Create a New Market Category Like a Splunk PMM
What happens when the market shifts or your product evolves so dramatically that your positioning story no longer fits? Today we're exploring one of the boldest moves a PMM can make—shaping or even creating an entire market category. Whether you're redefining your space, staking a claim in an emerging category, or building one from scratch, this is where strategy, narrative, and business collide in ways that can make or break your product's future.
Michael Olson joins us as Senior Director of Product Marketing at Splunk, recognized as a top 100 PMM on ShareBird and founder of the Product Marketer blog. Michael's the person teams turn to for tough questions, customer advocacy, and thoughtful strategy. He walks us through his decision-making framework for category creation: creating a new market category for game-changing products, redefining existing categories with fresh twists, or expanding into adjacent markets with new perspectives.
Our conversation covers Michael's five-step narrative crafting process—identifying big changes, framing problems, de-positioning the status quo, describing the promised land, and framing your category as the pathway forward. We dive into securing internal buy-in through company roadshows and external activation via analyst engagements and strategic marketing campaigns. Michael shares a real case study from Splunk's challenge of associating with the observability market, resulting in improved brand recall and industry leadership status.
Michael's advice for aspiring PMMs centers on being pragmatic whilst keeping customers front and center, using language that genuinely resonates with your audience. He encourages PMMs to venture beyond product expertise and become market maestros who understand competitor strategies and market nuances—because there's nothing quite like market mastery to bolster your career journey!
Key Takeaways:
• Market category creation requires strategic decision-making - Choose between creating new categories, redefining existing ones, or expanding into adjacent markets based on your product's unique position
• Five-step narrative framework drives category success - Identify big changes, frame problems, de-position status quo, describe the promised land, and frame your category as the solution pathway
• Internal buy-in precedes external activation - Run company roadshows to secure internal support before launching analyst engagements and strategic marketing campaigns
• Customer-centric language trumps product expertise - Use terminology that resonates with your audience rather than internal jargon or technical specifications
• Market mastery accelerates PMM careers - Understanding competitor strategies and market nuances beyond product knowledge creates significant career advancement opportunities
LINKS
Walnut io (messaging critique): https://www.walnut.io/
Connect with Michael:
Website: https://theproductmarketer.com/
Sharebird: https://sharebird.com/profile/michael-olson
Connect with Elle:
