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Product Management vs Product Marketing
Product Management vs Product Marketing
1 answer
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
Both roles are quite tough to get into without experience, but PM is marginally
easier.
1. Companies will typically have more PMs than PMMs. The PMM to PM ratio is
roughly 1:4. Even if the company prioritizes PMM roles, it's rare that the
ratio will get higher than 1:2.
2. There are fewer PMM roles in the industry. Just doing a quick search on
LinkedIn shows that there are about ~100k open PMM roles, while there are
about ~280k open PM roles.
3. PMs typically get hired first. Most companies will start with PMs. This is
unsurprising since the goal at early stage comp...more
1 answer
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
PMs should always lead voice of the customer (VoC) programs
While PMMs need to have their ear close to the ground when it comes to customer feedback, it's ultimately the PM who will use the feedback to make product decisions. Additionally, PMs should never be in a situation where product feedback is "second-hand" or being prioritized by someone who doesn't own the roadmap.
1 answer
Senior Group Product Manager at Intercom
I work at Intercom where Product Managers where closely with Product Marketing
Manager ('PMM'). The four main areas that our PMMs cover are:
* Customer and marketing insight - Like PMs, our PMMs want to be as close to
the customer and the market as possible. PMMs represent the voice of the
customer internally.
* Product strategy - Whilst the PM is ultimately accountable for the creation
and execution of the product strategy, PMMs play an important role in
informing the product strategy and roadmap.
* Product positionong and messaging - PMMs develop product positioning and
...more
2 answers
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
Trust is the most important factor in a PM / PMM relationship.
When I was a PMM, I worked with many Product Managers who did not understand the
role of a PMM. They believed that the PMMs only role was to communicate the
launch of a feature. This misconception often stems from the fact that in some
teams PMs doesn't see value beyond the feature launch and PMMs do little to
dispel the notion.
So, how do PMMs and PMs build trust and work more effectively?
1. PMMs need to clarify their role. This sometimes depends on the leader's
ability to communicate their team's functions, however i...more
Sr. Director Product Marketing at VMware | Formerly Accenture, United States Air Force
Some best practices that helped my teams create a collaborate cross pollinating environment are:
- Standing 1:1 with PM and PMM leads to discuss major open actions with full disclosure
- PM contributes or leads customer feedback in regular product backlog grooming sessions
- PMM develops self service customer intelligence that PM can use to steer product strategy
- PMM leads customer advocacy efforts and invites PM and Eng leads to participate "hear from the horses mouth"
- PM is included in Product PI planning process with PM and Eng
3 answers
Product Lead (fmr Head of Product Marketing) at Square
The product manager (PM) decides “what” to build and “when”, and is accountable
for delivering the product or feature that delights customers. The product
marketer (PMM) informs “what” to build, and is accountable for driving the
demand for what has been built.
Both require deep customer and market insights. Both need to think strategically
about how to differentiate your product in your space. The difference lies in
execution.
On a day-to-day basis, the PM works very closely with designers and engineers to
discover, design, scope, and implement what needs to be built. You are much more
f...more
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
PMM and PM roles vary greatly across companies, but there are some common
differences:
1. PMMs are the market and competitor experts. Unless the company is very
small, a PM who is an individual contributor typically "owns" a narrower
segment of the overall product. In contrast, a PMM typically looks across a
wider range of the product and market. So, the PMM should bring that
knowledge and experience to bear in the relationship
2. PMs are the product experts. Unsurprinsgly, PMs know more about their
product area than anyone else. So, if there are questions or decisio...more
Sr. Director Product Marketing at VMware | Formerly Accenture, United States Air Force
Think of a restaurant with front and back of the house. Back of house is
prepping, cooking and organizing the food for front of the house to position,
serve and engage the customers. Another way to look at this is front of the
house understands what the customers want, thier expecations, reactions and
provides feedback to back of the house to prioritze what food is being prepared.
