AMA: Intercom Group Product Marketing Manager, Christine Sotelo-Dag on Building Product Marketing Team

Our product marketing org strucuture is made up of 6 groups. Most of our groups are aligned directly to product, and how product strucutres their org. So each product group that is focused on building customer facing product - has a PMM group aligned to it. We refer to these PMMs as "full stack" PMMs partnering closely with product in defining roadmap and scope and GTM teams in bringing new products and features to market. We also have a group focused on enablement - supporting our customer facing teams with industry and segment positioning and messaging, customer facing assets, content and more. I will say that our team has evolved many times over the years, and we continue to be flexible and adapt to the needs of the business. PMM orgs need to take into account a companies gtm strategy, product strategy, etc and adapt as those things evolve as well. 

I think this depends largely on the size of an update - and the audience. For our largest releases, they are communicated early and often - to drum up excitement. Through company all hands, sales trainings, slack channels, etc. For mid-sized and smaller updates, we'll leverage the internal channels that make the most sense for the internal audience. If its sales, we'll update via our bi-weekly newsletter, slack channels, internal knoweldgebase docs on what to know, as one example. Each internal audience has their own channels and communication styles they prefer - and usually we work within their preferences. 

My advice is to work on building relationship with the Product org. Proactively find ways you can bring them value - whether it be through market or competitive insights, product teardowns, industry knowledge, customer insights, etc. Find out what information they wish they had more of, and figure out how you can bring that to them. This partnership is so important for PMMs - and will help break down the metaphorical wall that stands between product and marketing, that products are tossed over to be shipped. This relationship should be bi-lateral. 

Although our company hasn't been officially remote, our Product teams all sit in Dublin, Ireland - while our PMMs are all sitting in San Francisco. Of course this physical (and time) difference poses some challenges - we've worked on some strategies that have helped bridge the gap. - Make sure to set up regular checkins with your product counterparts. This may not feel informal, but it's important to stay connected - even if there isn't anything immenent to ship to market. Take the time to understand whats top of mind for product. what they wish they had more of, if they had more time. - Ask to join their product forums, or product rituals. Even if they are not at a time that works for you, ask they be recorded (especially if important information is being shared). - Carve out time to understand your market better, do some competitive research, or customer interviews - and share your findings with your product teams (proactively). It may take time to build these relationships, so also be patient - and slowly work on breaking down any walls or being willing to meet product where they are. 

From my hiring experience there are typically there are a few key characteristics and examples I look out for * Has to be a great storyteller - go beyond writing copy, and able to craft narratives * Ability to take complex topics and translate them into value * Customer-centric * Cross-functional / team players * Organized, ability to prioirtize and pull together disperate workstreams 

The most straightforward way to manage this might be to divide the products between the two of you in an even way - where each of you has a clear line of ownership, end-to-end, of your skews. This will be less messy to untangle as you hire new pmms, where you can hand off speficic product areas in a clean way. As far as there only being 2 of you, and multiple/complex products - once you're clear in what you own, work to prioritize the product areas that are aligned to business impact. Which products are the most healthy for the business and how can you prioritize these areas in the short term? 

Some of the low hanging fruit here would be setting up team rituals - team meetings, slack channels, team hubs, etc. Some of the more logistical processes would include setting up a shared launch calendar to have a shared source of truth. Defining a tiering framework for launching products. Establishing areas of ownership and alignment to product and/or audience and/or sales. Find ways to templatize work that you'll be dividing amongst yourselves - messaging guides, pricing frameworks, naming conventions, launch activities, etc. 

I wouldn't under estimate solid PMM expierence, but I wouldn't let lack of direct PMM experience be a blocker either. As you've calledo out, being a well-rounded marketer/communicator is really important. My perspective is, if someone can demonstrate they are a solid story-teller - can take product and technical messages and translate them into customer value, this usually sits at the heart of PMM skillsets. This skill is so important in being able to support GTM stakeholders. I'd also spend time understanding how candidates problem solve. Do they start with identifying the problem, or are they looking to jump straight into solutions. This will help define what kind of partner this person would be to their product counterparts. With a solid interview and take home assignment, these are usually skills that can be detected quickly.

There are a few things you'll want to establish and get alignment on right out of the gates. 1. Establish a tiering framework. Define what a large product launch looks like (tier 1) and what would qualify a product / feature to be a tier 1 - and what activities would be aligned to it. Do the same for the smaller launch tiers as well, and make sure your product counterparts are aligned. This will help set expectations and ensure launches are aligned to specific gaols. 2. Define the jobs your product enables customers to do (JTBD). This will help define positioning and messaging and audience - all the things that are essential for bringing your product to market. It will help how you tell your product story. 3. Build a relationship with your product org. Find out the ways in which you can bring value - market insights, competitive teardowns, be the voice of the customer, represent sales orgs, etc. As the first PMM, these are some foundations you can lay to help scale more effeciently.