GTM strategy & execution

Sampling solution product launch

Project overview

As a product marketing manager for the Content Activation Solutions portfolio at Bazaarvoice, I led the GTM process for Bazaarvoice Deals, a sampling solution that helps brands and retailers generate user-generated content for their hard-to-ship products. 

Deals replaced the company’s CashBack offering, which had slowed down campaign timelines for clients and created poor shopper experiences.

Responsibilities

I created and executed a go-to-market strategy to ensure a successful product launch. My responsibilities are listed below.

Led the product initiative

I led a regular initiative standup with a cross-functional team to ensure internal alignment. I worked with key stakeholders to define specific workstreams and then checked in with the team weekly to ensure these actions were followed through.

In these meetings, I also shared feedback with the team, including competitive findings, sales questions and concerns, and customer feedback, to help support the roadmap, prioritization, and other decisions.

Conducted competitive research

With many sampling competitors in the market that also offer no-ship solutions, it was important to research their strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities. I shared the intel with the products team to help them prioritize the roadmap. I also used this information to flesh out positioning. I wanted to emphasize what made Bazaarvoice Deals valuable and the best solution for our customers.

In addition to researching competitors, I analyzed customer insights to understand their needs and challenges around sampling hard-to-ship products. I also wanted to gather more information about their experience with our CashBack offering. I collected this information from Gong calls, seller discussions, and win-loss interviews.

Once I’d complied and synthesized all of these findings, I updated existing battle cards and created new competitor resources to support the Sales team in the field.

Managed a customer pilot program

Before rolling out the new solution to the market, the cross-functional team and I wanted to run a pilot program to evaluate feasibility and impact before rolling it out at a larger scale. I collaborated with our Product, Sales, Account Management, and Operations teams to make the pilot happen.

To begin, I created sales material for the program, outlining details and benefits. Once sales identified potential customers as pilot candidates, I met with the customer to review program details, set expectations, and answer questions.

Once the first phase of the pilot was live, I became the client’s primary contact. I collected their campaign details, which I shared with Product and Operations to set up the programs. Also, I reported weekly performance results and addressed questions as needed.

I also created a feedback loop, sharing customer comments and concerns with the Product team to help inform the roadmap.

Finally, I created case studies that the Sales team could immediately begin using in the field.

Owned product positioning and messaging

I wrote, proofread, and edited all positioning and messaging for the Bazaarvoice Deals launch. (Today, I continue to own all messaging for this offering.)

I created a brand-new solution webpage for the Bazaarvoice Deals solution. I used customer-centric messaging to address the challenges I’d heard from our e-commerce, brand manager, and shopper marketing personas. After writing and finalizing the copy, I collaborated with our Marketing team on SEO and design.

Other marketing materials I created included a product announcement page on our website, segmented customer emails, and an announcement in the sampling client portal. Further, I collaborated with our Marketing team on a social media post.

Finally, I created client-facing sales resources. I designed seller decks and one-pagers and wrote talk tracks. I also wrote a set of pipeline-generation emails for the team to send to customers.

Developed, launched, and hosted a webinar

I executed an integrated campaign, including a live webinar, in partnership with the Field Marketing team. The goal was to increase product awareness and generate leads.

I was responsible for all webinar content and co-hosting duties. Further, I collaborated with Marketing on the landing page copy, the target audience list, and the email invite copy.

The webinar had an above-average attendance rate—48% of invited guests signed on during the live session, a rise from the average of 38%. Further, 50% of those attendees turned into SQLs.

Created seller enablement

With a sales-led organization, enabling the field on the new offering was essential.

I worked with our sales enablement team to develop multiple training sessions for the global team. The lessons included value messaging, feature details, competitor intel, and objection handling. I also created content for a recorded lesson and presented it live in individual sessions to sellers in North America, EMEA, and APAC.

I also created an internal knowledge base as an information hub for Bazaarvoice Deals. I wrote all the content for it and maintained the page over time.

Finally, I wrote internal announcements for the launch (and thereafter, solution updates), including Slack messages and email announcements. I also acted as the solution subject matter expert, monitoring a Slack channel to answer product questions.

Created and presented product roadmap

I created a client-facing roadmap with all of Bazaarvoice Deals’ features. I presented the roadmap to clients and internal teams alike. I continued to update it quarter after quarter as needed.