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Tag: product marketing

After the Lights Fade: Reflections from DPW Amsterdam 2025

Posted on by Constantine Limberakis

Before the buzz of DPW Amsterdam began, I had the privilege of spending a quiet day ahead of the conference at the Rijksmuseum—standing before masterpieces that have endured for centuries. Works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and Hals—each brushstroke preserved through wars, revolutions, and generations—remind us that true craftsmanship withstands the tests of time.

It was a striking contrast to what awaited later that week: the fast-moving, high-decibel world of procurement and supply chain technology, where innovation cycles turn in months and yesterday’s breakthrough can quickly become tomorrow’s memory. At the Rijksmuseum, permanence is celebrated; at DPW, impermanence is reality. The question that lingered as I left the museum was the same one that echoed through the conference halls: what in this rapidly shifting landscape will truly endure—and what will fade just as quickly as it arrived?

Another DPW Amsterdam has come and gone. The music, lights, and unmistakable energy of the world’s most forward-leaning procurement and supply chain conference still echo a week later—but so do the questions. Beneath the spectacle lies a deeper conversation about what’s next: which technologies, companies, and ideas will truly shape the year ahead—and which might quietly fade before we meet again next fall.

This year’s event was bigger, louder, and more crowded with vendors than ever before. The exhibition floor reflected the growing gravitational pull of procurement and supply chain tech as a magnet for innovation. Yet amid the booth activations and slick demos, what stood out most was the rise of start-ups—scrappy, ambitious teams determined to define the next wave of digital transformation. They represent the foundation of future innovation but also its inherent volatility.

Practical Founders (2025) estimated that for every 100 software or SaaS startups, roughly 10% advance past each meaningful growth stage, suggesting that only about 1 in 10 ever reach sustainable revenue or multi-year viability. That sobering reality hung in the air as founders pitched, networked, and hustled to make an impression in a crowded market.

Adding to the complexity, the majority of startups at DPW were European—many of whom operate in a funding environment that is fundamentally different from the U.S. landscape. According to Forbes, less than 1% of small businesses in the United States receive funding from venture capital firms, while roughly 26% of European startup founders rely on VC backing. That dependency shapes both the optimism and the urgency felt at events like DPW, where visibility, investor access, and early traction can make or break a company’s runway.


Hype Meets Reality

The questions being asked at DPW were not new—but they carried a sharper edge this year.

When does hype become reality? Which vendors will still be here next year? And how many will quietly disappear—whether through cost-cutting, acquisition, or the simple math of survival in an over-invested market?

The AI narrative, unsurprisingly, dominated discussions. GenAI and the emerging concept of Agentic AI were front and center, but so were the anxieties they’ve unleashed. Everyone—from procurement leaders to startup founders—seemed to be asking the same thing: How do I adopt AI without overreaching? How do I move fast enough to stay competitive, but not so fast that I trip over my own ambition?

This tension—between speed and readiness—was everywhere. Many attendees are still in early pilot stages, experimenting with generative insights, contract summarization, and predictive decisioning. But scaling those capabilities into enterprise-grade reliability remains an unsolved puzzle. The mood, while positive, was not euphoric—it was cautiously optimistic. The crowd seemed more grounded, more focused on execution than excitement.

Standing Out in a Sea of Start-Ups

For the startups exhibiting, another question loomed large: How do you get noticed? With dozens of new vendors competing for the same thirty seconds of attention, differentiation has never been harder. A well-designed booth, clever tagline, or flashy AI integration isn’t enough. Buyers, analysts, and investors are looking for something deeper—proof, not promise.

Standing out now means showing evidence of traction, customer references, and credible results. It means having a clear story about where your product fits, not just in a category, but in the day-to-day of procurement and supply chain professionals. The vendors who manage to communicate that clarity—who demonstrate trustworthiness and commercial readiness—will be the ones still standing when the noise dies down.

Looking Toward 2026

As we head toward the close of Q4 2025, the big question remains: what will DPW 2026 look like?
Who will still be there—and who will not? Some of this attrition will be natural—acquisitions, pivots, market corrections—but some will reflect the deeper truth of our industry: that even great technology is no guarantee of survival.

The next year will likely bring consolidation, sharper messaging, and a renewed focus on ROI. But it will also bring opportunities for those who can bridge the gap between AI potential and practical impact. The ones who balance ambition with readiness—who engage the market early but execute with discipline—will emerge stronger.

