5 ways product-led marketing is different from sales-led marketing

Learn the core differences between product-led and sales-led marketing and figure out what's better for you and your career goals.

👋 Hey, Aarushi here! Welcome to this week’s ✨free edition✨ of my newsletter. Each week I share practical frameworks, processes, mindset shifts, and anything else needed to become a better marketer. Join 800+ marketers from companies like Kalviyo, Uscreen, OpenPhone, Recart (and many more) and get a weekly in-depth essay around modern marketing topics.

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Disclaimer: This edition is a little different than my previous ones. It starts with a personal story, but if you’d like to get straight to the meaty part, scroll away to the next section :)

Have you ever hesitated to ask a question because it seemed too silly or small?

I have and sometimes I still do. And it’s okay.

If you work in marketing, you already know we coin new terms like A1. Product-led, content-led, customer-centric, product-centric, product-feature fit, customer-content fit, people-first, content-first…..the list goes on.

Half of these terms or frameworks are good ol’ marketing stuff gift-wrapped in new, shiny wrapping papers so they appear new. But really, they aren’t.

For the longest time, I had no clue what product-led and sales-led marketing meant — sure, I knew the definition and the regurgitated versions you find online. But if someone had asked 2018 Aarushi what are the core, day-to-day ops differences, I wouldn’t have been able to lay it out in its true form.

After 7 years in marketing, working with multiple companies (from early stage $1M ARR to $4B enterprises), across multiple team sizes (from one person to 120+ team members), I’ve understood not just the differences, but lived through them.

In today’s edition, I want you to understand the differences between product-led and sales-led marketing. This could help you shape your entire career, define the trajectory you want to stride on and give you a better sense of where your skillsets would bring most value for yourself and the companies you work for.

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Shared goals of product-led and sales-led marketing

Both product-led and sales-led marketing share overarching goals such as driving revenue growth, enhancing customer satisfaction and retention, and maximizing profitability.

But they have significant differences as you narrow down to the individual roles, contributions, skill sets required, impact, and day-to-day ops of the marketing team.

Think of waterfall and Agile in engineering for instance. Both software methodologies work towards achieving similar results, but there’s a day and night difference in how they achieve those similar results.

Right from how the team is structured (flat or vertical), the number of departments, internal stakeholders, and review processes, every little to large detail varies.

Differences between Product-led and Sales-led Marketing

1. PLM focuses on customer-centric content first, then product knowledge

In sales-led marketing, content tends to be more company-centric, highlighting the company's awards, funding rounds, services, and brand image. The focus is on showcasing the company's offerings in the best possible light primarily via numbers.

At a creative level, sales-led marketing teams often create content that feels more transactional.

Instead of customer stories, they focus on the numbers driven by their product because it’s one of the top priorities/first objections of their champion buyers.

Instead of painting their customers as the HERO, the product itself is spotlighted as the hero.

Instead of showcasing both the hard-core and soft-serve benefits of their product(s), sales-led teams tend to focus only on hard-core benefits like how well it integrates with their customers’ existing tool stack or how can the tool drive down CAC/increase LTV/increase ROI in a specific period.

While this may bug the more creative marketers out there, you’ve got to realize it’s what their customers need in order to build affinity and trust. This by no means implies that sales-led marketing teams aren’t creative, rather they follow a specific framework that serves their customers, especially the champion buyers with the best knowledge and know-how about their product and company as a whole.

In addition, given that sales-led companies are heavily dependent on their sales executives and AOV can range up to $32K deals per enterprise customer, content is not the only growth lever SLG companies have. It’s simply a gateway to a more advanced, intricate, and detailed buying journey.

In contrast, product-led marketing focuses on the customers’ needs and takes them on a virtual learning journey where they can find answers to their most pressing pain points first-hand. Product-led content does an incredible job of objection handling; it helps customers identify their must-haves and nice-to-haves clearly, aiding their decision-making process.

Since the focus is on creating a remarkable customer experience through content, you can note viral growths across PLG companies’ lifespans. Take Notion for example.

In essence, content is the biggest growth lever PLG companies have. Right from their owned channels aka website, newsletter, or podcast to in-app content aka help docs, internal directional cues, welcome messages, etc users can read and take action merely by reading their content, without the need to speak to a support executive every time they run into an issue.

2. PLM focuses on empowering self-service customers

Sales-led marketing designs a sales-first approach for the internal team where they can provide one-on-one assistance to guide the sales-qualified lead through every stage of their journey.

Given the complex nature of most sales-led companies’ products and offerings, their customers can only do so much in a self-serve model without one-on-one guidance. Count the additional pricing of customer support, you’ll realize self-service customers in SLG models need to pay explicitly to get help around the product (at least in most cases).

Product-led marketing designs a more hands-on approach for the user by helping them experience and learn about the product themselves, while constantly supporting them throughout their journey.

Unlike sales-led companies where customer support comes at a cost, product-led companies integrate customer support across the spectrum for all their customers, bringing self-serve customers nearly equivalent to their highest-paying customers.

To do this, marketing teams work closely with other teams including product, sales, and success to ensure self-service customers have everything they need to get started and achieve their goals. From how to set up their account to perform a more complex task using specific features.

