My Approach to Product Marketing: Immersion, Context, and Time (Steal This Framework)
A mental map/framework for how to approach your product marketing strategy
There’s a common misconception that product marketing is just about writing launch emails and updating web copy. In reality, great product marketing sits at the intersection of deep strategic understanding and day-to-day execution—and getting there requires three things: immersion in the business, perspective on the broader category, and time.
1. Deep Immersion in the Business
Before I can effectively market a product, I need to understand it inside and out—not just how it works, but why it exists in the first place. That means digging into the product itself and the business model. What problem is the product solving? Who experiences that problem most acutely? What’s missing in current offerings that makes this product necessary?
Product marketing is about identifying and articulating the value proposition: the unique way your product solves a real problem for a real customer. That means focusing on benefits, not just features—and being able to translate those benefits into messaging that resonates. It also means understanding the business case, including who your ideal customers are, what motivates them, and how your product fits into their world. Without that full context, any attempt to go to market will feel flat or off-base.
2. Understanding the Category
Even with a strong product and clear customer value, it’s impossible to build a compelling narrative without understanding where your product sits within the broader landscape. That means researching everything from pricing norms to customer expectations to market saturation.
How do people perceive products like yours? Are they viewed as commodities, premium solutions, or emerging innovations? Has the category reached mass adoption, or is it still early days? What trajectory is it on, and where do you realistically fit in? Can you win across the board—or do you need to carve out a niche?
Category context shapes messaging, positioning, and strategy. It gives you insight into how to differentiate and where you can win.
3. Time
Perhaps the most overlooked factor in product marketing is time. Founders often believe that if you build a great product and talk about it on social media, growth will follow. But sustainable go-to-market motion takes more than hype.
It requires building thought leadership with a real point of view. It means creating a process for all the operational layers—from content SEO and internal documentation to paid search timelines and cross-team launch coordination. It requires experimentation, refinement, and discipline.
And even when you’ve nailed your messaging, built a system, and launched well, the market still needs time to discover you. Recognition and trust don’t happen overnight. There’s a reason Tide didn’t become a household name in its first year.
A Mental Model for Product Marketing—Steal This Framework
To bring this all together, I’ve created a Figjam board that outlines my mental framework for approaching product marketing. It includes an example of how I conduct category research, a basic SEO audit to inform content strategy, and a storytelling structure inspired by Andy Raskin’s work on narrative-driven positioning. Have a look, see if something here resonates. Feel free to use it however you want…or not.
The board is designed to show how everything connects—from product insight to positioning to go-to-market execution—and how a structured, time-informed approach leads to more effective, strategic product marketing.