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PMM Files 🗂️

PMM Files #106 – Showcasing Real Customer Examples, Differentiation in One Image, and Imagining the Mess


Read Time: 3.5 minutes

Thanks for reading PMM Files. A newsletter where we share five cool product marketing examples we found last week.

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Supported By: Ahrefs

Find Your Competitive Messaging Gaps

Want to see how Ahrefs’ Competitor Analysis tool can help you improve your messaging and spot opportunities to better market your existing product capabilities and use cases?

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Example #1 - Showcase Real Customer Examples

If people use your product to generate some sort of output, you need to SHOW REAL EXAMPLES of that output.

Shopify shows you real examples of stores built on their platform. Webflow shows you real websites. Canva shows you real designs.

We call these showcase pages.

Here’s a great example from UserEvidence. Their “Customer Examples” page shows real examples of customer evidence collected and shared using their platform.

Not only can I see proof that companies like mine use their product, I can actually see specific use cases where they’ve used it to create content. It’s easy to picture those proof points with my logo on them 🤩

→ See real examples of customer evidence

Example #2 - Show Your Differentiation in One Simple Image

Here’s a challenge: Try to show your differentiation in a simple diagram or infographic.

Like this example from Ecomflow. They use this visual on their site to help buyers understand the difference between them and traditional fulfillment.

Right away, I can follow along the journey of a product being ready in my factory, to arriving on a customer’s doorstep. The old way takes 60 Days — Ecomflow takes 45% less.

They also keep repeating the fact that traditional fulfillment requires an average of 7 stops, compared to only 1 with them. A simple message that sticks.

→ See how Ecomflow compares 👀

Example #3 - The People’s Path to Basecamp

I love Basecamp for genius ideas like this.

They compete against a lot of big players in the project management space, with big budgets and lots of impressive features. But they find time and time again that customers eventually make their way to Basecamp.

This landing page is a creative form of social proof that shows the real journeys customers went through before finding Basecamp — complete with proof points and testimonials that explain why the other platforms were “underwhelming stops” along the way.

For a buyer who has tried multiple different tools, I could see this giving them confidence that this time, it'll be different.

→ See People's Path to Basecamp

Example #4 - Crystal Clear Product Messaging

What sticks out most about this homepage is how simple and clear their messaging is.

A clever H1 helps me understand the problem they solve right away → how to respond fast when things break in your product.

But they also make their product capabilities super clear. The description of “The all-in-one AI platform for on-call, incident response, and status pages” combined with three clear hero images, make it easy to grasp the product offering.

Continue down the page and you’ll also see three sections that further explain each of those three capabilities and how they work together.

→ Try not to grasp this product quickly

Example #5 - Imagine The Mess of Multiple Point Solutions

Here’s one clever way to deliver your consolidation value prop.

Odoo combines dozens of software tools into one platform. Two words they keep repeating on their site: simple and affordable.

To get that point across, their hero has this neat toggle that let’s you see exactly how many separate tools you can replace with just one Odoo subscription.

It’s pretty wild 🤯

→ See the mess for yourself!


30% of PMMs spend most of their time working on launches

Meanwhile, there is SO much of your existing product that customers simply don’t know about.

  • What it can do
  • The use cases for it
  • The problems it can solve

But did you know, Ahrefs has a Competitor Analysis Tool that can help you find the gaps and opportunities to better market your existing product?

🤨 “Ahrefs? I thought they were just an SEO tool?”

Think again. There are actually a number of product marketing use cases for Ahrefs that you might not know about.

So, click the button below to learn this trick 👇

And if your marketing team has an Ahrefs account, give it a try.

​→ Start uncovering your messaging gaps​


Founding PMM Jobs

I've started a simple job board, focused on curating new Founding PMM job opportunities.

Some highlights from this week:

Find More Founding PMM Jobs ↗️


3 More Things

Three articles, posts, or tools you should add to your swipe file.

  1. How Execs Buy Software - Peep Laja shares his top takeaways after surveying 300 CMOs, CTOs and CFOs about how they buy and evaluate software.
  2. How to Break Into Product Marketing - Collin Mayjack breaks down the 6 pieces of advice that he shares with hopeful PMMs.
  3. The 10 Point Message Clarity Test - Locking in your positioning is a critical first step, but you also need to communicate it clearly. Clay Ostrom shares 10 points to make your positioning clear.


What did you think of this week's edition?

Hit reply and let me know, or leave a quick testimonial. I'd love to hear from you!

See you next Wednesday!

Jason and Aubrey

P.S.

I work with startups and founding PMMs that are trying to build product marketing from zero. If that sounds like you, here are some ways I can help:

  • Get the PMM Jetpack - My premium library of Templates, Playbooks, and Examples for Founding PMMs.
  • Join the PMM Accelerator (Waitlist) - a 90-day group coaching program designed to help founding and solo PMMs build a high-impact product marketing function, from scratch.
  • Need a fractional Founding PMM? - we offer strategic advising and hands-on execution to a small number of startups looking fractional PMM support.
  • Sponsorships - Want to reach the Productive PMM audience with educational content that puts your product in the spotlight? Let's chat!

Jason and Aubrey
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PMM Files 🗂️

Every week, I share 5 practical product marketing examples. Your weekly dose of PMM inspiration and practical advice in less than 3 minutes.

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