Question Page

I am moving into a new product marketing leadership role and working adjacent to product managers/directors for the first time. I will also be responsible for managing one direct report. I imagine I will lead the GTM strategy side of things and my DR will focus on tactical execution, but I am curious if there are recommended best practices for structuring PMM roles and responsibilities.

In over 12 years of B2B mktg exp, I've only worked on corporate marketing teams reporting to General Management, so the switch to a product management structure is new for me.
Kavya Nath
Meta Product Marketing, Reality Labs | Formerly Sprinklr, YuMeMarch 25

This to me depends on your company and the products you sell and will vary based on the composition of your solution set.

A larger platform solution might have a VP or Director that’s overseeing platform level messaging and responsibilities related to the solution set as a whole while having a team that is aligned to specific product areas within the platform. A single point solution might have roles mapped to features that support the one product, etc.

The most important thing especially in smaller teams is for leaders to be both a player and a coach with a balance between both manager and DR in handling strategy and tactical execution. This helps leaders stay in touch with tactical skills while also allowing directs to gain the skills to grow as product marketers and understand how to take on more strategic initiatives.

1160 Views
Julien Sauvage
Clari VP, Brand, Content and Product MarketingDecember 7

Great question. I would challenge that a bit, and think that good strategic needs to be based on flawless execution and vice-versa. Maybe you can own 80% of the strategy but execute on 205 of the stuff, to keep a pulse of the market? And vice versa for your DR.

Or divide and conquer by the functional needs: you take top of funnel, your PMM take enablement and pricing. That type of thing!

569 Views
Crafting Compelling Messaging
Thursday, February 27 • 12PM PT
Crafting Compelling Messaging
Virtual Event
Darren Chait
Hana Pinsker
Adedayo Adebiyi
+243
attendees
Top Product Marketing Mentors
Jeffrey Vocell
Jeffrey Vocell
Panorama Education Head of Product Marketing
Kevin Garcia
Kevin Garcia
Anthropic Product Marketing Leader
April Rassa
April Rassa
Clari VP, Solutions Marketing
Alissa Lydon
Alissa Lydon
Dovetail Head of Product Marketing
Marcus Andrews
Marcus Andrews
Pendo Sr. Director of Product Marketing
Leah Brite
Leah Brite
Gusto Head of Product Marketing, Benefits
Jackie Palmer
Jackie Palmer
ActiveCampaign VP Product Marketing
Katharine Gregorio
Katharine Gregorio
Adobe Sr Director of Product Marketing, Creative Cloud
Susan "Spark" Park
Susan "Spark" Park
Pinterest Director of Product Marketing
Jane Reynolds
Jane Reynolds
Match Group Director of Product & Brand Marketing, Match Group North America