How will a PMM’s research differ from a PM’s?

This is a great question — because it gets at the heart of how Product Marketing and Product Management work together. At its best, research isn’t siloed between these functions. It’s a shared muscle that gets stronger when PMs and PMMs are aligned on the goal and clear on their roles. I’m a strong believer in the embedded PMM model:Each PMM partners closely with one or two PMs (ideally no more) and their design and engineering teams. At Superhuman, we structure this into pods — tight-knit cross ...Read More

While the research is largely the same, there's some specialization in focus - PMs should specialize in users while PMMs focus more on buyers. I agree that if you're not sharing research with your PMs and vice versa, that's the first problem to solve - you should be on the same page with the same picture of the world. However, there is some specialization: I would expect my PM to know more about how someone will actually use and build with our product (in my case, Airtable), while I'll understan ...Read More

The inputs might be the same, but the outputs and timing differ between PM and PMM research. A PM might be doing research to inform the product roadmap, while we as PMMs are usually researching to inform what resonates in market messaging, the selling story, and how to connect with customers. We put products in front of customers to understand how they're using it, what pain it's solving, how they were addressing this need before, and why they're choosing us versus competitors like Zendesk or Sa ...Read More

The research itself isn't different - both roles need the same inputs but use them for different outputs. A PM needs to know the customer, market, and product in order to build great products. A PMM needs to know the same things but uses that knowledge to commercialize those products. It's like two chefs using the same ingredients but making completely different recipes. Great PMs rely on market and customer insights, and great PMMs rely on the same insights - we share tools, insights, and conve ...Read More