Key Takeaways from the Startup Genome Project

If DPW is any indication, 2025 will continue to test how resilient these emerging firms truly are. The Startup Genome Project offers several insights that resonate deeply with what was on display in Amsterdam:

  • Validation takes longer than expected. Early-stage startups need to spend up to 3x longer validating their target markets than founders anticipate—one of the main reasons cash flow and focus are so critical in the first 18 months.
  • Ideas are often overvalued. Founders tend to overestimate the worth of their intellectual property by up to 255%, highlighting the gap between vision and market reality.
  • Pivoting can be a strength. Startups that pivot once or twice during early growth can see 3.6x faster user growth and 2.5x higher returns than those that don’t pivot—or pivot too often.
  • Survival improves with stage. Generally, the failure rate decreases with each round of funding, underscoring why deliberate market engagement and credible traction matter more than speed alone.

These findings echo a common truth seen across DPW: success rarely comes from technology alone—it comes from focus, clarity, and adaptability.

That’s also where Liberis Consulting helps startups chart a sustainable path forward. By guiding early-stage B2B technology providers in defining their market position, sharpening their go-to-market strategy, and engaging analysts and investors with credibility, Liberis helps founders reduce the guesswork between product promise and market proof. In a world where hype cycles move faster than business models, disciplined positioning and execution are the new differentiators.

Just as the art in the Rijksmuseum endures because it was built with intent, depth, and mastery, the technologies that will last in procurement and supply chain will be those grounded in purpose and precision—not just noise and novelty.

For now, the glitz of Amsterdam has given way to the grind of Q4. The questions asked on the DPW stage will be answered not by next year’s buzzwords, but by how companies act in the coming months—how they prioritize, execute, and deliver real value when the spotlights turn off.

About the Author:
Constantine Limberakis is the Founder of Liberis Consulting LLC, a boutique consultancy focused on helping B2B technology providers in procurement and supply chain define market strategy, sharpen positioning, and accelerate growth.

The Critical Capability for Scaling Beyond Founder-Led GTM

Posted on by Bill DeMartino

As a strategic and hands-on leader with over 20 years in procurement and supply chain technology, guest blogger, Bill DeMartino, shares his thoughts on the importance of Product Marketing for assisting early-stage innovation through scaled enterprise execution.

Why This Isn’t Just Another “Hand Off Sales” Essay

Much has been written about the transition from founder-led sales to building a scalable commercial organization. And rightly so—it’s a pivotal step for any growth-stage company. Once a company achieves initial product-market traction (typically around a Series A or B round), attention often turns to building out the sales and marketing organization. The standard advice? Hire a sales leader. Stand up repeatable sales processes. Create content. Build pipeline.

But in many cases, those moves are insufficient.

Because what’s often underestimated is that scaling sales requires more than just headcount and process. It demands a re-evaluation of how the company shows up to a broader, more skeptical market. The audiences change. The competitive context expands. The buyers get more diverse—and more distracted. And suddenly, the messaging and positioning that worked so well for early growth fall short.

This blog is not about the founder’s psychology or the hiring of a VP Sales. It’s about a critical capability that often gets overlooked—and that can dramatically improve the odds of scaling successfully.

Why Scaling Requires More Than Just Sales Process

In the early days, deals often came through relationships, vision lock with early adopters, or shared enthusiasm with founders. Founders are typically the best evangelists, deeply attuned to the market problem and able to personalize every pitch. But that doesn’t scale. As the company enters a new phase, sales must be executed by teams who don’t carry that founder credibility.

The buyer landscape also shifts. Instead of early champions, the audience now includes operational stakeholders, cross-functional influencers, and economic decision-makers. Competitors may emerge with similar language or better funding. Analysts begin to take interest—and ask harder questions. Suddenly, the go-to-market motion needs to do much more heavy lifting.

That’s why one of the most important shifts at this stage is not just who is selling—but what they’re saying, how it resonates, and why it wins. And that’s where a specific form of Product Marketing capability becomes a difference-maker.

Messaging, Positioning, and the Missing Capability

Most companies at this stage attempt to solve the gap by hiring Product Marketing. But the function is often misunderstood—especially by product-oriented founders. It gets defined narrowly as a content or campaigns function. Or it gets staffed with someone from another part of the org who can “just take it on.”

What’s missing is not just more content. It’s a strategic, credible voice that can help reframe how the company communicates value—internally and externally.

