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Victoria Chernova

AMA: Gong Director, Product Marketing, Victoria Chernova on Product Marketing vs Product Management

June 9 @ 10:00AM PST
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Gong Director, Product Marketing, Victoria Chernova on Product Marketing vs Product Management
Top Questions
Where does in-app copy fit in your org? (Under Product Marketing, Design or other?)
Particularly interested in technical products, but also curious for nontechnical.
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
This is always a gray area :) At Gong, most UX copy is owned by the product writing team, except for naming "Tier 1" products. Together with that team, we established a list of criteria that qualifies features or products as "Tier 1;" such as, the feature/product changes core product pillar me......Read More
644 Views
2 requests
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
One area where I've seen PMM historically drive a ton of value is with market and competitive insights. By bringing insights from the market, competitive landscape, buyers, and/or analysts, PMM can ensure that product has considered all inputs when they narrow down on their target user, pain poin......Read More
1261 Views
2 requests
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
There are different levels of information PMM needs from their PM partners throughout the development process. Depending on how your product documentation works, this information could entirely live in a product/feature brief or be split up between the brief and the product spec.  At a high le......Read More
693 Views
1 request
What specific areas of roadmap influence do you think product marketing can help the most with?
Is it the decision of what features to actually build based on customer feedback and marketing opportunity OR more so naming, branding and how we position and target features?
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
In terms of roadmap, one area where I've seen PMM historically drive a ton of value is through market and competitive insights. By bringing insights from the market, competitive landscape, buyers, and/or analysts, PMM can ensure that product has considered all inputs when they build their roadmap......Read More
326 Views
1 request
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
This question hits home for me. In a previous role, I explored the opportunity to move to the PM org, so I did a bunch of research. First, at a high level, I love the book "Designing Your Life." If you're into self-reflection and personal growth books, this one's for you. It'll help you zero i......Read More
449 Views
1 request
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
Ideally, PMM comes in during the product roadmap process. One area where I've seen PMM historically drive value is through market and competitive insights. Especially at Gong, given our product, Product Managers have access to customer insights but oftentimes don't have visibility into opportunit......Read More
714 Views
2 requests
What would you say is the most important objective of the Product Marketing team? The #1 objective that if achieved would impact your business the most?
Product Marketing is usually pulled in 17 directions at any given time so saying "no" is more important than saying "yes". What is the singular highest point of contribution?
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
This really depends on your business model, the org structure, and company norms, but I can share the mission we developed for the PMM team here at Gong.  PMM deeply understands our customers, products, and market in order to deliver the right product, to the right audience, with the right mes......Read More
756 Views
1 request
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
Both are super valuable, and gaining experience in both will make you a well-rounded PMM. Great for when you lead a team in the future :) That being said, it also depends on what you enjoy. Having done both, PLG PMM work feels more B2C to me, where most of my time was spent working with campai......Read More
664 Views
2 requests
Victoria Chernova
Victoria Chernova
Gong Director, Product MarketingJune 9
This depends on the company's norms and how different teams have been set up. I've seen user research lead this entirely, and I've also seen a dedicated "Voice of the Customer" program manager who wrangled all internal listening channels.  One area where I've seen PMM historically drive a ton ......Read More
639 Views
1 request