AMA: Airtable Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing, Christy Roach on Developing Your Product Marketing Career

It’s hard to pinpoint “typical” because product marketing is a field that sets you up for a few different paths depending on what you want to do. Being a product marketer gives you problem-solving, strategy, and execution skills that can help you in so many different careers so I wouldn’t want to say there is one specific path you should take. That said, I’ll talk through the one that I’ve walked, and that I’ve seen many of my peers take as well: Very few people are product marketing managers as ...Read More

The most important thing to keep in mind is this: having the product marketing title doesn’t automatically mean you get to influence the roadmap. You have to put in the work and show your value to get a seat at the table. There are three big levers to pull here to help you shift the way product marketing works from a team that’s just responsible for the launch of a product to one that’s involved in the entire product process. 1. Create a partnership with your PM: When you’re thinking about how t ...Read More

Everyone’s definition of soft and hard skills differs, but here are the nine skills that I think are the most important for a product marketer to have. I've used these skills as a compass to help me grow in my own career and have turned them into a success guide for my team at Envoy to use: Soft skills: Cross-functional excellence: As a PMM, you have the opportunity to lead without being a manager of people. A strong product marketer is someone who takes others along with them, rather than telli ...Read More

You very rarely will start your marketing career as a PMM, so you should look for roles that help you learn a lot about the business and the customer and give you opportunities to work cross-functionally. Once you land that role, you may find opportunities to step in or help out a product marketing team, which gives you some of those more specialized skills that set you up for success as a PMM. In my opinion, the three skills you want to build are: Messaging, positioning, and storytelling: Produ ...Read More

This is a great question! I know lots of product marketers who worry that in getting more specialized they’re missing out on the opportunity to get that broad skillset. I reject the idea that you have to change jobs in order to get the experience you want and think there are plenty of ways to get it in your current role. Here’s what has worked well for me: Do your homework: While there are some skills that are universally important for a product marketer (ex: bringing new products to market), th ...Read More

I think the first question to ask yourself is, do you actually want to be an executive? After that, you should also ask yourself what an “executive” means to you. It turns out that a lot of people feel like they should be shooting to be in the C-suite without actually knowing if they want to be in the C-suite. From my understanding, it’s elite at the top but the air is pretty thin. It’s stressful work, and your neck is on the line when things go poorly. I've decided this is something that I want ...Read More

This has changed a ton as my career has progressed and continues to evolve as I get better at my job. What I measure myself on today is very different than what I’ll measure myself on in 3-4 years, and the key is being able to make those mental shifts and not measuring your current role by the same standards you measured yourself on in previous roles.Today I measure myself on the following: Team engagement: As a leader, I am only as good as my team is. Before I look at their output, I want to lo ...Read More

Great question! I've been lucky to work at a wide range of companies and while each was satisfying and challenging in their own way, I've definitely figured out what works best for me. For me, working for a big company brings resources and clear growth paths, and I’m grateful to have started my career there. The pros: At a big company, you know exactly where you fall in terms of job leveling, and what you need to take the next step up. Your work is clear and tied to a very specific line of busin ...Read More

This is a hard jump to make! Not to sound like a broken record, but the first step is communicating with your manager to let them know that you want to move into management and getting their feedback on what you’d need to do to make that move and what timeline might be realistic. I can’t say it enough, being clear in what you want and communicating that to the people who can help you get there is essential to growing your career. From there, there are a few things you can do to help the process. ...Read More

Some of the best product marketers I know started in sales roles, but it can be hard to make the jump from sales into marketing. As a salesperson, you know first hand how messaging is landing with prospective customers, what the needs of those customers are, and where your product wins and where it falls short compared to the competition -- all of which is invaluable to a product marketing team. The trick is taking that knowledge and building out the other foundational skills you need to make yo ...Read More

As a hiring manager, I try to balance referrals and recommendations within my network with candidates who apply directly to an open role from our careers page or job sites. If you just hire people that come from your network, you often miss out on quality candidates who bring diverse backgrounds and perspectives. I take recommendations from colleagues and connections seriously and always give them a phone screen, but I try to make sure I'm not only looking at the referrals I'm getting. That said ...Read More

There are two things I think you can do to help you here. One is stupidly easy, one is harder. Let’s start with the hard one first: You might need to readjust your compensation or seniority expectations to get the role you want. You clearly have great experience and training, and I don’t think you should discount yourself, but sometimes moving into a new discipline might mean taking a “step back” in terms of what you’ll be paid and what your title will be. It sounds like you’re open to that give ...Read More