How do you build better relationships with product marketing? I feel like this is the most complicated relationship out of all cross-functional partners. How do you constantly stay aligned?

Since I have experience on both sides of the aisle, I can agree that this is definitely a complex relationship! PM and PMM are two of the toughest roles involved in bringing products to market, because of the high degree of uncertainty that each job entails and the need to tailor each role's work to both product and organizational maturity. I think there are three focus areas for creating and maintaining a great relationship with PMM: 1. Clear roles and responsibilities. If you haven't already c ...Read More

Working with product marketing isn’t complicated, it just takes consistent partnership. Here’s what works for me: Treat them like teammates: I call my PMM partners my “adopted team.” We talk 2–3 times a week and stay in sync across launches, positioning, and planning. Co-build the message: We create a shared "messaging framework" for key features that defines what the product is, why it matters, and how to talk about it with customers. It anchors all downstream materials and gives marketing the ...Read More

I don't think my answer here is unique to building relationships with product marketing. The key for me is to engage with people early and often. Eearlier on in my career, I've definitively made the mistake of treating product marketing as the 'launch team'; the product development teams build the product and throw it over the fence to marketing team to do the launch. As I highlighted in my previous answer, PMMs want to deliver customer value as much as PMs do and it's therefore important for PM ...Read More

The PM/PMM relationship can be difficult to manage, especially when there are overlapping responsibilities and different perspectives on timing. However, I don't believe that it has to be this way. I've had many PMMs that I've been able to align with incredibly well and maintain a great relationship with them throughout multiple years and product launches. Establish clear role boundaries and handoff timelines early. Many tensions stem from ambiguity about who owns what in the product launch proc ...Read More

TLDR: Stay aligned by clearly defining your roles and responsibilities. There are published RACI models on the role of PMM. Align on a RACI and stick to it. Then establish a continuous cadence for staying in contact throughout product development to ensure PMMs are always in the loop. I love product marketing as a function, and there is nothing more valuable to me than a strong product marketer. The triad model of product development often refers to Design, Product, and Tech/Engineering leads bu ...Read More