Better Product

Product marketing is an evolving field with much left to define about what product marketers can actually measure and support. Peep Laja founded his company, Wynter, on the belief that product marketers do better work with swift, real-time feedback on their product messaging. In today's conversation, he explains why taking weeks (or even months) to do critical testing and validation puts your product in a losing position. He'll also describe how Wynter is helping B2B product marketers get impactful insights on their product's messaging & positioning, without wasting time on KPIs that keep you looking in the rearview mirror.

Want to get even better at B2B product marketing? Follow along with Peep's How to Win podcast and the Wynter newsletter.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• If you wait to test and validate your product marketing, you lose.
• Product marketers should prioritize the speed of feedback.
• When marketing your product, prioritize function over form.

• The best differentiation is to actually be different.

Things To Listen For:

[1:30] An introduction to Peep (and a callback to an episode he inspired)

[2:00] Better copy leads to conversion. But how do you know if your copy is good?

[3:00] How Wynter can give you direct feedback from your target customer

[6:00] Product marketing is ultimately about finding common ground between opinions—from your marketers, your sales team, your CEO, and your customers

[7:30] Wynter's goal is to speed up feedback loops; no more waiting for insights

[9:00] Wynter democratizes user research, even if you're not a research expert

[9:30] Product marketing is troublesome because it's a new & evolving role

[10:00] Don't let your product marketers be "deck monkeys"

[13:00] Revenue as a metric is like looking through the rearview mirror

[14:30] Peep's 5 buckets for understanding product messaging:

• Clarity - does your audience "get it"? Do they want it?
• Relevance - are you speaking about things that are a high priority?
• Desirability - is your product's value understood? Do people want it?
• Differentiation - have you made clear how your product stands out?
• Brand - are you creating the right perception for your product?

[17:00] "Messaging and copy are the manifestations of your positioning"

[21:00] Clarity in messaging is key: "if they don't get it, they're not going to buy it"

[23:30] Don't treat your website homepage like Netflix

[24:30] What it looks like to sell a category vs. sell a narrative

[30:00] Differentiation also comes down to how you see yourself

Opportunities in product today are seemingly endless. But if you're new to the industry or looking to break in, it can be hard to know what skills you need to succeed. Many roles don't have precise requirements, and product itself is continuously evolving. Today, Christian & Meghan will share their takes on the habits and mindsets that will serve product people at any stage of their careers. We're talking about the impact of good taste, critical thinking, ego vs. insecurity, and how knowledge of other product disciplines can accelerate your own work.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• If you focus only on adhering to the process, you'll lose sight of the why.

• Design isn't just art; it's a problem solver.
• Success in product requires us to keep ego & insecurity in check.

Things To Listen For:

[0:00] A re-introduction to our moderator, Erica Irish, and what role she'll serve

[3:00] Breaking the ice with an alternate universe: what would Christian & Meghan be doing with their careers if they hadn't chosen a path in product?

[9:00] Post-retirement aspirations, a better design school, and NFT PhDs

[11:00] How Christian & Meghan first found their careers in product

[15:00] Knowledge of good design applies regardless of the medium

[17:00] What we mean by good taste, stolen ideas, and an Ira Glass reference

[22:00] The importance of critical thinking and learning from other product roles

[24:30] How ego and insecurity impact your product work—and why to never keep a tight grasp on anything you've created

[26:30] Earn trust so you to make the decisions in the product area you own

[28:00] Strive to separate yourself from the features

[29:00] Questions you can ask about product in the face of critique

[30:00] A multidisciplinary product perspective gets us closer to where the truth is

[35:30] "If you were the friend who made the study guides, you'd probably make a good product marketer," and other product personas

It's the series finale of Power to the People Ops, and today, we've got a real treat. We're speaking with Mel Skochdopole, co-founder of Parkday—a.k.a. "the Tinder of food." Using the power of data, Parkday curates personalized workplace meals that are tailored to everyone's food preferences. As a result, Parkday is saving people ops leaders valuable time and protecting them from the awkward (and potentially damaging) mistake of ordering food someone on their team can't eat. Meghan and Mel explore how food is a small but powerful way to affect work culture and how people ops products can get personalized perks right.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways

• Don't just add workplace perks—personalize them with product.

• Food quality can directly affect team productivity and health.

