How to Track your Digital Channels with Digital Marketing KPIs
In the good old days of digital marketing circa 1971 (when the first ever email was sent), the best indicator of campaign success was whether or not someone looked at what you put out into the world. Now that technology is more advanced and the market is flooded with content, marketers need to use a more sophisticated approach. Enter digital marketing KPIs. Today, agency and marketing directors use digital marketing project KPIs to improve profit, streamline resources, and prove return on investment to their clients. Keep reading to discover the definitions, examples, and tools top marketers use to remain competitive in today’s digital landscape. What are digital marketing KPIs? KPI stands for key performance indicator which is also known as performance metrics. A digital marketing key performance indicator is what marketers use to measure the success of a particular strategy or marketing channel. The KPI or KPIs you choose will depend on what your goal is for the project. Marketers will often choose one or two primary KPIs to support their main goal and a handful of relevant secondary KPIs to support any additional objectives. For example, let’s say you run a social media campaign on Twitter and your goal is to increase your engagement percentage within your existing audience. Your primary KPIs will be the number of comments and retweets each original tweet receives. There are three main categories of digital marketing KPIs to know: 1. Awareness Awareness is all about getting your brand in front of as many new people as possible. If your brand is already established, the next challenge is to help potential customers learn about new products or services they might be interested in. Common marketing tactics in this phase include cold emailing and calling. 2. Conversion The goal of this phase is to make a sale. Marketers often do this by building long-term relationships and trust. Content like blog posts and podcasts with problem-solving advice for the audience works well for this stage. 3. Analysis After you make a sale you can use analysis KPIs to determine how much you spent in resources to acquire each new customer. This information will inform your next campaign. Why set KPIs in digital marketing? KPIs in digital marketing prove return on investment to clients and stakeholders. They also help you measure progress, streamline processes, and quantify what would otherwise be intangible marketing benefits. Using KPIs in digital marketing will help you better understand why something does or does not work for your particular brand or strategy. Without KPIs, marketing agencies run the risk of throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks. If your agency does not assert its value and authority through actual proof, it’s hard to get or keep clients long-term. KPIs translate into concrete numbers that prove what you’re doing is getting real results. Who sets KPIs in marketing? At an agency, a marketing or agency director will set the KPIs. Otherwise, the responsibility falls on the campaign manager. Whoever chooses the KPIs also has to come up with a plan for tracking them. They may adopt related marketing tools and habits to make sure results are consistently recorded and monitored throughout the lifetime of each campaign. Agency project management tools such as Wrike can help streamline these processes. Users can easily assign monitoring and reporting tasks to designated teammates so that nothing slips through the cracks. Marketing KPI examples Marketing KPIs differ from project to project, platform to platform, and goal to goal. Use these most common marketing KPI examples below as a jumping-off point: Email marketing KPIs 1. Number of emails successfully delivered, opened, and/or replied to What it is: The total of all emails interacted with compared to the total sent. Why you need it: This information tells marketers if their messages are getting through to inboxes. It also demonstrates whether or not the subject line is persuasive enough and if the campaign promotes further engagement. How to measure it: Use an email marketing campaign software to bypass spam filters and track open rates. 2. Embedded link and CTA button click-through rates What it is: The percentage of people who have both opened your emails and clicked the link or button inside. Why you need it: The click-through rate shows how effective your offers or calls to action are. How to measure it: Add a link tracking app to test components like CTA messages, colors, and placement. 3. Social shares and forwards What it is: The number of times a post has been shared or sent to other people from social media. Why you need it: Sharing is a high-value form of engagement that gets your posts in front of more people which is great for increasing impressions and expanding your audience. How to measure it: Most social media apps include this information within your Analytics. Social media KPIs 1. Number of followers versus number of unfollowers What it is: The total number of people who have followed your account that day or week compared to the number of people who have unfollowed your account in the same. Why you need it: Ideally you'll have more followers than unfollowers but this KPI shows whether or not your content is targeting the correct audience and is interesting enough to keep their attention. How to measure it: Your number of followers is publicly available at the top of your social media profile. However, you may need to use a third-party app to track unfollowers. 2. Likes, comments, and shares What it is: These are the top forms of engagement for any social media post regardless of what platform it's on. Why you need it: Better engagement equals higher conversion rates, steadier audience growth, and stronger relationships over time.= How to measure it: This information is made publicly available on most social media platforms. 