Master the Essentials of B2B and B2G Product Marketing

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Professional Development Training Course
Product Marketing - The 'Art and Science' of Market Success

Next session: September 18, 2008
Arlington, VA

Have you ever been the only marketing person in the team launching a product or service and wondered what you should focus on? Wrestled with how to put the competition on the defensive? Needed to ensure a successful product launch to deliver on financial projections? Considered a new product initiative vs. a repositioning?

Effective B2B and B2G product marketing contributes directly to a company’s market success, resulting in improved financials, greater market recognition and customer and employee enthusiasm. At its best product marketing combines the ‘art’ of creative communications strategies with the ‘science’ of project, financial and operational planning. Product marketing is critical to every company’s success and yet few marketers are trained in the wide variety of disciplines necessary to excel and are forced to learn by trial and error. This one-day course will help you accelerate your learning curve by introducing you to the basics of product marketing and giving you practical tools to take back into your workplace to apply immediately. By attending this course you will:

• Master the essentials of B2B and B2G product marketing to ensure competitive strength, customer satisfaction and achieving financial goals.
• Learn straightforward techniques to building and maintaining your product marketing strategy, with a focus on positioning, launch and pricing.
• Learn how to identify and manage the critical success factors of a product marketing plan.
• Have fun acquiring the skills and utilizing the template and tools you need to execute your product marketing plan and become a valued resource in the knowledge economy.

Registration Fee: $695
Enroll by August 21 for $100 off the registration fee. If you have received a special price coupon code, you may enter it during registration and the amount will be deducted from the early registration price.

How You Will Benefit
Attendees will master the following concepts through a combination of lively peer-to-peer discussions, experiential exercises, and dynamic presentations:

• The payoffs for effective B2B and B2G product marketing.
• The appropriate role for marketing in B2B and B2G product development and launch initiatives.
• How to position products to deliver a competitive advantage for your organization.
• How to develop and manage your product marketing strategy, including launch plans.
• How to price products and services, and evaluate various pricing methodologies for maximum positioning value.

Class alums will receive training and access to the following proprietary tools and templates that will enable you to become more strategic and efficient in your work environment. Each template and tool includes instructions on how to use it once you are back in your office.  Alums also receive free on-line access to updated versions, and real-world advice on how to use them, via the B2B Expert’s Forum.

• Product Marketing Plan Executive Presentation
• Positioning Platform Template
• Features and Benefits Worksheet
• Product Launch Planning Template
• Critical Path and Dependency Worksheet
• Pricing Worksheet

 
8:30        Registration & Coffee
 
9:00        Laying the Foundation - Strategic Concepts and Vocabulary

• The Role of Product Marketing in the Product Lifecycle
• Product Strategies and Roadmaps
• Product, Positioning, People and Price in the Marketing Mix – 4 of the 6 P’s
• Customer Experience
• Marketing Basics:  Branding, Messaging and Communications

9:30        Product Marketing Payoffs to Increase Shareholder Value

• Profitability and Sales Productivity
• Market Share
• Competitive Strength (New vs. Repositioned Product)
• Customer Satisfaction
• Case Studies

10:00      Developing the B2B or B2G Product Marketing Plan

• Product Naming and Branding
• Product Positioning and Competitive Analysis
• Sales and Distribution
• Communications Planning (including Messaging - Features vs. Benefits)
• Product Launch Project Plan
• Financial Performance Projections

10:30      Break

10:45     Team Exercise 1: Product Positioning Platform
                (Attendees may choose one)

• Enterprise Software Product
• Consulting Service
• Medical Facility
• Telecommunications Service

11:30     Success Factors

• Product/Target Market Alignment
• Appropriate Role of Research
• Setting Expectation and Customer Experience
• Working with the Development Team – Leveraging Personas

12:00     Lunch

• Buffet and Learning from Your Peers
• Team Presentations – Product Positioning Platform (lessons learned)

1:00        B2B or B2G Product Launch Planning

• Project Planning 101 – Dependencies and Critical Path
• Customer Experience Management
  • Pre-Sale
  • Implementation and Operations
• Sales Enablement
  • Materials
  • Training and Launch
• Communications Planning
  • Messaging
  • Public Relations
  • Promotion (new vs. old media)

2:00       Team Excercise 2:  Product Launch

• Attendees will assemble in small teams to develop launch plans for the brand strategies created during the morning session.

2:45        Break
 

3:00       Team Excercise 2:  Product Launch (lessons learned)

3:30        Pricing

• The Special Positioning Role of Pricing
• Pricing Strategies and Models
• “How To” Price
• Pricing Worksheet

4:15          Closing and Evaluation

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