Things To Listen For

[1:30] Introducing Mel & Parkday's mission of building data-driven food programs

[2:00] How Parkday personalizes meals, as inspired by the founders' own food preference journeys

[4:00] As companies return to the office, food is something that will always be impactful; it unifies teams across departments

[5:00] The issue for people ops leaders: food is important, but it takes a lot of time and effort to curate the best meals for every person in a company

[7:00] Good food is a matter of team productivity and health

[9:30] 85% of people are looking to eat healthier or follow a specific diet today, and that preference is even stronger among young workers

[12:00] Why Parkday is "the Tinder of food" and how to use it to find your food type (anyone else out there a spicy vegetarian? 🌶)

[15:00] How Parkday found its way by supporting the people ops space

[18:00] The perfect storm affecting the transition from HR to people ops

[19:00] What we mean by total compensation and the impact of workplace perks

Employee engagement is at the core of what keeps people motivated, productive, and happy at work. But unlocking what keeps people engaged is easier said than done. That's why Julie Jeannotte, senior researcher at Officevibe by GSoft, is on a journey to create a product that measures and responds to engagement. Using pulse surveys and curated conversation starters, Officevibe is measuring human nature with science and creating a space for real talk at all levels of the workplace.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Clarification: At 15:02, Julie says "60%" of Officevibe's clients are enterprise companies. Officevibe actually serves 60 enterprise clients total. The vast majority of companies that use Officevibe are small or mid-size, with teams between 0 to 100 employees.

Takeaways:

• In people ops, asking questions is what matters most. But how you ask will determine what you uncover.

• When employees are more engaged, they're more productive & innovative.

• Recognition and sense of purpose are drivers of engagement that people ops products can harness.

Things To Listen For:

[1:30] Introducing Julie Jeannotte and her experiences in HR and people ops

[5:00] How product thinking and agility found its way into the HR industry

[7:00] The people ops mantra: finding ways to "put employees first"

[7:30] Considering people ops as an approach vs. a business function

[8:00] Why people ops products need to introduce more than cosmetic changes, like fun title changes ("chief happiness officer")

[9:00] The original people ops definition from Laszlo Bock: helping employees be "productive, healthier, and happier"

[10:30] How Officevibe shapes employee experiences through pulse surveys

[11:00] How Officevibe's parent company, GSoft, embraces a "fail, adapt, learn, build, and grow" philosophy

[12:00] Why Officevibe's product features strive to build "cultures of feedback"

[16:00] The science behind Officevibe's pulse surveys, illustrated by a tree

[19:30] Without good relationships, engagement efforts in product fall apart

[26:30] Expectations in the employee-employer contract are changing

With an uptick in challenges like the Great Resignation and remote work, companies who are hiring today must understand people—their users—in order to thrive. Tim Pröhm, vice president at the KellyX Digital Innovation Lab, recognizes this opportunity and is using it to introduce agile product thinking and a significant digital transformation to the 75-year-old recruiting firm Kelly. Kelly impacts thousands of workers around the world each year and is setting the example for how to attract and retain talent at a critical moment. In this episode, Tim shares how his team encourages startup strategy in the enterprise world, and how they are bringing the people ops wave to new heights through Kelly's reach.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• People ops products only succeed if they are customized to the holistic employee experience.
• The job of people ops is to ask, "what do the people in your organization need to be successful?"

Things To Listen For:

[1:30] Tim's journey to product & his career intersections with the service industry

[3:30] Background on Kelly and its global influence in the staffing & talent industry

[4:30] How technology & product thinking emerged in Kelly's work in recent years

[5:00] "It's not about the human interaction anymore" in a digital world

[5:30] Innovation emerged through rapid prototyping, being responsive to users

[7:00] Lessons from Laszlo Bock's book, "Work Rules!" on people ops vs. HR

• HR focuses on compliance and traditional administration
• People ops focus on "the full, real experience" in the organization

[8:00] Why you shouldn't exclude people ops leaders from strategic product decisions

[8:30] If you can't retain or attract talent, your org will fail; people ops can help

[11:30] HR professionals tried to "rebrand" as people ops before, but it didn't work

[12:30] COVID made companies realize workforce strategy needs to be holistic

[13:30] The reality of "the overwhelmed employee" experience (hint: it's more common than you might think)

[21:00] The importance of real-time visibility in business and people ops

[23:00] How automation, hiring, and people ops go hand-in-hand

[25:00] The growing importance of qualitative research

[27:00] "Digital transformation is a neverending exercise"

[30:00] Why startups and corporations need to "cross-pollinate"

Imagine a world where every person in a company is understood. They have engaging 1:1s with managers where their voices are heard, and consistent opportunities to connect with their peers—whether they work together or not. This is the future people ops products are building; and, it's the same future John Wetzel is defining as CEO & co-founder of Gather. He explains how people ops is transforming companies, how product leaders in the space can get necessary feedback, and most importantly, how Gather strives to get people ops leaders at early-stage companies "off their islands" to deliver a better employee experience.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• People ops is owning more and more of what HR once covered.
• The best outcomes of people ops products happen in real life.
• Effective people ops leaders think like product managers.

