Tag Archives: product marketing

Nurturing

(Image Public Domain)

I spent most of the afternoon drafting the content for an email nurture campaign, and I’m fascinated by the use of the word “nurture” by product marketers and content marketers.

Here is how HubSpot defines lead nurturing.

“Lead nurturing is the process of building relationships with your prospects with the goal of earning their business when they’re ready. Lead nurturing is important to inbound marketing because it’s your opportunity to provide value to your leads and customers and help them grow with your business.”

I’ve said it before: You’re not a sausage grinder making sausages. You’re a flower attracting bees.

Ensuring Accurate Product Marketing Messaging

One of the drawbacks of LinkedIn’s collaborative articles is that the answers end up in a difficult-to-access place.

So I’m repurposing my recent answer to an article on ensuring accurate messaging. My original answer is buried within https://www.linkedin.com/advice/3/sales-promoting-misleading-product-claims-how-hpzxf?contributionUrn=urn%3Ali%3Acomment%3A%28articleSegment%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A7277750320556855296%2C7277750322389807104%29%2C7291507111144919040%29&dashContributionUrn=urn%3Ali%3Afsd_comment%3A%287291507111144919040%2Curn%3Ali%3AarticleSegment%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A7277750320556855296%2C7277750322389807104%29%29&articleSegmentUrn=urn%3Ali%3AarticleSegment%3A%28urn%3Ali%3AlinkedInArticle%3A7277750320556855296%2C7277750322389807104%29 (told you it was difficult to access).

  1. First, create the correct messaging, both internal and external. If Sales has no material, they’re going to say whatever they want.
  2. Second, get executive buy in on the messaging. And make sure they’ve bought in. One of my projects was doomed when I received no response, then kinda sorta got an OK, then later got a “why are we doing this?”
  3. Third, communicate the messaging. That’s why you need the internal part.
  4. Fourth, enforce the messaging.

BPME 123 (January 23rd)

My Never Search Alone friends asked about my brand…

How can your biometric firm realize immediate and comprehensive product marketing results? 

By working with me, John E. Bredehoft—the biometric product marketing expert.

Find out more:

Biometric product marketing expert
Biometric Product Marketing Expert.

Spilling One of My Secrets on Differentiation

(Wildebeest picture Imagen 3/Google Gemini)

I recently interviewed for a full-time position with an identity/biometrics company.

The hiring manager and I agreed that differentiation is sorely lacking in the industry.

However, the company did NOT agree that I was the person to lead their firm’s product differentiation efforts.

But this, combined with the upcoming completion of a Bredemarket project later this week, provides an opportunity.

Their loss is your gain

Bredemarket can now help others in the identity/biometric industry, including the hiring firm’s direct competitors, with THEIR differentiation—in the same way Bredemarket has differentiated other companies.

So I am going to help SOME company differentiate itself from the me-too “trust us” crowd. 

But how?

I won’t tell everything, but I will give away ONE of my secrets. 

Which isn’t a secret.

My baby’s got a not-so-secret secret

As you probably know, I like to ask questions before starting a content, proposal, or analysis project. And the first of my questions is critical for differentiation.

Why?

No…that’s the question. Why?

The life experiences of founders are very different. After all, the reason Bill Gates got into the computer business is different than the reason Steve Jobs entered the business. 

  • What if Jobs had never studied calligraphy at Reed? 
  • What if Gates had studied calligraphy at Harvard? 

The world would be very different.

Book ‘em, Danno 

I’ve written about the why question. Here’s an excerpt:

“Before I can write a case study about how your Magnificent Gizmo cures bad breath, I need to understand WHY you’re in the good breath business in the first place. Did you have an unpleasant childhood experience? Were you abandoned at the altar? WHY did you care enough to create the Magnificent Gizmo in the first place?

“Once I (and you) agree on the why, everything else will flow from that, and your own end users will benefit in the process.”

Give me that origin story and I can differentiate you and your product. Whether it’s your breath gizmo or your identity verification solution, we now have a story that your foolish inferior competitors do not have. 

THEY are just mere moneymakers. 

YOU are the enlightened giving individual solving a problem that has bugged you for years, making the world a better place.

So tell your story…and differentiate yourself!

What Coauthor “Wrapped” About My LinkedIn Activity

So I checked out Coauthor’s me-too LinkedIn-themed copycat of Spotify Wrapped, like many of you did. Here’s the (unedited) post it wrote for me—not too bad:

= = =

Here’s my 2024 LinkedIn Rewind, by Coauthor.studio:

After 30 years in identity and biometrics, 2024 showed me that verification only goes so far. The real challenge isn’t just confirming who someone is – it’s understanding what they might do.

From employment fraudsters with verified credentials to healthcare imposters with stolen birthdates, this year proved that identity verification alone can’t prevent deception. But it also showed how combining technical expertise with human insight can help protect organizations and individuals.

Key observations from 2024:

  • Identity verification without intent analysis is incomplete
  • Employment fraud evolves faster than verification methods
  • Healthcare identity remains dangerously vulnerable
  • The best fraud prevention combines technology and psychology
  • Product marketing must address both verification and trust

Three posts that captured these themes:

“Employment Fraud and Identity Verification”

On why verifying someone’s identity only goes so far

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7268454996734545921/

“Rich Powaza’s Disappearance” 

Real consequences of fraudulent behavior

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7253092940393193472/

“Get Off My Lawn”

Changing workplace norms and responsibilities

https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7262320817898758145/

Through Bredemarket, I delivered over 100 content and analysis projects helping organizations navigate these challenges. I also conducted research on employment fraud tactics and moderated communities helping others avoid scams.

Looking ahead: 2025 will require even more sophisticated approaches to identity verification and fraud prevention. The fraudsters aren’t going away – but neither am I. I’ll continue helping organizations implement effective identity strategies while advocating for ethical AI use and employment practices.

