AMA: Microsoft Head of Marketing for Viva Goals and Viva Learning, Alina Fu on Developing Your Product Marketing Career

January 25, 2023 @ 9:00AM PT

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How do you stand out in a pool of product marketing candidates? What kinds of experiences, or which characteristics/traits, do employers care about most?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

Every company has its own system or values that they look for during candidate review. During interviews, especially at larger enterprise companies, the recruiter or hiring manager usually has a rubric that assesses how much the candidate fulfills the criteria. Here are what stands out for me in a pool of PMM candidates: 1. Achievement - how do they take initiative and demonstrate that they are results-oriented 2. Influence - how do they convey ideas that can influence others without formal auth ...Read More

4,268 Views

3 requests
What size company have you found product marketing to be the hardest at? Where has it been most satisfying?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

All size companies have their own set of challenges. From what I’ve heard from colleagues and friends, Series A companies may be more challenging for PMMs because of where they are in their product-market fit journey, how they regard Marketing/PMM, and what their urgent needs are. PMMs get quite unhappy when other teams throw stuff at them without involving them in the process. This happens a lot at any stage company, unfortunately.

600 Views

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What are 3 most important hard skills that a product marketing needs? Hard skills for example: coding, data analytics, communication, etc

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

If I could only pick 3, it would be: Storytelling Competitive insights Customer-obsessed Telling a story isn’t just filling out a messaging and positioning framework but about being able to pitch a narrative on why status quo is broken, paint what that world would look like, and why your product will address the need. Layer in competitive insights in your analysis about the market, trends, and competitors to highlight your product’s differentiators and you can go even farther. Finally, doing all ...Read More

2,915 Views

3 requests
What advise would you give someone who is trying to break into product marketing?
Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y
Like any good first meeting, ask yourself some discovery questions:

What do I enjoy doing the most at work?

Why do I want to get into product marketing?

What products do I think are marketed well? Why?

What products can be marketed better? How would I market it differently?

Did I enjoy thinking about these discovery questions? If so, try to break into PMM!
1,844 Views
1 request
While looking at next level roles, how do you overcome hiring bias for the same domain. Your career history is what it is. Very few, if any, hiring managers are willing to look at the broad horizontal PMM skills that a candidate brings to the table.

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I think that depends on the hiring manager. I would even go so far as to suggest maybe you haven’t found the right role or HM who is looking for that broad horizontal PMM or you may be under-leveling yourself. As you become more senior, that is when the broad horizontal PMM skills come into play. It also has to do a lot with the culture of hiring at said company. I’ve worked at a company where they are looking for that ALMOST-EXACT fit and domain expertise; I’ve worked at a company where they di ...Read More

2,003 Views

2 requests
How is your PMM team structured?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I structure my PMM teams based on a blend of the following: What are the goals of the PMM team How the PMM team will be measured (this is related to how the company regards the PMM team) What is the vision of an ideal PMM team I believe in an end-to-end approach to Product Marketing. Some companies focus primarily on outbound PMM while some companies emphasize inbound PMM - I like my PMM team to cover both. Additionally, it depends on the headcount allocation and who is already on the team. I’ve ...Read More

1,895 Views

1 request
I would like to become a people manager and a strategic leader, whatever the attached title may be, from a senior PMM that I currently hold. How can I achieve this?

I have the opportunity to do so in a company that is rapidly growing, I believe. What kind of education should I look for? How should I signal this internally even if the role doesn't exist? To what extent should I be explicit about the need to create this role and my suitabilty?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

How much do you trust your manager/management chain? I’ve had direct reports who share their career aspirations with me, even if it’s a role outside of my team, and I count myself lucky that they trust me enough to share that. When they did, I would put them on projects that would expose them to the opportunity to build those skills. When I was at Google, they offered 20% projects and that allowed my direct report to experience what the other role would be like. I believe in nurturing people’s p ...Read More

1,827 Views

1 request
What do you enjoy most about Product Marketing? What do you dislike?
Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y
All of my roles have been satisfying for different reasons.

I have found that I get most excited when I:

Learn new skills and enjoy doing the “grunt” work

Have a solid set of team members that I connect with

Am in an org where PMM is valued and influential

There will always be ups and downs with any role at any company based on the timing. However, the people are what really keeps me at a place for long!
1,533 Views
1 request
What is the best place to find a Product Marketing mentor?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

Your network, your manager’s network, your company’s leaders, other companies’ leaders that you admire, etc. The worst thing that could happen is that they say “sorry, I am too busy right now” so if they are busy, ask if they have anyone they would recommend. I also attend a lot of events and if I find someone I connect with and we have a good rapport, I will ask them directly as well. Don’t be afraid to ask - people want to help others if they can!

1,377 Views

1 request
What is your day to day like? Could you describe a day in your life?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I have a lot of meetings (sometimes triple booked) where a lot of context switching occurs every 30 min or so. I don’t say this to scare you off but to caution you that PMMs are one of the most interdisciplinary roles you can have and are the intersection between Product, Marketing, Sales and Customer Success/Experience. If you are fine with multi-tasking, managing multiple workstreams, and collaborating ALL THE TIME, you will enjoy it like I do!

1,302 Views

1 request
What are the factors you considered when you chose to pursue B2B vs. B2C product marketing? Can you comment on the different career trajectory of B2B vs B2C product marketers?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I’ve held both B2B and B2C PMM roles and while they are definitely different, there are also similarities. Let’s start with what they have in common: Capturing customer insights Focusing on outbound marketing Defining a marketing strategy Where you start to diverge is how much resources, time and output you may deliver within the PMM scope. When I was in a B2C PMM role, I spent WAY more time in UXR, market research and walking through the customer journey; in my B2B PMM role, I focused my attent ...Read More

1,301 Views

1 request
What is the single most important thing to consider when choosing a company?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

The people.

