AMA: Cisco Meraki Head of Product Marketing, Grant Shirk on Industry Product Marketing
August 16 @ 9:00AM PT
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
The pressure's on for this one. Feels like this is the kind of topic first chapters in business books are devoted to. A successful GTM is hard to describe in detail. Ev...
1687 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
This is a really tough one. First and foremost, it's important to separate PM and PMM. They need to be parallel, not dependent, organizations to effectively function. You...
490 Views
1 request
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
Other than everyone? Product and UX - To highlight industry-specific opportunities for roadmap or positoning Sales - To help them drive better discovery, solution posit...
1498 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
Internal evangelism and industry expertise. Yes, you need all the core PMM skills. You might even need to be a stronger writer and positioner than the core PMM. But if ...
694 Views
5 requests
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
This one all depends on the product, market, and customers. If you're an industry-specific solution and just getting started in market, taking an industry bent first will...
533 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
I'm not certain if you mean category management in the retail/B2C space or the category management specific to sourcing and procurement. Either way, I don't think I'd ru...
834 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
As a PMM, revenue is a trailing metric and the one you have the least control over. If there aren't existing quotas set by industry (and this is rare), this is likely to ...
436 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
A "head of role" is a very different focus. Before we can talk about standing out in the interview, I think it's important to define what a leader in marketing can and sh...
1069 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
I love these big questions. What strikes me is there seems to be an underlying tension in several of the questions about industry vs. product marketing. Just like any two...
854 Views
7 requests
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
I recommend holding shared KPIs across PMM - the classics: Qualified Pipeline, Win Rates, Opportunity Velocity/Duration. Looking at how your industry marketing investment...
483 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
Unfortunately, I really haven't. Find people who've worked places where you see great industry expertise. Talk to them. Talk to customers. Read Crossing the Chasm. Agai...
521 Views
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Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
A shorter answer here, but I think there's a pretty straightforward way to measure sales enablement overall. Ideally, this is driven by the sales enablement team, and you...
1242 Views
1 request
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
This one depends on company stage and maturity of the market. At Cisco, we're incredibly mature, and I'm very fortunate to work alongside Sophia Danvers and her amazing...
495 Views
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How do your industry PMMs collaborate with product- or sales segment-focused PMMs?
I'm the first product marketer focused on GTM strategy for our platform to a specific industry when the rest of the team owns specific product(s) and/or sales segment.
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
There are two questions here, and I'll address both. One answer is much shorter than the other. How do we collaborate across industry and core PMM? Constantly. At Meraki...
1580 Views
4 requests
What are key certifications or courses to become a product marketing manager?
I'm a digital marketing specialist looking to transition to product marketing
Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • 3y
I'm a little biased here, but I don't believe that there are courses or certifications that are a prerequisite or requirement to jumping into product marketing. If you ha...
1953 Views
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