AMA: 1Password Director, Product Marketing, Eric Chang on Product Marketing Soft and Hard Skills

I'd recommend making sure to spend enough time on the planning and information gathering phase that is necessary prior to creating messaging. The most common issue I've seen with messaging is PMMs jumping straight into creating a framework before they truly take the time to understand their target audience's pain points, and how the product solves those pain points. As a result, the messaging turns into that individual's view of why they think the product is great. In an ideal world you would be ...Read More

You'll often see something like go-to-market strategy/planning/execution mentioned as the most important skill for product marketers. While this isn't untrue, there is a key blend of hard/soft skills that enable a product marketer to really drive a successful GTM motion. I'll share my thoughts on the top 3 soft and hard skills that every great product marketer should have. Soft Skills Navigating Ambiguity - This is really a blend of multiple soft skills (adaptability, problem solving, organizati ...Read More

While I believe all the hard/soft skills I mentioned in my previous answer are must-haves for any PMM, my answer here depends most on the level of ambiguity at the company and how specialized the PMM role/scope is. -Start-ups- The ambiguity for a PMM at a start-up will be much higher than that of a large established SaaS company. At a start-up, you're likely working with a lot of rapidly evolving/changing functions, a continuous stream of new hires, lack of processes, and you may even be the fir ...Read More

I am a huge fan of the STAR format (and also keeping answers to two minutes or less)! For any interview, I think it's important to identify and prepare your key 3-4 examples, which you can then use to display a wide range of skills depending on the question type. When you're responding to a question using one of these examples, make sure to take the opportunity to quickly highlight some of those soft skills. Example: If you're asked about a time where you had to analyze data, of course you shoul ...Read More

If I had to choose one I would (slightly) lean towards soft skills. Having the right soft skills is what I believe enables a PMM to find the biggest opportunities and drive buy-in/alignment so that they can have the most impact. That being said, the main variable that would make me prioritize hard skills or soft skills is the level of ambiguity that you'll have to deal with on that new team. Contrasting two extreme examples: If you join a large team, with a mature product marketing function, for ...Read More