AMA: Plaid Product Marketing Lead, Valerie Angelkos on PMM Soft and Hard Skills
May 24 @ 9:00AM PT
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What should I do when I don't think that the feedback from my boss is correct and how do I approach it?
I get a lot of critical feedback from my boss and I don't always know what to do with it or how to improve. Sometimes I don't even agree with the feedback.
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
First of all - I empathize with you and I know it's hard to receive critical feedback, but I applaud your interest in wanting to do something about this feedback and impr...
421 Views
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What advice do you have for recent graduates that want to go straight into product marketing?
Typically, these roles require 3-5 years of experience and/or an MBA. Are there roles we should target instead that will help transition into product marketing? What qualities do you want to see in young professionals that want to land in product marketing?
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
Product Marketing Specialists, Associates or General Marketing Specialist roles are good roles to kick-off your career in Product Marketing. They all will require you to ...
1242 Views
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Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
I think it depends ultimately on what the team needs. In a highly technical area, I'd value industry and product knowledge highly, as long as the person is then coachable...
576 Views
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Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
Retention is a hard topic and I personally think a healthy amount of rotation across different companies and roles is critical to develop a robust PMM skillset, so I have...
446 Views
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Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
Messaging for me is both an art and a science. I've seen very good narrative building frameworks and courses around that can you help you nail basic concepts (e.g how to ...
1042 Views
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Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
A couple of others that come to mind: 1. Excellent communication skills and the ability to adapt these to the right audience - whether that's for consumers at scale, cus...
1168 Views
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How do you recommend working in my soft skills and their importance in the job interview when not directly asked?
I find that interviewers very often focus on the hard skills, but I think it’s the soft skills that can make/break a candidate. I usually try to highlight my soft skills within the context of my “STAR” stories.
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
I'd weave these topics in as you answer the hard skill questions. Depending on your examples, theu could be easier to be included. Things to touch upon: 1. Leadership + ...
907 Views
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How important are brand marketing skills for product marketers compared to analytical skills?
There is often a huge emphasis on analytical skills, instead of brand marketing skills, when it comes to product marketing job descriptions.
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
Understanding how Brand Marketing works is critical to succeed in Product Marketing as these two teams work closely together to bring any Marketing and Product work to li...
1139 Views
3 requests
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
Product Marketers should be user/customer-centric, insights-driven, and data-driven. Understanding what users/customers need with breadth (at scale, representative of you...
1269 Views
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Can you share more about your transition from CPG brand management to Product Marketing Management in tech? What advice do you have for those who are currently in CPG Brand Management, already have an MBA, and are looking to pivot into PMM in Tech?
What experiences did you find to be most translatable and valuable? What experiences and/or certifications should we seek to better prepare us for this transition?
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
I personally used my MBA to transition from CPG to Tech. However, I've seen many do so without an MBA and generally speaking, it is possible by focusing on transferable s...
1744 Views
2 requests
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
I started my career in Marketing (Brand Marketing, CPG) and always loved the intersection of consumer/customers, brand building, and business ownership. I went to busines...
1269 Views
3 requests
Howl VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Google • 3y
Most of my career has been spent in Marketing and I used my MBA to transition industries (from CPG to Tech) and location (from Latin America/regional teams to the United ...
2966 Views
2 requests