National Basketball Association Senior Director, Marketing, Kristen Brophy on Building Product Marketing Team

Kristen Brophy

SVP, Marketing

I'm on my 5th year of product marketing in my career, with another 5 years before that in general demand gen at very small companies.  I've had management experience in the past, but not in a Product Marketing role.  Often times in smaller companies, there will be 1 or 2 PMMs, usually in a very flat hierarchy, or a single boss, with no room to really move up a proverbial ladder and into management experience.  So what are ways that I can prepare myself now, so that if the time comes to apply for a Director position (either internally or at another company) that I can be considered even without recent people management experience? Are there any courses for this that are highly regarded in the management arena?

I don't want to just be a launch project manager or a new releases copywriter.

(context: small company, still establishing product marketing function, no senior marketing leader to guide, lots of room to carve own path, looking for best ways to support success!) 

Ex) <10  employees you meet with CEO and Head of Product—how does this change when you're 100, 500, 1000 employees?

Does it differ vs. more regional launches? 

Often for Global Product Marketing roles, having prior "global" experience is a stated requirement. 

i want to know who i need to hire to start my product marketing team. We are starting with product insights, product launches and sales enablement

We only have one product at HoneyBook but PMM does a lot of different things, ie, lifecycle marketing, research, competitive, feature launches, etc.

What channel/form, what content do you include, formats, etc.

It can sometimes be a struggle for those on the executive team, or in higher leadership roles, to see the value that product marketing is bringing to the business - especially if they do not have regular interaction. How do you build visibility for you and/or your team, and clearly communicate the achievements and activities throughout the year? 

AMA: National Basketball Association Senior Director, Marketing, Kristen Brophy on Building Product Marketing Team

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