AMA: Klue Senior Director of Product Marketing, Jason Oakley on Establishing Product Marketing

I don't split it out into 30-60-90 day increments, but within that period, these are the things I'd suggest doing: Get to know your product - get demo certified, the same as your AEs Start building key relationships internally - have lots of 1:1s Create battlecards for your top 2-3 competitors Put your positioning on paper Define a product launch process Set up your internal communication channels Perform a content audit and find the gaps that need filling Gather the tools, templates, frameworks ...Read More

I can't think of three good ones right now, so I'll give you two of my favourite: Saying yes to everythingWhen you come in as the first PMM, people are going to be throwing projects at you left and right. It's easy to say yes to everything, after all, who wants to say "no" in their first month on the job. But it's important to set the precedent that everything can't be your top priority right away. At Klue, I'm hopping on calls with as many people as I can and asking them for their top prioritie ...Read More

I'm still trying to master this one, but here is what I do. Create your PMM Charter With the input of your boss and other leaders in the company, you'll first want to define what PMM looks like at your org. This helps set the guardrails for what product marketing is repsonsible for at your org and what your main objectives are. This will take into consideration what the top priorities are for company leadership.   Set out on a priority finding mission In your first month or so, you have the oppo ...Read More

Sales win rate, more specifically competitive win rateMake sure that you're reps are populating a "primary competitor" field in your CRM so you can track this effectively. You'll then be able to track win rates over time and show how your efforts to enable your team with competitive content is driving you win rates up.  Influenced deals Is your PMM team responsible for things like customer references, creating custom content (ie. decks or leave behinds), or generally brought in to help on strate ...Read More

They know very little about our market, product, and competitors, and haven't really made an effort to learn.  One way to stand out in the interview process is to show that you have a solid understanding of what the company does. If you can confidently speak about their competitors, talk about their product, show you understand their market, you will impress them. They'll have confidence in your ability to hit the ground running, and you'll show you took the initiative to learn about their space ...Read More

Know the product and their role (product management) well. In my experience, I've been able to build credibility with PMs by being able to speak their language, communicate in tools like Jira, Confluence, Miro, Figma, that they use every day to do their job.  While product knowledge is important, market and competitive knowledge is a huge asset for PMs and something they often don't have. If you can bring that to the table, you'll be seen as a valued partner.  I've also experienced a tension bet ...Read More

I actually did a presentation on this about a month ago, which you can watch here.  I don't split it out into 30-60-90 day increments, but within that period, these are the things I'd suggest doing: Get to know your product - if your sales team has demo training, consider going through the same process Start building key relationships internally - have lots of 1:1s Create battlecards for your top 2-3 competitors Put your positioning on paper Define a product launch process Set up your internal c ...Read More

I think it's a hugely valuable and strategic relationship.  Sales Enablement is invested in the growth and performance of the sales team. They provide the systems, processes, and tools that reps need to ramp quickly, and continue hitting their quota. They ususally have credibility amongst the sales team and reps listen to what they say/ask.  For Product Marketers, this is a huge strategic partner. Our messaging, content, tools, etc. provide valuable content Sales Enablement can use in their trai ...Read More

It's challenging because there are so many overlaps, but I think it boils down to clear, consistent communication. And maybe breaking it down into how you work (or don't work) together on a project-by-project level.  For example, on a product release, your committee will likely include people from each of these teams. When you set out the plan for that launch it's important to clearly define who own what. After enough releases, you all should be in lock step for how you work together on those pa ...Read More

A lot of this depends on the size, stage, and goals of the company, but here's how I suggest approaching prioritization.  Create your PMM Charter With the input of your boss and other leaders in the company, you'll first want to define what PMM looks like at your org. This helps set the guardrails for what product marketing is repsonsible for at your org and what your main objectives are. This will take into consideration what the top priorities are for company leadership. Set out on a priority ...Read More

Assuming you were hired for this role, I think that this type of conversation should ideally happen before you accept the job. Asking a question like "what vision does the CMO, Founder, CEO, executive team, etc. have for this role?" Even just digging into the job description and asking for more detail. If their perception is something wildly different than yours, you might not want to take the job.  But that doesn't really answer your question... So, if you find yourself in this position as a ne ...Read More

I'll start by saying that I love the initiative you're taking to break into product marketing. It sounds like you are doing a lot of the right things. A lot more than most who are in your shoes.  I think my first question would be why are you preferring to look externally for your first PMM role? If joining your PMM team is a possibility, I would definitely encourage you to consider it. It sounds like you're already helping out on some projects, and you clearly understand your product, customer, ...Read More

It's hard to give a specific answer here because every company is unique, but here are some things to think about: How experienced are you as a PMM?If you've built and managed multiple PMM teams in the past, you already have a solid understanding of the types of people you're looking for, how you plan to structure your team, what "great" looks like in every role. In that case you'll want to give yourself 2-3 months to get the lay of the land at your company, but then you might as well start buil ...Read More

Great question. I don't actually know if it has to start with generalists and lead to specialists. I've been at some companies, like Chili Piper for example, that have 100% generalists who own specific product lines.  I definitely agree that at least the first PMM should be a generalist. But at Klue for example, I'm adding two specialists as my first two hires just because they are internal team members who have been doing the roles of customer marketing and competitive enablement already. I had ...Read More