What's the best product marketing role for you?

If your skill set is focused on the technical solutions for providing technical market specific solutions, perhaps a good role is one that gives you the ability to apply up-stream solutions to meet the market’s needs. If it is a deep knowledge of the market’s needs, a role that understands providing for users needs to the technical team. If it is sales oriented, a messaging role setting your product apart might be best. If you’ve had experience in all three, a senior product management or management role might be best to set the product and organization up for success. Regardless, you need good communication skills and be willing to work with both up-stream and downstream teams to address each touch point of your target customers needs.

As someone who stumbled on the Product Marketing path fresh out of college, I'm incredibly grateful to pursue this role. Being a PMM is the perfect combination of loving the product side, advocating for members, being creative, and telling stories. There are several different PMM paths you can take or be. 1. Inbound PMM: Being close to product, thinking about member feedback, unmet needs, and partnering closely with your PM / ENG partners to share those insights and generate ideas. 2. Outbound PMM: This could be naming or branding the product or feature. But most importantly thinking about the Go-To-Market strategy. 3. Full-stack PMM: A combination of both inbound and outbound.

Over the years, I've found that referring to my work as a Product Marketing Manager leader as a Go-to-Market Strategist has been a more accurate and comprehensive way to describe the role. The core of this work is defining and continuously refining who needs to know what, and when, to ensure a steady flow of new business and renewals. Most importantly, this process also involves feeding back to the product and development teams what we learn about shifts in our target audience, in order to inform future product decisions and enhancements.

I would call the PMM a marketing strategist, but with a focus on building and growing the product. The core skills are problem solving (as in management consulting), hypothesis testing and team communications (as in PM), and a sense of connection between creatives and solid results (marketing strategic outlook).

I've noticed that organizations often use the title of Product Marketing Specialist when hiring junior talent, as mentioned earlier. In larger companies, specialized roles focusing on competitive intelligence, sales enablement, or within integrated marketing teams are can be designated as PMMs. For example, at LinkedIn both our integrated marketing teams and those managing our research programs maintain the PMM title.

Usually companies searching for a Product Marketing Specialist or a Product Marketer, are looking for professionals whom they can pay less. It also depends a lot on the country. In Europe, there are some countries in which Product Marketer (although they have the same responsibilities as a Product Marketing Manager) are paid less than those having a Product Marketing Manager title.

In clinical marketing it’s important for marketing specialist to choose their clinical domain and stick to it for developing expertise. Based on the expertise they can contribute for specific area of product marketing.

Product Marketing Specialist Overview: These specialists dive deep into specific areas of product marketing, ensuring excellence in their domain. Real-world Example: At software company Adobe, a Product Marketing Specialist for Adobe Photoshop might focus solely on understanding the needs of graphic designers and how the software meets those needs. Statistics: Glassdoor reports that Product Marketing Specialists earn an average of $70,000 annually in the U.S. Practical Advice: Specialists should continuously upskill in their chosen domain, attend relevant workshops, and network with professionals in their niche.

Product Marketing Specialist: -Often an entry-level or junior role. -Provides support to product marketing managers or directors. -Assists in tasks such as market research, competitive analysis, and content creation. -May be responsible for specific marketing activities or campaigns related to a product.

A Product Marketing Director or a Head of Product Marketing is indeed responsible for the strategic vision. They manage and develop a team of Product Marketing Managers at different levels (Junior, Mid, Senior or Lead). They oversee the strategic narrative of the product, the messaging, segmentation, pricing, GTM. They liaise with other senior leaders in the company to remove blockers and create better alignment with Sales, Marketing, Strategy, Customer Success and Product teams. And last, but not least (as there are other responsibilities as well) they help their team grow. Assess the strengths and weaknesses and goals of each team member and supports them to reach their full potential.

The only real differences I see between a product marketing director and a product marketing manager are: - A director has management responsibilities (which is ironic, given the title names) - A director oversees multi-product or multi-segment product marketing (or both) *In many cases, it's the PMM role that's doing the most product marketing work.

Product Marketing Director Overview: This role is about vision and leadership, ensuring that the product marketing function aligns with broader business goals. Real-world Example: Think of Tesla's overarching narrative of sustainable energy. A Product Marketing Director would ensure all product launches (like the Tesla Model 3) fit within this narrative. Statistics: As per Salary.com, Product Marketing Directors in the U.S. can earn an average of $150,000, with top earners pulling in over $200,000. Practical Advice: Aspiring directors should focus on honing their leadership skills, understanding broader business operations, and staying updated on industry trends.

