What's the best way to keep your product marketing playbook up-to-date?

1 Audit your playbook regularly

One of the first steps to keep your playbook up-to-date is to audit it regularly and identify any gaps, inconsistencies, or outdated information. You can use a simple checklist or a more comprehensive framework to evaluate your playbook against your goals, customer needs, market trends, and best practices. You should also solicit feedback from your stakeholders, such as product managers, sales, customer success, and marketing peers, to ensure that your playbook aligns with their expectations and challenges.

2 Update your playbook based on data

Another key step to keep your playbook up-to-date is to update it based on data and insights from your product marketing activities and outcomes. You should track and measure the performance of your product marketing campaigns, launches, and initiatives, and use the results to refine your playbook. You should also leverage data from other sources, such as customer surveys, interviews, reviews, feedback, and analytics, to validate or revise your value proposition, positioning, messaging, and segmentation.

3 Incorporate new ideas and learnings

A third step to keep your playbook up-to-date is to incorporate new ideas and learnings from your own research, experimentation, and innovation, as well as from external sources, such as industry events, publications, podcasts, blogs, and courses. You should always be curious and open-minded about new trends, technologies, methods, and best practices that can help you improve your product marketing skills and results. You should also document and share your learnings with your team and organization, and apply them to your playbook.

4 Communicate your playbook clearly and frequently

A fourth step to keep your playbook up-to-date is to communicate it clearly and frequently with your internal and external audiences. You should make your playbook accessible and easy to understand for anyone who needs to use it or refer to it, such as sales, customer success, marketing, and partners. You should also update them on any changes or additions to your playbook, and provide them with the necessary training, tools, and support to execute it effectively.

5 Review your playbook periodically and iterate

A fifth step to keep your playbook up-to-date is to review it periodically and iterate based on your feedback, data, learnings, and communication. You should treat your playbook as a living document that evolves with your product, market, and customers. You should also be flexible and agile enough to adjust your playbook as needed, depending on the situation, opportunity, or challenge. You should not be afraid to experiment, test, and learn from your product marketing actions and outcomes.

6 Celebrate your playbook successes and failures

A sixth and final step to keep your playbook up-to-date is to celebrate your successes and failures as a product marketer. You should recognize and reward yourself and your team for the achievements and impact of your product marketing efforts, and share your stories and best practices with your peers and community. You should also embrace and learn from your failures and mistakes, and use them as opportunities to grow and improve your product marketing playbook.

7 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?