10 epic product marketing examples for inspiration

Today’s product launches experience fierce competition, which is not surprising. Due to this, product marketers are required to explore the creative sides of their brains to rise above the rest.

Apart from strategizing everything from product positioning to go-to-market campaigns, product marketers are caught between communicating the product’s value through successful messaging.

So we’ve wrapped up the ten best examples from leading brands that can help any marketer nail their next product marketing strategy:

1. Notion - A versatile task management tool

Notion is a productivity and project management tool that lets users manage their everyday tasks, notes, events, projects, etc., in a single space. It can be shared with other users, making it a shared online database.

Notion’s product marketing strategy involved positioning the tool as an all-in-one workspace for note-taking, task and team management.

What works?

Notion positions the customization and versatility of the product as its unique selling proposition (USP) with its wide range of solutions for students and corporate teams/professionals. The tool offers pre-made templates, tutorials, webinars, and help guides — which interests corporate employees and students alike.

Also, don’t miss out on the ‘Try Notion free’ button and the impressive list of clients that lets users convert sooner.

2. Volkswagen - Safety first

Volkswagen has been around for over nine decades now. So clearly, the product marketing strategy has evolved with time, although some elements have remained constant.

Volkswagen highlights its brand heritage and user affinity to the vehicle’s design time and again.

What works?

Their core product marketing strategy focuses more on the vehicles’ safety which tops any client’s priority list.

Additionally, the company lets potential customers take a deep look into a ‘behind the scenes’ at the safety measures and innovations done to ensure optimum safety. This is followed by a vehicle catalog for visitors to check out.

3. Apple - A ‘historical’ campaign

A product marketing example list is incomplete without the mention of the cult favorite - Apple. Since its launch, the brand has emphasized its positioning in the market to cater to an exclusive set of high-end customers. Although, a few of its latest launches now involve budget-friendly options.

For this example, let’s take a look at its legacy ‘Think Different’ campaign that paved the way for the future of Apple products.

What worked?

With its launch in 2007, Apple used images of famous personalities like Steve Jobs (founder of Apple), Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Morgan Freeman, and more. This helped position its products as a leader in innovation and class.

4. Airbnb - The new normal

As the world slowly falls back into normalcy, the hospitality industry is witnessing a boom. And short-term rentals (STRs) like Airbnb are growing in popularity.

What works?

Airbnb transitioned the way people traveled with its home-like property rentals, providing its guests an opportunity to ‘stay like the locals’. When pitted against hotels, Airbnb properties are now more affordable and easier to book.

Using data science coupled with product marketing, Airbnb identified high occupancy areas to spread its vacation rentals across prime locations and tourist hotspots.

5. HubSpot - Free learning and content marketing

HubSpot is a CRM software platform that helps businesses of all sizes manage customers. Apart from this, the company offers inbound strategies and content management.

What makes HubSpot famous and a part of this list?

HubSpot leverages its free plan and free tools through its product marketing strategy. Potential leads can also find many free resources that are complete guides on how to use the tool.

Since messaging is vital in product marketing, HubSpot built a complete content machine with product-related case studies and articles that educate potential customers and learners.

6. Squarespace - No-code website development

The website building and hosting tool follows a no-code approach to website designing and publishing. Multiple eCommerce companies, educational websites, bloggers, and more, have been using Squarespace to host their businesses online.

The Squarespace product marketing strategy is built on top of this very foundation.

What works?

The company’s eCommerce capabilities are marketed right on its website. Also, the no-code approach lets even users with zero technical knowledge build and launch full-fledged professional-looking websites.

Squarespace’s strategy also positions the product based on its ease of use, flexibility with designs, and top-quality features that let users create websites in minutes.

7. Spotify - Upscaling podcasts

The largest music streaming app - Spotify, has provided artists worldwide with a way to showcase their talent and grow their business. The company recently started hosting podcasts and has reportedly earned over 300 million EUR until 2021 — which is a 300% increase year on year.

What worked?

Podcasts were majorly listened to on iTunes, and there has been a rise in the number of podcasts over the last five years. And Spotify tapped into this new trend in 2018 and adopted a product marketing strategy that provides its users with personalized podcast recommendations and browsing for free.

The new strategy put Spotify ahead of Apple Music, and there has been no looking back.

8. Nike - Aspirational connections

When Nike was launched, the brand struggled to compete with the shoe market tycoons - Puma and Reebok. And now Nike is far beyond Reebok and has overtaken the other favorite shoe brand - Adidas.

What worked?

Nike expanded their product lineups and broke into the shoe industry using none other than celebrities to endorse their brand. Several athletes like tennis and basketball players were roped in to turn an unpopular brand into a sought-after one with a devoted user base.

Therefore, Nike’s product marketing strategy uses influential people and emotional branding to connect with its target market.

9. Slack - Product-market fit surveys

Product-market fit (PMF) surveys are used to measure the product’s effectiveness and the likelihood of recommending the product and learning user pain points. The results of such surveys are typically used to upgrade product marketing and development strategies.

How Slack used PMF surveys?

The messaging tool used PMF surveys to gather feedback from its initial users and measured and understood how well the product met user expectations and market requirements.

Based on this feedback, Slack improved the overall positioning, understood user needs, and tailored the product to align with expectations. Currently, Slack is used across companies for business communications and is rapidly growing as a collaboration platform.

10. Zapier - Grow with tool integrations

Zapier is an impressive example of SaaS product marketing. It is a widely used tool to integrate with hundreds of other applications like Airtable, Slack, Gmail, etc., and makes way for automated work.

What works?

Zapier offers a dedicated website page for each tool integration, along with suggested workflows to build automation. Therefore, associating with other successful brands brings ultimate website traffic to Zapier — making this one of the best SaaS product marketing strategies to exist.

The final takeaway

There are many more ways a brand could benefit from product marketing, and these are some examples to inspire any product marketer.

Finally, what did we understand from the above curated list?

Product marketing strategies are all about listening to audiences’ needs, tailoring features to address pain points, and personalizing experiences. This way, you can ensure the product stays in the market and builds a sustainable stream of revenue.

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