Deep-dive into the "Double Intersection"

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Moving away from the waterfall model has been a great leap forward barring the adherence to a few archaic methods across the PLC. For ex: "where" & "how" does marketing fit in to the PLC? A thread 🧵 #productmarketing #marketing #productmanagement #collaboration #PLC 1/

Just a quick reminder: This thread 🧵 takes off from my recent article posted over my newsletter this week called "⋒ The Double Intersection ⋒" In case you haven't already seen it, here's the link to it: mgmtinc.substack.com/p/the-double-intersection 2/

As is clear & evident from the 1st tweet you see how the yellow horizontal strands representing "marketing" have been interspersed periodically with the blue ones which stand for the other respective functions split across the phases of the product's life cycle. 3/

The reason I call the idea of "marketing fitting into the PLC comfortably after the build cycle" as archaic is it looks like a thing of the 60s - 70s when physical products were built & the orgs. had no choice but to wait until such time that the build is over & done with. 4/

If anything, marketing (well, although not in a hardcore & all guns blazing style) ought to start right after the strategy has been finalized & something of a roadmap has taken shape. Why? A simple answer is to that is "TIME". And, there are 2 options here. 5/

OPTION 1: "Conventional Waterfall" Its certainly bound to take a considerable amount of time before anything that can be termed a tangible version of a feature hits the market first. The image shows an estimation of the TAT before marketing could start. = approx. 3 months 6/

This could have a few advantages: - you'd have some breathing space in hiring marketing teams as they'd be needed 3 months down the line - you'd give enough time for marketing ideas to evolve as well - you'd have some clarity over marketing's job from Day-1 7/

But the disadvantages could hurt deeply as you'd be caught with: - elapsed ample time losing the opportunity to connect with your market - tremendous pressure to optimize marketing team's utilization from Day-1 - factor in the TAT before marketing could be any productive 8/

Is there a solution? Well, yes! OPTION 2: "Double intersection" Use marketing well in advance at the beginning of the PLC just after ideation & problem definition stage. Let's plug the figures in & look at the impact on the TAT for marketing to start = < 1 month 9/

Now let's dive into what exactly ought to be carried out under each of those "marketing stages" marked in yellow progressively split across the phases of the PLC. Make note of the marketing stages labeled (S1 - Sn) here in the image below. 10/

1. Marketing-S1 (Stage 1) Still early days when the idea is validated & a problem statement established. The pitch ought to barely touch upon: - describing the problem - highlighting the pain points - costs users incur right now - provoke thoughts via questions 11/

2. Marketing-S2 (Stage 2) By now the UXR stage has completed leaving you with some crucial understanding & an outline of the design. The pitch could cover: - the research - major contributors to the UX * beware & keep those revelations at a minimum on the solutioning front 12/

3. Marketing-S3 (Stage 3) By now the designs are all ready & the Devs are about to start off their work. The pitch could now include: - the solution to the problem - approach & how the solution connects to the problem - A few mocks - design outline - workflow glimpses 13/

4. Marketing-S4 (Stage 4) The product is now all ready & geared up for a launch at this stage. Now, your pitch ought to cover: - why do they have to use your product - the value proposition - case studies of some existing users - product showcase - better targeting 14/

- highlighting all use cases - highlighting how your product stands-out, the differentiator(s) - covering all channels accessible - dishing out all marketing assets (product walkthroughs, videos, emails, brochures, facts, presentations, sales letters, blogs, website) 15/

Going further, points covered under Stage-4 should act as the baseline over which these things could take precedence: - further experiments - A/B testing targeted removal of any friction identified during the product's usage & enabling smoother conversions across the funnel 16/

If you observe, marketing started with building awareness amongst wide sects, reaching out to a large audiences & eventually got to detailed product walkthroughs aiding that funnel progression perfectly. - it is imperative is to keep the learning & factoring cycle on always. 17/

That's it folks! If you enjoyed reading this, please: 1. Retweet the first tweet - it'd help me greatly! 2. Follow me @bgpinv for more on #productmanagement, #leadership & #culture. 3. Check out & subscribe to my Newsletter - mgmtinc.substack.com/ Thanks for reading 🙏

SUMMARY: Given today's amazing world of products & the way they're built, life seems to have moved to the fast lane (rapid lane in fact). Kicking-off marketing early & progressively looking to build on it could largely contribute towards cutting down cycle times of conversion.