VTS’ Accelerate 2018 user conference is coming!
After last year's smash hit, I'm excited to announce that dates have been announced for Accelerate 2018! Accelerate is VTS' annual user conference and so much more-- it's commercial real estate's innovation conference. Attendees can join the industry's most...
The Product Marketing Summit community is pretty awesome
I wasn't sure what to expect when I sent Monday's email delaying the Summit. If I'm honest, I was bracing for backlash...though I think that's a default state for we product marketers every time we hit the 'send' button. To my surprise, I didn't receive one...
The email I wrote when I had to delay the Product Marketing Summit
Today, due to a litany of personal and professional challenges, I had to delay the Product Marketing Summit by 30 days. Getting the first Summit off the ground has been a haul, though I and our community (700 strong!) strongly believe in the vision. These emails...
The email I wrote when I released VTS’ first product roadmap
I was taking another look at VTS' 4Q17 product roadmap today and it (along with having to check some salespeople making promises that were a little too confident) sent me down memory lane today. This is our fourth incarnation of a true, external product roadmap at...
A whole new world: Understanding the value of CRE Tech
One of the things I've found the most challenge and love in during my time at VTS is that we're powering a technological transformation. Commercial real estate is the third largest asset class in the world and also the most archaic. Many of our clients had...
Happy Halloween from VTS!
Like I've written about before, holidays present some interesting opportunities for marketing. The best thing brands can do during the holidays is make their prospects & customers FEEL something. Everyday, prospects & customers are getting inundated with...
VTS’ Diversity Committee supports Domestic Awareness Prevention Month by wearing purple
As I helped build out the Diversity Committee at VTS, one of our initiatives was creating awareness around different aspects of diversity & inclusion. We accomplished this by setting a 'diversity calendar' with monthly themes. October is Domestic Violence...
VTS 4Q17 Product Roadmap
Product roadmaps are a frequent requests Product Marketing receives from Sales. Long buying cycles common with strategic products often mean buyers need to know what's ahead so they can make confident purchasing decisions. The key for us was setting expectations...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (9/27/17) – 10 types of sales enablement content, bagels & loyalty, telling a great story
WEEKLY PRODUCT MARKETING READS September 27, 2017 Coffee with a PMM #15 - Cam Davies, Senior Manager of Product Marketing @ OTTO Motors This media sales leader traded in his suit for a more fulfilling career in product marketing. Hear how Cam's first-hand...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (9/19/17) – The best cold sales email I’ve ever seen, product haters gonna hate & why NPS detractors are more valuable than promoters
WEEKLY PRODUCT MARKETING READS September 19, 2017 Coffee with a PMM #14 - Josh Zywien, Director of Product Marketing @ SmashFly Josh found himself in product marketing after several journalism and media jobs. "It’s not a product marketers job to simply pass...
The best cold sales email I’ve ever seen
Our inboxes are cluttered with them. Most of us hate them. Some of we marketers, even though we know it's cruel, hi8t the 'spam' button in an attempt to blacklist their email servers. But sometimes, oh so rarely, I'm impressed by a cold sales email. "The audacity...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (9/12/17) – Turning 18yo’s into lethal selling machines, psychological pricing & how to negotiate like an FBI agent
September 12, 2017 Product Marketing - Inside Juicero’s Demise, From Prized Startup to Fire Sale The shuttering of the much-ridiculed Silicon Valley startup was the culmination of unsustainable costs, slow sales, poor media relations and a bungled product...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (9/5/17) – Summit updates, executing like a rookie & leading like a multiplier, cleaning up LinkedIn
September 5, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #13 — Darren McPhee, Director of Product Marketing @ BlueCat Networks This product marketer took a journey through the product management org before reuniting with his first love, marketing. Grab a cup with...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (8/22/17) – In-app growth strategies, inventing new products by revisiting your customer & caring less
August 22, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #11 - Jeff Schaffzin, Principal and Managing Director @ Genysys Group Briefing industry analysts, training Sales and 'product marketing' vs. 'growth marketing' & 'marketing communications.' Product Marketing...
Product Launch – VTS Site Plan
Today I'm excited to announce that VTS' new Site Plan went live! This launch is the result of about 3 months of work between my Product Marketing team & the Product Management team. Check out the video below and navigate to my professional gallery to hear more...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (8/7/17) – HomePod=Apple PMM renaissance, customer interviews and GTM goes digital
August 8, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #9 - Jessica Bohm, Product Marketing Manager @ SimilarWeb Jessica Bohm on how a diverse career makes you a stronger product marketer, content feedback loops and tracking adoption. Product Marketing - How digital...