In reality, this role is not simply a resource—it’s a capability. And it needs to combine:

  • Strategic clarity – helping unify product, marketing, and sales around a refined value proposition
  • External credibility – guiding messaging in a way that resonates with analysts, partners, and the broader market
  • Internal influence – earning the trust of founders and functional leaders to make tough calls and challenge assumptions

This is hard to do from the inside—especially for early team members whose assumptions were shaped by what worked before. That’s why an independent, domain-fluent counterbalance can accelerate the transition and elevate the outcome.

Where the Capability Comes From

And that doesn’t always require hiring a full-time Product Marketing leader. The capability can be fulfilled through:

  • A domain-fluent consultant
  • A fractional product marketing lead
  • A partner with deep expertise in market structure, buyer behavior, and ecosystem dynamics

Critically, this isn’t just about content or messaging—it’s about credibility. The right contributor must bring:

  • Domain fluency: a working understanding of partner go-to-market motions, analyst expectations, and category dynamics
  • Ecosystem awareness: experience positioning solutions within broader technology landscapes, including integration points and strategic adjacencies
  • Competitive insight: clarity on how competitors frame similar problems—and how to differentiate against them

These capabilities can serve as a bridge—accelerating the transition while giving the company time to build the right long-term team. They also provide an independent, informed perspective that helps pressure-test assumptions and elevate positioning beyond what has historically worked.

Final Thought

Scaling a growth-stage company is never easy. But doing it without a clear, credible, and competitive position makes it even harder. If you’re navigating this transition—or preparing for it—consider whether your team has the Product Marketing capability required to succeed.

It might be the critical lever that determines whether you scale with purpose—or stall in the gap between traction and growth.

Let Liberis Consulting help you scale your business through effective product marketing strategies..

Why Product Marketing Is Failing B2B Tech Companies — And How to Turn It Into a Strategic Force

Posted on by Scott Heimgartner

In today’s dynamic technology landscape, B2B software and tech companies are crafting innovative products—machine learning platforms, agentic AI, low-code/no-code solutions, and cutting-edge risk mitigation tools. The pace of innovation is exhilarating. However, the journey to market often lacks the same excitement.

These tech products emerge from real-world pain points. They are born from founders who experienced the problem firsthand and were driven to find a solution. This passion leads to solutions with depth, nuance, and genuine relevance because they are crafted by individuals who have lived the challenge.

Yet, all too frequently, these groundbreaking products fail to leap to prime time. Why? It’s not merely a matter of insufficient promotion. The crux lies in inadequate product positioning or a failure to translate that positioning into actionable go-to-market strategies effectively.


1️⃣ Product marketing is too reactive.

In most early-stage organizations, Product Marketing Management (PMM) is hired after things are already in motion. Founders build. Sales sell. The leadership realizes a gap—“We need messaging!”—and PMM gets pulled in to polish up what already exists.

By then, positioning decisions have already been made: in the roadmap, pricing, and how sales frame the product. PMM is stuck retrofitting a story rather than shaping it. That’s not product marketing—it’s product cleanup.

Proper product marketing should be proactive. Strategic. Upstream. It should be the function asking: “Who are we really for, and how do we win?” Not “What tagline fits on this banner?”

2️⃣ Nobody knows what PMM is supposed to do.

Ask five people about product marketing, and you’ll get five different answers.

“Isn’t that just content?” “No, it’s messaging and launches.” “Wait, don’t they own competitive intel?” “Aren’t they the sales enablement team?”

Without clarity, PMM becomes the dumping ground for anything vaguely go-to-market. That lack of definition makes it impossible to prioritize or scale.

Good PMM sits at the intersection of product, marketing, and sales—but it’s not just a middleman. It’s the team responsible for market context, buyer insight, and strategic storytelling. And if you don’t give them the room (and respect) to do that work, you’ll never get the full value.

3️⃣ PMM is disconnected from the buyer.

Most emerging tech companies are product-first. That’s not inherently bad, but it leads to messaging obsessed with features, speed, and architecture… — totally out of sync with how genuine buyers think.

Good PMM is the voice of the customer—not in a hand-wavey “customer-centric” way, but in a real, practical, sharp-edged way. The team that knows how your buyer frames their problem. The language they use. The objections they have. The alternatives they’re comparing you to. If your PMM team isn’t spending time in actual conversations with prospects, they’re guessing. And no amount of clever copy will fix a message that’s built on a bad assumption.