I choose roles based on who I will learn from, collaborate with, and interact with. The people at the C-Suite/executive level and the people on your immediate team have a lot of impact on what you want to achieve and how you go about your role. Then the people outside of your team influences how you and your role are perceived. Overall, people make up the culture, impact your emotional/mental/physical well-being, and determine whether you enjoy spending most of your time with them.

1,240 Views

1 request
What are the top industry skills a junior PMM should be honing in order to level up to a PMM?
Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y
My junior PMMs have so much energy and enthusiasm but sometimes they miss the bigger picture. Thus, I would recommend honing in on:

Clear and concise communication

Strategic thinking and GTM planning

Being thorough - what impact does X have on Y

I’ve noticed that junior PMMs usually get outbound marketing roles and believe that’s a great way to get used to how we communicate product launches, digital marketing and customer marketing.
1,235 Views
1 request
When do you know it's time to move on versus digging in and trying to shape an org or a role the way you want it?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

You move on.

If you haven’t found success or there isn’t a concrete plan to change things it sounds like you have outgrown the role/team/company. It could be for a variety of reasons, some of which are outside of your manager’s control. There may also be a disconnect between your vision of the ideal role and what the organization needs at the moment.

I would ask myself - if this isn't what I want to do, is it worth sticking around?

1,230 Views

1 request
How did you start your career in product marketing?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

You can say that I fell into product marketing fortuitously. I started my career at Intel as a Technical Marketing Engineer (TME) role because I wanted to be customer-facing but my education was in Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences. I took this TME role because I am very extroverted and love to figure out what motivates others. When I graduated, I was offered a Product Manager role (had no idea what that was at the time or how “hot” it would become) because of my degree and I really e ...Read More

1,214 Views

1 request
I often hear that a big part of being a good PMM is having an "executive presence" and being a top-notch communication. As an introvert, I find this very intimidating—I love product marketing but feel like the odds are stacked against me. Any advice? Is it possible to be introverted and a good PMM?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I am an extrovert so I will share my observations. I have managed introverts on my team and they were excellent PMMs. They were super methodical, analytical and thorough. I truly valued what they brought to the team dynamic. Part of being a great manager is being able to assess people’s strengths and interests, and amplify their potential by placing them in the right role or giving them projects that would make them stand out. As PMMs, we need to be able to have great written and verbal communic ...Read More

1,207 Views

1 request
How important is it that PMMs have experience in other roles whether that is marketing communication, sales, development or any other department PMMs typically partner with?

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I get this question a lot and I think it’s dependent on the hiring manager and the need at the time (stage of the company, maturity of the market, product-market fit, how ARR/NDR is doing, etc) I personally hire candidates that have completely different backgrounds and strengths from each other. I’ve hired people from sales roles, biz dev roles, product management roles, customer success roles etc. The reason is that I structure my PMM team to embrace the entire lifecycle of a product: from conc ...Read More

1,166 Views

1 request
As the sole PMM in my company, can you explain how product marketing roles evolve in terms of responsibilities and salary—from entry-level to mid-senior positions—and discuss the trade-offs between being an individual contributor and managing a team?

I'm currently the only PMM at my company and have noticed a range of job titles and responsibilities, including entry-level roles that seem to have a broad scope. I'm looking to understand the career progression in product marketing, specifically how roles advance in responsibilities and compensation, and what the pros and cons are of remaining an individual contributor versus moving into a management role.

Alina Fu

Microsoft Director, M365 Copilot for storytelling and narratives, sales enablement, and compete • 3y

I’ve been the only PMM several times and think it only works if you LOVE being a PMM. Some people call PMM the “quarterback” who is charting the marketing strategy. Others refer to the PMM as the hub in a marketing hub and spoke model. I’ve also heard it described as being the CMO for your product. All of these analogies resonate strongly with me. When I was the only PMM, I had to prioritize ruthlessly and do it all. What made it more challenging was that I gravitated towards incubation products ...Read More

723 Views

1 request

AMA: Microsoft Head of Marketing for Viva Goals and Viva Learning, Alina Fu on Developing Your Product Marketing Career

View AMA Answers

How do you stand out in a pool of product marketing candidates? What kinds of experiences, or which characteristics/traits, do employers care about most?

What size company have you found product marketing to be the hardest at? Where has it been most satisfying?

What are 3 most important hard skills that a product marketing needs? Hard skills for example: coding, data analytics, communication, etc

What advise would you give someone who is trying to break into product marketing?

While looking at next level roles, how do you overcome hiring bias for the same domain. Your career history is what it is. Very few, if any, hiring managers are willing to look at the broad horizontal PMM skills that a candidate brings to the table.

How is your PMM team structured?

I would like to become a people manager and a strategic leader, whatever the attached title may be, from a senior PMM that I currently hold. How can I achieve this?

What do you enjoy most about Product Marketing? What do you dislike?

What is the best place to find a Product Marketing mentor?

What is your day to day like? Could you describe a day in your life?

What are the factors you considered when you chose to pursue B2B vs. B2C product marketing? Can you comment on the different career trajectory of B2B vs B2C product marketers?

What is the single most important thing to consider when choosing a company?

What are the top industry skills a junior PMM should be honing in order to level up to a PMM?

When do you know it's time to move on versus digging in and trying to shape an org or a role the way you want it?

How did you start your career in product marketing?

How important is it that PMMs have experience in other roles whether that is marketing communication, sales, development or any other department PMMs typically partner with?

As the sole PMM in my company, can you explain how product marketing roles evolve in terms of responsibilities and salary—from entry-level to mid-senior positions—and discuss the trade-offs between being an individual contributor and managing a team?