As a b2b product marketer, what's the best way to move into b2c / consumer?

I can relate to this one, I actually started off my career in PMM at a B2B company. This experience was invaluable and where I learned the core competencies of PMM – the importance of product positioning, messaging, influencing the product roadmap, and being an advocate for the customer. Just being on a PMM team taught me so much about the function and how to deliver impact to both the business and the customer.

A few tips that helped me transition over to B2C:

1) Build expertise in skills that can be transferable to any industry or customer. The B2B company I worked at is a subscription based product and I became fascinated by this model learning the ins & outs about subscriptions — pricing and packing, best practices with driving growth and retention, and the metrics that matter. This experience helped me land a role at a consumer based company leading PMM for B2C subscriptions. This was a great way to ease the transition into B2C and leverage the expertise I built in my previous role.

2) In B2B roles you tend to work very closely with sales vs B2C you are directly working with Product to influence and shape the customer experience. The more you can build strong relationships with Product the more equipped you will be to influence the product roadmap and be successful in a B2C role.

This is a great question. I would zoom out and think more holistically about how to approach career advice and what I tell people looking to get into Product Marketing overall. 

I usually approach significant career transitions or moves in two-steps. Sometimes, people see the next job and say - I’m a content marketer at a startup - how do I get into PMM at Uber or Google? Sometimes you first have to get into PMM, then, you have to move over to Google or Uber in PMM. 

Same approach for B2B vs. B2C approaching in two steps. In general, I actually think great PMMs are audience agnostic, and most of the frameworks / principles are similar...Yes, there's some ramp up time, but each discipline has their own super power. 

B2B has the challenge of working indirectly through sales to get the message out, so you really need to rely on influence and creating assets that others will use, but I usually see a bit more of a growth/funnel focus from B2B folks. 

B2C PMM typically need to bias on Product + User Experience, and telling emotional and compelling stories. The best can bring both sides to the equation. If you’re in B2B now and want to move over, I would start by trying to get closer to the Product (focusing on user and customer experiences) and focus on crafting great stories. Even if you’re not launching splashy campaigns, great marketing is still great marketing.

Everything in B2C is based on users and the product. 

The days of sales narratives, collateral creation, etc are over. 

Become best buddies with your PMs and Growth leads at your existing companies. Start working on projects that impact end-users (increasing adoption/retention, increasing self-serve free-to-paid conversion, etc). 

It's easier to transition from a PLG B2B company than a sales-led company, so that may be a great stepping stone for you.