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CRAYON COMPETITIVE
INTELLIGENCE BLOG

Why Competitive Enablement Is the Ultimate Key to Closing More Deals

David Cardiel

David Cardiel on Thu, Nov 21, 2024

In today’s hyper-competitive sales landscape, every deal counts. Two-thirds of sales opportunities are competitive, and here’s the kicker: these deals close 5x faster and at significantly higher value. Yet, many sales teams are still fumbling with outdated battlecards or scrambling for insights mid-call.

If your sales team is stepping into competitive deals without the right tools, you’re not just losing opportunities—you’re handing them to your competitors.

The Cost of Outdated Competitive Enablement

Using old-school competitive enablement is like trying to stream Netflix on ...

How a Competitive Strategy Boosts Your Marketing Impact
David Cardiel

David Cardiel on Wed, Nov 27, 2024

Marketing today isn’t just about creativity—it’s about strategy, pipeline, and outperforming competitors. But here’s the reality: relying on traditional marketing tools may no longer cut it. With ...

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One Month Later: Sparks Has Had a Transformative Impact on Crayon Customers ✨
Jonah Lopin

Jonah Lopin on Fri, Nov 1, 2024

Since its launch a month ago, Crayon Sparks has had an outsized impact on how Crayon customers compete, enabling them to transform data overload into effortless, actionable enablement. Sparks By the ...

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5 Ways to Build a Stronger Product Marketing + Sales Relationship
Sheila Lahar

Sheila Lahar on Wed, Oct 16, 2024

In B2B organizations, Product Marketing and Sales teams are critical drivers of growth, yet aligning these two functions can often be a challenge. This is why we teamed up with Yi Lin Pei, PMM ...

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Build a World-Class Competitive Enablement Program: A CXO’s Guide
Jonah Lopin

Jonah Lopin on Thu, Oct 10, 2024

In today’s business landscape, hyper-competition is the norm. A staggering 94% of companies report that their markets have become more competitive over the past year, a trend that has compounded over ...

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How to Measure Product Launch Success: 12 KPIs You Should Be Tracking
Madison Blask

Madison Blask on Fri, Sep 23, 2022

According to Harvard Business School, of the approximately 30,000 new products launched each year, about 95% fail. Of course, the product failure rate varies from one industry to another—for example, ...

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How to Write an Outstanding Competitive Positioning Statement In 4 Steps (Example Included!)
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Tue, Jun 14, 2022

Even the greatest product will be overlooked if it lacks a captivating message that resonates with its target customer in a way that no competitor can match. Doing this isn’t easy. It requires ...

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Seven Tried-and-True Pieces of Advice For Product Marketers
Mackenzie Colcord

Mackenzie Colcord on Mon, Mar 21, 2022

Product marketing is easily one of the most cross-functional (and busy) roles in an organization. Product marketers have to juggle the messaging and positioning of products, lead product launches and ...

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Jobs to Be Done: What Product Marketers Can Learn From Product Managers
Farhan Manjiyani

Farhan Manjiyani on Thu, Feb 10, 2022

Picture this: It’s Tuesday afternoon and yet another request just got added to your to-do list in Airtable. You take a look and immediately think to yourself, “There’s no way I can get to this. In ...

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8 Product Marketing Interview Questions That Hiring Managers Should Ask (and Candidates Should Prepare For)
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Wed, Nov 3, 2021

Product marketing interviews are tricky—it’s inevitable, given the interdisciplinary nature of the role. If you’re a hiring manager, it can be overwhelming trying to narrow down the list of potential ...

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3 Ways to Use Market Research for Product Development
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Fri, Aug 13, 2021

Right off the bat, let’s make sure we’re on the same page in terms of definitions. In its simplest form, a market consists of buyers and sellers. Technically, we could also include suppliers, ...

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Competitive Pricing: Breaking Down 5 Time-Tested Strategies
Laura Taylor

Laura Taylor on Wed, Aug 4, 2021

At all business levels—and especially at the enterprise level—product pricing can be a challenging yet vital activity. How much should your company’s products cost? Should you go with tiered ...

