AMA: Salesforce Vice President Product Marketing, Rekha Srivatsan on Establishing Product Marketing

Great question and one that comes up all the time! The structure of the PMM team can vary depending on the size of the organization, the nature of the product, and other factors. I lead the Service Cloud PMM team, the largest cloud for Salesforce. So, it is a mature product with a billion+ annual revenue. So, my team is structured by the product portfolio, and I have one team that leads the strategic PMM initiatives like AR, PR, Launches, Website, etc. Each PMM on my team needs to be the product ...Read More

Communicating product marketing updates and activities effectively to the rest of the company is crucial for ensuring alignment and support across different departments. There are a few different ways: Slack, obviously! We have a channel for everything, so once we wrap up a project/launch/event - we share updates on the right channels. We also do a monthly recap of all marketing activities to all the key stakeholders. The key here is being concise and metrics-centric. You lose the audience quick ...Read More

When you are new to a PMM role, take the time to understand the product, business, people, and customers. For the first 30 days just take the time to do a listening tour from your key stakeholders to your customers. Be diligent about it and this will be the biggest foundation of your role. Gather your notes, and when you go through them, you will learn everything about your target market and how you can serve them better. Once you have that foundation, dive into the messaging. You have a fresh p ...Read More

Setting up a Product Marketing function for the first time in an organization requires careful planning and strategic execution. Here's a general outline of a 30-60-90 day plan to help you establish a Product Marketing function effectively: First 30 Days: Understanding and Planning Understand the Business: Dive into the company's products, services, and overall business strategy. Meet with key stakeholders, including product managers, sales, and leadership, to gain insights into the company's go ...Read More

The easiest way to break into product marketing is within your current company. Don't try to break into product marketing at a new company — it will be an uphill battle. You have a few pros trying to break into PMM at the current company: You already know the product, target market, and the business. Here's what you can do: Start having coffee chats with your PMM team. PMM at every company is very different, so understand their role and responsibilities more. See if you can do a joint project wi ...Read More