How do you help product management understand the value of product marketing (beyond just "helping us launch things")?

Two approaches here, that may be used at the same time:  Direct communication. If you have a strong framework for how you've seen PMM function strategically in other organizations, don't be afraid to share it widely. Be prepared to talk about how this structure can help teams drive greater, faster, better results. Consider launches as a starting point. Use the time and collaboration with Product, Dev, Design, and Business teams to develop relationships. Ask questions, share ideas, and take the o ...Read More

Yes, launches are a big element of the PM-PMM equation, but this relationship is much more than helping us launch things. Done right, Product Managers and Product Marketers form a strategic team for the product area in an organization. This relationship typically guides the product development, adoption, marketing, and overall success of the Northstar metrics for the product. The PMM team is key to developing the product's strategic messaging built off customer understanding. This strategic mess ...Read More

I view Product Marketing as the GM of the Product, and the role goes beyond product launch. Three areas I see Product Marketing can drive and add value in are Content, Sales enablement and  Market Research/Analyst Relations.  Content: PMM can work with PM to take use cases and create persona based content and tell the story effectively Sales Enablement PMM can work with deep technical content and translate them into sales plays that are actionable by the sales teams Market and Analyst Research P ...Read More

Be the expert on markets and buyers. Let product managers be the experts on users and products. Product marketing managers focus on achieving business goals for current products and preparing the organization and market for the next products.  Product managemement works with product marketing to introduce new products and after launch, turns their attention to future products.  Your question is timely. I recently wrote an article on this topic (and it comes up frequently) - https://www.brainkraf ...Read More

This is my number one problem that I run into with Product Teams when entering new companies or teams. Product Marketing is part of the Product Team, I had a great Product Manager that used to tell me that I was a capital "P" not a capital "M" meaning Product always comes first. So I have impacted this in a few ways, I started requiring Marketing Requirements documents to be attached to the Product Requirements or Epics my product teams were making. This ensured that the engineering team knew wh ...Read More

As the founder of Product School, I know that Product Marketing is difficult to define because it varies from company to company, and it can even vary between different products. However, it should be common knowledge that Product Marketing does much more than just “helping PMs launch things”.  Try to show how your work is essential and how, without marketing, you might have a different favorite brand of coffee, or be working for a completely different company than you are right now. But the mos ...Read More