The Secret of Winning in Product Marketing? Get Out of the Office
Product marketers can't afford to rely only on reports and sales data. Learn why staying close to customers is essential for product success, competitive positioning and messaging that truly resonate.
I thought I knew my customers - Until I met them!
A few years ago in my early product marketing days, I sat in a meeting room, reviewing market reports, and sales data to refine our product messaging,
Everything looked solid on paper:
Competitive Position? Done
Sales Enablement Materials? Ready
Customer Personas? Fully Mapped
We were confident, Until we weren’t.
When we visited customer sites, we realized something shocking:
Customers weren’t using our product the way we assumed
Service teams were struggling with preventable issues that weren’t in any report
Sales conversations were missing key objections we hadn’t addressed that truly mattered in purchase decisions
Adoption barriers we never anticipated were stopping repeat purchases
It hit me:
The most valuable insights don’t live in spreadsheets. They live in the field. So, Get out of office!
In product marketing, success depends on more than just great messaging and positioning, it requires deeper understanding of customer needs, workflows, and challenges. While internal data, sales feedback, and market research are valuable, they can’t replace firsthand customer insights.
Yet, many product marketers operate at a distance from customers, relying solely on reports, assumptions, and secondhand information. This approach can lead to misaligned messaging, weak product adoption, and lost competitive advantages.
If product marketing is to be truly effective, it must be built on real-world customer engagement. Here’s why and how to do it right.
The Silent Killer of Product Marketing: Distance from Customers
“But isn’t competitive analysis and sales feedback enough?”
No.
One of the biggest mistakes product marketers make is assuming that they already know what customers need. After all, there’s no shortage of information available like market research, sales data, feedback forms, and competitor analyses. But relying only on these sources can create a dangerous disconnect.
Here’s why relying only on secondhand insights can damage your product marketing strategy:
1. Messaging That Misses the Mark
Misaligned Messaging - If you don’t hear real customer frustrations firsthand, your messaging will focus on the wrong things.
If you’re not hearing real customer frustrations firsthand, your messaging will focus on what you think matters, not what actually matters.
For example, a product team might highlight technical specifications, assuming customers care most about performance. But when you speak to customers, you might find that their biggest concerns are ease of installation, serviceability, or compliance requirements.
2. Weak Competitive Positioning
Lack of competitiveness - You may think your product is winning on features, but customers might be choosing based on ease of use, service, or reliability instead.
Competitor analysis often focuses on features and pricing. But customers don’t just compare products based on what’s on the data sheet, they evaluate the entire user experience.
Without direct customer engagement, you might miss why customers choose (or reject) your product over a competitor’s. In some cases, they might not even be aware of the features you think set your product apart.
3. Overlooking Adoption Barriers
Missed Adoption Barriers - Many product adoption challenges aren’t technical. They’re usability, workflow integration, or training-related things you can only spot in real environments.
Product adoption isn’t just about functionality, it’s about how easily customers can integrate a solution into their workflow. Many adoption challenges arise not because a product is bad, but because it’s difficult to use, maintain, or train teams on.
Customer visits often reveal problems that don’t show up in surveys, such as:
Installation difficulties that cause delays.
Lack of training resources leading to misuse.
Workflow disruptions that make teams resistant to change.
These insights are invaluable for product teams looking to drive adoption and retention.
Lost Market Opportunities - Customers often find innovative ways to use products that internal teams never considered. These insights could open up new revenue streams.
Simply put: If you’re not engaging with customers, you’re making educated guesses instead of data-driven decisions.
How to Stay Close to Customers (Even When It’s Not ‘Your Job’)
Product marketing teams don’t need to be in the field every day, but they should build a structured approach to staying connected.
Systematically integrate direct customer engagement into their strategy
Here’s how:
1. Conduct Regular Customer Site Visits
There’s no substitute for seeing how customers interact with your product in their actual environment. Being on-site allows you to observe:
Unspoken frustrations that surveys miss.
How users adapt your product in unintended ways.
Operational challenges that impact long-term success.
Action Step: Schedule quarterly customer visits and document key observations. Shadow a sales or a service person for a day, and take notes on what frustrates customers most about the product.
2. Engage with Customer-Facing Teams
Service engineers, technical sales reps, and customer support teams interact with customers daily. They often have a deep understanding of:
Common objections raised during the sales process.
Recurring complaints that could indicate product issues.
Undervalued features that could become stronger selling points.
Action Step: Set up monthly meetings with sales and service teams to discuss patterns in customer feedback.
3. Organize Structured Customer Interviews
Instead of generic satisfaction surveys, hold deep-dive customer interviews to uncover valuable insights:
What problem led them to look for a solution?
What alternatives did they consider?
What challenges did they face during implementation?
What unexpected benefits or frustrations emerged over time?
Action Step: Develop a standardized interview guide and conduct at least 5 detailed customer interviews per quarter.
4. Track & Share Customer Insights Internally
Customer insights shouldn’t live in random notes or forgotten reports. They need to be systematically shared with Sales, R&D, and Product teams.
Action Step: Create a shared knowledge base where customer insights are logged, categorized, and referenced for decision-making.
How to Know If You’re Truly Customer-Centric?
Ask yourself these 5 questions:
Have I visited a customer site this quarter?
Do I know how customers actually use our product (not just what the data sheets say)?
Have I spoken directly to a service or sales rep about recurring customer issues?
Can I confidently say why a customer chose or rejected our product?
Have I captured at least three firsthand customer insights to improve our messaging or roadmap?
If not, you’re too far from your customers.
The Long-Term Benefits of Staying Close to Customers
Product marketers act as the bridge between customers and internal teams. To do this effectively, you need direct exposure to customers, their environments, and their challenges.
When product marketing actively engages with customers, the impact on your strategy is transformative:
1. Stronger Product-Market Fit
Messaging aligns with real customer pain points.
By observing customers in real settings, you gain clarity on how your product fits into their daily workflows. You see the workarounds, inefficiencies, and pain points that may never come up in a survey or interview.
2. More Effective Sales Enablement
Sales teams receive field-tested positioning that resonates.
Sales teams need compelling, real-world stories to sell effectively. When product marketing documents real customer pain points, decision drivers, and success stories, it arms the sales team with messaging that resonates.
3. Better Competitive Advantage
Insights uncover unique differentiation opportunities.
Customers don’t just compare features, they compare overall experiences. Seeing firsthand why a customer chooses or rejects your product gives you an advantage in crafting differentiation strategies.
4. Higher Product Adoption & Retention
Addressing usability and workflow integration barriers leads to long-term customer success.
Many adoption challenges aren’t due to poor product quality but rather usability issues, lack of training, or unclear onboarding. Identifying and addressing these gaps improves customer satisfaction and retention.
The Bottom Line: Get Out of the Office, Win in the Market
Product marketing isn’t just about crafting compelling messages, it’s about ensuring those messages are rooted in real customer experiences.
If your team isn’t actively engaging with customers, you’re not making data-driven decisions, you’re making educated guesses.
So, ask yourself: When was the last time you visited a customer?
If you’re unsure, it’s time to get closer to your customers
If it’s been too long, make it a priority. Your most valuable insights are waiting in the field.
Your next breakthrough insight won’t come from a report, it’s waiting in the field.
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Or share your thoughts: How does your team stay close to customers? Let’s discuss in the comments!