3. New impressions What it is: The number of times your content was organically shown to someone on the platform whether or not they interacted with it. Why you need it: This social media KPI demonstrates reach, which you should aim to increase over time through paid ads, better engagement, and more followers. How to measure it: Creator analytics or a behind-the-scenes app will show your new impressions by day, week, or month. Content marketing KPIs 1. Unique visits What it is: The total number of people (or IP addresses) clicking on your website within a given time frame. Why you need it: Unique visits document the volume of traffic over time, which is useful for selling products and services. However, some unique visits might be from bots which is why it's critical to also track engagement and conversions at the same time. How to measure it: Website analytics platforms like Google help users track this data after it’s set up, which means historical data will not be available. 2. Average time on page What it is: The average amount of time all visitors (both unique and returning) spend on each individual web page. Why you need it: Your goal should be to make the average time on page high because it will likely lead to better sales conversion rate. Plus it shows that your content is relevant to your audience. How to measure it: Website analytics tools will help you measure it. 3. Link and CTA button click-through rates What it is: The percentage at which all site visitors click on links and buttons. Why you need it: Most website links and buttons are tied to sales or important data capture such as email newsletters. Having a high rate of success means that your offers and audience are in alignment. How to measure it: Website analytics tools or third party link tracking apps are best. SEO KPIs 1. Keyword search engine ranking What it is: How high your website ranks for a specific keyword or phrase within popular search engines. Why you need it: Your goal should be to rank number 1 on Google and Bing. Or on the first page, at the very least, so that more people will find and click on your website. How to measure it: Type in your keyword phrase into a search engine to see if it shows up or use a tool like SEMRush for more advanced analytics. 2. Organic traffic What it is: Site traffic from anything other than paid ads. Why you need it: High rates of organic traffic means that more people are finding your products and services by simply searching related questions or words, which indicates that your SEO strategy is working. How to measure it: Use a website analytics tool.3. Link click-through rates What it is: The rate at which people are clicking on paid search advertisements or web pages that appear organically in search results. Why you need it: For paid ads, the link click-through rate shows how effective your copy is. How to measure it: Website analytics and third-party apps help you track individual links. Also, whichever search engine advertisement platform you use will likely track this data automatically. PPC KPIs 1. Click rate What it is: Percentage of people who see your ad in search engines and click on it. Why you need it: The higher the percentage, the more persuasive your copy is. How to measure it: Your advertising platform will have user analytics for you. 2. Sales conversion rate What it is: The total number of sales divided by the number of interactions with a given paid ad. Why you need it: This number shows whether or not the offer promised in the ad is still relevant for the audience the ad is being shown to and if it aligns with their expectations enough to persuade them to buy. How to track it: Your advertising platform will have these statistics for you.3. Cost per acquisition What it is: The dollar amount you pay for every new customer you obtained through a paid advertisement. Why you need it: This shows exactly where your budget is going and whether or not your campaign is worth reinvesting in.How to track it: Use an analytics tool or divide the total cost of the PPC campaign by the total revenue made from it. What are the challenges of marketing KPIs? The main challenge of marketing KPIs is choosing the right ones, monitoring them effectively, and turning data into actionable insights. To choose the right marketing KPIs every time, create SMART goals then match KPIs to link your channel type (like email or social media) to your desired outcome. To monitor them effectively, make sure that all your KPIs are measurable and that there are tools in place to capture all related data. Finally, turn data into actionable insights by using a professional services management platform to create automated reports plus easy-to-read insights. What to do when KPIs aren't met Now that you have your digital marketing KPIs set, it’s important to know what happens if your KPIs are failing. If they’re not connected to strategy, overshooting (or undershooting) your goals, or are too outdated now, the best way to get back on track is to adopt a marketing project management solution like Wrike. Why Wrike can help you with digital marketing KPIs Wrike helps directors and managers use digital marketing KPIs to make informed decisions. Wrike Report automates marketing, data capture, assessment, and reporting using visual graphs so that KPIs are easier to understand. At-a-glance updates like these save time and make collaboration that much smoother. Marketing teams can also create templates for repeated campaigns or to relive the success of another client’s strategy for a new project. Use Wrike’s two-week free trial to visualize your objectives and key results (OKRs) so that your KPIs are bulletproof throughout any project.
How to Promote Positive Mental Health in the Workplace
