A crucial but often overlooked B2B marketing goal is to build "buyability." This means establishing enough brand trust and authority that your internal champion can confidently defend their decision to purchase your product to the rest of the buying committee. It's about arming the champion.

Buyers now use AI to arrive with a full research dossier on your product, pricing, and competitors. This changes the GTM role from persuading customers with clever messaging to enabling their decision-making. The new focus is helping buyers quickly experience your product's value on their own terms.

Effective product marketing is not a downstream function. It is a strategic role that sits at the intersection of product management, go-to-market teams (sales), and external influencers (analysts). It synthesizes inputs to shape both product strategy and market messaging.

Instead of waiting for top-down alignment, salespeople should take the initiative to bridge the gap with marketing. The most effective way to do this is by bringing marketing team members onto actual sales calls. This direct exposure to customer interactions is the fastest way to ensure marketing creates relevant and effective support materials.

The sales focus is moving away from pushing a product in a single moment. Instead, the goal is to enable the buyer's decision-making process by providing clarity, confidence, and alignment. A customer will not buy until they are confident, and salespeople must facilitate that confidence rather than just pitching features.

Pendo's CPO advocates for a blended approach in enterprise B2B. The product must enable self-service and stand on its own (PLG), but a skilled sales team is crucial for navigating complex procurement, building business cases, and establishing trust with large, regulated customers.

Don't just hand signals to sales and expect them to act. Marketing should co-own enablement. A "Pipeline Wednesday" meeting is used to actively help the sales team connect specific marketing signals (e.g., account intent) to concrete messaging and outreach tactics.

The most critical, yet often overlooked, factor for successful demand generation is not channel tactics but strong product marketing. A clear brand identity, positioning, messaging, and a deep understanding of the buyer are the true foundation for effective marketing programs.

A product manager's role extends beyond development. The customer stories and problem statements gathered during discovery are powerful sales assets. Packaging these insights and sharing them with the sales team helps them communicate the product's value more effectively.