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Your Guide to Creating Customer Case Studies (+ Some Show-Stopping Examples)
Mackenzie Colcord

Mackenzie Colcord on Wed, Jul 28, 2021

Teams are constantly looking for ways to stand out in crowded markets. Customer case studies may be just the differentiator companies have been seeking to give them that competitive edge. Not only do ...

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5 Product Launch Examples That Are Worth Studying (+ Tips for Success)
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Fri, Jul 16, 2021

For your company’s new product to succeed, a lot of dominoes need to fall. It needs to relieve the right pain points. It needs to be priced appropriately. It needs to stand out—functionally or ...

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Why You Need to Align Your Product and Marketing Teams + How to Make It Happen [A B2B Guide]
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Mon, May 24, 2021

A Google search for “sales and marketing alignment” yields dozens of case studies and blog posts (including one that we wrote). This is unsurprising; it’s generally taken for granted that getting ...

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What’s the Difference Between Product Marketing & Product Management?
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Fri, Apr 9, 2021

The difference between product marketing and product management is not an especially clear one. Within a given organization, both product marketers and product managers are intimately familiar with ...

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SaaS Pricing Pages: 8 Tactics to Drive Better Results (with Examples!)
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Tue, Mar 30, 2021

No one cares about the price of your product unless they’re interested in buying it. (Or they're interested in gathering competitive intel. But we'll set that aside for now.) Prospects who visit your ...

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B2B Buyer Personas: Everything Marketers Need to Know
Conor Bond

Conor Bond on Wed, Mar 17, 2021

In order to stand out in a crowded market, you need to position your solution in a manner that resonates with your prospective customers. Nothing you say will resonate with your prospects unless you ...

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A Guide to Product Marketing Team Structure and Functions
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Thu, Feb 25, 2021

No two product marketers are the same, which means that no two product marketing teams are the same. Some are large, supporting multiple product lines, features, specialties, and more. Some are small ...

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8 Traits Leaders Look for When Hiring Product Marketers
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Fri, Feb 19, 2021

Hiring the perfect product marketer with the right combination of skills for your organization is no easy feat. In a recent blog post, we discussed what product marketing actually is. Although ...

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What Is Product Marketing? Key Concepts and Resources
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Tue, Feb 9, 2021

Ask one hundred companies what a product marketer does, and you’re likely to get one hundred different descriptions. Product marketing is one of those roles that varies so much from industry to ...

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16 Questions to Answer in Your Product Marketing Plan
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Tue, Jan 5, 2021

The new year is here and it’s time to dive into the oh-so-beloved activity of building a marketing plan. OK, maybe it’s not so beloved - after all, it can be daunting and challenging to come up with ...

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Why Technology Companies Need to Invest More in Product Marketing
Ben Cope

Ben Cope on Thu, Oct 8, 2020

Most startups and growth-stage tech companies are understandably judicious in their outlay of capital. When you’re under the venture capital magnifying glass and trying to prove your product is ...

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How to Master Internal Communication for Your Next Product Launch
Lauren Kersanske

Lauren Kersanske on Wed, Sep 30, 2020

A successful product launch is a machine with many moving parts—it requires focus, clear-thinking, and organization to successfully pull it off. While many product marketers are laser-focused on ...

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Why Product Marketing Onboarding Starts with Competitive Intelligence
Rebecca Geraghty

Rebecca Geraghty on Tue, Jul 14, 2020

Whenever I start a new product marketing role, I’m always racing to accelerate my learning curve. There’s no escaping that the effective messaging, personas, and fundamentals of this craft demand ...

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How Product Marketers Can Adapt to a Rapidly-Changing Market
Ben Cope

Ben Cope on Fri, May 29, 2020

Product marketers have a lot on their plates during a period of normalcy. During an atypical time when markets are in constant flux, and competitive pivots are just as swift, those plates are filled ...