While product managers focus on the creation and technical aspects of a product, product marketing managers focus on its market strategy, positioning, and driving demand and adoption. Both roles are essential for a product's success and require close collaboration. In a healthy organization, these two roles work closely together, with their complementary responsibilities helping take a product from the earliest strategy sessions to successful launch and adoption. However with unclear communication channels between product management and product marketing teams, it can result in a lack of alignment on product strategy, features, and go-to-market plans. This lack of clarity and collaboration can lead to suboptimal product launches.

If you're currently an IC (individual contributor) and are considering becoming a manager to move up the career ladder, consider; - Take on a mentee, this can be from a different company or a more junior colleague to you. You don't have to super senior to be a mentor. If you are more senior than you'll have some to give. This will give you a taste of what management can be like and will show you are committed to supporting and growing others. - Ask to shadow your or another line manager and interview them like you would a customer! Use the opportunity to learn and show them you are keen. - Need a team? Build a case study for more resource and set one up. I did this once and it got me my own team!

I developed a matrix for this and it’s going to be a LinkedIn post one day. Left to right - Strategy/Tactics Top to bottom - Global/Regional Plot your current and past companies on where they fit on the grid. THEN, this is an important part. Put your TENURE for each underneath. This will tell you historically where you are best positioned, the kid of role that suits you. Tenure being an indicator of value/contentment in your role. NOW, decide where you want to be. ??

In my experience you have to consider things like: organizational structure aka where you “sit” and who you report to, company size and growth stage, role expectations, company culture, long-term growth potential, industry/product interest, what product marketing activities you like to do, and IC vs manager. ??Product marketing is defined different at each organization, so take time to make a well-informed choice that aligns with your career aspirations, interests, and personal values.

Product marketing is wildly different at every company. To find the best PMM role for you, consider at least 3 things: the support you need, the type of work that energizes you, and the industry. Quick notes about each: Working in a company with other PMMs offers a different support system than being a solo PMM. The same goes for reporting into product versus reporting into marketing. Next, the only way to know which work energizes you is to learn by doing. For instance, shooting and editing how-to videos, doing competitive intel, or developing messaging require different skill sets, time, and energy. Lastly, the industry you choose is also important. A heavily regulated one may require more intense learning to get you up to speed.

Something that I found helpful is to identify your skill set and which skills are product marketing superpowers. PMMs need to be cross-functional and strong executors. Beyond that, their skills usually lean into one or more of the following categories: analytical researcher, content marketing storyteller, and/or customer or sales-orientated. Once you figure out your category you can lean into it and play to your strengths.

There's a growing trend in product marketing towards becoming an independent consultant. This trend has doubled in the past 18 months due to tech layoffs. PMM consultants split into two groups: 1. PMM's who are moonlighting until the next full-time gig 2. PMM who are committed full-time consultants (people like me) The growth trend is not only driven by the first group but also by more senior executive PMMs. As they reach the glass ceiling of the VP of PMM, they are increasingly choosing to become independent, contributing significantly to this evolving landscape.

To become a great product marketing manager, the first thing you need to focus on, is learning your product really well. This way you can build trust with your internal and external stakeholders, which is an essential element if you want to succeed in this role. Finally, it will make much easier to get to know your customers' pain-points and how you can differentiate your product from the competition.

No matter the title: don’t think you have to have the “right” background for product marketing. Many product marketers have very different backgrounds - marketing, journalism, history, science, engineering, etc. Product marketing requires a wide range of competencies, so no single background or skill set alone is a must. So: > Look for opportunities to showcase and develop key skills that product marketers need - research, analysis, storytelling, teaching, and planning. > Product Marketing sits at the intersection of many parts of an organization, so take any chance to play “quarterback” or bring something from concept to reality. > Read and network. Great product marketers understand business fundamentals plus the market landscape.

The one thing I notice which often gets ignored within product marketing is the "voice of the customer". We often feel we can get information from sales, and customer success and work with that passive information, but speaking to a handful of customers can be eye-opening and extremely insightful. This also helps you build credibility and influence with internal stakeholders and messaging that is better aligned with what customers want.

1. Product Marketing Manager If you are good at strategy, planning, execution, project management, market research, competitive analysis, and go-to-market strategy. 2. Content Marketing Manager: If you have a passion for storytelling, writing and communication skills, creativity, knowledge of SEO and content distribution. 3. Demand Generation Manager: Those who are data-driven, enjoy working on lead generation and conversion strategies. 4. Product Launch Manager: If one can manage multiple tasks simultaneously, project management skills and the ability to work under deadlines. 5. Market Research Analyst: If you have ability to interpret data , enjoy data analysis and research skills, proficiency with statistical tools.