What pointed recommendations do you have on gaining influence as a new member of an organization or as a junior product marketing team member?

Question

Madeline Ng · Accepted Answer

Your best play is to show up with an insight backed by data. I think many product marketers over-index on the product and not the market and you have an opportunity to bring market insight into the organization. Being new is actually an advantage because you won't be skewed by the history of the company.

You'll know what insights will be most impactful to your organization but a few ideas:

1. Market trends - what is happening in the market overall? How is your company proactively making sure they'll be competitive in the future?
 2. Market players - who is your top competitor? What have they been up to and why does that matter to your company?
 3. Audience trends - who are the people you are selling to, or the people who use your products? Are they doing things differently now? What does that mean for your company?

All of these will differentiate you to your new team members and be really useful to the organization.

Mike Flouton · Answer

Become the go to expert on something - quickly. Generally, as a PMM, you want to be the expert on the buyer. Shadow as many sales calls as you possibly can. Develop relationships with customers. Call them, show up at their office, take them out for drinks. Compile a library of stories, personas, facts and figures.

Then, when you speak, don't give opinions - give facts and stories. "Connie from AT&T had that same problem, she told me that she..." "Yeah, that's definitely true with our SMB customers, but I know when I speak with enterprise customers they tell me..." You will become impossible to argue with.

Melinda Chung · Answer

With every new job, you have a period during which you need to prove yourself. As PMMs, we gain influence and prove ourselves by knowing the customer, market, business, and product better than others in the company. Figure out which one of those matters most to your company and your leadership, become an expert, and drop it anecdotally in your conversations.

Also, align yourself with the people who have influence and power and make sure your contributions are valuable to them.

Molly Friederich · Answer

My top recommendation is to immerse yourself in the prospect/customer experience, document your learnings, and surface insights that are helpful to those around you in discussion. The credibility of a relevant customer quote or anecdote stands on its own and demonstrates your ability (and commitment) to customer centricity.

Another is to seek to understand, not to prove—what I mean is it's good to ask genuine questions to speed up your onboarding or ramping; while it may be uncomfortable to "expose" that you don't know something, it shows you're engaged and have a growth mindset. If you ever feel like you're asking a question to prove you know something, pause and find the kernel of the question that's truly anchored to understanding.

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