The Marchitect – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of The Marchitect, we dive into the art and science of tech messaging with two industry powerhouses: Emma Stratton and Devin Reed.

Emma, on the brink of launching her new book on crafting simple yet impactful tech messaging, shares her insights on how to win hearts, minds, and markets with clear communication. Devin, a maestro in creating memorable content that drives growth, discusses his journey in building brand loyalty and pipeline at Gong and Clari.

In today’s competitive landscape, how do you make your solution the clear choice for your best-fit customers?

Join us as we uncover the secrets to a compelling sales pitch with April Dunford, author of Obviously Awesome and her latest, Sales Pitch.

April reveals how to transform your pitch into a story that helps customers navigate their options, understand the trade-offs, and confidently choose your solution. She also explains why many companies struggle to carry their positioning into sales conversations and how to bridge that gap.

Hosts: Rowan Noronha & Morgan J Ingram

Guests: April Dunford

Producer: Grayson Ottenbreit

Editor: Stephen Despins

Timestamps:

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:04:15) What is positioning?

(00:06:15) What are the 5 components of positioning?

(00:07:38) Why start with competitive alternatives?

(00:10:35) How do you tackle positioning when dealing with multiple personas/buyers?

(00:18:58) Has your engineering background impacted how you approach positioning?

(00:21:55) Difference between positioning and messaging?

(00:26:05) Who owns positioning? Is it sales? Product marketing?

(00:34:40) How do you combat sales teams who just want to pitch product features?

(00:42:31) Walk us through your sales pitch framework.

(00:49:13) Can you break down the main components of your pitch?

(00:56:20) While building your ICP, how do you handle research?

(01:00:51) What is one thing folks get wrong when rolling out a sales pitch?

Did you know that PMMs and Content Marketers across organizations miss out on one integral element in their revenue pipelines? A sit down with their sales team!

Often perceived as “no strings attached,” the ideal relationship between pmm-content-sales should look like a marriage to accelerate your revenue goals.

How do sales, especially those on the front lines like SDRs/ BDRs, view, and leverage product marketing & content? Can product marketing & content marketing help sales exchange our value for our customer’s money efficiently?

Listen to Rowan Noronha, Founder of the Product Marketing Community, and guest host Ashley Faus, Director of Integrated PMM, Atlassian, who are joined by Morgan Ingram, Founder & Chief Edutainment Officer, Ascension Media Productions, and Devin Reed, Director of Content & Thought Leadership, Clari exploring how content and community solutions and strategies emerge from a deeper understanding of sales and revenue.

Listen to Ashley, Morgan, Devin and Rowan as they discuss what content marketing and sales need from product marketing in order for their companies to Exchange Value for Money… efficiently.

What can CMOs do in 2023 to drive efficiency, increase velocity, and prove value to customers?

This episode breaks down two of the most important levers CMOs can pull — well-defined positioning and revenue plays. 

Join host Rowan Noronha live from #PavilionCMOSummit2023 as he talks product marketing strategies with Kyle Coleman, SVP Marketing, Clari, Meagan Eisenberg, CMO, Lacework, and Sydney Sloan, Executive in Residence, Scale Venture Partners.

In this episode, we sit with two Go-To-Market experts: Sangram Vajre, GTM Partners & Karen Steele, CMO of Sendoso to better understand what separates winning companies from less successful ones.

If your team is struggling with your GTM strategy and motions, we'll give you the things you need to conquer your Go-to-Market! More precisely, how to design a high-performing go-to-market team and how to take a disciplined approach to define the GTM process to set you up for success. 

Welcome to The Marchitect - the podcast for and about the world's best (product) marketing executives.

Hosted by Rowan Noronha, who is so passionate about product marketing that he founded the Product Marketing Community in 2016, this podcast is all about educating and inspiring at the intersection of leadership and (product) marketing strategy. Just enough practical "how-to" advice, and absolutely no commercial agenda.

On this episode, we'll be discussing positioning and messaging, often misunderstood concepts. If you can master them, they can be the most powerful strategic tools at your disposal. So, if you're a CMO or product marketing leader wondering where to start, we've got the experts for you: April Dunford, Emma Stratton, and Peep Laja.

We cover everything from defining what exactly is positioning and messaging, to sharing examples of great b2b positioning and messaging, and even diving into the process of developing your own. We'll talk about who owns positioning and messaging, and the "rules of engagement" between leadership, product, marketing, sales, customer success, revenue operations, and more.

When product marketing and content marketing are aligned, it makes a difference. Yet so many product marketing leaders make the mistake of overlooking this essential interlock. 

Content marketing is a key player for any revenue-generating team. As Devin Reed, Director of Content & Thought Leadership at Clari, says: It’s the role of content marketing “to change the way that people think”. 

In this episode, you’ll hear from 3 interlocking marketing leaders at Revenue Platform provider Clari to understand how they’re working together to create a leading and lasting category: Kyle Coleman, SVP of Marketing, Julien Sauvage, VP of Corporate & Product Marketing, and Devin Reed, Director of Content & Thought Leadership.

You’ll learn how and why they maintain a strong collaboration between content and product marketing, what metrics they use to define success, and how they’re working together to position Clari to W.I.N.

Sales enablement plays a crucial role as both the connector and translator of your entire go-to-market organization. They know how to take marketing content and provide the important context that sellers need to (A) consume it and (B) adopt it. 

And as a wise product marketer once said: Content without context = chaos. Content with context = confidence.

In this episode, Scott Knudson, Head of Sales Enablement at Clozd, and I chatted with future sales enablement hall of famer Sheevaun Thatcher, VP Global Sales, and Success Enablement at Slack, and product marketing superstar Jarod Greene, VP of Product and Customer Marketing at Highspot.

You’ll learn who the key interlocks are for product marketing and enablement, what each function’s expectations are for the other, what metrics to use to measure success and how both teams can help organizations Position to W.I.N.

Product marketing and sales enablement go together like peanut butter and jelly. Why? Because they both know a LOT about their customers. And can use this knowledge to help sellers adopt a modern, consultative approach that’s all about helping their customers buy. 

But like any relationship, both parties need to put in the work to make it work. 

In this episode of the Marchitect, we chat all things product marketing and sales enablement with 3 execs who play a crucial role in orchestrating winning GTM strategies: Mark Kilens, CMO at Airmeet, Ronell Hugh, SVP, Product Marketing & Strategy | Digital XM at Qualtrics, and Sheevaun Thatcher, VP Global Sales and Success Enablement at Slack.

You’ll learn their tips for building and maintaining a strong partnership between product marketing and enablement, what metrics they use to define success, and how they’re positioning their organizations to W.I.N.

What product marketer doesn’t love a good acronym? Especially one that gives you a leg up in your role and guides your organization to success.

In this episode of the Marchitect, you’ll learn the W.W.W. of product marketing, the M.A.P. approach to customer segmentation and the Position to W.I.N. framework to, well, winning. And you’ll learn about them from two product marketing leaders who are truly at the top of their game: Rekha Srivatsan, VP of Product Marketing at Salesforce and Tamara Grominsky, VP of Product Marketing & Lifecycle at Kajabi. 

Join me and my guest co-host Trenton Romph, Head of Marketing at Clozd, as we chat all things product marketing with these two experts in the field. Rekha and Tamara share how they build, manage, and measure their product marketing teams (dropping some grade-A acronyms in the process) and walk us through how they position their organizations to W.I.N.