Using the 3 T's to Curate a Customer First Culture by Shyna Zhang

In this ProductTank San Francisco talk, Shyna Zhang, shows us how product marketing and product management can combine to create a customer-focused culture.

Watch the video to see Shyna’s talk in full. Or read on for an overview of her key points.

• A product marketing and product management marriage
• The 3 T’s of customer obsession

A Product Marketing and Product Management Marriage

Product marketing and product management today should be very customer-centric. What exactly do product marketers do? They are the ones who champion the customer and communicate the product value, not the features, but the benefits to the customer. They are also responsible for driving product distribution.

Ideally, the goal for any company involves acquiring more customers, growing with these customers, and then getting them to become advocates for the company and their products. Given the overlap with product management, many can be confused as to which part of the customer journey belongs to product management and which part belongs to product marketing. The truth is the two are better when working together.

The 3 T’s of Customer Obsession

The 3 T’s of customer obsession help organizations to become more customer-centric and to provide the best product for their customers. They are:

• Techniques
• Teams and Talent
• Technology

Identifying Your Buyer

Shyna goes on to provide a story of her time at Marketo where she illustrates their challenges in identifying their buyer, the journey the buyer was on at the time and where they would like to them to go buyer’s journey. When she joined they were plagued by fast sales cycles with a high churn rate and a lack of enterprise clients. By becoming clearer in identifying their buyer, they were able to provide more information about their product that was relevant to their ideal buyer.

The final takeaway from Shyna’s talk is that traditional organizational structures are not designed around the customer experience. Product people, especially those in product marketing should seek to become change agents in their organizations and establish cultures of excellence.