How to get everyone aligned on a decision making framework? Usually, everyone including engineers wants to get involved on strategy/marketing piece on what we want to communicate. How do we make sure people follow and understand it?

This is a similar answer to a prior question.

There are two parts to your question that I’ll address separately. 

1. Get stakeholders aligned on a decision making framework: treat each stakeholders like one of your “personas”. Understand their role, what their pain points are and what their goals are. Do a 1:1 with them, interview them and find out how you can help them and work with them. Once you have a clear idea on how to deliver value to them, incorporate that into how you work with them, message them and position your work to them. You already do this as a PMM for customers and prospects, so applying this same tactic to internal stakeholders works just as well. Find your champion and executive sponsor and align, nurture and leverage those relationships. 
2. Everyone wants to get involved on what you want to communicate: Whenever you role out a new framework, message or piece of content, label everything “draft” and share it with stakeholders in advance of any meeting where you plan to role out something new. Having these smaller meetings or 1:1’s to get their early feedback and buy-in is key to get everyone on the same page individually vs. introducing new ideas at a larger meeting where people can be influenced by group think -- i.e. someone doesn’t like it and others, who wouldn’t feel that way on their own, start to jump on the bandwagon. Successful people already have buy-in on their ideas before a meeting vs. presenting their ideas for the first time at the meeting. This isn’t feasible for every decision but for the big ones, this strategy has worked very well for me. 

Depending on your situation, you can apply strategy #1 or #2 and I think you’ll be well on your way to smoother sailing.

Getting everyone aligned on a decision making framework can definitely be tough, especially in fast-paced environments. I've had my share of projects where we kick-off with a thoughtful RAPID, only to have that fly out the window as we get into crunch time. 

That said, when decision frameworks have persisted through projects, it's usually because we've 1) had full buy-in from the named Decider (in the RAPID framework I tend to use) and 2) have been consistent in reinforcing the framework with each update and milestone. Item 1 gives you the support you need to hold boundaries around Input/Agree and item 2 helps to reduce bottlenecks by reminding teammates who is accountable for input/perfomrance/decisions on and on what timeline. 

There's nothing wrong with engineering/UX/CSM etc getting involved in launch/pricing decisions (for eg). The key is to:

• establish parameters of what types of decisions need input and what can be done independently
• create a forum for opinions to be expressed
• determine and announce who the actual stakeholders are
• have a specific window in which feedback can be given

So if youre doing a product launch for eg.  

1. Setup a working group recurring meeting involving all possible stakeholders. Use that to get input on content, copy, pricing decisions etc. Make sure its well organized and info is sent out ahead of time + recaps and decisions are memorialized
2. Define and publish the launch RACI so that everyone feels bought in and involved.  
3. Keep the cadence and continue to push to solicit opinions from the various stakeholders. This is a smart way to weed out who the real stakeholders are vs who just wants to be heard once in a while vs who just wants to feel important

Trust is definitely the most important factor here. Everyone thinks they know how you should do your product marketing job: what assets you should deliver, how to create the sales pitch, what should go on the website, etc. If you've shown that you have been successful doing this in the past, in the way that helps your colleague meet their own goals that relate to you, then you will earn the trust that you need (even if only to say "no" and make it stick).

I find there's a strong element of marketing in it. If you can effectively market what you're doing, then you'll convince your colleagues to "buy in".

The people who have the most intersection with product marketing are other marketers, sales and product management. So I try to meet with colleagues in these areas periodically to work on long-range plans and make sure my efforts will be aligned with what they need. I want to get their input on what is and isn't working. If there is a structured way to get feedback, even if informal, it helps tremendously to gain the trust of your colleagues.

I like to meet sales people in small groups or individually about every 1-2 months, have marketing planning meetings quarterly, and product management syncs for each release (3x yearly for us).

Remember it's okay to say "no"---you'll never do everything that others want you to, and you don't want a reputation that you can't deliver.

And remember---someone will always think you did it wrong. Marketing is always wrong. Just like the sales folks, you can't win 'em all. So try to develop tough skin and a positive attitude!

I find the root cause of this problem is a lack of trust. Everyone wants to get involved because either they don't feel like their voice will be heard otherwise or because they don't trust what has been delivered in the past. This is a tricky problem, but here's how I'd break it down:

1. Product Marketing has a responsibility to clearly articulate and hold themselves accountable to delivering on their promise to the organization, full stop. 
2. Spending time with, listening to (really listening to), and developing relationships with all key stakeholders first will lead to future success. Then partnering with them to co-develop the process of when you'll need their input, how things will be packaged and shared with all levels of the organization, and how often you're going to report on progress are key to demonstrating your commitment to making decisions efficiently and effectively.
3. Depending on the size of your organization, this process could take a couple days or a couple weeks. Really what you're trying to achieve is a month or so of leeway to get a win - launching a campaign, a product, a program, anything that will help start to build that trust. With each win, or frankly, an honest admittance of a mistake and how you're going to fix it, you buy yourself more goodwill to keep focused on what you think is right for the business. 
4. Your continued success is predicated on clear, simple strategies, transparency, action plans with owners and reporting progress. 

I've followed this path in companies as large as Disney and as small as a 40 person start up. The only variable that really changes is the timeline and how many people you may need to involve. Happy to provide more specifics if there's interest.