Things To Listen For:

[2:00] How Gather got started, with inspiration from 2019

[3:00] John's past experiences in hardware and software before founding Gather

[5:00] How John defines "people ops," and how the category differs from HR

[5:15] The three functions of traditional HR: talent acquisition, logistics, people operations (a.k.a culture, communications, DEI)

[6:00] The reality: people operations is owning "more and more" of HR

[6:15] Is people ops going to become the "new HR," or something else?

[7:00] Explaining how the Gather product automates people ops work

[8:30] How Gather integrates with Slack as a "workflow builder"

[9:00] Why Gather leverages & automates HRIS, the "CRM" of people ops

[10:00] Exploring Gather's unique product features, like the onboarding buddy

[11:30] The best outcomes of Gather happen in real life, not through automation

[13:00] Why John & Gather believe "the future is people ops"

[14:00] How marketing a people ops product relates to category creation

[15:30] Why does the world need people ops?

[16:00] How John pairs his personal brand with Gather's in marketing people ops

[17:00] How the Great Resignation is affecting people ops products

[19:00] People ops is about harnessing the small moments in the workplace

[20:00] For people ops leaders, their product is the employee experience

[24:00] Community can give you early feedback on your product and priorities

Many employers are coming to a huge realization: there's power in investing in people. But keeping teams happy, organized, and engaged at work can be easier said than done. That's why in recent years, dozens of digital products have emerged to give rise to the challenge. So-called people operations, or people ops, products exist to give workers better processes that can help them believe in (and stay) at their companies amid challenges like the Great Resignation. In this series of Better Product, we're exploring how people ops products are one way employers can ensure their teams are seen, heard, and respected, and why these products are growing in popularity.

We're talking to leaders in the people ops space, including:

• John Wetzel, CEO & Co-Founder of Gather
• Tim Prohm, VP at the KellyX Digital Innovation Lab
• Julie Jeannotte, Employee Engagement Expert & Senior Researcher at Officevibe by GSoft

Our producer Erica is joining the conversation to ask the tough questions and be an advocate for you, our listeners. Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to [email protected] to join the conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• People ops products are multiplying, but the shift from HR isn't new.
• Companies that take people ops seriously keep their employees at the center and create a culture with them in mind.
• Product leaders in people ops are trying to measure and respond to human nature with tech.

Things To Listen For:

[3:00] Why we're talking about people ops, vibe shifts, and the future of work

[6:30] How we define people operations vs. HR

[7:30] "People ops is about creating a better holistic experience for teams"

[8:30] Exploring our different levels of work experience

[12:30] Tying today's people ops products back to 2006, Laszlo Bock, and Google

[13:00] People ops products ask: how can companies fit the way they operate into people's lives—not the other way around

[14:30] Design to design ops, security to security ops, and people to people ops

[16:00] In the age of remote work, companies have to consider, "what else do I have to offer?"

[17:00] People ops lets companies "create the canvas for culture to emerge"

[19:30] People ops products have to be intentional about fostering interactions

[20:00] How the people ops transformation is "making the attention to people and experience more systemic"

Growth design is a powerful concept. It's how we bring the goals of product marketing into focus and activate those goals through great design. As Christian puts it, it's about evolving the areas of your product that grow metrics like revenue and users. But too often, growth design is reduced to a buzzword; to make the most of the practice, you have to consider the context in which you're working. This episode explores what growth design looks like today, what it is not, and how it takes the best of two product disciplines, PMM and UX, to accelerate change.

Oh, and we're trying something new with the show. Today you'll hear a new voice: our producer Erica is joining the conversation to ask the tough questions and be an advocate for you, our listeners. Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to [email protected] to join the conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• Growth design is about building features that accelerate growth in your product, like increasing revenue and users.
• At its core, growth design is the intersection of product marketing and UX.

Things To Listen For:

[0:30] Introducing our moderator & producer, Erica Irish

[3:00] Why Christian & Meghan were initially skeptical about growth design

[4:00] Growth design is a layer on top of UX design meant to help the product accelerate growth, in revenue, users, etc.