4️⃣ PMM is brought in too late.

This is the pattern I see over and over again:

●      A startup gets early traction.

●      Sales starts hustling.

●      Product keeps shipping.

●      GTM gets messy.

●      Leadership brings in PMM to “fix the story.”

By that point, product positioning is baked into every layer of the business—from how the product is built to how it’s sold. PMM is left to retrofit a narrative instead of driving it from the beginning.

Product marketing should be one of the first strategic hires, not the twentieth. This is especially true in emerging tech, where buyers need a compelling story to understand what you do, let alone why it matters.

So what’s the fix?

It’s not about hiring more PMMs. It’s about elevating the role of product marketing from function to force. That means:

👉  Positioning before pitch decks. Nail the story, then scale it.

👉  Insight over instinct. Let real buyer context—not just internal opinions—drive your messaging.

👉  Collaboration over execution. PMM should influence the roadmap, not just the launch plan.

👉  Strategic ownership. PMM isn’t there to support sales. It’s there to make sales easier.

Done right, product marketing becomes the architecture of your go-to-market motion—not just the voice but the blueprint. It aligns teams, accelerates adoption, and, most importantly, ensures that your breakthrough product isn’t ignored.

Building something great isn’t enough in a crowded market. You have to make sure people understand why it matters. If you don’t, someone else—possibly with an inferior product—will do a better job telling your story.

This is where Liberis Consulting comes in.

We help emerging tech companies turn product marketing into a strategic force. From sharpening positioning to architecting your go-to-market motion, we work with founders, product leaders, and revenue teams to ensure that your messaging, motion, and market strategy reflect the potential of what you’ve built. We don’t just make things sound good—we make sure they sell.

👉 Ready to turn your breakthrough product into a market leader? Don’t settle for being just another great idea lost in the noise. At Liberis Consulting, we specialize in transforming product marketing from a reactive function into a strategic force. Whether you’re refining your positioning, architecting your go-to-market strategy, or aligning your team for accelerated adoption, we’re here to ensure your product gets the attention it deserves. Let’s work together to make your story stand out in the crowded tech landscape. Contact us today and let’s build something remarkable.

Niche Down to Stand Out: The Case for Focused GTM Strategies

Posted on by Scott Heimgartner

We all have the same thought—the bigger the market, the bigger the opportunity.  But that just isn’t rooted in what modern marketing has taught us over the last couple of decades:   

  • Your messaging gets watered down. If you’re targeting manufacturers, law firms, and eCommerce brands, you can’t speak directly to any of them.
  • Your website becomes one giant dumpster of word garbage and marketing babble. 
  • Your sales cycles get longer—more personas = more objections. More objections mean more concessions and customization, which means slower deals.
  • Because you sound like everyone else (hello commoditization), price is the only lever you can pull to win a deal. 

Example: Imagine a B2B software product enabling sales teams to generate quotes (e.g., a CPQ solution) quickly.  “CPQ for Any Business” is not very specific – it blends in and will most likely put you in direct competition with some of the most prominent players in the category. If it says “CPQ Platform Built for Sales Teams Selling High-End Manufacturing Equipment,” it immediately stands out to a niche audience that needs that specificity.

The Power of Verticalization: Why Industry-Specific SaaS Wins

Instead of going broad, go deep. Vertical SaaS companies (those that build solutions specifically for one industry) often outperform their horizontal counterparts:

  • This is evidenced in higher sales efficiency. At the $200 million revenue mark, Vertical SaaS firms typically spend $40 million on Sales and Marketing, whereas Horizontal SaaS companies spend nearly $60 million.  (reference:  https://flgpartners.com/saas-industry-centric-business-models-horizontal-vertical/)
  • Investor Confidence: Venture capital interest in vertical SaaS companies has surged, with a notable increase in funding and IPO activity. This trend signifies strong investor confidence in the scalability and profitability of industry-specific SaaS solutions.  (reference:  https://coredevsltd.com/articles/top-vertical-saas-companies/)
  • Higher Valuation Multiples: Public Vertical SaaS companies trade nearly double the Enterprise Value (EV) to Gross Profit multiples of their horizontal peers—11x compared to 5x, respectively. This premium reflects investor confidence in the specialized, defensible market positions that Vertical SaaS companies often occupy. (reference:  https://insights.euclid.vc/p/the-vertical-saas-profit-premium)

Why industry-specific over horizontal?