This symboitic relationship is anlogous to PMM (front of house), PM (liason
between front and back of house) and engineer (back of house). PMM needs to
understand the customer persona, market and positioning. PM s...more
2 answers
Product Lead (fmr Head of Product Marketing) at Square
Ha, organizational design questions are always the fun ones. :)
These types of questions don’t have a right or wrong answer. Each design will
have its pros and cons and it’s all about what you are trying to optimize.
When I started in product marketing at Square, we reported into marketing. About
8 months later, we got spun off marketing and reported into product GMs. While I
didn’t think that changed how I did my job - reflecting on the experience - I
did feel some differences. While I was in marketing, I felt a lot closer and in
sync with my channel and creative partners. On the other h...more
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
Usually Marketing, but in some smaller companies Product.
PMs and PMMs will almost always have very close relationships (and if you don't
then that's a problem). So, it usually doesn't matter which organization PMM
reports into. However, at larger companies there can be some misalignment of
priorities if PMMs report into the product management team.
PMM teams that report into product become too narrowly focused on launches. PMMs
typically cover a wide range of responsibilities, beyond just features. For
examples, PMMs at Zendesk work on customer stories, industry solutions, sales
enableme...more
2 answers
Product Lead (fmr Head of Product Marketing) at Square
It’s a joint decision between product management and product marketing at Square. In general our PMMs tend to have more ownership here. They will lead competitive analysis and commission qual/ quant research to inform pricing decisions.
That said, from what I observed, when you zoom into the specific PM/ PMM pair, it really comes down to whoever has the expertise and the respect from the team to make the right call.
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
Pricing and packaging is typically a PMM function.
1. P&P is typically a business decision. In general, PMMs own business and
go-to-market decisions, while PMs own the user experience and the product
roadmap. And P&P falls into the former.
2. Product should have a perspective on which features to build. Pricing and
packaging refreshes typically happen because the composition of your
existing product has changed materially (i.e. a lot of new features have
been launched, new acquisitions, etc). As such PMs will always have a role
to play in determining how certain ...more
1 answer
Product Lead (fmr Head of Product Marketing) at Square
- Revenue, P&L ownership.
- Customer discovery. Our PMs and designers tend to lead more qualitative research while our PMMs tend to lead more quantitative surveys.
- Product strategy. At Square, PM is the ultimate DRI (Directly Responsible Individual).
- Pricing and packaging. At Square, PMM is the ultimate DRI.
2 answers
Product Lead (fmr Head of Product Marketing) at Square
* It’s a good idea to try internal transfer if you want to transition from PMM
to PM, or vice versa. Learning the craft of a new discipline is not easy. You
are more likely to set yourself up for success if you minimize other
variables like new company, new product, new team.
* Anchor on your strength. There are many transferable skills between the two
disciplines, e.g., customer discovery, data analytics, communication and
influencing skills. Leverage your strength in the new role and you will find
it easier to get early wins and build confidence in yourself.
* But def...more
Group Product Manager at Zendesk
I love this question since I recently made the PMM to PM transition!
1. Focus on transferrable skills. Three of the most important PM skills
include: communication, leading through influence, and problem solving. PMMs
looking to transfer into a PM role should ensure they are strong in all
three.
2. Leverage institutional knowledge. It's much easier to transition from PMM to
PM in your current company than applying to a new position in a different
company. In your existing PMM role you are likely to know all the relevant
stakeholders, have product knowledge, and un...more
1 answer
Product Lead (fmr Head of Product Marketing) at Square
From the very beginning and throughout the development process.
This is very much related to the previous question. I will try to bring to life
how the process works on the Square teams.
* For any new feature development, we hold a kickoff/ problem alignment with
PM, PMM, Design, Eng and Data Science. The goal is to align on the customer
problem, generate hypotheses, identify open questions that need further
investigation. From there, PM, PMM, and Design may divide and conquer
customer research tasks.
* Once the team is aligned on this is the right problem to solve and the r...more