What does the first day as a product marketing manager look like?

In the initial weeks as a Product Marketing Manager, your focus should be on deeply immersing yourself in the product and GTM strategy to learn, absorb and build a strong foundational understanding of what you are tasked to market. This can involve key activities like:

1. Engage with the product: Gaining a comprehensive understanding of the product you'll be marketing is crucial. This can be achieved by exploring an internal demo environment, setting up a trial account, collaborating with a technical Subject Matter Expert (SME), or reviewing existing tutorial videos. The goal is to become intimately familiar with the product’s features, benefits, and potential pain points from both a user and marketing perspective.

2. Analyze the market landscape: A thorough understanding of the competitive landscape and market dynamics is essential. This includes studying your competitors, analyzing customer insights, and identifying trends that can influence your marketing strategy. By understanding the broader context in which your product operates, you can position it more effectively.

3. Start to build cross-functional relationships: As product marketing is a very cross-functional role, building strong relationships with key stakeholders early on is recommend. This includes product managers, marketing counterparts, and leadership. Establishing these connections will enable smoother collaboration and alignment as you work to bring your marketing strategies to life.

4. Understand your audience: To craft messages that resonate, you must deeply understand the audience you’re targeting. A great way to do this in the early days is to listen in on customer calls, study win-loss data, and reviewing recorded sales calls through platforms like Gong. By immersing yourself in the voice of the customer, you'll be better equipped to address their challenges and communicate the unique value your product offers.
   

On the first day as a product marketing manager, you'll likely spend a lot of time doing the typical HR onboarding paperwork and meeting your main team.

But, spend some time proactively setting up calendar invites for leaders in other departments to start understanding their roles and how you can help them. Doing this will help you establish the cross-functional relationships that are so vital in product marketing.

Next, be a sponge. Start reading all about your company, your market, and your competitors. Keep a notebook nearby to write down questions or ideas as they pop up and then seek out the answers either internally or through research.