  • Trust:  Customers trust you more. If your product is built for them, they don’t have to guess whether it will suit their needs.  While you still need to prove it with referenceable clients, the clients you can reference will be relevant.
  • Fewer Objections/Shorter Sales Cycle:  Industry-specific use cases and integrations mean less convincing, fewer objections, and faster onboarding.
  • Messaging Resonance:  Messaging becomes sharper because you can speak your audience’s language better.  For the Government, instead of “customer,” you say “constituent.”

Micro-Niching: When Verticalization Isn’t Enough

You can go deeper even within an industry. That’s where micro-niching comes in—honing in on a specific segment of an industry or role.

Examples:

MehBetterBest
Marketing AutomationMarketing Automation for B2B SaaSMarketing Automation for B2B SaaS Sales Teams
ATS SoftwareATS Software.Marketing Automation for B2B SaaS.ATS Software for Remote-First Tech Startups
Customer Support SaaSCustomer Support SaaS for Financial ServicesCustomer Support SaaS for Wealth Management Firms

Example: Vetcove is an eCommerce platform specifically for veterinary clinics to order supplies. It is not competing with Amazon—it is dominating its niche by focusing wickedly on its audience.

In Warren Buffet’s famous words, “How do you beat Bobby Fischer? Play him at anything but chess.” 

How to Execute a Niche-Focused GTM Strategy

This is where the fun begins. You’ve identified a niche category you believe you can dominate. The next step is integrating it into your go-to-market strategy. But how?  

Nail Your Messaging & Positioning

At Liberis Consulting, every consulting engagement begins with a thorough review of your position.  That is the foundation that defines your go-to market. You must clearly understand who (or what) you compete with today and map it against your capabilities that no other competitive alternative can claim.  This points you to the audience that values the unique value only you can deliver, which helps you understand the market category in which you compete (and are winning).  

Understanding and aligning your positioning enables you to jump into your messaging. It becomes clear who you serve and why you’re different. You can use specific terminology relevant to your audience and connect to the pain points your audience faces.

Ditching broad claims like “we help businesses save time” and replacing them with specifics like “we reduce manual claims processing by 40% for large insurance agencies.”

Pro tip: If your messaging doesn’t match what your customers are talking about, you’re still being too broad.

Develop a Point of View

Once you have a niche down, you don’t stop at your positioning and messaging—you need to own a perspective on the market in which you compete. In a crowded market (particularly in B2B SaaS), having a strong, differentiated point of view (POV) helps establish credibility, attract the right customers, and drive demand beyond just features and pricing.

And that point of view manifests in the content and thought leadership you develop.  In how you pitch to your audience.  How you engage with analysts.  In the stories of your customers, you tell.  All of this should be in your point of view on the problem space.

For Sales-Led GTM Motions, Tailor Your Sales Strategy

You need to teach out your positioning and point of view about your company and your product.  They need to understand your niche inside and out.  

What does that mean?

  • Creating ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) templates that focus on your niche.
  • Training reps to handle niche-specific objections.
  • Training reps on how to pitch value and problem versus features and price.
  • Arming sales with industry-specific battle cards, decks, and customer examples.

Align Your Product Strategy with Your Niche?

This doesn’t matter if your product vision and roadmap aren’t aligned with the audience you’re focused on. However, once you align your product strategy with your niche, prioritizing feature requests that cater to your audience becomes much more manageable. This gives the product team a defensible position and justification over their build priorities; otherwise, it always defaults to the HiPPO (Highest Paid Person’s Opinion).

Final Thoughts

Focusing on a specific audience can be scary and often challenging. But it’s not about exclusion—it’s about focus. It’s about carving out a little space in your audience’s brains that makes you stand out.  

By niching down, you:

  • Avoid direct competition with more established players.
  • Create a stronger value proposition that resonates more deeply.
  • Shorten your sales cycle by reducing buyer hesitation.
  • Build a more defensible position in the market.

Before expanding your reach, ask yourself: Do we need more leads or more of the right leads? Discover the answer and optimize your strategy with Liberis Consulting. Visit us today to learn more.

Feature Focus Leads to Fumbled Follow-Through: Tell the story through value, not just words.

Posted on by Constantine Limberakis

Liberis Consulting specializes in helping procurement and supply chain software startups transform innovative solutions into compelling marketing strategies. This blog examines the importance of defining a clear value proposition, focusing on a client called Acme Supply, a budding supplier relationship management (SRM) software company. Their journey highlights the risks of prioritizing features over value and the steps required to realign marketing efforts for success.