[4:30] Hear more from Pinterest's growth design team in our 2020 episode

[6:00] Growth design brings product marketing into focus (e.g., microcopy)

[8:00] Growth design leads to "users supporting other users" (product-led growth)

[9:30] How web3 and decentralization could affect growth design (or not)

[12:30] Growth design accelerates users who are beyond the "hesitancy phase"

[13:00] Products need a category foundation before they get to growth design

[14:00] Examining NFTs, community membership…and an NFT vending machine

[16:00] A case study: Coinbase's experimental Super Bowl commercial

[17:30] Why "marketing is never responsible for education," but PMM can be

[20:00] Growth design as understood through Andrew Chen's "cold start problem"

[20:30] The early stages of a product should be different from your later stages

[21:00] The goal of your first stage: figure out if your product is valuable, so you have something good to grow from

[23:30] How to define and think about "growth design features"

Some of the most popular digital products today, including the world-recognized FAANG stocks, are platforms. They are spaces that facilitate communication, connection, or a specific activity core to your lifestyle or business—and in almost every case, platforms have succeeded so much because they've monetized the interactions that happen on them. It's because of this achievement that many in product strive for the platform model, in what Jonathan Knee describes as "the platform delusion." To win in product, you actually don't need a platform; instead, Christian & Meghan explain, you can learn from the way platform leaders think, and apply those lessons to your own product vision.

Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to [email protected] to join the conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• All platforms are products, but not every product should be a platform.
• Three core lessons from platforms to apply to your product:
• • Platforms excel at brand & PMM; they leverage FOMO and blur the line between marketing and features.
  • Platforms make strategic decisions about new features.
  • Platforms use great UX design to create, then enhance, experiences.

Things To Listen For:

[0:30] Christian's Startups To Watch newsletter and how it inspired this episode

[1:00] A summary of Jonathan Knee's book, "The Platform Delusion"

[3:00] Too many tech leaders see platforms as the "end all, be all"—without recognizing everything that it takes to build them

[6:00] Platforms think about product differently from most products

[6:30] How we define platforms: "products that facilitate communication, connection, or some kind of activity that you make part of your lifestyle"

[7:30] The platform types that meet our definition, from Spotify to Salesforce

[8:30] Examining consumer-oriented vs. B2B-oriented platforms, like Twilio

[12:00] How platforms approach product differently, from three perspectives:

• Brand & PMM
• Product Management
• UX Design

[15:00] Platforms tend to blur the line between features and marketing campaigns

[18:30] "The buyer of B2B software is still a consumer"

[19:00] A quick detour to our previous discussion on category creation

In today's digital product landscape, the possibilities seem endless. We're watching new products emerge to serve completely new categories—many of which, like web3 and the decentralized internet, have yet to be totally defined. Finding the answers and taking charge of a new product category, Christian and Meghan share in this episode, is up to you as the product leader. And any good journey in category creation starts with thinking about how the product you're building can set the standard. When done well, your product becomes "the proof" new categories need to survive and thrive.

Want to add your own take? Write a note or record a voice memo, and send it to [email protected] to join the conversation.

Follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter to see the latest in Better Product, a show part of the Better Product Community powered by Innovatemap. The community is the connection point for product leaders & practitioners to learn and share what it takes to design, build, market, and sell better products. Learn more at betterproduct.community.

Takeaways:

• Creating categories is all about timing & awareness. Use tools like Gartner, ProductHunt, and expert newsletters to figure out where to start.
• Product is "the proof behind the category you're trying to create."

Things To Listen For:

[0:00] Exciting news - the Better Product Community is on Slack!

[1:30] A primer on why we're talking about category creation

[2:00] What category creation is, what it isn't, and categories vs. industries

[4:30] How & why to use tools like Gartner to validate your product's category

[5:00] What to do if you're an early-stage company in an emerging category

[7:00] Overview: How should you start thinking about category creation?

• Understand your business in the context of the wider market
• Think about your current growth stage and your growth trajectory
• Consider the resources available to you

[7:30] Understand positioning to uncover your category creation potential

[10:00] How to think about your growth trajectory, with lessons from "Play Bigger"

[11:00] The advantages of building your product in an emerging category

[12:00] Even if you're creating a new category, use familiar interaction patterns

[14:30] Product is "the proof behind the category you're trying to create."

[16:00] You need resources to support the content you need to build a category

[18:00] You have to tell people "over and over again" what your category means