It's funny, I've been working on a deck looking at exactly this question.
It's fascinating how much it varies from company to company. We're moving to a
place where the distinctions between product ma
TAGS
AllAnalyst RelationshipsBrand StrategyBuilding a Product Marketing TeamCategory CreationCompetitive PositioningConsumer Product MarketingCustomer MarketingDeveloper Product MarketingEnterprise Product MarketingEstablishing Product MarketingGo-To-Market StrategyGrowth Product MarketingIndustry Product MarketingInfluencing the C-SuiteInfluencing the Product RoadmapMarket ResearchMessagingPartner Product MarketingPlatform and Solutions Product MarketingPricing and PackagingProduct LaunchesProduct Marketing 30/60/90 Day PlanProduct Marketing Career PathProduct Marketing / Demand Gen AlignmentProduct Marketing InterviewsProduct Marketing KPI'sProduct Marketing Productivity HacksProduct Marketing SkillsProduct Marketing vs Product ManagementRelease MarketingSales ContentSales EnablementScaling Product MarketingSelf-Serve Product MarketingSMB Product MarketingStakeholder ManagementTechnical Product Marketing
Brand Strategy
There is often a huge emphasis on analytical skills, instead of brand marketing skills, when it comes to product marketing job descriptions.
12 answers
Head of Global Product Marketing at Airbnb • November 30
Director of Product Management, Speech and Video AI at Cisco • January 19
Just a feedback on the last comment, as I reacquaint myself to the "new" bay
area. I have noticed more emphasis on demand gen skills amongst many startups.
If there are stakeholders in the company alr
Sr. Director | Head Of Product & Partner Marketing at Samsara • November 19
First, you can not decouple analytical skills from brand marketing skills. They
are not mutually exclusive. You are right that there is more emphasis on
analytical skills in job description for produc
Senior User Acquisition Manager at Hopper | Formerly Skillz, Telus Health, • January 2
100% agree with Suyog. Nothing we do exists in a vacuum and all of the
positioning and messaging we bring to market should be looked at from a brand
lens to ensure consistency. Ultimately, the consume
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
I definitely appreciate this tension -- and in a perfect world you find the
right mix of both on the team. Analytical skills will benefit our understanding
of market sizing and opportunity, pricing an
Vice President, Product Marketing at Braze • March 10
Analytical skills tend to be the preferred skill set of a product marketer
because they are "running the business". Product Marketers own a product's P&L
and must have the business acumen to drive
VP of Marketing at Blueocean.ai • July 8
Brand is more than just a logo or color palette or tag line. Brand is the
combination of customer touchpoints that create meaning and belonging for that
customer...Brand attracts the customer in the f
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 24
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 life. Brand Marketing thinks ab
Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 6
In my opinion, a big part of Product Marketing is storytelling - connecting the
customers' and prospects' desires and pain points to the capabilities of your
products and solutions. Brand Marketing
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 22
It depends on the role. As Head of Product Marketing at OkCupid, I rely on data
and analytics to drive product decisions. But ultimately, my priority is
ensuring that our product lives up to our brand
8 answers
Head of Marketing, Confluence at Atlassian • October 31
What's the saying, "imitation is the best form of flattery"? It's impossible to
prevent competitors from copying your messaging (and product to some extent
even). Instead of worrying about those tha
Product Marketing Director at Blue Yonder • November 5
You can't stop competitors from copying your product messaging. That will
always happen in highly competitive markets. But organizations can focus on
building differentiated products.
VP, Product at Barracuda Networks • November 14
Two great answers already submitted for this one. I would just add that it's a
good signal when they copy your messaging. That means it's good. Keep talking to
customers as their needs evolve and evol
Product Marketing Director at Eightfold • January 10
Great question! But I'm going to blow up your premise right away: You can't
prevent others from copying you. Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery,
right? So instead of telling you how to dam up
Head of Marketing at Landed • May 7
I’d focus mainly on all the things you can do to stand out: Make your visual
layout, pricing and customer experience unique to further differentiate your
offering from competitors. The messaging is t
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
This is an important question that points to the relationship between brand and
product marketing in context of competitive strategy.Short answer, I wouldn't
optimize around the competition -- as ther
Co-Founder at Messages That Matter • February 13
If you are taking advantage of the power of consistency and repetition, you need
not worry if your competitor copies your product messaging. Since your target
audience will associate your company with
Do you see these as separate, complementary, the same thing, or else?