Here’s the truth: Our careers and mental well-being are closely related, with 58% of employees saying work has at least a moderate impact on their mental health. Yet, many workers feel like they need to be tight-lipped about this. In fact, that same survey found that nearly 40% of employees said they’re not at all comfortable discussing their mental health at work, and another 26.3% said they’re only slightly comfortable bringing this up. You wouldn’t expect employees to act like everything is “business as usual” if they recently had surgery or had a horrible case of the flu. Yet, mental health issues in the workplace still carry a stigma, which means they’re often swept under the rug. That’s not the right approach. Mental health in the workplace (and remote work mental health) is important, and it’s up to leaders and managers to promote a culture that prioritizes and supports the mental well-being of its employees. How? Let’s talk about it. Why is mental health important at work? Why should mental health issues be a core focus for your organization? Well, to put it simply, because you care about your employees and their wellbeing. Their physical, emotional, and mental health needs to be at the top of your priority list if you want to foster a positive culture and a thriving team. That human-to-human compassion should always rank above financial performance or productivity incentives. However, ensuring the mental health of your employees offers a number of other benefits for your employees and organization as well. As the World Health Organization explains, workplaces that actively promote mental health of employees and offer adequate support are far more likely to: Reduce absenteeism Increase productivity Experience economic gains Especially given recent pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic when 70% of workers admit they feel more stressed than at any other point in their entire career, employers need to follow managing remote employees best practices. How to spot mental health issues in the workplace The National Alliance on Mental Illness shares that mental health conditions run the gamut from anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and more. That’s why symptoms of mental health problems will vary depending on what an employee is specifically dealing with. However, when it comes to noticing employees who are struggling with their mental health, it can be helpful to look for: Decreased performance and productivity Reduced enthusiasm and engagement Difficulty concentrating on conversations and in meetings Irritability toward you and others Negativity toward their work and responsibilities Consistently low mood — measuring mood changes with an Agile Niko-Niko calendar can indicate this Keep in mind that this isn’t an exhaustive checklist. Indicators can vary from employee to employee, and it’s ultimately not your job to play doctor and diagnose employees. Rather, it’s smart to keep an eye out for these signs so that you know when you might need to offer more support, provide resources, and further promote mental health within your team and company. So, let’s talk about how you can go about making mental health a priority within your organization. Here are five tips to prove to your team that you’re invested in their mental well-being. 1. Offer benefits that support mental health You need to start with the basics. All of the candid conversations and team-building exercises won’t mean anything if the right foundation isn’t in place. But, unfortunately, 18.3% of respondents in one survey conducted by Paychex said their employer doesn’t offer mental health benefits. 28.8% of respondents rated their company’s health benefits and resources as “poor.” As the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states, supporting employees starts with ensuring your company offers things like: Health insurance with no or low out-of-pocket costs for mental health counseling and medications Free or subsidized clinical screenings, counseling, or coaching programs Employee assistance programs (EAP) Employee support groups Flexible schedules or opportunities to take mental health days Assessment tools, apps, and other mental health resources By making these things available to your employees, you empower them to take control of their mental health — not just in the workplace, but outside of it too. 2. Adequately train supervisors and managers Your company’s supervisors and managers are the ones who are the most in touch with their teams, so they should have their antennae up for any red flags of burnout or other mental health issues so that they can offer support when necessary. Don’t expect them to know exactly what they should be looking for — it’s your organization’s responsibility to provide adequate training. This can include: Pamphlets, books, videos, and other learning materials Seminars or lectures from mental health professionals Roundtables where they can share advice and tips This equips them with the knowledge and information they need to keep their finger on the pulse of their team’s emotional and mental well-being, as well as their own. 3. Make resources available to your entire team Those mental health resources shouldn’t just be offered to your managers — they can be helpful for your entire team. Store them somewhere that’s organized and accessible to your entire staff, so that people can get those resources when they need them. Keep in mind that not everybody will be comfortable approaching a manager or HR representative when they want to get their hands on this information, so it’s best if all of your employees can access those resources on their own without help or intervention from someone else. 4. Remember work-life balance More than 40% of employees admit that they’re neglecting other aspects of their life because of work, which can increase their vulnerability to mental health issues. Yet, 55% of employees agreed with the statement, “I am afraid of getting punished for taking a day off to attend to my mental health.” Obviously, there’s a gap that needs to be bridged