AMA: Homebase Senior Director Product Marketing, Jennifer Kay on Building a Product Marketing Team

I think a universal experience among product marketers is that the role and contribution of product marketing is highly dependent on the company or organization that you are working for/ applying to- size, focus, where the pmm's sit in the organization, all are influencing factors. To that end, before the hiring process even begins, I spend a lot of time getting clarity on the purpose + goals + focus of the role and the outcomes that need to be achieved. It's from there that I start to create a framework of interview questions that will align and assess to the top needs and then I'll develop a pretty robust conversation and interview track from there. That said, here are the big three that I always come back to: - How do you as a candidate define the role of product marketing? When you think about your last couple of roles, what has product marketing been responsible for owning, and why do you think that was the same or different in the organizations you worked for? -Tell me about your current customers. What do I need to know about them in order to successfully market to them? -What are you wanting to learn or unlock for yourself in your next role.

I really appreciate this question and to be candid, it's a challenge that scales up and down, whether your moving from an IC to having your first direct report all the way up to when you run a department and have several product marketers reporting to you. My best piece of advice here is to be highly structured in how you approach your work phases + set time aside for each phase of your work and to be absolutely ruthless about your calendar. 

In my own experience as an individual contributor as well as a leader of a pmm team, I've consistently had better results when pmm is divided by product line rather than function. This allows for greater ownership as well as the ability to learn and develop your skills across the full pmm practice. 

My advice for a mostly remote consultant is very similiar to that for any product marketer, on or offsite. First and foremost, make it a top priority to invest and build relationships with your key working partners and stakeholders. Create a regular reoccuring cadence for 1:1's or working meetings and make the time to dialogue on the vision, goals, and strategy of the things you are working on. Early on in your consultancy, ask a lot of questions so you can start to build out your own point of view and frame what it is that your stakeholders are prioritizing. I'd also recommend that early on you establish the practice of bringing insights and a point of view reguarly to your partners, so that you establish yourself as a resource and expert that they can rely on- ie. voice of customer, competitive research, messaging, etc.