7 answers
Director of Brand and Product Marketing, Twilio.org at Twilio • July 16
These are all interrelated. Messaging: Includes value propositions, your story,
and pitch. Also includes things like naming, alternatives, and taglines. Value
Proposition: These are the top benefits
Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • July 16
Thanks, Diana. I see Messaging as a broader element and which can be broken
down into: - Corporate / Brand messaging - Segment messaging - Solution or
Product Messaging As for Pitch and Story, I ag
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
Interesting! I'll take a stab at it.My sense is that all of these fall under the
parent bucket of messaging and positioning. Value Proposition is a subset of
messaging that refers to the benefit of th
Head Of Product Marketing at 3Gtms • February 16
Very straightforward question, with anything but a straightforward answer. They
are each distinct... with roughly an 80% overlap with one another. The biggest
differences are whether they are buyer-sp
Product Marketing Director, AR/VR at Meta | Formerly Mozilla, LeapFrog • April 19
I like this kind of question becuase so much time is spent at work getting
humans to agree that we're talking about the same thing. My particular answers
are less important than creating a shared lexi
Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 6
[Warning] Extremely Opinionated Zone starts now :) Value Proposition answers the
question of whether buying your product is a good value exchange for the
customer/prospect. The pain you are reducing
Do you see value in having both roles, e.g. Integrated team works more closely with the creative team on seasonal/holiday/brand campaigns whereas Product Marketing works more closely with the Product team on product launches, user research/insights, positioning strategy, etc. I have found it challenging for Product Marketing to own all of this, and often see different skill sets from marketers who are great at creative brand campaigns vs. PMMs who are skilled at positioning a new product and bringing it to market.
7 answers
Senior Director of Product Marketing, Trust at LinkedIn • August 25
On the Consumer side (where I sit) we have Brand Marketers and Product
Marketers. Product Marketers need to deeply understand the value prop,
positioning and user needs of the product. A big part of t
Head Of Marketing at Tailscale | Formerly Atlassian (Trello), HubSpot, Lyft • June 16
I think there is a ton of value in having these teams work closely but separated
into specific pods. As you noted, there are different skillsets here and they
can be even more effective when given the
Head of Marketing, Google Maps Platform at Google • December 21
At my current company, these roles are different and lean on the different
skills that you mention! That said, at smaller organizations, or even smaller
marketing organizations, you may not have the l
Director, Product Marketing at Amplitude • January 26
I see those as different skills sets and usually different teams but I don't
think there are strict lines in between them. Product Marketers should own the
story, the core positioning and messaging, t
Head of Product Marketing at Ethos Life | Formerly Meta, Microsoft • February 17
Yes, great question! As a PMM, I've always worked closely with a separate
integrated/brand marketing function. The PMM sits closer to product/eng, is more
initimately familiar with the product, owns i
Director of Product Marketing, Global Insights Solutions @ Momentive at Momentive (SurveyMonkey) | Formerly SurveyMonkey, Nielsen • December 6
It's been a while since we've had an integrated marketing function at Momentive,
but here's how I'd envision this working: Product marketing owns: - Buyer
persona research, development, and enablemen
Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 6
I have seen this done differently in different organizations. There is no right
or wrong way. However, I firmly believe that the Product Marketer should own the
narrative for their product. If it is
Writing samples? Case studies?
