What would you rec highlighting in prod mar portfolio and what would make a candidate stand out to you?

I think it depends on what sub-function of PMM you've excelled in (or are applying for). If more technically-oriented, I'd want to learn about a product launch that you've been a part of, walk through a set of messaging you've developed, and understand how you've worked closely with the product team. If more GTM-oriented, I'd love to see a deck you've built for the sales team, how you've thought about personas and market segmentation, and understand how you've supported the sales team in hitting their targets.

If you're applying for a Head of PMM role, perhaps a view into all of the above and how you've led through that. Also, if this is you, we are hiring at Front :)

I would try to highlight anything that shows you have the key skills to be an effective product marketer. That definitely includes strong writing samples and case studies like you suggested, but also:

• Presentations that show you can create a compelling narrative and convince an audience of your point
• Detailed GTM launch plans with how you will or did measure success
• Clear, convincing and well-supported messaging and positioning, like through a messaging source document (something we use at Zendesk for all of our major products and launches) or a presentation
• Thorough competitive analyses that highlight where the opportunity is for that company and what value props they should use to differentiate

Also, depending on what PMM role you’re interviewing for, like if it’s a Retail Solutions PMM let’s say, I’d suggest adding more to show you have knowledge or experience particularly relevant to Retail and that role if you have it. Lastly, just in case the above feels overwhelming and you don’t have a lot of great materials to put a portfolio together, don’t worry, I rarely see PMM portfolios and usually we just evaluate strong PMMs through the interviews, homework assignments, and recommendations.

Please add the "why" behind why you chose to take on new initiatives. I often see marketer proposing solutions that are searching for a problem. So, always start with Why and how your work aligned with the company/marketing/PMM north start. Then mention the results. 

Example: It's great that you wrote an e-book, but why did you do an e-book instead of a webinar? What was the outcome? How it helped the company drive certain goal. 

Some guidelines on what to include:  

1. Include different formats - media, writing, interactive 

2. Balance long and short form - 1 pagers or inforgraphics and longer whitepapers

3. If the role asks for a specific thing, make sure that you give more than one sample. Example - for a technical marketing role, the hiring manager is trying to asses how well can you simplify technical jargon to drive sales in low maturity buyer but the hiring manage is also curious about the depth of technical knowledge - so, if you did release notes, add that, 

4. Don't be afraid to add samples from your previous roles: No one was born as a PMM. so, you might have some work experience before moving to PMM. If you did something that's relevant, please add that. Hiring managers are looking for fresh ideas and the fresh ideas come from the intersection of different fields. 

5. Public speaking examples: Public speaking is a core skill for PMMs. The sample doesn't have to be from a large event. Even if it was a webinar or an internal training, add that. 

The trifecta of short-form published writing, long-form writing, and enablement materials always does the trick for me. If I can see the candidate has written a great feature-related blog post or one-pager, a positioning and differentiation narrative, and slides that cue up best practices, then I'm a happy hiring manager.

Absolutely writing samples! I always ask for those. (As you can tell from my other answers, communication is something I care deeply about!) 

Case studies, landing pages, pitch decks / other enablement assets, and messaging frameworks can also be great additions to a portfolio. Just make sure you can speak to the process of building those, because it's impossible to know just from looking at them how much was built by the candidate vs. a collaborator. 

What really makes a candidate stand out, I've found, is a short 'about me' deck. I've seen some great decks that include: 

• Work samples (including some commentary about the process of developing that work)
• Some thoughts about their approach to product marketing 
• A slide or two about their career and the highlights of their experience
• Bonus: Something that tells me a little bit about who they are as a person outside of work (hobbies, things they're passionate about, etc.)

Not only is this full of great insight into the candidate, but it's also a great example of how they position themselves. It's essentially a sales enablement asset, which should hopefully translate into how well they can do that for our company and products. 

I've mentioned this framework in other answers, but I believe that great product marketers are great researchers, storytellers, and project managers.

A standout product marketing portfolio would include work that helps you cover these critical bases. I've added below some examples of things that could help you stand out in each area.

Research:

• A summary of a research project you ran and how the insights were used
• An example of a research question + interview questions you used in customer calls
• An overview of a beta process you helped run, how many customers you talked to, and the outcomes that your insights helped solidify
• An example of how you incorporated insights from industry experts or reports into a launch

Storytelling:

•  Core messaging + the landing page you built to distill the message
• A product blog post you wrote to support a launch + outcomes
• A video tutorial or webinar that you helped write or execute
• A product announcement email + outcomes

Project management:

• A project plan that you used + the outcomes of the project
• A product launch plan that you used + the outcomes
• A hefty asset + a description of the team you coordinated to ship it
• A cross-functional project timeline and breakdown + how you'd do it better

I am a big fan of writing examples. 

• Writing crisp customer-facing content (blog posts, data sheets, whitepapers, product pages, etc.) is essential for any Product Marketer.
• I must also add that the cross-functional nature of a PMM's job makes internal writing also very important. Clear, concise writing (GTM plans, memos, messages, 1-pagers, etc.) to get the point across succinctly to multiple stakeholders, drives alignment, and reduces duplicated efforts.

Besides, I firmly believe that writing is the exercise of organizing your thoughts, answering your own questions, and articulating a straightforward story to the audience. In other words, writing is thinking.

So, as much as possible, I ask people for their writing examples in interviews, etc., and I also try to write publicly, something that has benefitted me through connections.

The great candidate stands out at every stage of the interview process, highlighting her & his value prop 😊 PMM portfolio is one more channel to show how you can help the company.

Some practical things you can add to your PMM portfolio (copied from my other answer):

• Messaging: key messaging on the products you worked on
• GTM: links to your past launches (landing pages)
• GTM: launch brief which you can share
• Content: links to case studies you have prepared
• Sales enablement: sales presentations, personas, sales emails
• Your content (articles)

Case studies and writing samples signal to me that you can do the job you are asked to do but they rarely make a candidate stand out (unless the content is really bad!) I do think long-form writing samples have their place - they should show that you can communicate well and that you can possess critical thinking skills.

But what makes a great candidate stand out for me, far more than anything, is a strategic mindset and an ability to provide evidence of outcomes during the interview. I'd focus on this more than on the portfolio. I go into how to do this in more detail in other questions.