In hiring additional Product Marketing Managers, is it more important that they have Product Marketing experience, or that they're a well-rounded marketer/communicator?

That depends on what you are hiring for and the level of experience you need in the new hire. If I were to hire someone to run my competitive program, for example, I would look for a PMM that has done this in the past, has created a competitive program from scratch and can show me examples of the battle cards they've created and the impact they have generated.  If, on the other hand, I need someone to support an existing program and I have someone more senior that is overseeing the program from ...Read More

This really depends on your current PMM team, and how they are structured.  If you have PMMs that are very specialized in certain areas and are you trying to grow the team, think about what gaps you have and focus on that in your hiring process. If your team is full of marketing generalists that are doing a little bit of everything, then again, identify the gaps - are you missing specific PMM skills on your team? then focus on hiring for that. This also depends on the level of seniority you are ...Read More

I wouldn't under estimate solid PMM expierence, but I wouldn't let lack of direct PMM experience be a blocker either. As you've calledo out, being a well-rounded marketer/communicator is really important. My perspective is, if someone can demonstrate they are a solid story-teller - can take product and technical messages and translate them into customer value, this usually sits at the heart of PMM skillsets. This skill is so important in being able to support GTM stakeholders.  I'd also spend ti ...Read More

Product Marketing means different things in different companies. So, asking for "prior PMM experience" may not always be as helpful as you think since this experience could mean something completely different from what you are looking for. While relevant PMM experience is a plus, I have also hired several people from non-PMM backgrounds into PMM roles. Specifically for tech, people who have spent time in customer-facing roles (especially those with a technical element) tend to ramp well in PMM r ...Read More

I've really come to value true product marketing experience in my more senior hires. It's really nice to have a few folks on the team who know the drill. But I've also found that my PMM teams tend to skew more senior overall, each person is sort of in charge of an area and as such you want a more senior person to lead that. Which means that the career path to PMM is often building up experience in other roles and transitioning into PMM later in the career, so for mid level roles I think that wel ...Read More

The answer depends on the stage of your business and the depth of your marketing bench. As one of my mentors shared with me: As you get started, you need a good pool of generalists who can do the job you hired them for—and potentially cover off short term needs that may fall out of their explicitly-defined scope. As your team grows, you should start to become more aware of some of your greatest marketing opportunities, and can hire specialists for those roles.  Just remember: Someone had to give ...Read More

This depends on where you are in building your org, and your own experience. My path to PMM is that of a career generalist. I started my career as an engineer, then a sales engineer, then made my way to product management and marketing. I then took a left turn into consulting services before returning to product marketing. If I have a small team I will favor PMMs with some experience, but as I scale I like bringing in other perspectives and experiences into the organization.  Strong communicatio ...Read More