here, and offering mental health days is a great place to start in terms of ensuring better work-life balance. One way to do this is to simply offer enough “personal days” for your employees to use. Whether they need to go to the dentist, have a horrible cold, or need a day off to mentally decompress and reset, these days allow them the time they need (without having to give a thorough explanation of why they need time off). If and when an employee explains that they want some time to tend to their mental health, make your best effort to give them the time they need and avoid asking invasive questions or flooding their inbox with requests while they’re out. 5. Have candid conversations As long as people continue to keep their lips zipped about the importance of mental health, there will always be a stigma around it. So, one of the best ways to get your team more comfortable with talking about their mental state is to model that behavior. This will require that you and any other company leaders get vulnerable and open up about some of your own struggles and emotions. However, it’ll send the message that you have an open, honest, and supportive environment where people can bring their whole, imperfect selves to work. Additionally, as a leader, don’t neglect the importance of genuinely checking in with your employees — especially about their obligations and passions outside of the office. 23% of employees say that they think it’s a problem that their managers don’t ask about their lives outside of work. Mental health promotion strategies you can do remotely Maintaining positive mental health on your team is always a challenge, but it becomes extra tough when you’re all working remotely. You lose some connection and a sense of togetherness, which makes this sensitive topic trickier to address. The good news is that all of the strategies we outlined above can be used with a remote team. In addition to those, here are a few other things to keep in mind: Check in with employees frequently: When you aren’t co-located, it’s harder to pick up on emotions and nonverbal cues. Make sure you’re checking in with employees one-on-one more frequently than you would in a traditional office environment. Practice and model good boundaries: Work-life balance is a key part of positive mental health at work, and managers should lead by example when it comes to setting boundaries. They should honor set “shutdown” times, avoid emailing late at night or on weekends, and generally show employees what it looks like to maintain adequate balance. Find creative ways to connect: The sense of isolation that comes from working remotely can exacerbate some mental health problems. From virtual happy hours or trivia contests to Slack channels where employees can share tips and resources, find creative ways to keep your work bonds strong. Don’t be afraid to ask your team if they have any ideas for things you should implement! Creating policies for mental health engagement at work Mental health is crucial, but it can also be a somewhat awkward or sensitive topic for your company to address. You don’t want to turn a blind eye or sweep things under the rug, but you also don’t want to make employees feel like they aren’t valued or noticed. A documented mental health policy is helpful for demonstrating your commitment to employee well-being, while also giving everybody a single source of truth for the steps your company takes to address mental health. At the bare minimum, your mental health policy should include: Your policy’s goals, such as removing the stigma around mental health or fostering a supportive, inclusive culture Your company’s actions, such as what steps you’re taking to prioritize mental health or how you’ll address mental health risks like overwhelming workloads or a toxic work culture Your resources, including links and information about the different programs and options that are available to employees This policy will turn out best if you treat it as a collaborative process and source opinions and feedback from fellow leaders, employees, your HR department, and even mental health professionals you can connect with. Mental health matters at work and outside of work The conversation about mental health in the workplace has been gaining more attention in recent years. That’s for good reason: mental health has a big impact on our work, and our work has a big impact on our mental health. With that in mind, the mental health of employees isn’t something that employers can write off as a personal problem or not their responsibility. Use this as your guide to promote positive mental health in the workplace so you and your entire team can benefit from a more supportive and honest work environment.
25 Must-Read Books for Product Managers & Product Marketers
Are you new to the world of product management and product marketing? Or maybe you just want to pick up a few new reads to expand your skills? Instead of browsing the bookshelves at your favorite local bookshop and choosing one at random, take a look at our list of the best product management books and product marketing reads for tried-and-true recommendations from the PMM community. Product Managers Why read product management books? Product management is an ever-evolving field. Whether you’re a complete newbie hoping to learn the ropes or an experienced IT product manager trying to keep up with changing trends, product management books have a lot to offer. Here are five benefits you can gain from reading some of the best product management books: On the job training can teach you what to do, but books help you learn the ‘why’; They can teach you the theory and reasoning behind the practices, and research shows that we all perform better when we understand why things are a certain way. Product management involves a lot of jargon and unique technical terms. The top product management books can help you grasp the lingo, so you’re