Can you share more about your transition from CPG brand management to Product Marketing Management in tech? What advice do you have for those who are currently in CPG Brand Management, already have an MBA, and are looking to pivot into PMM in Tech?

Question

Brendan Flannery · Accepted Answer

As someone who made the transition from CPG/Retail into Tech without an MBA (I was still pursuing mine at the time), here’s a couple other thoughts on “making the jump”:

1) Don’t try to fit a square peg (you) in a round hole (the opportunity) - When I made the transition from CPG/Retail into tech, I had to be patient and wait for the right opportunity. Eventually, I found a role in tech that was looking to leverage my experience with retail operations. I also know colleagues who tailored their job search towards tech companies that have a foot in the CPG space. Don’t be afraid of getting more targeted in the roles you’re applying for. You are going to be far more successful in landing the job that needs your CPG/Retail experience - target your search based on your experience, rather than trying to repackage your career to a hiring manager.

2) Less “what”, more “how” - CPG Brand Managers/Marketing Managers end up playing the role of both PM+PMM in their orgs. Find ways to draw parallels between the work you drive in CPG to the work you will be driving in tech. The products are different but the fundamentals of how you develop and market the product are the same. Talk less about what you did, and more about how you did it to bring a hiring manager along and connect your experience to the job description.

I’m clearly biased, but like Valerie, I also think the best marketers come from CPG because they come with a strong foundation of brand and product management that supplement their PMM role.

And hiring managers: Don’t be lazy in your job search! CPG/Retail candidates can add a different and valuable perspective to your teams.

Valerie Angelkos · Answer

I personally used my MBA to transition from CPG to Tech. However, I've seen many do so without an MBA and generally speaking, it is possible by focusing on transferable skills, for example:

1) Focus on user insights - relevant across both industries but might be executed in practice in different ways. In Tech, and depending the size of the company, you rely more on UXR teams and product-usage insights whereas in CPG it's generally more scaled Market Research.

2) End to end campaign and/or program management - Show how you can deliver a campaign end to end, from strategy to execution to measurement and iteration. This is a consistent area across industries.

3) Partnering with R&D - R&D looks different in these two industries but the concept of leveraging user insights and data to inform the Product roadmap long term is still relatively the same. For example, when I worked in the beauty industry, many of our market insights went back to R&D teams to develop products that adapted more to our markets, based on skin type, skin tone, and weather. The lifecycle is longer vs. tech, but the practice still applies although perhaps less frequently.

4) Business impact - Brand Managers and PMMs sit in the center of many functions and prioritize both product and business impact. These skills are also transferable.

Focusing on these four skills above + showing your interest in Tech and the company can help you make a successful transition (and I might have missed some other points). I personally think the best marketers come from CPG as it's a more established industry with well developed best practices and it's a matter of time for Tech to focus more on recruiting CPG Marketers.

Related Ask Me Anything Sessions

Plaid Product Marketing Lead, Valerie Angelkoson PMM Soft and Hard Skills

Gong Former Director, Product Marketing, Ryane Bohmon PMM Soft and Hard Skills

1Password Director, Product Marketing, Eric Changon Product Marketing Soft and Hard Skills

Related Questions