Should product marketers be "influencers" or "partners" in product roadmap decisions?
As an influencer you might just share market and customer research, competitive intel, etc. as another input for PM to consider in their own decision making; whereas if you're a true partner, you're discussing and debating with them, as equals, what product roadmap decisions should be and why, where PMs and PMMs bring different inputs and value to the table as equals. Thoughts on being an "influencer" vs. being a "partner" in guiding the product roadmap? Thank you.
4 Answers
Square Product Lead, Payments • 5y
You’ve done an admirable job of describing the differences, however the reality can be a lot more nuanced. There are many situations in which I have felt strongly about a...
1557 Views
VMware Senior Director, Blockchain Go To Market | Formerly Accenture, United States Air Force • 5y
If you're doing your job right, both. I believe everything PMM does should end up in the product at some point. Marketing doesn't have to be external or disconnected from...
673 Views
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Dialpad Vice President Product Marketing | Formerly at: GOOG, MSFT, AMZN, SFDC Grammarly + startups • 4y
Ideally, PMMs are influential partners. :) As PMMs, we represent the voice of the customer in product decisions – because we know our customers and their needs best thro...
423 Views
Enable VP of Product Marketing | Formerly Crossbeam, 6sense, JazzHR, Imagine Learning, Appsembler • 1y
It depends on the level of partnership between PMM and PM leaders to start - and how the teams have aligned on the NPI process. To me we absolutely should play both roles...
375 Views
Related Questions
Will this session ("Influencing the Product Roadmap") apply to "products" that are not revenue-generating, i.e. a public education campaign to raise awareness? What, ideally, should product marketing's role be in developing the roadmap for a SaaS company?How do you recommend Product Marketing get looped into conversations earlier to help influence the roadmap, instead of being notified after it's already in development or released and ready for Go-to-Market?Can you share advice for the first product marketer at a company for influencing the product roadmap?How often would you recommend product marketing to share insights to influence product roadmap?What role does product roadmap and marketing strategy have on guiding that a product / company rebranding process?