Although Digital marketing and Product marketing are quite similar and work hand in hand, they have different focuses.

Let’s use Pizza Place as an example to illustrate the differences between the two.

Pizza Place sells some of the most mouthwatering pizzas in the city, but they struggle with attracting enough customers. They would like to get noticed.

A Digital marketer jumps onto the scene by optimizing their website, ensuring Pizza Place shows up when pizza lovers in the area search online. They work hard to target different potential customers, drive traffic, and generate leads through online ads.

This brings in lots of people who love pizza and are interested in having a bite. But here’s the twist: before the product is launched, the Product marketer ensures extensive research is done, conducting surveys and gathering feedback from potential customers, figuring out their favorite spices or toppings, listening to what the customer is saying, determining product pricing, and figuring out the best way to specially promote, distribute, and keep customers loyal to Pizza Place.

To go into further details:

Digital marketing focuses on promoting products, services, or brands using the internet and digital tools. This includes social media marketing, email marketing, Google SEO, online ads, and more. The goal is to get noticed and make sales.

Here’s a summary of what a Digital Marketer does:

• They make websites visible on Google (that’s SEO).
• They share interesting content online (that’s content and social media marketing).
• They carry out paid online advertisements on websites.
• They send emails to inform people about discounts and special offers (email marketing).
• They incorporate ads that look like regular content (native advertising).

With product marketing, it’s more like a journey. Product Marketers create a strategy for potential customers to buy and have a satisfactory experience, carving a distinction between your product and others in the market. This includes, but isn’t limited to, defining the target audience, conducting competitor research, market positioning, creating a concrete marketing plan/sales pitch, etc.

We follow a process called AARRR:

• Acquisition: This is about getting new customers.
• Activation: It’s ensuring they have a good first experience.
• Retention: Keeping customers happy and coming back.
• Referral: Getting happy customers to tell their friends.
• Revenue: Making sure the product makes money.

Most of the work of the product marketer is done behind the scenes, all to ensure that the customer has a satisfactory experience with the product and stays happy.

Despite their differences, both are about understanding what customers want, looking at numbers to make good decisions, and helping any business grow. In marketing, you need both to have a fantastic product desired and purchased by many.