AMA: Quickbase VP of Product Marketing, Sarah Din on Product Marketing Skills

The skill that matters most - no matter what level of experience or whether you are in b2b vs b2c is - storytelling! To be a great PMM you have to be good at telling stories.

If you can do an internship during school, i highly recommend that - it gives you exposure to the role and will make for an easier transition - plus it helps build your network. Additionally, if you can do consulting work, there is always a need for that - that will also help you do the same. The key things to focus on is - understanding the launch process and how that works,  understanding the voice of customer and how to incorporate that into anything you do, and getting good at writing!

Product marketing is an art and a science - while you want to make decisions based on data, you also have to use creativity to make bold moves. Decisions should be data-informed, with room to experiment and use instinct and knowledge of customers and the market to back up your assumptions.

If you think the interviewer isn’t asking you the right questions to dig into the softer skills, bring it up yourself. The way I would do it is by asking them the question of what soft skills, outside of XYZ, they care about for this hire. Or you can ask them what soft skills do some of their best PMMs have? What does it take to be successful at that company?

And then work in your experience and areas where you excel.

Participate in solving bigger cross-company challenges across the org where your experience can make a difference - for example: pricing & packaging, helping understand churn, digging into win-loss, etc. 

The goal is to find areas of opportunity where something is broken or not performing and figure out a way to support the effort.

• Build great relationships across the org

• Have a strong internal brand associated with something people look to you for (Ex, you are the goto person for X) - show value and expertise you bring

• Strong communication, presentation and storytelling skills will take you really far

Really depends on the need - if the role is looking for someone to jump in and get started immediately with some critical projects, chances are the hard skills are going to outweigh the soft skills, but every manager will think about this differently. I think you need a balance of both - hard skills can be learned, soft skills are harder to teach :)

Depends on what this email is for but generally: Keep it short, and to the point. Make it interesting and fun - humor never fails. You want to frame the benefit for them - that is the most important thing to consider.

While it's extremely important for PMMs to focus on the customer-facing aspect of their jobs, its equally as important to focus on the internal enablement and comms - half our job is to bring others in the company along and make sure they speak the same language and understand your product and differentiation for example. I’ve seen a lot of teams get lost in delivering campaigns but fail to bring others along across the org.

You want to understand your competitors but more than that, you need to understand the core value of your product and tie that to the customer value you provide. This does not always need to be your product capabilities - it can be your company’s vision, history, or people's expertise, or your community, etc. 

The goal is not to get hung up on features but rather play on the emotional side of why customers should choose you - and then why they should choose you over others.

I've always tapped into my network to find the best talent. It is also really helpful to be part of communities like Sharebird, where so much great talent lives!

A lot of companies still don't understand product marketing. I often see companies look for PMMs but also ask for them to be demand gen or content writers or brand marketers - and in some companies, if that's what is needed, that is what you do. But the companies that understand the value of good product marketing will give PMMs the space to lead GTM strategy and focus on messaging, positioning, and the insights that are critical to doing all of that well.