Who do you align yourself with to gain momentum in the leadership organization?

To get things moving in the leadership team, align with key players and teams focused on revenue growth. Start by identifying top decision-makers like the CEO, CFO, and heads of sales and customer success. These folks drive critical initiatives. Partner with sales to understand customer needs and collaborate with the customer success team to boost satisfaction and retention. Work closely with product management to ensure marketing aligns with product features. Show how your efforts directly impact company goals, like increasing sales and engagement. Use data to prove your success and build trust. Keep leaders updated on your plans and progress, and look for gaps where you can solve problems, like improving communication between teams. Foster a collaborative environment by encouraging open communication and sharing insights. By aligning with key teams and demonstrating your value, you can gain leadership support and make a big impact.

This is an interesting question because there's a few ways to answer:

1. Find an ally to Product Marketing. Typically this is a department leader who understands the value of what product marketing delivers and has an obvious shared interest in success. In my experience this has typically been Marketing, Product, and Engineering. Build up rapor with these department leaders so that you will have an advocate in forums that are only leadership/c-suite (they will be your voice!) Soon these relationships will expand as other departments appreciate the strategic value of including product marketing in their 'mix'.

2. The other way of thinking about this is more of a bottoms up approach. Showcase wins and value from product marketing that resonates across the business (and aligns to broader business KPI's) If the business is moving into an adjacent market, showcase market insights and industry trends. What is the competitive landscape and what (if any) are the barriers to entry? Surface this up in various meetings/planning forums to highlight where product marketing can add value. Suggest partnering with leaders in broader planning sessions so value can be realised earlier (a great example of this is in product development..the earlier PMM can be involved in product ideation, the more successful the products themselves can be!)