To the wildebeests following along: remember that verification is just the start. The real value comes from understanding intent and building trust.

#fraud #identity #security #productmarketing

—

Get your 2024 LinkedIn Rewind! Go to coauthor.studio 

If the World is Flat

(Part of the biometric product marketing expert series)

(August 1, 2025: image img_2522-1.jpg and video flat2412a-1_mp4_hd_1080p.original.jpg?h=1378 removed by request)

(also deleted related content on Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok personal, and YouTube)

If the world is flat…

…there’s no need to look beyond the horizon.

…only the current quarter counts.

If you want to survive…

…think beyond the current quarter.

…invest in the long term.

…invest in product marketing.

…invest in a product marketer.

John E. Bredehoft on LinkedIn: LINK

I’m seeking a Senior Product Marketing Manager role in software (biometrics, government IDs, geolocation, identity and access management, cybersecurity, health) as an individual contributor on a collaborative team.

Key Accomplishments

  • Product launches (Confidential software product, Know Your Business offering, Morpho Video Investigator, MorphoBIS Cloud, Printrak BIS, Omnitrak).
  • Multiple enablement, competitive analysis, and strategy efforts.
  • Exploration of growth markets.

Multiple technologies.

Multiple industries.

Over 22 types of content.

Currently available for full-time employment or consulting work (Bredemarket).

More details on the latter at Bredemarket’s “CPA” page.

Cobwebs

“Let’s not market that product until the new year. Let’s not even build anticipation for the product until the new year. What could go wrong?”

Plenty.

Bring someone on board NOW to market your anti-fraud technology product NOW.

  • Multiple go-to-market efforts
  • Strategic and tactical
  • Positioning and messaging expertise
  • 22 types of external and internal content
  • Ethical and unbiased competitive analysis skills

Bredemarket Content-Proposal-Analysis:

CPA

(AI image from Google Gemini)

In the Long Run, Can Your Company Be Saved?

Effective product marketing usually won’t help you make your numbers this quarter. But it can provide long-term benefits…if properly executed and maintained.

A Cautionary Tale

In a down employment market such as the one the tech industry is experiencing right now, the common wisdom is that if a company isn’t hiring new employees, it can definitely use independent consultants.

Sometimes the common wisdom is faulty.

One of Bredemarket’s former clients (whom I will not name) illustrates the gaps in the common wisdom. I had worked on projects for this company several times…until I didn’t.

  • Because of a company reorg, my contact at the company changed, and the new contact sent a project my way.
  • Halfway through the project I was asked to stop work with no explanation.
  • When a direct report to my new contact reached out to get to know me, the report assured me that the stop work order had nothing to do with me. 
  • My contract was about to expire, but the direct report said it would probably be renewed. (Admittedly the direct report had no decision-making authority).
  • A month later, I found myself unable to log in to the company’s contractor website.
  • I reached out to a third party (not employed by the company) who managed its contractors. The third party confirmed that my contract had not been renewed.
  • I executed my offboarding process for removing confidential company information and informed my company contact. I received no response. (Not surprising. Many people, rather than delivering or confirming bad news, will say nothing at all—ghosting.)
  • I subsequently learned that the company was performing multiple rounds of layoffs, in a “the layoffs will continue until morale improves”style.

If Properly Executed

If I had provided said company with top-notch content-proposal-analysis work, would those laid-off people have kept their jobs?

Probably not. Content, proposal, and analysis work is not a quick fix.

  • Content, for example, often takes as many as 17 months to bear fruit.
  • The proposal process is only part of a long-term effort, which may start years before a Request for Proposal (RFP) is released, and may not end for years after a proposal is submitted in response to the RFP.
  • And analysis itself is just the first step in a long process. After you analyze something, you have to decide what to do with the results.

While not a quick fix, doing the work now will benefit the company in the long run. Even in the short term, setting the strategy communicates to everyone, including both internal and external stakeholders, the direction in which your company is heading.

If Properly Maintained

But you can’t just treat this as a one-time oroject and be done with it. Looking at the content portion alone, you have to regularly revisit your content and update it as needed.

This is a trick I learned back in my proposal days. Some of my former employers used proposal management software packages, many of which used a “timeout” feature on standard proposal text that required someone to review the text by a certain date. 

Does your proposal text state that your software supports Windows 10? Perhaps it’s a good idea to mention Windows 11 also. 

Or you may need to revise your standard proposal text to mention that new feature…or new benefit. Any proposal text for a health application that was written in December 2019 definitely required an update in December 2020.

What this means for your company

If you haven’t laid the groundwork for your company’s product marketing, Bredemarket can help in a variety of ways. After asking questions (starting with “Why?”) about your needs, we can jointly decide on the most critically important things Bredemarket can do for you and your company.

To find out how John E. Bredehoft of Bredemarket can serve as your “CPA” (Content-Proposal-Analysis marketing professional), go to my CPA page.

Postscript

And no, I’m not going to share an Eagles song. I’m going to share a Madness song.

(AI wildebeest “Keep Moving” image from Google Gemini)

Bredemarket Health Page Updates

Most of you who developed a sudden interest in healthcare this week WON’T be interested in this, so move along.

I’ve added 3 new posts (so far) to the Bredemarket Health page since November 2024:

  • Dr. Jones MD, NPE
  • Saving Money When Filling Prescriptions: Not You, The Companies
  • Medical Fraudsters: Birthday Party People

(And no, I have no real interest in addressing the recent murder of a healthcare executive. It’s a crime. End of discussion.)

I approach health and health product marketing from both an identity and technology perspective, recognizing the similarities and differences between biometrics and biometrics, and between PHI and PII.

Health