comfortable using it and understanding it at work. Reading is proven to help improve memory and focus. If you’re struggling to learn product management through other means, like podcasts or videos, then books may be a great way to take in and remember relevant information. Studies show that reading books also improves your communication skills. As a product manager or product marketer, a huge part of your job is communicating with team members, customers, and other stakeholders. Product managers must always be looking for new ways to improve their products and offer new innovations to the market. The must-read product management books on this list can help you discover new methods and better processes while also boosting your creativity. We’ve broken down our top product management books into four main categories: The best product management books for beginners The top books focused on user experience (UX) and product development strategy Must-read books on web design and usability The best books for product managers wanting to perfect the product development process Product management books for beginners 1. Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology Authors: Gayle Laakmann McDowell & Jackie Bavaro While Cracking the PM Interview isn’t exactly new (it’s from 2013), it has remained on Amazon.com’s list of bestsellers in technical project management for quite some time and is currently holding the #1 spot. This book is more than a primer on which interview questions to prep for or how to write a killer product management resume (although this book covers both). McDowell and Bavaro get to the core of what the position of a product manager really is. In it, you’ll get to examine the role from all sides to learn not only how to land a job, but master your daily responsibilities and advance your career as well. 2. Escaping the Build Trap: How Effective Product Management Creates Real Value Author: Melissa Perri Released in 2018, Escaping the Build Trap covers essential product management principles that can be applied to any company, no matter the size. Perri, the author, is the CEO of a product management consultancy, and she brings a wealth of hands-on knowledge and actionable advice to her readers. Rated 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com, this book offers value to beginners and experienced PMs alike. Containing only 200 pages, it’s a relatively quick read, packed full of product management wisdom. 3. The Product Manager's Survival Guide: Everything You Need to Know to Succeed as a Product Manager Author: Steven Haines Just released in 2019, the second edition of The Product Manager's Survival Guide maintains all the value of the first, but now with more actionable advice, techniques, and tools for success. Follow this book's blueprint for graduating from novice to confident product manager. Start by understanding the keys to success, then learn how to become a product expert and customer advocate so that you can effectively manage your teams, increase productivity, and further your career. 4. Product Management for Dummies Authors: Brian Lawley & Pamela Schure Part of the “for Dummies” series, Product Management for Dummies is a useful and popular book for product management novices. Written by two product management experts, this easy-to-understand guide is full of essential and actionable info. This comprehensive reference offers easy-to-understand explanations of the essentials of product management, from defining the product life cycle and creating a winning product strategy to gathering customer feedback. With a 4.5 star rating, this book is clearly an essential addition to your product management toolkit — whether you're a novice or intermediate product manager. 5. The Product Book: How to Become a Great Product Manager Authors: Josh Anon & Carlos Gonzalez de Villaumbrosia. Based on Product School’s curriculum, The Product Book introduces product management students and beginners to key PM concepts and practices. It’s a helpful resource for anyone considering taking on more formal product management education but unsure whether it’s the right career path. Full of recent and relevant examples from huge well-known companies such as Facebook, Google, and more, this 294-page book will help bring product management to life. Books about user experience & product development strategy 6. Inspired: How To Create Tech Products Customers Love Author: Marty Cagan The latest version of Inspired was released in 2017 and has 4.5 stars on Amazon.com. Like the initial version, it’s a ‘masterclass’ book on how to design and develop better products. But, this release embraces new techniques and practices to ensure it’s still fresh and useful to product managers today. Unless your product is valuable, usable, and feasible, it’s not worth building. So says Marty Cagan, whose book takes you through how you should decide which products and designs to pursue, how to prove your proposed product will be successful, defining a minimum viable product, and juggling the conflicting needs of execs, customers, sales, engineering, and design. 7. User Friendly: How the Hidden Rules of Design Are Changing the Way We Live, Work, and Play Authors: Cliff Kaung & Robert Fabricant Voted Amazon Best Books of 2019 Pick and Fortune Writers and Editors’ Recommended Books of 2019 pick, User Friendly is a must-read for anyone interested in product design and development. The authors map out how user experience (UX) has evolved and changed our world over time in a story-driven style that’s engaging to read. It’s an insightful piece that might make you look at UX and product development in a whole new way. 8. Beyond The Prototype: A roadmap for navigating the fuzzy area between ideas and outcomes Author: Douglas Ferguson Beyond The Prototype is all about what to do after you complete your first design sprint, and the optimistic enthusiasm starts to wear off. Author Douglas Ferguson tackles the struggles many teams face after getting to prototype and how to overcome them. Using compelling stories from popular companies such as Adobe and Google, this guide walks you through six essential steps for successful product launches. If you want a usable framework to help take you from idea to product validation, you’ll find it here. Web design & usability books for product managers 9. 