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Alissa Lydon

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


May 15, 2025 @ 10:00AM PT

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Alissa Lydon

VP of Marketing · Actively AI

Hi all, I'm Alissa Lydon, VP of Marketing @ Actively AI:

👋 Based in:
SF Bay Area
🧠 Top of mind:
How AI is changing the marketing craft.
💬 Ask me about:
What book I'm reading now.
🍦 Fun fact:
I won a gold medal playing softball for Team USA!
  1. How can you measure the value of what a product marketer does? How can you make executives perceive this value?

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

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  2. What's the best way to articulate Product Marketing's value to other *marketing* teams where there may be duplication of work?

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

    631 Views
    1 request
  3. How do you build a high functioning product marketing team? How do you structure responsibilities?

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

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  4. What's the biggest weakness you see among experienced candidates for product marketing positions?

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

    958 Views
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  5. What are the biggest challenges in growing and scaling a team? What were your biggest obstacles and how did you overcome them?

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

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  6. How do you get buy-in from multiple teams on a longterm strategic initiative when they are bogged down with daily fires. And how do you sustain their interest and commitment?

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

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  7. I've seen more work going into smaller regions that may not yield a high ROI (more enablement material, training is required w/ the smaller regions). Any recommendations on how a team can use their resources and time wisely when covering a global market while ensuring that each of the regions feel supported.

    Alissa Lydon
    Alissa Lydon

    Actively AI VP of Marketing | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • 1y

    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

    609 Views
    1 request