How can a product marketer in an organization where the product team and developers decide the product direction without much input from brand teams, sales, or product marketing get a seat at the table?

Answer

3 Answers

Influencing the Product Roadmap

Madeline Ng

Google Global Head of Growth Go-to-market, Google Maps Platform • 2y

First off, I feel your pain and I understand your frustration. While not articulated, it sounds like you feel the product direction is a little bit off course and could be improved with brand/sales/product marketing in the room. I'm biased, but I agree! There is so much value in bringing the outside world's perspective - market dynamics, competitive insights, sales objections - into a product direction discussion. The very first thing I would do is understand why the product direction omits the ...Read More

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Talya Heller G.

Product Marketing Consultant | Ex-PMM, PM and PMO | Formerly Bloomfire, Rev Worlwide (Netspend), HP • 2y

Although the level of involvement a PMM should have on the product roadmap can vary widely (sales led or product led, is the a growth pm, how is PMM function structured at the company etc.), if there’s a PMM working there they should get a seat at the table at least. If the product team has never worked with PMM before (or did and had a negative experience), you will need to do some education and help them understand your value. Start by proactively demonstrating that value to them. Have you lea ...Read More

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Charlene Wang

fmr Qualia, Coupa | Formerly Worldpay, Coupa Software, EMC/VMware, McKinsey • 2y

The product team ultimately wants to be successful and launch products that will help the company achieve better outcomes. Most teams are happy to give you a seat at the table if you can bring valuable insights that they didn't previously have. Great Product Marketers often dive deep into the market, competitors, buyer personas, buying process, analyst community, voice of the customer, etc. The product team generally won't have the capacity or direct exposure to all of these areas to have a very ...Read More

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