A good competitive intelligence function starts with great listening. Engaging
your frontline (both sales AND customer success...why you are losing deals is
good insight, but why you are losing custom
Product Marketing Skills
2 answers
VP of Marketing at Blueocean.ai • July 9
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
First off, congrats! The positive impact that can have on revenue and growth is
pretty remarkable. When standing up a new function, I always think broadly to
start. For example, when considering “comp
5 answers
Vice President Global Marketing at CalypsoAI • May 12
Bring your behaviours into your answers. The relationships you've built, the
challenging people you've persuaded etc. It's important to be clear on the
activity and the task, but ensure, within the ST
Director, Product Marketing at 1Password • January 21
I am a huge fan of the STAR format (and also keeping answers to two minutes or
less)! For any interview, I think it's important to identify and prepare your
key 3-4 examples, which you can then use to
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 24
I'd weave these topics in as you answer the hard skill questions. Depending on
your examples, theu could be easier to be included. Things to touch upon: 1.
Leadership + Influencing without authority
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
I agree that soft skills are key, and highlighting them during “STAR” stories is
a great way to work them into your interview. You can also share them when
expressing your interest in the role and/or
i.e. working at a large company with minimal scope, focusing on sales enablement but knowing you need experience on the product launch side, other marketing teams covering responsibilities, etc.
7 answers
Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing at Airtable • October 9
This is a great question! I know lots of product marketers who worry that in
getting more specialized they’re missing out on the opportunity to get that
broad skillset. I reject the idea that you have
VP Product & Customer Marketing at Observe.AI | Formerly Clari, Vendavo, Amdocs • January 28
The role of a product marketer is very different in every company. Still, I
believe you shape up the position in your organization - the strengths,
interests, and passions you bring with you can expan
Vice President Global Marketing at CalypsoAI • May 12
There are multiple ways I'd suggest doing this. One approach is to use the
current area that you're focused on i.e. sales enablement, and how you can use
your knowledge and experience of this to influ
Head of Product at Prove • September 8
This is one of the reasons to work for a smaller company where you get a wider
scope, there is always pros and cons on each company type. Now if you are in a
large company with a small scope, Make the
VP of Product and Solutions Marketing at HubSpot • January 20
I think it's always possible for product marketers to learn varied skills by
being open to new projects or opportunities when they've mastered a skill. At a
large company, where roles are more special
Product Marketing at Clari | Formerly Gong, Salesforce, GE • April 15
Great question and a challenge I've definitely run into throughout the years.
Every role and every company is different and you're not always going to get the
full spectrum of PMM with every move. T
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
Reach out to the product marketing network! Sharebird is a great place to start
:) And I find that LinkedIn is another helpful resource for connecting with
other product marketers to get insights from
4 answers
VP, Marketing at Inscribe • November 18
This is a great question. I have a few rules that we try to live by for our
comms: Make it short, sweet, and to the point! You shouldn't expect your sales
team to read every word, so make sure to u
Product Marketing at Clari | Formerly Gong, Salesforce, GE • April 15
I tend to keep my communications short, sweet, and to the point while keeping
the mentality of "what's in it for them" at the top of my mind. Bullet points
and a TL;DR summary help with this. Make su
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
Clarity is key. With both internal and external comms, I focus on being as clear
and concise as possible. And for internal communications, it’s important to make
sure your colleagues see you as a reso
Typically, these roles require 3-5 years of experience and/or an MBA. Are there roles we should target instead that will help transition into product marketing? What qualities do you want to see in young professionals that want to land in product marketing?
7 answers
Director of Product Management, Speech and Video AI at Cisco • July 24
I believe there is no hard / fast rule about requiring an MBA. I have seen
plenty of young graduates make the transition to product marketing. The first
year or two is critical in terms of the kind of
Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing at Airtable • August 14
I agree with a lot of Savita's points above. I see a lot of new grads who are
interested in product marketing and recommend most new grads to try to build up
general marketing skills before they try t
Director of Product Management - Pricing & Packaging, CXP at Twilio | Formerly Narvar, Medallia, Helpshift, Feedzai, Reputation.com • February 28
It is possible to start a junior product marketing role straight out of college,
but a true PMM role requires some real world skills. As a hiring managers, these
are some of the things I look for: 1
Head of Product Marketing, Collaboration SaaS at Cisco | Formerly Adobe, Samsung, Verifone • February 16
You should seek out product marketing specialist roles. In such a role you'll
get to help product marketing managers conduct market, customer and competitive
research, analyze data on product adoption
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 25
Product Marketing Specialists, Associates or General Marketing Specialist roles
are good roles to kick-off your career in Product Marketing. They all will
require you to develop Product Marketing skil
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
I started my career in editorial, and didn’t transition over to marketing until
about six years ago. I can’t stress enough how important sharp communication and
collaboration skills are when it comes
There is often a huge emphasis on analytical skills, instead of brand marketing skills, when it comes to product marketing job descriptions.
