How does your company define the difference between product marketing and integrated / brand / customer marketing?

On the Consumer side (where I sit) we have Brand Marketers and Product Marketers. Product Marketers need to deeply understand the value prop, positioning and user needs of the product. A big part of the PMM role is Inbound - leveraging research and insights to influence product strategy. When a PMM has Outbound work they need to do, we work very closely with our Brand counterparts to ensure our campaigns are consistent with the overall Brand message, and don’t conflict in terms of timing and cha ...Read More

Yes, great question! As a PMM, I've always worked closely with a separate integrated/brand marketing function. The PMM sits closer to product/eng, is more initimately familiar with the product, owns inbound product marketing (including user insights, strategy, competitive benchmarking, roadmap prioritization etc.). When it comes to outbound marketing, PMM sets GTM strategy and works with a variety of GTM stakeholders, including comms and integrated marketing, to bring a launch or campaign to lif ...Read More

I see those as different skills sets and usually different teams but I don't think there are strict lines in between them. Product Marketers should own the story, the core positioning and messaging, the surrounding context / thought leadership and GTM strategy. Ideally there are counterparts in integrated marketing, campaigns or growth marketing to help make that come to life.  But I think there's also what is ideal on paper and what is practical in real life. More often then not those integrate ...Read More

At my current company, these roles are different and lean on the different skills that you mention! That said, at smaller organizations, or even smaller marketing organizations, you may not have the luxury of having different individuals occupy each role.  If you are in a spot where you aren't able to add dedicated headcount to partner with product or creative separately, I'd suggest having a conversation about priorities with your leadership and using that to guide not only the talent you bring ...Read More

It's been a while since we've had an integrated marketing function at SurveyMonkey, but here's how I'd envision this working: Product marketing owns: - Buyer persona research, development, and enablement - Product messaging/positioning - Go-to-market strategy (e.g. by persona, industry) - Product/feature launches - Bottom-of-the-funnel product content/collateral - Competitive intelligence - Analyst relations Customer marketing owns: - Customer advocacy: customer stories, customer participation i ...Read More

I think there is a ton of value in having these teams work closely but separated into specific pods. As you noted, there are different skillsets here and they can be even more effective when given the space to own their domain expertise. That being said I think when PMM and Brand get too far from each other the end results suffer. I often think of PMM & Brand like a zipper in that they are stronger together and work in tandem. It's essential that brand messaging aligns with the product exper ...Read More

I have seen this done differently in different organizations. There is no right or wrong way. However, I firmly believe that the Product Marketer should own the narrative for their product.  If it is a customer story - what value prop are we trying to highlight?  If it is an ad campaign, what audience are we going after and what is the right messaging and CTA? If it is an email campaign to existing customers, what outcome are we trying to drive, and what messaging are we using? PMM, as the perso ...Read More

I definitely see the value in having both product marketing and integrated/brand marketing roles. They bring complementary skill sets to the table, and as you pointed out, it's often challenging for one person to effectively own all of these responsibilities. I would define these roles base on the specialized expertise of each team. The integrated marketing team can focus on crafting compelling brand campaigns, while the product marketing team can focus on effectively positioning and launching n ...Read More

Love this question - we have recently been discussing this on our team! To me, brand marketing encompasses a broader view of messaging and campaign execution. This may include larger brand initiatives (such as one centered around a peak holiday or buying period) or a strategy around tone and voice overall. Brand likely consults or includes product marketing, but product marketing is only one piece of the puzzle. And finally, brand marketing can be the "hook" that catches the customer's attention ...Read More