9 answers
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
I think it depends on what sub-function of PMM you've excelled in (or are
applying for). If more technically-oriented, I'd want to learn about a product
launch that you've been a part of, walk through
Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications at Zendesk • February 4
I would try to highlight anything that shows you have the key skills to be an
effective product marketer. That definitely includes strong writing samples and
case studies like you suggested, but also:
Global VP Marketing at Moloco • May 5
The trifecta of short-form published writing, long-form writing, and enablement
materials always does the trick for me. If I can see the candidate has written a
great feature-related blog post or one-
Sr. Director | Head Of Product & Partner Marketing at Samsara • May 12
Please add the "why" behind why you chose to take on new initiatives. I often
see marketer proposing solutions that are searching for a problem. So, always
start with Why and how your work aligned wit
Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • November 17
Absolutely writing samples! I always ask for those. (As you can tell from my
other answers, communication is something I care deeply about!) Case studies,
landing pages, pitch decks / other enablemen
Head of Product Marketing at Retool • May 4
I've mentioned this framework in other answers, but I believe that great product
marketers are great researchers, storytellers, and project managers. A standout
product marketing portfolio would incl
Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • August 17
The great candidate stands out at every stage of the interview process,
highlighting her & his value prop 😊 PMM portfolio is one more channel to show
how you can help the company. Some practical
Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 6
I am a big fan of writing examples. Writing crisp customer-facing content (blog
posts, data sheets, whitepapers, product pages, etc.) is essential for any
Product Marketer. I must also add that the
4 answers
Senior Director, Product Marketing at Instacart • June 1
Brand plays a critical role in Product Marketing and vice versa. In broad
strokes, campaigns are either Product or Brand-led, and if one is leading, to be
effective the other must be supporting. If we
Head Of Marketing at Tailscale | Formerly Atlassian (Trello), HubSpot, Lyft • June 16
Brand is such an important part of product marketing. Developing a strong brand,
voice, and tone for your product or company lends itself to everything you do
from launching new features to tradeshows
Director of Product Marketing, Global Insights Solutions @ Momentive at Momentive (SurveyMonkey) | Formerly SurveyMonkey, Nielsen • December 6
At Momentive, Brand and Product Marketing are closely aligned, and collaborate
on many initiatives. Here are some examples: Brand<>Product messaging: For brand
messaging, PMM will consult on th
Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 6
A brand is not a logo. It is not a catchy tagline. It is not a color or font
scheme. It is not the visual imagery. It is not the writing style guideline. It
is the sum total of all the experiences an
15 answers
VP of Product Marketing at Oyster® • October 8
At Zapier I approached this by starting with a mission statement to describe why
our team exists and the work we aim to uniquely do for the company: “PMM exists
to maximize Zapier’s market opportuniti
Head of Product Marketing, Cloud at Coinbase | Formerly Lyft, Atlassian • May 25
First, I listen. It's important to understand in depth why these
needs/deliverables are being asked of Product Marketing. What is the underlying
problem? How can Product Marketing solve this? Then,
Director, Product and Solutions Marketing at Hopin • June 1
As mentioned before, product marketing is one of the most cross-functional roles
of any in most companies. And as such, you’ll be getting requests for projects
and deliverables from every angle. The f
Senior Director, Product Marketing at Instacart • June 1
Only a few weeks into my current role, I’m living this one in real-time! For
myself, I’ve created the following approach: Listen → Set Expectations → Execute
→ Close the Loop. For prioritizing needs/d
Director of Product Marketing at Sourcegraph • June 8
I generally use a modified version of the Eisenhower Matrix (I just learned the
name). On the spectrum of "not urgent to urgent" and "not important to
important," you should prioritize the deliverable
Director of Product Marketing at Mastercard • June 15
I'm going to talk about my experience at really early stage companies, at this
point, everyone is doing everything, so the priority is to create some strcuture
to help every get aligned on the same go
Head Of Marketing at Tailscale | Formerly Atlassian (Trello), HubSpot, Lyft • June 16
