The Product Market Fit

August 8, 2024

Now, I know that for many marketers out there this is just marketing. But let's get off our high horses for a sec and do what we believe our brands should do: talk to our audience in their own language.

Many businesses are product or sales orientated, and as marketers we know that by adopting marketing principles they will quite simply make more money. So let's talk to that.

We're in a technological era where smart people and entrepreneurs are creating and launching products which they know or believe are needed and will be a success.

They might not have a trained marketer on board, but they are making marketing decisions around price, distribution, branding and sales.

But they could be doing even better, and obviously I'd advocate getting some marketing nous involved, but failing that or in advance of that there is one thing I would advise any founder or CEO to consider.

The product market fit.

You understand your product, but what about the market?

The market are your potential customers. They might be a broad group, they might be very specific, and there might be more than one ideal customer profile, but they are your market.

The people who will give you their money if they a) know that your product exists and b) decide that it fulfils the need for which it was intended.

Not what the product does. Not why it's better than what you consider are the competition. Not how much it costs.

What market needs can it fulfil.

Many product and sales led businesses focus on product features, trying to persuade potential customers that they have the best solution. But if you don't know what the problem is, how can you be sure you are the best solution?

Sure, you can guess, you can make your own biased assumptions. But you will always be more successful if you understand what problems the market has, and present your product as a viable option to solve that problem in a distinctive and memorable way.

People simply don't buy in rational ways. Even in B2B, people don't buy in purely rational ways.

The power of the product marketing fit is that you are considering your product as seen by the market.

Which in turn creates a narrative which more clearly and more memorably resonates with the market.

You are increasing your chances of your potential customers seeing the benefit of your product. Which will increase the chances of your potential customers buying your product.

It's not rocket science, but it is incredibly powerful.