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How to Prioritize the Unending List of Product Marketing Initiatives
Ellie Mirman

Ellie Mirman on Tue, May 19, 2020

Product marketing job descriptions can vary significantly from one company to the next… and sometimes even seem like they vary from one day to the next. That’s because product marketers wear many ...

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Product Marketers: The Subject Matter Experts
Ben Cope

Ben Cope on Fri, May 8, 2020

Product marketing is a uniquely diverse function, and as such, product marketers tend to come from varying backgrounds and possess differing strengths. Some product marketers are master storytellers. ...

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Art of the Pivot: How to Find your Perfect Product Market Fit
Jake Godgart

Jake Godgart on Tue, Apr 28, 2020

As every person in a startup will tell you, it can be hard. And in most cases, the ones that succeeded did so because they found their product market fit early and executed to serve that market. I’ve ...

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10 Online Events and Resources for Product Marketing and Competitive Intelligence Pros
Ellie Mirman

Ellie Mirman on Tue, Apr 14, 2020

The entire tech world, and many other industries, are suddenly grounded at home, working remotely. Events have been postponed or canceled, but we’re all still hungry to learn and develop. On top of ...

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9 B2C Product Marketing Metrics from Marketing Leaders
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Thu, Apr 9, 2020

Measuring the impact of product marketing is an ongoing process for many organizations. Some product marketers have found it hard to quantify their efforts and tie it to business impact. The truth ...

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4 Components of the Product Marketing Loop
Anand Patel

Anand Patel on Tue, Mar 31, 2020

The definition of product marketing is often debated. Each company and person may have a different definition, but there are typically four core components involved in successful product marketing: ...

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Planning and Skills Development Product Marketers Need
Alicia Thomas

Alicia Thomas on Thu, Jan 2, 2020

2020 is at our doorstep, and if you’re like most product marketers, you’re likely being pulled in a dozen or so directions as you strive to support various teams and initiatives across your ...

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12 Books You Should Add to Your 2020 Product Marketing Reading List
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Mon, Dec 30, 2019

Happy New Year! Now it’s time to get ready for the year ahead, put together your resolutions and goals, and start the year off strong. One resolution I’m sure is on everyone’s list - read more. This ...

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2021: The Year of the Product Marketer
Ben Cope

Ben Cope on Tue, Dec 17, 2019

The nature of product marketing is constantly evolving. Campaign marketers chase new channels each year, content marketers adopt new content mediums; the phenomenon of change isn’t unique to product ...

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Product Launch Questions Answered by HubSpot Product Marketing Leader
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Mon, Nov 25, 2019

AMA: HubSpot Principal Product Marketing Manager, Marcus Andrews on Product Launches originally appeared on Sharebird - the place to see how people at top companies do product marketing. Answers by ...

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How to Tie Product Marketing to Revenue
Ben Cope

Ben Cope on Wed, Nov 6, 2019

One of the most significant frustrations product marketers face is the disconnect between their work and quantifiable business outputs. Nearly every organization with a dedicated product marketing ...

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How to Use Product Launch Retrospectives to Improve Your Strategy
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Wed, Oct 16, 2019

Product launches require a lot of hard work, planning, and execution when done well. In order to put together a top-notch program and continue to improve on that program, you should always conduct a ...

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Tips for Executing Your First Product Launch: PMM Leaders Weigh In
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Fri, Aug 30, 2019

Today’s the day - you’re planning your first product launch! So, where do you start? There are many variables required for product launch success. There are important steps pre, during, and ...

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10 Tips For Nailing Your Product Launch
Jake Godgart

Jake Godgart on Thu, Aug 8, 2019

Each product launch is like training for a race. You set up your timelines, train hard, and when it comes to race day, it’s all systems go when the gun goes off. But the path to the starting line is ...

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3 Lessons from Product Marketing Experts That Will Take Your Career to the Next Level
Lauren Kersanske

Lauren Kersanske on Tue, Aug 6, 2019

Career advice - some of it’s good, most of it’s bad, and yet we all seek it. We spoke with some of the best product marketers about their careers as part of our spotlight series, and here are some of ...

