It’s great to be a product marketer. You’re at the center of your company: you have a direct lens into multiple teams, operations, and initiatives. You’re also your customers’ chief empathizer, and you have an arsenal of data to learn about their most pressing needs.
But at any given time, you’re probably walking a fine line between “lots of great detail” and “information overload.” The biggest challenge you’re likely facing is how to distill your wealth of knowledge into a cohesive set of resources for your team.
These three collaboration tips can help:
1. Rely On Content in Your Busiest Moments
If you find yourself having repetitive 1:1 conversations, consider creating content instead. Write a blog post, create a monthly newsletter, and find ways to limit the number of calls and meetings you’re having.
You should think of yourself as a journalist, reporter, and blogger—when you put information on paper, so to speak, more people can read, digest, and respond to what you’re saying.
Think of how many hours you’ve spent having the same types of conversations. Spend a fraction of that time writing, and you’ll not only be more productive, you’ll reach more people—both inside and outside of your organization.
2. Build Systems to Eliminate Unnecessary Time Sinks
It’s amazing how much time the “little things” take. You could spend hours writing personalized emails, scheduling appointments to interview emails to customers, and digging deep into your blog analytics.
Think through your big time sinks and set up processes to make things simpler. Example ideas include using email marketing software to manage internal newsletters, creating a Slack channel that auto-populates data from your Google Analytics account, and using Formstack to source questions that come up from your team.
You can start improving processes by focusing on two key areas in your operations: (1) things you don’t like doing, and (2) things that are eating up too much time. This “needs assessment” will help you pinpoint exactly what to fix and what solutions to implement.
3. Create an IM Channel for “Ideastorming”
As a product marketer, you’re probably already working with formal collaboration tools. Empower your team to leverage these tools for stream-of-consciousness idea generation—a process that’s invaluable for creativity. Encourage team members to share random ideas that you can later formalize into specific topics. 99% of B2B marketers say a steady stream of ideas is central to their success as marketers. Don’t pass up the opportunity to collect them from your team.
This new communication channel will be invaluable for idea generation and information sharing.
Remember that your ultimate goal is to optimize human relationships. Explore ways to get people excited about sharing ideas, and build upon your learnings to truly bring out the best in your teammates.
The more focused you are, the more you’ll grow.