AMA: Albertsons Companies Vice President of Marketing, Francisco T. Bram on Stakeholder Management

Product marketing is the process of taking the right product to the right market with the right narrative at the right time. Key stakeholders within an organization should look for product marketing to help inform them on what market segments or industry verticals the business should prioritize. As a product marketing manager, you will partner with each marketing team to build a comprehensive, multi-channel integrated marketing plan.  Think of the marketing organization as an orchestra, where ea ...Read More

I don’t use a particular checklist however I always like to build a stakeholder matrix. This is a framework that allows me to keep track of all stakeholders, their role in the project, their responsibilities, and the frequency of communication I need to maintain. I start by identifying all directly and indirectly involved stakeholders. List everyone who has influence on important decisions that can impact your team, project, or funding. Then map them based on the R&R framework used at your c ...Read More

This is a great question, at times we’re quick to talk about successes but very few share examples of failures. We all failed at some point and we probably learned the most from it. No matter how good of a leader you are, there will always be stakeholders that can be difficult to interact with or at times may even become hostile. It’s important to identify these stakeholders early on because they could disrupt or even bring an end to your product launch, GTM plan or project. Here’s a failure exa ...Read More

First, invest time into learning the product. Great PMMs understand that the best marketing comes from true product knowledge. They understand the competitive landscape, the product's advantages, and weaknesses. This information is essential to establish credibility with your product team. Then, lean in to being the Voice-of-Customer. Product managers love being customer-centric products and they value customer insights above everything. Lean into research and/or sales feedback to help Product m ...Read More

For B2B organizations, PMMs need to prioritize two types of relationships, clients, and customers. Clients are the stakeholders that will use benefit from the work PMMs develop (e.g., marketing assets, narrative, positioning). Customers are the stakeholders that will use the product PMMs are launching or managing (e.g., end users, payers, or beneficiaries). In B2B orgs, clients are your sales team or BD teams. The vast majority of B2B companies rely on having a sales team to drive customer acqui ...Read More

Marketing has we know it, has existed since the late 1800's with the invention of the first mail product catalogue. Tiffany's Blue Book was the first mail-order catalogue in the United States that really set the standard for product-driven marketing. During this time, Marketing was both product, brand, and acquisition all in one function. The catalogue would feature products, a value proposition, price, small narrative and supported the overall brand positioning. This relationship between Produc ...Read More

It starts by establishing a common ground. This means talking to UX Design Leaders and Marketing leaders and understand how each defines their Role and Responsibilities. Then compare the two and look for areas of overlap or ambiguity that can lead to potential conflict. Present those areas to the leaders and either discuss steps to clarify it or come prepared with a proposal and let them chime in. The goal is to co-develop a R&R matrix that uses a RACI or RAPID model to clarify what each tea ...Read More