12 answers
Head of Global Product Marketing at Airbnb • December 1
It's funny, I've been working on a deck looking at exactly this question.
It's fascinating how much it varies from company to company. We're moving to a
place where the distinctions between product ma
Director of Product Management, Speech and Video AI at Cisco • January 20
Just a feedback on the last comment, as I reacquaint myself to the "new" bay
area. I have noticed more emphasis on demand gen skills amongst many startups.
If there are stakeholders in the company alr
Sr. Director | Head Of Product & Partner Marketing at Samsara • November 20
First, you can not decouple analytical skills from brand marketing skills. They
are not mutually exclusive. You are right that there is more emphasis on
analytical skills in job description for produc
Senior User Acquisition Manager at Hopper | Formerly Skillz, Telus Health, • January 3
100% agree with Suyog. Nothing we do exists in a vacuum and all of the
positioning and messaging we bring to market should be looked at from a brand
lens to ensure consistency. Ultimately, the consume
CEO at AudiencePlus • January 29
I definitely appreciate this tension -- and in a perfect world you find the
right mix of both on the team. Analytical skills will benefit our understanding
of market sizing and opportunity, pricing an
Vice President, Product Marketing at Braze • March 11
Analytical skills tend to be the preferred skill set of a product marketer
because they are "running the business". Product Marketers own a product's P&L
and must have the business acumen to drive
VP of Marketing at Blueocean.ai • July 9
Brand is more than just a logo or color palette or tag line. Brand is the
combination of customer touchpoints that create meaning and belonging for that
customer...Brand attracts the customer in the f
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 25
Understanding how Brand Marketing works is critical to succeed in Product
Marketing as these two teams work closely together to bring any Marketing and
Product work to life. Brand Marketing thinks ab
Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 7
In my opinion, a big part of Product Marketing is storytelling - connecting the
customers' and prospects' desires and pain points to the capabilities of your
products and solutions. Brand Marketing
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
It depends on the role. As Head of Product Marketing at OkCupid, I rely on data
and analytics to drive product decisions. But ultimately, my priority is
ensuring that our product lives up to our brand
7 answers
Senior Director, Portfolio & Engagement Product Marketing at Airtable • November 18
I'm going to admit upfront that I answered this in a previous AMA, so I'll copy
and paste that same answer here. A year later, I can truly say that these
continue to be the things I think are most imp
Director of Product Marketing at Ironclad • July 2
High growth mindset / hunger to continuously improve. Great negotiators. We sit
at the intersection of a lot of teams and needs! PMMs need to be skilled not
just at bringing value, but negotiating pr
VP of Product Marketing at Oyster® • September 30
Communication: You simply must be a good communicator to be a stellar product
marketer. So much of our discipline requires strong communication in order to
provide clarity (both externally and interna
Because Product Marketing is at the cross-section between Marketing, Product and
Sales, there are times when they are barely treading water to keep up with all
the product launches, become a “catch al
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 24
A couple of others that come to mind: 1. Excellent communication skills and the
ability to adapt these to the right audience - whether that's for consumers at
scale, customers, or internal stakeholde
Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • July 23
As I spend a decade working in product marketing at high-growth startups, I'll
focus on must-have soft skills for PMM in a fast-growing startup: Hight user
empathy: PMM should absolutely love talkin
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
A collaborative attitude is a must. Product marketing is one of the most
cross-functional roles in any company, so the ability to work well with
colleagues in every vertical of the business is vital.
