been successful at creating sustained customer relationships realized a new approach was needed, one steeped in content focused on demonstrating value and building trust by serving up helpful content at the right moment.

This embrace of content is precisely what news publishers have been doing for decades and why more and more brands are approaching their content marketing like publishers.

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Consumer insights and market research platform Toluna announced the addition of new research-related tools, or methodologies, available within their Toluna Start suite. The new capabilities include needs identification, ideation and claims testing solutions.

With these new tools, marketers can tap vetted consumer panels for marketing strategy as well as product development. They can also add their own customer lists and apply the same methodologies using these existing customers.

For example, Sony wanted to make sure that customers were satisfied with new TVs post-purchase, so they loaded their 4K TV purchasers into the system. This process helped them identify a flaw in the wall mount that could be corrected at scale for their customers.

Why we care. Digital communications bring customers closer to brands in many different ways. It can be difficult, though, to separate product insights, for example, from customer service inquiries, when they’re all coming in through the same chat app or customer hotline.

A solution like Toluna’s puts brands back in the driver’s seat and draws on the biggest advantage gained by instant communication — time. If a company’s development team is in the ideation stage, they can turn around research in a matter of days, and move the product forward to the next step in the lifecycle.

Marketers know that in many cases digital transformation has shortened the buy cycle. It can do the same for product development and research, as well.

Read more here.

Artificial Intelligence is transforming the way businesses operate. And even more so, AI brings the promise of meaningful customer experiences to build deeper brand loyalty and long-lasting customer relationships. But how do you ensure your customer experience is personal, relevant and human when using AI and machine learning to improve CX? Join our experts for this webinar as they explore the impact of artificial intelligence on your customer.

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Fishburne’s take: When I worked on the Method brand from 2006-2010, we often talked about trying to stand out in a “sea of sameness.” Like many aisles in the grocery store, household cleaning was dominated by brands that looked and sounded alike — same stock bottle packaging, same messaging, same product benefits, same designs, same claims. There was very little differentiation or distinctiveness. 

Why we care: Today it’s easier than ever to turn around consumer research and maintain a meaningful and insightful relationship with customers. With data driving these insights, you’re not going as far out on a limb. Think of it as intelligent differentiation.

Grab your FREE MarTech pass now to learn actionable tactics for managing mountains of data from Su Kelsay, SVP of Marketing Technology and Operations at HBO Max. You’ll also unlock 75+ additional sessions that tackle essential marketing and MOPs issues, like creating unified customer experiences, enhancing marketing automation, increasing inbox engagement, and more.

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“GTM is not demand generation. A critical component of GTM is identifying the needs of industries, markets, segments and/or accounts and then building solutions around it. Many companies build products and then try to find a market to serve/fit into and wonder why churn, demand or their ‘demand engine’ isn’t working.” Scott Vaughan, CMO and growth accelerator