AMA: Dovetail Head of Product Marketing, Alissa Lydon on Building a Product Marketing Team

This is an age-old question, and difficult to answer because PMM looks different from one company to the next. The most broadly applicable advice is to get product marketing as close as possible to the north star business metrics. Things on the go-to-market side like revenue, retention, and pipeline, as well as activation and expansion on the product side. Which metrics are closest to the C-suite? Those are the ones that PMM should be laser-focused on. It can be hard to perceive how PMM impacts ...Read More

Best answer for any stakeholder: "Product Marketing helps you crush your goals." What this looks like for marketing: We help you smash your awareness goals with resonant, persona-based messaging We cut through the competitive noise with effective positioning strategies We help convert top-of-funnel leads into qualified MQLs with product content rooted in real-world use cases We train the sales team to close those leads that you spent precious marketing dollars acquiring We are product experts wh ...Read More

I have implemented the following structures: By product line - this lets PMMs go deep on a specific product, while going wide on PMM craft (i.e. everyone does launches, enablement, market research, etc.). I find this structure great for teams where I have more experienced PMMs. If you have a broad set of experiences in product marketing, then you have the space to go deep on a product. But where this falls down is when you have an overlap between different products. Then the swim lanes between P ...Read More

Poor storytelling instinct. When I say this, I mean being able to take any concept and know how to present it in a clear, succinct narrative that meets the needs of the audience. And this doesn't just apply to the obvious things like product messaging, competitive positioning, etc. But also how they talk about launch strategy, stakeholder management, and other PMM skills. Whenever you're communicating, it's critical that you understand: Who you're speaking to - their foundational knowledge, and ...Read More

The biggest challenge is that as the team changes, the business also changes. Our product strategy might pivot, our cross-functional ways of working could be reset, etc. These are "uncontrollables"—things that PMM might have influence over, but don't ultimately own. Regardless, we must adapt. In these situations, as in my personal life, I remember that the only thing that is constant is change. Instead of trying to resist and hide from it, I reframe it as an opportunity to challenge my assumptio ...Read More

When I was starting out in my career, I really appreciated leaders who did two things: Provide clarity on the top-level goals of the business Give room for the team to problem solve in new and creative ways And this is what I strive to do with my team. Here is how it looks in practice: Provide clarity As a leader, I must define the parameters of the work that we are doing. This is especially true for PMMs, because without those guardrails, we can be pulled in every direction. Activities around t ...Read More

Interesting question! If you're working without any field marketing or localization resources, this feels like a really good use case for experimenting with AI. How it might work in practice: PMM collects as much information about the needs of these smaller geos. Who are the personas they are talking to? What are their specific pain points? Which competitors are coming up, and how are they differentiating? Take that intel, and feed it to an AI model along with your foundational messaging and pos ...Read More