Kirsten Jepson is Director of Product Marketing at TELUS International (TI), where she leads the research, development and communication of TI’s global product and service offerings. For the past 25 years, she has held senior product roles with companies like Citibank, FIS and SYKES. She gets satisfaction from being deeply involved with evolving and refining product programs for B2B and B2B2C organizations. Her main domains include financial services, fintech, customer experience and digital transformation.

About TELUS International

TELUS International (TI) is a customer experience innovator with over 32,000 team members. The company designs, builds and delivers next-gen digital solutions for global and disruptive brands. TI’s industry expertise includes travel and hospitality, fintech, fast-growing technology, games, healthcare and communications. The company’s integrated DX and CX solutions focus on building human connections without ever losing sight of what matters most – the value of corporate culture and its impact on engagement and innovation.

Interviewed by Shwetha Mahesh

/ / How has the product marketing function evolved in your company over the past few years?

TELUS International added the product marketing function about two-and-a-half years ago to support the company’s rapid growth and innovation. This move focused resources to help us differentiate ourselves in a saturated market with oftentimes similar offerings. Since the addition of our global product marketing team, we have helped elevate our position in the industry as a leader in digital customer experience.

/ / How many product launches do you conduct in a year? What are the challenges that you face while designing a product marketing plan?

Typically, our team will execute seven to 10 new product launches per year, but this number can vary based on the type of product/solution/offer. In addition, we iterate and re-launch existing products in our portfolio. This new product/existing product launch pattern and cadence helps us attract new growth opportunities as well as organic growth. This is different from other companies I’ve worked for where we would launch one massive, new-to-the-world product per year.

One challenge we face is the initial identification of which product we should launch by looking at market-based research and tapping into our team’s industry knowledge and expertise. Based on all of the data that is now available, coming to an agreement internally on “the next-best offer” is sometimes more and not less difficult as the challenge of correctly combining both qualitative and quantitative data comes down to art and science, which is at the core of a top-notch product marketing team.  

Another challenge we face is our short launch and relaunch cycles that can be weeks and months versus years. In our industry, we know that the speed of change, innovations and shifting requirements demands this level of flexibility. We use agile product marketing – an approach that enables us to pivot, add and adapt quickly. We still do long-term planning, but it is around the broader, enterprise-wide strategic goals that help guide the selection of product launches throughout the year.

/ / What tools and technologies do you use to run a successful product marketing campaign?

We use Salesforce as our primary CRM. Our product marketing team works closely with marketing communications, product development, and sales and operations to gather feedback as well. We also rely on the research done by our corporate strategy team, which leverages analyst feedback and insights, as well as analyst databases. To date, I have not found one tool or resource that provides what we need to drive product marketing decisions. We need a combination of inputs. As the product marketing function matures, there are opportunities for vendors in this arena to build tools and platforms that better assemble and blend the various sources of information and data in order to support better outcomes.

/ / What are the different metrics you track for evaluation of product marketing program performance?

• External performance metrics include sales funnel growth, sales, click through and client feedback.
• Internal performance metrics include newsletter opens, product knowledge center clicks, content adoption, and positive and negative feedback from users (qualitative).

/ / Which digital content assets have you found to be most effective in your product marketing program?

Our B2B audience includes organizations that are making multi-million-dollar decisions when they work with us. We provide assets that are high quality, buyer-centric and contain information they can’t get from other places, such as industry benchmarks, case studies, and research – assets that are focused on their specific business needs.  

We often develop iterations and variations with our digital assets based on consumption. This keeps our content relevant and timely. Once we discover what resonates, we repurpose it and use it across various channels. We do this in conjunction with our sales and client relations teams.

/ / Which online channels have you found to be most effective in meeting your product marketing goals?

We find LinkedIn and Twitter to be very effective for us.

/ / Can you give an example of the most exciting product marketing campaign run by your company?

I would say the rapid evolution in an organization that helps the shift to a digital customer experience model is the most exciting initiative. This effort is not exactly done in one campaign, rather it is a series of campaigns.

/ / What are the three product marketing tips you would want to share with our readers?

• Be prepared to calibrate and realign regularly.
• Be flexible.
• Be prepared with qualitative and quantitative information.

/ / What are the trends/technologies that you think will drive product marketing in the future? How should businesses gear up for this?

Broadly, product marketing is a nascent profession that is becoming more recognized, fueled by the focus on digital transformation across all industries.

Product marketing brings a honed approach to an organization. As digital transformation becomes the norm in organizations that offer software, platforms or skilled people, product marketing teams will make the difference between success and failure. Product marketers have the ability to identify and highlight those aspects of the organization and make it stand out from the crowd.  

Oftentimes, product marketers will leverage the tools used by marketing, communications, sales and other parts of the organization, and tune them for their own use. In addition, product marketers in many enterprises, especially mid-size companies, have a bit of an identity crisis in that they have to continually challenge or defend their contributions in the short term. There is often a blurred line between marketing, product development and product management. This can make it hard to validate how product marketing fits in. Instead, for the reasons I described, businesses need to re-assess the way they invest in product marketing teams.