AMA: Gainsight Former Director, Product Marketing, Priyanka Srinivasan on Developing Your Product Marketing Career
August 13 @ 10:00AM PT
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How can I get into product marketing from my current technical sales/enablement role?
I'm a product specialist at Meltwater and I'm looking to move into product marketing but would prefer to look externally. I currently support the sales team by setting up and demoing customized environments to prospects, sparring use cases, and doing some enablement work.
I've been doing some small projects with both the product marketing team and the broader marketing team - most recently a competitive VS style landing page and vertical-specific landing page copy.
For a side project, I'm in the midst of starting a podcast for aspiring marketers where I interview people from different disciplines so students and others looking to get into the field can see what best aligns with their interests.
Is there anything else I should be doing? Am I looking two steps ahead and I need to get more experience first? Feel like I wouldn't even get an interview if I applied to a PMM job in the tech space.
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
You might considering pitching yourself for a technical PMM role - or a technical associate PMM. My guess is you have a lot of experience with the more technical aspects ...
961 Views
1 request
For someone chasing the CMO position in the next 8-10 years, would you recommend them to practice brand marketing before product marketing or reverse?
I have experience in both fields but not really in a dedicated fashion. I am now standing at a stage where I have to choose between 2 options: AM - Brand marketing or Sr. PMM. What would you have chosen?
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
The way I think about the ‘pillars’ of B2B tech marketing a CMO needs to be familiar with are as follows: Product Marketing: e.g, go-to-market strategy, product position...
3219 Views
4 requests
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
Nothing (literally nothing) is more valuable than sitting in on as many prospect / customer calls as possible. It’s the only way you’ll truly understand your buyer and wh...
1504 Views
3 requests
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
In general, if you’re early in your career and trying to learn the nuts and bolts of marketing, I’d go for a startup only if you can work for someone who has more experie...
2429 Views
3 requests
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
I think there could be a number of career paths for PMM. In our team, we see everything from Sales (i.e, former AE), to Product Manager, to content marketer to solutions ...
5165 Views
3 requests
How do you communicate product marketing achievements upwards and build visibility?
It can sometimes be a struggle for those on the executive team, or in higher leadership roles, to see the value that product marketing is bringing to the business - especially if they do not have regular interaction. How do you build visibility for you and/or your team, and clearly communicate the achievements and activities throughout the year?
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
I love this question. I’ll step away from PMM for a minute and say - regardless of what function you’re in at a company, you should be championing yourself and your team ...
1969 Views
2 requests
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
The first thing you have to ask is - is there room for a director or team lead at my company in product marketing? My CEO once said there are basically two ways you can s...
1316 Views
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How to approach the conversation with my manager regarding promotion after working in b2b product marketing for several years and not been promoted
I started a new role recently at the PMM level, and already have several years of PMM experience. both roles were in enterprise software, but the industries / products are very different so there is a big learning curve in the new role
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
Taking my PMM hat off again and putting on a general career development one. I’ve typically approached promotion conversations by first asking, several quarters before I ...
1258 Views
2 requests
How strongly is a product marketing certificate from the Pragmatic Institute viewed in hiring for a product marketing manager?
Considering adding this to my portfolio on top of my experience. Like to hear what others think/have seen in the market when it comes to hiring.
Verkada Vice President Product Marketing • 5y
I’ve never heard of this particular certification. That doesn’t say much - I’m not your typical PMM. But in general I’d say experience, work samples, business case interv...
1942 Views
2 requests