9 answers
Group Product Marketing Manager - (CIAM / API Products) at Wiz • April 30
With so much at stake, a lot can go wrong when trying to influence the product
roadmap. When tensions run high, PMMs might risk their most important
relationship by: Not providing Sufficient Quantit
Group Product Marketing Manager at Codecademy • June 22
The biggest mistakes to avoid when influencing the product roadmap: Being too
prescriptive with the idea/solution, rather than presenting the problem space
and enlisting your product, design, and eng
VP of Marketing at Blueocean.ai • July 9
Not knowing the product: I've known PMMs who had never...used...the product. For
real. This is job #1 - get familiar with the product, build and do demos with
customers, spend time with the product
Associate Director Product Marketing, Creator Promotion at Spotify • August 27
Two mistakes I've seen are: (1) Not getting on the same page as to the goals for
the product. If you don't have a shared undersatnding with your PM / your
product team as to what you are building and
VP of Marketing at BenchSci • October 13
A wise mentor once told me, there is a very big difference between being
respected and being liked. You don't need your PM to like you, you need them to
respect you. With that being said, remember th
Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Pendo.io • December 16
The big one is thinking they are smarter or better equiped to make roadmap
decsions than the product team. Don't do that. Don't make it your crusade to get
something on the roadmap. You have to give y
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 25
Product Marketers should be user/customer-centric, insights-driven, and
data-driven. Understanding what users/customers need with breadth (at scale,
representative of your target audience) and depth (
Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at BetterUp | Formerly Klaviyo, Qualtrics, Microsoft, MckInsey • October 26
First - Not knowing the product. It doesn’t matter how many customers you talk
to, how many insights you can glean from user analytics, or how many sales deals
you can unlock with your ideas- you wi
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
It’s so important to understand the lift of the project you’re petitioning to
add to the roadmap when approaching the team. If you’re not sure, speak with the
stakeholders beforehand. When I first beg
7 answers
Vice President Global Marketing at CalypsoAI • May 12
A lot depends on the type of role. In general hard skills is where a lot of
hiring managers would edge towards as it ensures the technicality of the role
can be carried out. Soft skills are also vital
VP of Marketing at Blueocean.ai • July 9
I think it's a balance, but if I had to choose, leaning in to those soft skills
is a great strategy when you are starting out. It's really important to go
into a new team / company with a really st
Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Pendo.io • December 16
It certainly depends but I'd say it's more important to have the right soft
skills. Specifically for product marketing teams. What PMMs do can really vary
company to company. So while it's likely your
Director, Product Marketing at 1Password • January 21
If I had to choose one I would (slightly) lean towards soft skills. Having the
right soft skills is what I believe enables a PMM to find the biggest
opportunities and drive buy-in/alignment so that th
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 24
I think it depends ultimately on what the team needs. In a highly technical
area, I'd value industry and product knowledge highly, as long as the person is
then coachable and open to learn on other ar
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
I find that people with strong soft skills often have the ability to pick up the
hard skills quickly. People who’ve honed their soft skills are proactive about
asking the right questions, and are moti
10 answers
Product Marketing at Cohere | Formerly Adobe, Box, Google • September 29
Messaging is the ability to communicate pains and solutions for a specific
persona using the written word. PMM writing is unique because it’s all about
distilling a message down to it’s essence and pa
Head of Product Marketing at Symphony Talent • October 20
I would suggest practicing by creating your own messaging frameworks for some of
your favorite products or companies be they B2C or B2B. This should help you to
start to think through the different pr
Vice President Global Marketing at CalypsoAI • May 12
Research, and come with a growth mindset! Look and listen to what competitors in
your market are doing. How does their messaging make you feel, how does it
relate to your own organisation's. Why do cu
Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • July 16
Practice, practice, practice! Get as many reps in as you can, and have a
marketer you admire give you very candid feedback. Bonus points if you can do a
working session with someone who’s skilled in m
Head of Marketing at Instawork • September 1
As others have mentioned, practice. It's hard to find the extra time, so here
are some ideas: Try different frameworks to refresh on basics Find reasons to
tag-team a refresh. I've used it as part of
Director of Product Marketing at Snowflake • November 5
2 pieces of advice here: 1) Take a look at the messaging from other companies
(even outside of your market or industry). Who is really nailing it and what do
you like about it? And who are the players
Director of Product Marketing & Lifecycle Marketing at Loom • December 3
This is mostly just practice, start writing, and keep writing. However, some
specific things you could do include: Actively consume other marketing content.
For example subscribe to your favorite bra
Director, Product Marketing at 1Password • January 21
I'd recommend making sure to spend enough time on the planning and information
gathering phase that is necessary prior to creating messaging. The most common
issue I've seen with messaging is PMMs jum
VP of Product Marketing at Howl | Formerly Google • May 24
Messaging for me is both an art and a science. I've seen very good narrative
building frameworks and courses around that can you help you nail basic concepts
(e.g how to structure a well written value
Director of Product Marketing at OkCupid • March 23
Messaging is so important, not only when conveying new features, updates, and
opportunities to your customers, but also when getting internal buy-in and
gathering resources for a go-to-market plan. St