Meet VTS’ Design Team!
Every month or so, we like to spotlight a department or team here at VTS. In addition to having a little fun, it's great for our recruiting efforts. Meet our Design Team! They are responsible for: Elevating the user experience through design - attract users...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (8/1/17) – Eternalizing tribal knowledge, a decision matrix for growing teams & guide to high-converting landing pages
August 1, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #8 - Rahim Kaba, Director of Product Marketing @ eSignLive Competing in the same space as DocuSign & Adobe is no easy feat. Hear how Rahim fishes for competitive intel, masters the buyer's journey and differentiates...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (7/25/17) – AI is f*ing marketing up, creating better product videos, 7400 cards/yr
July 25, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #7 - Michael Manning, Product Marketing Manager @ Neudesic Hear how Michael realigned a product toward a particular vertical (which included a complete rebranding and repositioning), which led to about a 70% increase in...
Meet VTS’ Product Team!
Every month or so, we like to spotlight a department or team here at VTS. In addition to having a little fun, it's great for our recruiting efforts. Meet our Product Team! They are responsible for: Managing the product development process, from ideation to...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (7/19/17) – Sales culture kills, why NOT to accept counter-offers and the importance of retrospectives
July 19, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #6 - Amanda Goetz, Director of Product Marketing @ The Knot (XO Group) Amanda grew up on a farm in central Illinois and came to New York to work on "the internet." She got her 'MBA equivalent' and appreciation for what...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (7/10/17) – Soft skills advice from a weapons disposal technician, Salesforce’s “State of Marketing” report & SMOPS/RevOps
July 10, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #5 - Tim Johnson, Product Marketing & Sales Enablement Expert Tim was a high performing sales rep (180% to quota) before transitioning to product marketing. Hear how he successfully turned around a product...
2Q17 Recap: Product Markeing at VTS
As with just about every quarter at VTS, this one was one for the books. Product Marketing hit our stride after I was (finally) able to hire another product marketer. It was exciting for me to further scale the product marketing function this quarter. Here's what...
Weekly PMM Reads (7/5/17) – Why CMOs don’t last, what PMMs can learn from Beyonce & the greatest sales deck ever
July 5, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #4 - Derek Pando, Product Marketer @ Zoom From his first days at Salesforce to launching Sales Navigator at LinkedIn, Derek loves product marketing because he's able to be creative, strategic and play an important role....
Meet VTS’ Engineering Team!
Every month or so, we like to spotlight a department or team here at VTS. In addition to having a little fun, it's great for our recruiting efforts. Meet our Engineering Team! They are responsible for: Building out our platform with new products and features...
Weekly Product Marketing Reads (6/27/17) – End the quarter strong, how PMM helps build product & 3 reasons sales enablement roles are on the rise
June 26, 2017 Coffee with a Product Marketer #3 — Erin Hinson, Director of Product Marketing @Pluralsight Last week, we rebooted our popular “Coffee with a Product Marketer” series. After a stint at a market research firm, Erin found her way to Infusionsoft...
End the quarter strong, with Resting B*tch Face (stoicism)
It’s here. The end of the quarter. What else is here? The extra shot in your morning latte. The last minute emails. The unsettling realizations that you weren’t as ahead of your OKRs as you thought you were. Guilt or anger aimed at yourself or others for not...
Product keynotes…blood, sweat, tears and…awesomeness.
There’s so much I can say about this keynote, I’m unsure where to begin. Suffice to say, product keynotes get we product marketers really excited. In fact, when I attend conferences, I get more excited for the product keynote than the opening one. Like I talk about...
Check out the opening keynote I contributed to for Accelerate 2017!
Those of you who have put on user conferences in the past know how awesome it feels to land the opening keynote. All of the anticipation and some of the anxiety finally melts away as you settle into the rhythm of the conference. Hear CEO Nick Romito open our first...
Branding: The other half of your go-to-market journey
This article was originally published by Pragmatic Marketing, Inc. (Pragmatic Marketer Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 2, May 2017) -- The old adage that good marketing can’t sell a bad product is true. I’ve seen brands throw millions of marketing dollars at products...