What are the first PMM artefacts to create when joining as a new employee on the product marketing team?

This will depend on whether you’re joining other PMMs currently at the company or building the function for the first time from the ground up — I’ll assume the latter. While your cross-functional stakeholders will probably care more about external-facing assets, you should prioritize building internal-facing materials as well. If you skip the foundational things, you’ll only make it harder on yourself later. 

Internal-facing, foundational materials:

• Messaging guides for company-level messaging (if it doesn’t exist), product-level messaging (for core products), industry/vertical messaging (if relevant). Once you have all of these in place, you can quickly spin up all sorts of external-facing materials. Make sure to refresh them regularly as your product evolves! 

• Product launch framework, which should include your tiering definitions and strategy. Don’t feel like you need to stick to a rigid framework — especially when you’re the only PMM. However, I consider it a helpful resource for educating cross-functional partners and justifying why not everything can be a tier 1. 

• Enablement hub or content repository, if it doesn’t already exist. Sales and CS will thank you for organizing enablement content in a single place!

• Competitive battlecards are great quick hitting wins for sales. Plus, you can start creating them while you’re ramping and familiarizing yourself with the competition.

• Personas can be a massive undertaking, so this shouldn’t necessarily be something you start on day 1 if they don’t already exist. But sooner than later this should be on your radar. 

External-facing assets:

• Before you start creating anything, get input from sales and other stakeholders on what key materials they need to be refreshed or created net new. Prioritize the list and get alignment. 

• This list could really be anything — sales decks, website updates, product launch materials, customer-facing roadmap, etc. — depending on your company’s needs.

My first step would be talking with the sales team (outside of my hiring manager and direct colleagues, of course), to see what they're using currently and what our customers are needing. Then create content for those immediate needs. Typically there are 'decks' (story of our lives, right?) or playbooks that either need updating or there's a need for net new content. Getting these content pieces done early and often will impress your manager and your sales teams -- win, win!

When I join a company as a new employee, the first artifacts that I create (if it hasn't been made yet) are:

• Content Repository: During onboarding, you'll already have read through all the materials, datasheets, web pages, etc. Create a spreadsheet, organize it, and identify outdated or inconsistent information.

• Personas: Partner with sales and CS to figure out who buys from you, what problems you're solving, and how you solve them and provide benefits. Bonus points if you can chat with a few customers

• Battlecards: Do competitive research. Figure out where you do where vs other competitors. See how competitors talk about themselves (this will help with messaging). Who can you help your team win?

• Messaging: Once personas are created, you can start work on messaging

• Enablement and Sales Plays: Run internal surveys to see where gaps are in enablement. Build out a plan to address those gaps with plays and regular enablement sessions

• GTM process: This usually comes up when there's a launch happening, but you'll want to meet with each department head to figure out what they need when launching a new product or feature. You'll need to see what your marketing team can do (has time and resources) and then figure out the launch levels.