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Three Strategies for Product Marketers to Gain Influence
Ellie Mirman

Ellie Mirman on Wed, Jul 31, 2019

Product marketers sit at the intersection of every team in the organization - between Marketing, Product, Sales, Services, and Executive Leadership. They affect, and are affected by, every area of ...

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Innovation-First vs. Market-First: Find Go-to-Market Strategy Balance
Tom Heys

Tom Heys on Fri, Jun 28, 2019

You hear statements like “We don’t have any competitors” or “I never think about the competition” so often from so many business leaders that they’ve become cliche. Ignoring any ulterior motives ...

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Product Marketers: Include These 3 Things In Your Next Sales Meeting
Lauren Kersanske

Lauren Kersanske on Wed, Jun 19, 2019

Ah, the internal sales meeting. Whether it’s weekly, monthly, or quarterly, nearly every product marketer needs to present to the rest of their sales team about what’s going on in their world. The ...

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Corporate vs. Product Marketing: Go-to-Market Roles & Responsibilities
RJ Gazarek

RJ Gazarek on Thu, May 23, 2019

No two companies are identical in the roles and responsibility breakdown between Corporate Marketing and Product Marketing. I’d like to share with you one way I’ve seen this work successfully, and ...

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Why Product Marketing and Growth Marketing Are Key Partners
Tom Heys

Tom Heys on Wed, May 15, 2019

If there is a role in modern businesses that is less understood than Product Marketing, it is Growth. What’s more, both roles become more confusing because they often sit in similar pockets in the ...

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6 Ways to Let Your Customers be Your Best Product Marketers
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Fri, Apr 12, 2019

What is a product marketer, exactly? The simplest way to explain the responsibility of a product marketer is that they’re responsible for, well, marketing the product. In addition to hiring a product ...

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9 Questions to Ask Yourself to Prepare for Product Launch Success
Julie Brown

Julie Brown on Tue, Mar 12, 2019

As a product marketer, product launches are a core component of your job. They can also be one of the hardest. Before embarking on this large endeavor that involves a multitude of stakeholders, be ...

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How to Craft the Perfect Product Marketing Job Description
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Thu, Jan 10, 2019

Crafting a perfect product marketing job description takes time. You want to ensure that you’re sourcing top talent, attracting the best applicants, and accurately presenting the role. No two product ...

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Leveraging Competitive Intelligence to Nail Your Product Launch
Dan Gentile

Dan Gentile on Tue, Nov 13, 2018

Most product launches tend to have similar goals: product adoption, consumer satisfaction, and long-term repeat customers. Oftentimes, resources to support a launch to achieve these goals are limited ...

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20 Product Marketing Resources Recommended by Product Marketing Experts
Emily Dumas

Emily Dumas on Tue, Jul 24, 2018

No matter what industry you’re in, it’s important to keep learning, growing, and developing new skills. Great product marketers have a wide range of skills and responsibilities, so there are many ...

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Should Product Marketing Report Into Marketing or Product?
Ellie Mirman

Ellie Mirman on Wed, Mar 28, 2018

Product Marketing is a function so interconnected with multiple departments that, from company to company, it can even report into different teams altogether. Product Marketing - as its name ...

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8 Key Product Marketing Metrics: Marketing Leaders Weigh In On Which KPIs To Track
Ellie Mirman

Ellie Mirman on Wed, Jun 28, 2017

The challenge of measuring product marketing success is not a new one. Nearly every marketing leader I’ve asked about measuring the impact of this function has stated how difficult it is, in part ...

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How to Make Product Marketing Strategic: Start with Understanding the Market
Ellie Mirman

Ellie Mirman on Thu, Jun 15, 2017

On a scale of 1 to 4, is your product marketing function the quarterback or the waterboy? That was the question that came out of last week’s Product Marketing Conference, where many presenters spoke ...

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