As stated above, PMM wears so many hats it's important to recognize what is
needed at any stage of a company. When first coming into an organization as the
first PMM I think the most important thing t
Director, Product Marketing at Intercom • October 26
I don't have a set framework as such, but this is the approach I'd take: Meet
with stakeholders across the business to understand what's working, where the
gaps are that PMM might be able to fill, an
Senior Director of Product Marketing at Klue • January 5
I'm still trying to master this one, but here's what I'm doing at Klue (I'm in
my first month at the company). Create your PMM Charter With the input of your
boss and other leaders in the company, yo
Product Marketing, Senior Director at Replicant | Formerly MobileCoin, Zuora, Hired, Oracle, Responsys • January 11
I start with my phases of success for a PMM in my first 100 days here. Through
this process I create my priorities and ensure I have executive alignment on
them. I always get feedback from my leaders
VP, Product Marketing at LendingClub • July 26
Chances are you will inherit a number of projects in queue Day 1. Do your best
to deliver on those projects to drive results out of the gate. This will
instantly help you build credibility with collea
Global Head of Product Marketing, Spotify for Artists at Spotify | Formerly Uber • December 20
As a first PMM hire it's important to prioritize needs and deliverables based on
the overall goals and objectives of the company. Do “discovery” similar to how
you would approach a product launch – g
Director of Product Marketing & Customer Marketing at Mode Analytics • January 19
As a first (and oftentimes only) product marketer at a company, prioritization
is the mother of all skills. The framework I would apply is a natural extension
of the 30/60/90 day plan outlined above.
4 answers
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
It may be a controversial pov, but my perspective is that the analyst community
is getting disrupted by DTC user review sites like G2, TrustRadius, and the
others. Customer voice is just as powerful a
VP Product & Customer Marketing at Observe.AI | Formerly Clari, Vendavo, Amdocs • May 31
Analysts will not endorse any vendor directly. Your goal with AR is to help
shape their POV about the market, especially if this is a new category and
ultimately get well positioned on MQs and Wave re
Head of Product Marketing at HiredScore • July 29
I recommend creating a more high-level analyst stategy that outlines your actual
need for analyst partnerships. Once you and your stakeholders are aligned on the
need, you need to carefully select ana
Head of Core Product Marketing & GTM, ITSM Solutions at Atlassian • December 19
Spending more money with analysts won't guarantee a good placement in a Quadrant
or Wave. I've seen companies mistakenly spend money on: - Buying more seats or
licenses than they actually need; - Sign
3 answers
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
Not critical. In fact, you may be better off launching a new category into an
existing (and much larger TAM) than also taking the task of creating / expanding
a smaller TAM. The work that Gong and Dr
Head of Marketing at Atrium • September 8
I don’t think it’s super critical for there to be a “new role” when creating a
new category. When I was at Yammer, for example, we defined the “Enterprise
Social Networking” category but made it a mus
Vice President Product Marketing at ClickUp | Formerly Momentive, Gainsight, Marketo • December 20
You can create a category either way, but either way it isn't easy! Gainsight is
a great example of a company that created a category by building a platform for,
and championing, a new role that had
5 answers
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 28
I think anyone who discredits brand as a function of growth is living in an
early 2000s era of B2B marketing that doesn't exist anymore. The truth is that
behind every logo we are trying to sell to as
No doubt, the ROI of a billboard is hard to measure. But when it comes to brand
marketing, you need to be crisp around the metrics. In marketing you'll either
need to solve for awareness, demand gener
Head Of Marketing at Tailscale | Formerly Atlassian (Trello), HubSpot, Lyft • November 18
This is always a challenge but in a lot of ways, I think it comes back to
understanding that your brand isn't just what YOU say it's what the community
says about you. Dave Gerhardt CBO at Drift has a
Director of Product Marketing, Global Insights Solutions @ Momentive at Momentive (SurveyMonkey) | Formerly SurveyMonkey, Nielsen • December 6
I agree: measuring the impact of brand marketing efforts can be challenging.
Below is a summary of the approach we've taken at Momentive to measure our
progress against both the Momentive & Survey