How do you work with channel owners? Oftentimes there is conflict when product marketing doesn't agree with channel owner strategies, however it's a PMM's job to ensure marketing meets higher lever strategic objectives for a launch.

Here are 4 ways this can be mitigated:  There’s always a reason why you don’t agree -- when you can get to the data and root cause driving the disagreement -- then you start to build bridges to get back on the same page. Instead of disagreeing, a good response is to keep asking “why”?... “Why don’t you agree?”...”Why will that be an issue?”...”Why do you think this won’t work”...”Why, what does that mean?”. Keep asking “why” and digging until you unlock the root cause. People often have access t ...Read More

The PMM is typically responsible for owning the strategic brief for campaigns and launches that informs partner teams and channel owners. Creating an inclusive process where feedback is encouraged during the brief phase should foster an environment where channel owners also feel inclined to follow this behavior. If there is still disagreement, it's important to identify the decision maker as part of the DIN (Decide, Input, Notify) framework to be able to move forward. The brief includes things l ...Read More

Excellent. Let's respond to this from the channel owners perspective (I promise it's to build empathy, not to be annoying). If I'm the channel owner, there are a few reasons why I might not want to do what you're asking me to do. Let's break them down: I don't think it will work I don't think this is a priority/ I'm really busy I don't think you understand your audience I don't think you understand the channel I don't think you have reasonable expectations (of me or the goal) What you'll notice ...Read More

I've been fortunate to work with extremeley talented teammates who have far more expertise than I do against their specialized channels, but as is inevitable, I have experienced conflict when these channel owners must juggle several launch or content priorities.  In an ideal world, as a PMM you've provided ample lead time for planning, clear positioning and message strategy, launch goals (including co-created channel goals). In a scenario where channel owners aren't able to invest as much as you ...Read More

Great question !Here's a framework, from an earlier stint, while working in Google: We ran cross-team alignment building more as a program management exercise and not as a simple communication formality. This is how we went about it: For any cross functional project (not just launch), we built alignment across four information categories - Context Sharing a.k.a a preliminary call / meeting where project owner (in your case, PMM) shares adequate context with channel owners, so that they are on th ...Read More