Customers get free trials or even a freemium model so they can experience the perceived value first-hand. This immediately widens the top-of-funnel acquisition and helps increase product-qualified leads who have a strong affinity towards the brand, higher chances of paid conversion, and word of mouth.

Instead of hand-holding and constant intervention, product-led marketing aims to empower users with more autonomy. This self-service paradigm not only streamlines operations but also instills a sense of empowerment within the user base, paving the way for enhanced user satisfaction and loyalty.

3. Lifecycle marketing nurtures and retains customers, not just VIP events

Sales-Led Marketing prioritizes customer retention through different tactics. This could include organizing VIP events or exclusive networking opportunities for existing customers, reinforcing their sense of belonging and appreciation within the brand community.

So, there’s intense focus on hosting/inviting VIP events in sales-led marketing. In fact, it’s counted as an individual marketing channel and calculated like you’d calculate the budget/resources/ROI for email marketing or social media marketing.

The team structure in sales-led marketing teams also reflects the strong presence of VIP events as a separate channel needing dedicated team members to support it (more on that in the next section).

The only catch; VIP events are more resource-intensive as compared to other online marketing channels. If done right, they’re incredibly valuable. But for growth-stage startups, especially with the PLG model, VIP events aren’t feasible in most scenarios.

Networking events, sure! Conferences, absolutely! But, tickets to F1 in Monaco or the Australia Open? I’m yet to see that in a PLG company.

That’s because when your product is the driving force behind your company’s success and you follow a PLG business model, you’re essentially catering to customers at en-masse. In simple words, it’s common to have 8,000+ customers in a PLG model as compared to 400+ high-value, enterprise clients in a sales-led model.

It’s an apples-to-orange comparison here.

So, when product-led marketing is at play, there’s an intense focus on nurturing and retaining customers through lifecycle marketing instead of just VIP events (if at all). Lifecycle marketing guides the customers along their journey, from activation to the stage where they’re using a product at its fullest potential.

Consider the example of a skincare brand. Through targeted email campaigns, personalized recommendations, and loyalty programs, the brand nurtures customers by providing relevant content, exclusive offers, and proactive support at each stage of their skincare journey. By focusing on building trust and delivering value over time, the brand fosters enduring relationships that transcend mere transactions.

A personal take: It’s 2024 and most companies have demand gen taking care of their existing customers, but lifecycle marketing is the next evolution and segmentation of demand gen.

4. Team structure charts are simple, but the range of skillsets is necessary

Sales-led marketing companies have a vertical team structure aka the pyramid-like, top-down management structure.

In such cases, leadership hierarchy is well-defined, with top executives overseeing middle managers who, in turn, manage regular employees. Decision-making typically flows from the top down, while approval processes move from the bottom up.

Top-level management establishes directives regarding sales, marketing, and customer service, which are then relayed to middle management. Middle managers delegate tasks to employees, ensuring alignment with established processes and objectives.

Completed work is then routed through middle and upper management for review and approval, maintaining a clear chain of command and accountability throughout the organization.

Contrarily, most product-led marketing teams have a flat aka a horizontal team structure.

A horizontal or flat team structure refers to an organizational setup where there are few or no hierarchical levels between employees, resulting in minimal layers of management. In this structure, authority and decision-making are decentralized, with teams organized around specific projects, tasks, or areas of expertise.

There is typically a greater emphasis on collaboration, autonomy, and shared responsibility among team members, promoting open communication, flexibility, and innovation within the organization.

Consider a hypothetical tech startup operating under a PLM framework. At first glance, the team structure chart may depict a basic hierarchy with roles such as product manager, UX designer, content strategist, and data analyst. However, within each of these roles lies a myriad of specialized skill sets and proficiencies necessary for executing the overarching marketing strategy.

For instance, the product manager not only oversees product development and roadmap but also requires proficiency in market research, user behavior analysis, and project management. Similarly, the UX designer must possess expertise in user interface design, usability testing, and human-computer interaction principles to create intuitive and user-friendly product experiences.

Furthermore, the content strategist must excel not only in content creation and storytelling but also in SEO optimization, content distribution strategies, and audience segmentation.

Here’s what a typical org chart for product-led versus sales-led marketing teams look like:

5. Higher flexibility and control in PLM; more room for marketers to pivot, experiment, and get buy-in

Right from making product their biggest sales asset, using content as a growth lever, to a flat team structure where marketers can experiment more, PLM teams are designed to have much higher flexibility and control than SLM teams.

This is primarily because getting buy-in in PLM teams is relatively faster, not easier. You still need to conduct extensive market research, create prototypes for new campaigns, collaborate cross-functionally to validate your ideas, and present a strong case for your strategies/tactics.

But the lack of a top down management structure makes this entire workflow significantly faster compared to sales led where every single idea needs to go through from the bottom up and approved by the top down.

In essence, while both Product-Led and Sales-Led Marketing strive for success, their paths diverge significantly, each bearing its unique set of principles and practices. By understanding these core differences, marketers can chart a course tailored to their objectives, values, and goals.

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