Product-Led Growth (PLG) is one of the most natural growth strategies that any business can adopt as a method of growing its market share. With the product being the key driver – all acquisition, activation and retention of customers rely on how well the product performs when it comes to the heavy lifting of marketing and sales.
1. What is Product-Led Growth?
Did you know that your product has the ability to sell itself AND create a pipeline of active users that have the potential to be converted into paying customers? PLG is usually associated with viral, freemium products that are all about providing end-users with the best product and experience possible. This in turn leads to those very satisfied end-users becoming advocates or ambassadors of that product and they champion the adoption of it by their friends, family and colleagues.
2. What are some key advantages of Product-Led Growth?
Product-Led Growth means that companies can be more elastic and flexible in the way they approach their sales and marketing strategy. They are also able to scale faster and that means a lot less effort for companies to penetrate new markets. This added development and distribution efficiency has the happy byproduct of reducing costs which means that savings can get passed on to end-users who can often try out the premium version of a product for free. There is a major shift in thinking that moves away from “How will this product improve the company’s profits?” to “How does this product make my day-to-day life better?”
3. How do I know if Product-Led Growth is right for my product?
Your product has the functionality and ability to act as a channel for the acquisition, onboarding and marketing to new users. The user makes use of your product in order to make their daily life easier and they can see the obvious ‘value’ of the product. More importantly, users can see the value of the product without needing any coaxing by the company. You know that you have the potential to ride the PLG wave when users’ experiences become your product’s greatest advertising initiative and they in turn start convincing others to adopt the product due to its obvious benefits.
4. What is a PLG market strategy?
In a world where the end-user is king, you need to create a seamless experience aimed at driving positive product engagement and customer referrals. As a PLG company, your product is the driving force from day one. How the lead uses the product becomes the key component that determines how companies obtain and upsell leads. Based on how the lead interacts with the product, sales teams can continuously improve their efforts and prioritize leads. Sometimes, a well-placed carrot helps speed the conversion process along. For purposes of conversion, an incentive is something that adds value on top of the product or service already in use. These can take many shapes and sizes, including discounts if users upgrade to the paid version or even offering a trial extension to less active users. Ultimately it’s up to you to determine what works best both for your brand and for specific users.
5. How can Whistle help you achieve Product-Led Growth?
We help our clients identify when to upsell to customers. We implement a customized sales plan based on delivering sales and increasing product-led growth. We help develop a system that monitors and nurtures leads on your platform. We also assess clients’ sales and marketing processes and suss out areas that can be improved on. And finally, we evaluate the data from the campaign. We look at what worked, what didn’t deliver on expectations, and how we can strategize for the future.
Product-Led Growth is one of the most organic growth methods for companies to embrace. Your product is the vehicle that drives growth in the form of new customers and conversion to premium customers. It becomes a natural marketing conduit for potential new products. PLG customers are in general, more satisfied with the product and that results in greater conversion numbers, fewer cancellations and better customer retention.
For advice on developing your company’s PLG strategy, talk to the experts.
