What would you consider to be the most important PMM skills to have?

I'm going to answer your question slightly differently. PMMs can acquire skills as they develop in their careers, that's a given. So when I hire PMMs, I'm not just looking for skills, I'm looking for a specific customer-first mindset. Do you understand the customer problem you're trying to solve? How do you know it's a problem, and how painful is it? How do you typically engage with customers? How do you validate your ideas to make sure they resonate with your customer?

I will often hear things like "I validated my messaging with sales," or "the survey data says..." but to be an effective PMM you need to deeply understand your customers and their pain points. So the skill set matters much less to me than the mindset.

Before we get into most important skills, let's think about the goal of product marketers: to effectively translate product features into compelling value propositions and ultimately propel the product's growth and success in the market.

One of the reasons product marketers are so valuable is because we tend to encompass a blend of strategic thinking, creativity, communication prowess, and analytical acumen, with a particular emphasis on market research and analysis, messaging and positioning, cross-functional collaboration, and a deep understanding of the target audience and competitive landscape.

Before I get into specific skills, I recommend looking at templates to help you! I really love this PMM Hub with Notion Templates from Jason Oakley.

For skills that I recommend really honing in on to be a successful product marketer, here are a couple to start with:

1. Strategic Storytelling: Being able to translate complex product features into compelling stories that resonate with your target audience to drive product adoption and brand awareness.

*PRO TIP: For this, I'd recommend starting with WHY that feature is being built, and working backwards from there (was this a community-surfaced feature that was upvoted? Did customer(s) request this, and why? Is it a true competitive differentiator in the market that other companies haven't build, or have failed to build successfully?)

2 Go-to-Market (GTM) Expertise: Launching a product successfully requires a strategic GTM plan. This includes defining your target audience, crafting compelling messaging, choosing the right marketing channels, and effectively managing budgets.

*PRO TIP: For product launches specifically, I recommend starting with a shortened Messaging Doc every time. I can share a template that I use for reference, but having this as your "source of truth" helps teams across product, marketing, CS, etc. align with the vision behind the launch.

3. Cross-Team Collaboration & Communication: Product marketing is all about collaboration. You'll work closely with product teams, sales teams, and other departments. Strong communication skills, both written and verbal, are essential for building relationships, fostering alignment, and ensuring everyone is on the same page.
*PRO TIP: Build rapport by doing casual meetings (take advantage of Donut in Slack), celebrating victories and being very vocal about successes (i.e. this piece of content that they helped spark an idea for delivered xyz clicks, impressions, demo requests). For tricky situations where you need to find ways to improve, come with SOLUTIONS! Show that you've thought about the challenge, understanding why it happened, and proactively coming with ideas on how to resolve that as a team.

4. Content Marketing Proficiency: Content marketing is a powerful tool for generating leads, educating customers, and building brand thought leadership. A solid grasp of content marketing principles—from content creation to strategy development—is a valuable asset for any PMM.
*PRO TIP: If you're looking for new content topics, crowd-source content topics/themes from sales, CS, SA/SE. They are talking to your prospects and customers all the time! One of the best pieces I've ever made was a recording of "Answering Our Customers' Most Frequently Asked Questions." But also, TRACK EVERYTHING! What content is performing best? Why? And what is your actual measurement of success, beyond clicks-->is that content leading to demo requests? And where is that content being reused/repurposed in things like nurture email campaigns?

5. Technical Product Acumen: While you don't need to be a programmer, having a good understanding of your product's technical functionalities is crucial. This allows you to translate technical features into clear customer benefits and communicate effectively with both technical and non-technical audiences.
*PRO TIP: Try to really dig into the tool during onboarding (check out your company's CMS, pre-recorded demos, etc.) sit on sales calls, and ask for demos of every new feature. Understand how the product manager/developer sees and understands the tool they are building, and what that will actually look like for the user.

6. Analytical & Measurement Skills: I'd say this one is becoming increasingly important. Some PMM teams are actually being tied to MQLs goals now! Being able to track the success of your marketing efforts is essential. Develop an understanding of marketing measurement frameworks and key metrics (KPIs) to demonstrate the impact of your work on product adoption and business growth.

*PRO TIP: Move beyond "surface level" KPIs, and look at what content is driving the most "Contact Us" form fills or demo requests.

When selling a technical enterprise software product, what is the best advice you have for a product marketer?

This seems obvious, but master the product! Become an SME, learn how to configure and demo it yourself, and do booth duty to demo/pitch it. This all helps you craft messaging/content for the product which is deeper and will resonate better with your target audience. Also you gain credibility internally with others like product management, the field, enablement, and more. And to become an SM, lean on internal technical resources heavily incl seeing how they demo it.

In the past I’ve seen some product marketers for technical products not know how to use/or demo it, so they are limited to presenting ultra-high level messaging around the basic “increase rev/reduce costs” story. To get deeper content, they need to lean on SMEs/others which slows things down greatly and limits the Product Marketer. 

Which brings up a sub-point. Which is that buyers of technical enterprise software of course are technical themselves…they are allergic to high-level, fluffy marketing. You need to get into the details and speeds/feeds with them. Not just the basic “increase revenue, saves time/cost” story. Yes, things like ROI calculators and BVAs are great and key in large enterprise deals..but they come later in the sales process.

These are the skills I look for in a PMM:

• Communication & Relationship building: Ability to bridge gaps & translate complex ideas across departments.

• Writing Expertise: Craft clear, concise messaging that resonates with diverse audiences.

• Balance of analytical, technical & storytelling skills: Understand complex technology, analyze data & weave insights into compelling product narratives.

• Go-getter with focus: Get things done proactively.

• Prioritization Pro: Master the art of saying "no" to manage workload.

The most important skills you need to have to be a successful PMM include:

• Curiosity: Whether you're familiar with the space or are brand new, never assume you know the answer. Always ask "why," try things out, and don't be afraid to fail. Don't only question others, but question yourself and your own assumptions.

• Communication: Clear communication (verbal and written) is important for getting your company's message out. However, I believe actively listening to your customers, prospects, sales, CS, product, etc. is more important. Being able to ask thoughtful questions and dig deep into the discussion will help you ramp up in the company/space and will give you the foundation for almost every activity you'll do as a PMM (messaging, persona work, enablement, etc.)

• Focus: As a PMM, your day and priorities will shift quickly. Though it may get chaotic, focus on delivering the key rocks and pivoting to the next item. Also, this may be difficult, but be comfortable delivering something that's "good enough."

• Empathy: The last "skill" that I think is critical for a successful PMM is empathy. You'll work with tons of different stakeholders from across many departments. Being empathetic to what they are trying to do and what their goals are will help you build the cross-functional relationships that are important for your current role and any future roles.