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People Author: Dr. Susan Weinschenk The second edition of 100 Things Every Designer Needs to Know About People was just released in June 2020. In it, Dr. Weinschenk uses her 30+ years as a behavioral psychologist to offer strategies for improving your site's user experience and boosting conversion. Design isn't just pretty, it's purposeful. You want people to respond to your website in a certain way, or take a specific next action? Learn why people act the way they do. What grabs their attention? Is peripheral or central vision more important? What’s the best length for a line of text? What fuels people's actions? Read this book to find out. 10. Don't Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web & Mobile Usability, 3rd Edition Author: Steve Krug While Don't Make Me Think, Revisited hasn’t been updated since 2013, it still remains Amazon.com’s #1 Best Seller in their User Experience & Web Usability category. First published in 2000, this bestseller is still an essential guide for web designers and developers. The updated third edition includes fresh examples and a new section on mobile usability, plus tips to make navigation intuitive, user testing efficient (so you can do it more often), and your user experience seamless across all devices. 11. Designing with the Mind in Mind: Simple Guide to Understanding User Interface Design Guidelines Author: Jeff Johnson Just released in October 2020, the 3rd Edition of Designing with the Mind in Mind is a refreshed version of an essential guide on usability and user interface (UI) design. If you’re a product manager involved in digital design projects, looking for a crash course in UI principles, this is the book for you. From this book, you’ll gain a basic understanding of why user-interface design has to follow certain rules and the perceptual and cognitive psychology behind the guidelines. You’ll also have a better grasp of why your design team makes some of the choices they do. Books on perfecting the development process 12. The Toyota Product Development System: Integrating People, Process, and Technology Authors: James Morgan & Jeffrey K. Liker Just released in October 2020, The Toyota Product Development System takes a deep dive into what makes Toyota one of the most forward-thinking product development companies in the automotive industry. This book compares and contrasts the world-class product development process of Toyota with an unnamed US competitor to help emphasize process best practices and how they can impact your business success. 13. Product Lifecycle Management (Volume 1): 21st Century Paradigm for Product Realisation Author: John Stark The 4th edition of Product Lifecycle Management, released in October 2020, offers an expanded version of this cornerstone text. It’s been updated to reflect important technological advances and how they’ve impacted the product life cycle. This must-read guide covers everything you need to know about product life cycle management (PLM), from the main components of PLM initiatives to best practices and environmental considerations you need to keep in mind. 14. Building For Everyone: Expand Your Market With Design Practices From Google's Product Inclusion Team Author: Annie Jean-Baptiste Building For Everyone is about how you can build better products by focusing on promoting diversity and inclusion in your workforce. This practical guide will walk you through how to follow Google’s footsteps of building a Product Inclusion Team to improve your design process. After reading this book, you’ll know essential strategies and processes for executing more inclusive product designs that will help increase your company’s profitability. Plus, it includes real-life recent case studies on what does and doesn’t work so you can avoid the mistakes of those who came before you. 15. Inside Your Customer's Imagination: 5 Secrets for Creating Breakthrough Products, Services, and Solutions Author: Chip R. Bell With 5 out of 5 stars on Amazon.com, Inside Your Customer's Imagination is a must-read for anyone looking to improve their product development processes. Author Chip Bell walks you through proven processes for designing and developing breakthrough products your customers don’t even know they want yet. With the use of examples from big-name companies like McDonald’s, Lockheed Martin, and Marriott, Bell illustrates how partnering with your customers can help you discover a treasure trove of innovations and process improvements. 16. Build What Matters: Delivering Key Outcomes with Vision-Led Product Management Authors: Ben Foster & Rajesh Nerlikar In Build What Matters, authors Ben Foster and Rajesh Nerlikar walk you through their methodology for building products that will meet current and future customer needs. This guide emphasizes the importance of the customer in product development and introduces ways to always keep that fact top-of-mind. This book will introduce you to 10 dysfunctions common to product development processes and then walk you through tactical ways to avoid these traps. Whether you’re a start-up founder, a product leader, or a high-level executive, you’ll find actionable advice in this book that can help improve your business processes. Top books for product marketers We’ve divided our top product marketer books into two main categories: The best books for helping you fuel customer adoption Must-read books about product marketing strategy and best practices Books on fueling customer adoption 17. Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products Authors: Nir Eyal & Ryan Hoover Hooked is a guide for product marketers, managers, and designers about building products that people want to use. It includes insights into creating user habits and understanding behavioral techniques. Plus, you’ll walk away with actionable advice on how to build and market products that people will love. In this book, you’ll learn a four-step model for building customer habits so that users willingly come back for more, over and over. This guide brings technology, psychology, and business together in a way that will improve your product marketing outcomes and boost your customer adoption and retention rates. 18. The Four Steps to the Epiphany Author: Steve Blank The Four Steps to the Epiphany is commonly thought to be one of the most influential business books of all time. In this updated version, released March 2020, author Steve Blank brings even more insights and relevant examples to the table. Too often, development teams build a product, and when customers don’t bite, they scrap it and try again. Instead, Steve Blank focuses on Customer Development — a concept that’s since become one of the three pillars of the Lean startup. Learn how to pinpoint the right product for your specific market, using techniques that have helped launch over 10,000 startups and corporate ventures. 19. The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to Go from $0 to $100 Million Author: Mark Roberge The author of The Sales Acceleration Formula, Mark Roberge, is an MIT alum with an engineering background that he has applied to sales and marketing. In this book, Roberge promotes the replacement of conventional sales methods with a more metric-driven, process-oriented approach. From this book, you'll learn the techniques Roberge used as SVP of Worldwide Sales and Services at HubSpot to help the company grow from a small, three-person startup to a giant success with a billion-dollar valuation and over 15,000 customers. 20. The Unicorn Project: A Novel about Developers, Digital Disruption, and Thriving in the Age of Data Author: Gene Kim The Unicorn Project, a highly anticipated follow-up to the bestselling title The Phoenix Project, is written as an engaging novel, but that doesn’t make its messaging any less true or relevant to real-world product marketers, developers, and managers. Gene Kim is a multi-award winning CTO and the founder of Tripwire. In this novel, he introduces five ideals required for product success and discusses internal structures every technology company needs. Books about product marketing strategy & best practices 21. Product Marketing, Simplified: A Customer-Centric Approach to Take a Product to Market Author: Srini Sekaran Product Marketing, Simplified is a comprehensive guide on the world of product marketing. Whether you want to learn more about improving product launches or delivering greater value to the right customers, this book is packed full of valuable info. This guide walks you through the entire product marketing process, including how to understand the customer journey, build a go-to-market strategy, determine pricing and packaging, and influence the product roadmap. 22. Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations (3rd Edition) Authors: Stanley J. Slater, Jakki J. Mohr, & Sanjit Sengupta Marketing of High-Technology Products and Innovations provides a comprehensive introduction to the world of tech marketing. This book explains all the variables you'll need to consider when launching a product, as well as the logistics for managing the process. From migration paths and types of innovations to managing customer relationships, you'll find a good balance of theory and real-world examples to get the knowledge you need in the world of tech marketing. 23. Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen Author: Donald Miller Building a StoryBrand will introduce you to seven essential elements of powerful stories. By using these elements in your product marketing, you’ll be able to improve customer engagement and boost your success rates. This guide breaks down seven story points that resonate with every human, the reasoning behind why customers make the buying decisions they do, and how to create the most effective branding and marketing messages for your product and business. 24. Swipe to Unlock: The Primer on Technology and Business Strategy Authors: Neel Mehta, Aditya Agashe & Parth Detroja Swipe to Unlock was written by three product managers at Facebook, Google, and Microsoft, and it’s one of Amazon.com’s #1 Best Sellers. This is a must-read book for any product marketer, product manager, or consultant in the tech industry. The latest edition was released in 2019 and includes over 40 pages of new content. It includes a wealth of case studies on huge companies and covers essential product marketing topics such as current and future trends, emerging markets, and more. 25. To Sell is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others Author: Daniel Pink Whether you’re pitching a colleague on a new idea, convincing your manager to support a passion project, or trying to sway a customer to switch from freemium to paid, we all spend our days trying to move others to act. In To Sell is Human, bestselling author Daniel Pink teaches you how to truly understand another person’s perspective and craft clear, persuasive marketing messages. What’s next? Are you interested in learning what is a product owner, product management, and product marketing? Maybe you’re looking for a special niche topic you didn’t see mentioned in any of these books? Check out our blog to keep up-to-date on all the emerging trends and latest technology in the product management space. You can also test out our product management software free for 14-days to discover how it can improve your product management and marketing teams.