The Challenge: Falling in Love with Features

Acme Supply’s flagship product, Harmony, showcased a cutting-edge AI-powered supplier relationship management platform. Marketing efforts, including a video podcast detailing a customer case study, highlighted the technology’s sophisticated algorithms and scoring models for understanding supplier risks and workflows for supplier onboarding. However, the narrative focused heavily on the “how” of the solution, neglecting the “why” that mattered most to its audience: the tangible value and real-world outcomes sought by C-level executives.

The Missed Opportunity

While Acme Supply’s solution promised supplier performance improvements, financial impact, enhanced supply chain resilience, and operational efficiency, the marketing materials failed to include measurable customer results. This omission left the narrative incomplete and less compelling.

Anecdotal testimonials in quotes from various client representatives provided some support. Still, they lacked the hard data—such as ROI figures or cost reductions—that resonates the most with decision-makers. Without these numbers, the campaign fell short of its potential.

This shortfall wasn’t solely on the marketing team. Collaboration with the customer success team earlier in the process could have addressed these gaps. Ensuring clients track the value delivered by the solution and securing approvals from corporate communications and legal teams to share those insights are critical steps for creating impactful case studies.

As a result, Acme Supply faced delays in launching its new marketing campaign focused on the client industry vertical. The company struggled to generate meaningful leads without tangible outcomes to support its messaging. This misalignment between customer success and marketing also led to missed MQL-to-SQL conversion targets for the quarter, highlighting the importance of aligning content with measurable impact.

Lessons Learned: Five Steps to Crafting Compelling B2B Case Studies

  1. Secure Early Buy-In from Customers: Collaborate with customer success teams to establish success metrics early in the process. Gain client commitment to track and share quantifiable results.
  2. Focus on Customer Problems, Not Features: Shift the emphasis from technology details to the specific pain points your solution solves and the benefits it delivers.
  3. Quantify the Value Proposition: Ground your claims in concrete data. Showcase metrics like reduced costs, improved efficiency, and ROI, supported by testimonials and real-world case studies.
  4. Embrace Storytelling: Let customers share their success stories, but make sure they are ready. A narrative structure that connects emotionally and practically can make your solution relatable and memorable.
  5. Measure and Refine Strategies: Track the performance of your campaigns and refine your approach based on data insights. Effective marketing is an iterative process.

A Cautionary Tale

Acme Supply’s experience is a powerful reminder for startups in the procurement and supply chain markets: a compelling marketing strategy begins with understanding the customer journey and proving your solution’s measurable value in alignment with your customer.

Unlock Your Marketing Potential

At Liberis Consulting, we help SaaS providers articulate their software’s true value proposition, craft compelling narratives, and connect with the right audience. Whether refining your messaging, building data-driven case studies, or targeting the ideal buyer personas, we’re here to help you succeed.

👉 Ready to elevate your marketing strategy? Contact Liberis Consulting today and make your innovation resonate where it matters most—with your customers!

The Pitfalls of Overextension: Why Startups Need Deep Expertise in SaaS Product Marketing

Posted on by Constantine Limberakis

As the owner of Liberis Consulting LLC, I’ve seen firsthand the challenges startups face when scaling their businesses. In the technology sector, where innovation and speed are critical, it’s too familiar for executives to take on multiple roles and make mistakes when investing in marketing.

The desire to maintain lean operations often leads to a temptation to do too much, too quickly. But in growing technology areas like procurement and supply chain management tech, this can be a recipe for missed opportunities, stalled growth, or failure.

At Liberis Consulting, we specialize in helping startups elevate their positioning and messaging without resorting to marketing jargon. One of the biggest challenges I’ve observed is the tendency for startups to hire sales and marketing “generalists” who lack deep expertise in the SaaS software areas they need to succeed.

