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Product Marketing Skills

We are standing up a new competitive intelligence function at my current company. What do you consider must-haves?

2 Answers

Liz Tassey (she/her)

Blueocean.ai VP of Marketing • July 8

A good competitive intelligence function starts with great listening. Engaging your frontline (both sales AND customer success...why you are losing deals is good insight, but why you are losing customers is incredibly powerful), win/loss reports, gleaning insights from your customer experience an......Read More

563 Views

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. So my question is- how do you recommend working in my soft skills and their importance in the job interview when not directly asked? I usually try to highlight within the context of my “STAR” stories.

5 Answers

Abdul Rastagar

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach • November 19

While interviewers focus on your response to the hard skills question, they are simultaneously evaluating your soft skills as well. Generally, they are evaluating your EQ and your communication skills, your ability to interpret questions and think critically in real time, and your ability to prov......Read More

1182 Views

How do product marketers make sure they're learning enough varied skills to be a well-rounded professional when scope is an issue?

i.e. working at a large company with minimal scope, focusing on sales enablement but knowing you need experience on the product launch side, other marketing teams covering responsibilities, etc.

7 Answers

Christy Roach

Airtable Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing • October 8

This is a great question! I know lots of product marketers who worry that in getting more specialized they’re missing out on the opportunity to get that broad skillset. I reject the idea that you have to change jobs in order to get the experience you want and think there are plenty of ways to get......Read More

1477 Views

What are some helpful tips for writing email communications to the sales team?

4 Answers

Lauren Barraco

Inscribe VP, Marketing • November 17

This is a great question. I have a few rules that we try to live by for our comms: 1. Make it short, sweet, and to the point! 2. You shouldn't expect your sales team to read every word, so make sure to use bold, underline, colors for items that are most important. 3. Build a cadence - ......Read More

381 Views

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?

7 Answers

Savita Kini

Cisco Director of Product Management, Speech and Video AI • July 23

I believe there is no hard / fast rule about requiring an MBA. I have seen plenty of young graduates make the transition to product marketing. The first year or two is critical in terms of the kind of experience you gather that would help you to position yourself in product marketing. - pick ......Read More

745 Views

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.

12 Answers

John Gargiulo

Airbnb Head of Global Product Marketing • November 30

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 marketing and brand marketing are becoming increasingly blurry. Think of it as simply different pro......Read More

15948 Views

What soft skills are must-haves for product marketers in your experience apart from diplomacy, curiosity, and empathy?

7 Answers

Christy Roach

Airtable Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing • November 17

I'm going to admit upfront that I answered this in a previous AMA, so I'll copy and paste that same answer here. A year later, I can truly say that these continue to be the things I think are most important for a PMM to have. Almost all hard PMM skills can be taught, but these soft skills are muc......Read More

1515 Views

What are mistakes product marketers make when trying to influence the roadmap that end up damaging their relationship with product managers?

9 Answers

Swaroop Sham

Wiz Group Product Marketing Manager - (CIAM / API Products) • April 29

With so much at stake, a lot can go wrong when trying to influence the product roadmap. When tensions run high, PMMs might risk their most important relationship by: Not providing Sufficient Quantitative and Qualitative data. Most PMs are data-informed and driven. Insufficient quantitative and q......Read More

645 Views

When joining a new team, is it better to have the right soft skills and have to learn the hard skills of the job or vice versa?

7 Answers

Abdul Rastagar

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach • November 19

The ideal candidate will have both but that’s often not possible. For me personally, I think the soft skills are far more important. Especially at the more junior and even mid-management levels, the hard skills can be taught. The soft skills are much more difficult to teach. As an executive, you......Read More

727 Views

How would you recommend Product Marketing Managers improve their messaging skills?

10 Answers

April Rassa

Cohere Product Marketing • September 28

Messaging is the ability to communicate pains and solutions for a specific persona using the written word. PMM writing is unique because it’s all about distilling a message down to it’s essence and packaging words in a way that will be accepted by a specific group of people. A PMM should write wi......Read More

1026 Views