Sharebird
Sign Up / Sign In
Sean Lauer

AMA: Instruqt VP of Marketing, Sean Lauer on Building a Product Marketing Team

June 26, 2024 @ 10:00AM PT

View AMA Answers

Sean Lauer

VP of Marketing · AUGMENTT

👋 Sean Lauer (Charlotte, NC)

💼 VP Marketing at Augmentt. Previously VP Marketing at Instruqt, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Mural, and Global Product Marketing at Twitter.

🧪 Currently deep in an ICP, positioning, and messaging refresh and loving the mix of strategy, customer insight, and wordsmithing

🤝 Always happy to chat: marketing, product marketing, positioning and messaging, GTM strategy, technical marketing, sales enablement, customer education, and product strategy

🍦 Favorite ice cream: One Sweet Whirled (RIP, Ben & Jerry’s… bring it back)

  1. How can you measure the value of what a product marketer does? How can you make executives perceive this value?

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    When managing a PMM team that covers multiple products or is matrixed, high-level or aggregate metrics are key. While more granular data may be needed to drive specific metrics, you need to measure the team at a higher level to measure overall team health. By looking at team-level metrics, leaders can get valuable insights into how their PMM team is doing. Here are some examples: Team NPS (by internal stakeholder groups) Adoption of new features Product usage (DAU or MAU) Customer retention Lead ...Read More

    3,340 Views
    2 requests

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

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    A lot of people will sum up the role of PMM as "the voice of the customer." However, this explanation falls short of clearly defining swim lanes and also crosses into other areas like customer marketing, content marketing, research, etc. In my opinion, the simplest way to describe the PMM role is "the voice of the product." Here's why: As the voice of the product, you need to be focused on both the inbound and outbound sides of PMM As the voice of the product, you need to be the connective tissu ...Read More

    1,171 Views
    2 requests

  3. What metrics do you measure product marketing on at a team level (when there are multiple products and multiple product marketing teams)?

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    When managing a PMM team that covers multiple products or is matrixed, high-level or aggregate metrics are key. While more granular data may be needed to drive specific metrics, you need to measure the team at a higher level to measure overall team health. By looking at team-level metrics, leaders can get valuable insights into how their PMM team is doing. Here are some examples: Team NPS (by internal stakeholder groups) Adoption of new features Product usage (DAU or MAU) Customer retention Lead ...Read More

    854 Views
    2 requests

  4. What are the key strategies to start with if I am the first Product Marketing Manager in a rapidly scaling-up business?

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    As a new PMM in a rapidly expanding business, it's important to prioritize the following: Build the foundation: Lay the groundwork by conducting thorough market and customer research. This is the key to refining the positioning of the product and crafting compelling messaging that resonates with the target audience. Focus on "one-to-many" deliverables: Leverage your skills to create scalable marketing programs and strategies that can effectively reach and engage with various stakeholders simulta ...Read More

    445 Views
    2 requests

  5. What kind of product marketing types are there? What does a "full stack" product marketer look like to you?

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    For me, a full-stack product marketer is someone who is proficient in both inbound and outbound PMM. You can work with key stakeholders like sales, customer success, product, marketing peers, and even the executive leadership team (PMM is, after all, directly tied to strategy). You’re a Swiss Army Knife when it comes to being the voice of the product and can solve problems no matter what is thrown your way. In most cases, you’ll flex different skill sets up and down depending on the product itse ...Read More

    1,813 Views
    2 requests

  6. What cross functional KPIs do you leverage for alignment between product marketing, product, sales and customer success?

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    The KPIs will differ between PMM and other teams, depending on the stakeholders involved: Product and PMM collaboration success can be measured by: Product feature adoption DAUs/MAUs Customer NPS or CSAT Sales and PMM collaboration success can be measured by: Leads generated Lead conversion (i.e. MQL to SQL) Sales cycle Win/loss rates New business revenue Customer Success and PMM collaboration success can be measured by: Revenue retention Churn rate DAUs/MAUs Product feature adoption Expansion r ...Read More

    729 Views
    2 requests

  7. How do you break up responsibilities when you're the first and only PMM and now you are hiring a new PMM to work under you? In a fast growing SAAS startup?

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    It's important to note that the answer to this question will vary from company to company. First, you should have a good understanding of the current situation in order to identify the most pressing needs. Where are the biggest fires? Where can your effort make the biggest impact? It's also crucial to be aware of your own strengths and weaknesses. I strongly believe in hiring to complement your weaknesses. You don't have to excel at everything. Instead, hire someone who can take on tasks and fre ...Read More

    443 Views
    2 requests

  8. What factors should you consider when building out a team and allocating products in portfolio?

    I am restructuring my team of three and we look after a portfolio of 7 products (4 proactive, 3 reactive). I am the team lead and I have 2 more junior-mid level PMMs.

    Sean Lauer
    Sean Lauer

    AUGMENTT VP of Marketing | Formerly Instruqt, Mural, Twitter, Anheuser-Busch InBev • 2y

    When setting up a PMM team consider:

    • Who is the product for and is it a single use case or multiple audience’s

    • Do you need deep technical knowledge to understand and market the product

    • The product management team structure

    • The sales team (or lack thereof)

    • The current and future marketing functions in the company

    • What drives the product growth, is it sales, marketing, the product itself or a combination of these, Product-Led Growth (PLG) or Sales-Led Growth (SLG)

    855 Views
    3 requests