The Danger of the Generalist Approach

From my experience, technology founders, who are often deeply involved in product development, may believe they can easily translate their vision into the market. When the time is right to invest in marketing, they may also assume that generalist marketers can adapt quickly to any sector. But this approach can lead to several significant issues:

  1. Misalignment with Market Needs: Generalists might not fully grasp the unique pain points and regulatory complexities within procurement and supply chain management. This often results in messaging that fails to connect with the target audience—something that is crucial for driving adoption and growth.
  2. Ineffective Product Positioning: SaaS products in these sectors are inherently complex. They require product marketers who understand the evolution of these markets and articulate the product’s value proposition effectively. Without this deep understanding, it’s easy to fall into the trap of vague, uninspired messaging that doesn’t differentiate the product from competitors.
  3. Missed Strategic Opportunities: Product marketers with a background in the industry or consulting bring invaluable insights about market trends, competitor strategies, and customer behaviors. They’re equipped to anticipate challenges and adapt as needed, capabilities vital for a startup looking to establish itself in a competitive market.

Why Subject Matter Expertise Matters

The most successful product marketers I’ve worked with didn’t come from a generic marketing background. They’ve honed their skills through hands-on experience in the industry or by tackling complex problems in consulting roles. But here’s why this experience is so crucial:

  1. Insightful Storytelling: Industry veterans understand the specific challenges and needs of procurement and supply chain management professionals. They can craft narratives that resonate deeply with potential clients, positioning the product as a solution to real, pressing problems based on the personal experiences of using current or previous solutions.
  2. Credibility with Stakeholders: A product marketer with industry expertise earns credibility more quickly, internally with the product team and externally with potential clients and analysts. This credibility is critical to building trust and fostering long-term relationships, which are the foundation of any successful business.
  3. Strategic Agility: The ability to pivot quickly and make data-driven decisions is essential in a fast-moving industry. Product marketers with deep expertise cannot only navigate the complexities of the market but also adapt to new challenges and opportunities. This level of strategic thinking is a significant asset for any startup.

The Case for Specialized Product Marketing Talent

At Liberis Consulting LLC, deep expertise is crucial for technology startups in the SaaS space, particularly those focused on procurement and supply chain management. While generalists bring a broad skill set, they often lack the industry-specific knowledge critical for effective sales and marketing.

Rather than spreading themselves too thin or relying on generalists, startups should invest in specialized talent to elevate their positioning and messaging, which can be embedded into the go-to-market strategy for sales and marketing teams. This approach ensures that the product’s value is communicated effectively and positions the startup for sustainable growth in a competitive market.

In my work, I’ve seen the difference that this deep expertise makes. By focusing on industry-specific knowledge and avoiding the pitfalls of marketing jargon, we help startups cut through the noise and connect meaningfully with their audience. This is how authentic market leadership is built—by understanding your niche inside and out and communicating your value with clarity and precision – not with marketing babel.

Don’t Risk Overextension—Invest in Expertise! Avoid the pitfalls of generalist product marketing. At Liberis Consulting, we provide specialized product marketing strategies tailored to SaaS startups in procurement and supply chain management. With deep industry expertise, we ensure your product is positioned for success. Ready to elevate your messaging and drive sustainable growth? Let’s connect and turn your vision into market leadership.

Navigating Post-Merger B2B Tech Marketing: Amplifying Brand Recognition and Retaining Clients

Posted on by Constantine Limberakis

Navigating Brand Recognition and Client Retention in Post-Merger Tech Marketing

In the fast-paced world of technology mergers and acquisitions (M&A), the pursuit of value often revolves around synergies, market expansion, and enhanced capabilities. However, amidst the strategic calculus of mergers, the critical element of brand recognition can sometimes be overshadowed.

The Surge in B2B Tech Mergers

Over the past two years, the B2B technology sector has witnessed a significant uptick in mergers and acquisitions. According to market reports, over 500 considerable mergers have occurred in the B2B tech space during this period.

This trend is driven by companies seeking to consolidate their positions, acquire innovative technologies, and expand their market reach. However, this flurry of activity also brings unique challenges, especially regarding brand recognition and client retention. For marketing organizations steering through post-merger integration, maintaining and enhancing brand recognition while retaining existing clients are paramount challenges.

Having experienced at least three major M&A activities in my career, I can personally attest to the fact that valuations on paper are not always commensurate with the work placed before operational teams like marketing to not only continue the acquired brand but also find ways to work with existing customers so as not to isolate them.

 

The Challenge of Brand Recognition

When two technology companies merge, they combine their products and services, brand identities, and culture. Whether divided by language, geography, business use cases, or technical features, each company likely has its brand equity, customer perceptions, and market positioning. The challenge lies in harmonizing these elements without diluting what made each brand distinct and appealing in the first place.

