20 — Product Marketing Guide
Status: CANONICAL · Commercial OS
Owner: Product Marketing
Last verified: 2026-07-21
Purpose
The operating manual for the product marketing function: what PMM owns, the launch tiering system, asset standards, and the audit cadences that keep the whole Commercial OS consistent. In a solo-founder company, "PMM" is a hat — this guide makes the hat wearable in two hours a week.
Target audience: Whoever wears the PMM hat (founder now; first marketing hire later).
1. PMM Responsibilities (what this function owns)
| Responsibility | Artifact owned | Cadence |
|---|---|---|
| Language canon | 18 Terminology | Enforce continuously; audit quarterly |
| Positioning & messaging | 11, 12 | Test quarterly (win/loss + prospect interviews) |
| Product narrative & component stories | 19, 21–27 | Update on every meaningful release |
| Competitive intelligence | 08, 09 | Refresh quarterly; loss-triggered updates |
| Launches | This guide §3 | Per release |
| Sales enablement content | 37 inputs, 71 | Monthly review |
| Proof & evidence library | 64 Case Studies, design-partner metrics | Continuous collection |
| Voice quality (site, UI copy, decks) | Audit checklist §4 | Quarterly |
2. The Message Discipline (PMM's first law)
Nothing ships — page, post, deck, email sequence, UI string — unless it can answer:
- Which failure does it name? (fragmentation / amnesia / anarchy)
- Which pillar does it advance? (One Workspace / Twin on the Bench / Truth You Own)
- What proof does it carry within two sentences of its claim?
- Does its vocabulary pass 18 §6 for its audience?
3. Launch Tiering
| Tier | What qualifies | Motions | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| T1 — Narrative launch | New category-level capability or company milestone | Manifesto/essay + press (65) + launch page + founder posts ×5 + newsletter + webinar + sales deck update | Public launch (51); Twin generally available |
| T2 — Capability launch | New workbench, major Twin capability, marquee connector | Blog post + founder post ×2 + changelog + demo update + battle-card refresh | Sales workbench; Salesforce connector |
| T3 — Release note | Improvements, minor connectors | Changelog + newsletter mention | New sync frequency |
T1/T2 launch checklist: narrative written before the build finishes (if we can't say why it matters, question the build) → terminology check → demo updated → sales enabled before public (71) → proof point identified → metrics instrumented (73) → retro within 2 weeks.
4. Asset Standards & Voice Audit
Every external asset carries: one failure named, one pillar advanced, one proof, one next step. No asset tries to say everything — that's what the website's architecture is for (52).
Quarterly voice audit (2-hour ritual): sample 10 live assets + 20 UI strings → score against 13 Brand Story §2 voice table → log violations → fix top 5 → record score trend. Target ≥ 95% pass.
Claims register: every quantitative public claim (connector count, "<200ms", "only approval-gated memory") lives in the 79 Appendix claims table with verification date. Unverified claims don't ship.
5. Evidence Pipeline (pre-customer stage)
Until named case studies exist, proof comes from four honest sources, always labeled:
- Design-partner metrics — "design partners reduced QBR prep 4 hrs → 12 min" (attributed as design partner).
- Architecture demonstrations — the approval gate and provenance panel are proof; demo them, don't claim them.
- Founder origin — the $8M story, told as story (14).
- Live product facts — 70+ connectors, Entity360 <200ms, verified against the claims register.
Rule: never let scarcity of proof inflate the proof we have. Understated and verifiable beats impressive and fragile — our brand is evidence discipline.
KPIs: voice audit score ≥95%; launch checklist completion rate 100% for T1/T2; claims register freshness ≤90 days; message pull-through in win/loss (73 Marketing Metrics).
Related: 12 Messaging · 51 Launch Strategy · 71 Internal Enablement · 73 Marketing Metrics