How does PMM keep to connect with the product team ?
At a B2B company PMM and Product cannot function without each other. There’s simply not enough time in the day for either team to do the other team’s job. I think the best way for PMMs to stay connect as a valuable partner to product is to help Product with understanding the market context and customer needs in a way that goes beyond just the job to be done or the pixels on the screen. A great product marketer will help set a vision and narrative for everyone – sales, product, engineering, the whole organization – that helps to contextualize the roadmap in terms of what the customer’s business needs and objectives are. It’s great you’re building some awesome AI feature…but if all I need is your current product to work on my mobile device, I’m not going to care.
Another way to drive trust and accountability with Product teams is by building a GTM roadmap. Similar to a product roadmap, the GTM roadmap would include both new product releases, as well as ongoing awareness and activation campaigns that PMM is running to help drive product growth. I think this can also help to show product how missing a release date can have a cascading effect across the GTM roadmap as well, and hopefully get PMMs embedded in the process sooner.
As you build your product relationships, ask to join early and often as they validate their roadmaps with users. Share that your motivation is to hear directly from users as they speak to their pain points and what impact the product is having so you can best amplify through positioning and messaging. As soon as they understand how your exposure helps bring their hard work to market in a more compelling way, they'll be eager to have you along for the ride!