  1. Preserving Brand Equity must provide consistency rather than innovation alone. Striking a delicate balance between maintaining the familiarity existing customers associate with each brand and innovating to create a unified, compelling narrative can be challenging. Customers may resist changes that disrupt their established trust in a brand. To address this, communication is essential. This requires clear, transparent communication about why the merger is beneficial and how it aligns with the values and promises of both brands. Moreover, sharing the timeframe of how long the transition will take and when these changes will take effect is essential. This helps reassure existing clients and stakeholders about the continuity of service and support.
  2. Aligning brand values requires cultural Integration: Beyond logos and taglines, merging companies must align on cultural values and organizational ethos. This alignment forms the foundation for building a cohesive brand identity and how the new company will be perceived. This requires not just external communication but internal brand advocacy as well. Employees must play a pivotal role in embodying the merged brand’s values. This starts with getting familiar with the story of the acquired company and understanding why and how it began. It requires a cultural interchange of understanding the products and services. There is often a lot of pride that goes into the acquired company, particularly with the shortlist of those first employees who helped build the brand—engaging them early and often in the process, clarifying their roles in the new organization, and empowering them as new brand ambassadors can and will enhance external perceptions.
  3. A merger can be unsettling for client retention strategies for existing clients. They may wonder about changes in product offerings, customer support, and overall service quality. Post-merger marketing strategies should focus on key areas: continuous engagement through proactive communication and regular updates through personalized communications, which can alleviate client concerns and demonstrate commitment to maintaining and improving service levels. It also requires listening and adapting to the new customer base by soliciting feedback from clients from the acquired organization about their concerns and expectations post-merger, which shows responsiveness. Adjusting strategies based on this feedback reinforces client trust. Showcasing enhanced value through highlighted synergies: Demonstrating how the merger enhances product features, expands service capabilities, or improves the overall value proposition can reassure clients of the merger’s benefits if you’re lucky enough to have joint customers as part of the merger, making things so much easier. However, there can be a time in between that where no joint customers exist, and the question of enhanced value will linger. Whether the case study and testimonial can include the acquired company, getting success stories and testimonials from early adopters of merged offerings can provide social proof and inspire confidence among existing clients. So much of this success is determined by the due diligence of those crafting the deal.

The Role of Product Marketing

Product marketing is critical in post-merger scenarios by bridging the combined entity’s strategic vision and market execution. It ensures that the value proposition of the new, unified brand is effectively communicated to existing and potential customers.

Product positioning: It is essential to reposition existing products with a wider portfolio of solutions. In this regard, product marketing must reassess and potentially reposition existing products within the new brand framework, ensuring they align with the unified brand’s strategic goals and messaging.

 

Launching new offerings: When introducing new products or services post-merger, product marketing must emphasize how these innovations represent the best of both legacy companies, reinforcing the merger’s value.

Developing a clear value proposition: Product marketing should articulate how the merger creates unique value for customers, leveraging the strengths of both companies to deliver superior solutions. Ensuring all marketing materials reflect the new brand identity and messaging, highlighting the enhanced capabilities and benefits of the merged entity’s offerings.

 

Customer & Market Analyst feedback: Actively seeking customer feedback about their perceptions of the merged brand and its offerings helps refine marketing strategies and address concerns. However, feedback should not stop with customers. Briefings with analysts are also essential to tying the broader perception of where the company is heading and what it means in a particular market category. Using insights gathered from customers and the market, product marketing can guide product development and marketing efforts better to meet the needs of the combined customer base.

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Navigating the complexities of brand recognition and client retention in the aftermath of a technology merger requires preserving what works while embracing opportunities for growth and innovation. By prioritizing clear communication, cultural alignment, and continuous client engagement, marketing organizations can successfully steer the merged entity toward sustained market leadership while ensuring client loyalty and satisfaction.

In essence, while seeking new value through mergers, B2B technology companies must not overlook the inherent value of their brands and the trust they have built with their clients. Strategic, empathetic marketing efforts often led by product marketing post-merger can transform potential uncertainties into opportunities for long-term success.

Strengthen Your Brand and Client Loyalty Post-Merger. Navigating the complexities of a technology merger is no easy feat, but preserving brand recognition and client retention is crucial for long-term success. At Liberis Consulting, we specialize in helping B2B tech companies maintain their brand equity, build client trust, and communicate clear value in post-merger transitions. Ready to turn uncertainty into opportunity? Contact us today to ensure your brand emerges stronger, with loyal customers and a unified market presence.