Product Marketing Soft and Hard Skills

8 Answers
Liz Tassey (she/her)
Liz Tassey (she/her)
Highspot Vice President Product MarketingJuly 8
I love the data debate. A couple of my favorite quotes: "If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything" - Ronald Coase. "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses" - maybe Henry Ford I dont think it's an either-or answer. Data is obviousl......Read More
858 Views
11 Answers
Swaroop Sham
Swaroop Sham
Wiz Group Product Marketing Manager - (CIAM / API Products)April 29
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 Quantitative and Qualitative data. Most PMs are data-informed and driven. Insufficient quantitative and q......Read More
1237 Views
8 Answers
Lauren Barraco
Lauren Barraco
Inscribe VP, MarketingNovember 17
This is a great question. I have a few rules that we try to live by for our comms:  1. Make it short, sweet, and to the point!  2. You shouldn't expect your sales team to read every word, so make sure to use bold, underline, colors for items that are most important.  3. Build a cadence - ......Read More
394 Views
11 Answers
Abdul Rastagar
Abdul Rastagar
GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career CoachNovember 19
The ideal candidate will have both but that’s often not possible. For me personally, I think the soft skills are far more important. Especially at the more junior and even mid-management levels, the hard skills can be taught. The soft skills are much more difficult to teach. As an executive, you......Read More
1047 Views
8 Answers
Abdul Rastagar
Abdul Rastagar
GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career CoachNovember 19
While interviewers focus on your response to the hard skills question, they are simultaneously evaluating your soft skills as well. Generally, they are evaluating your EQ and your communication skills, your ability to interpret questions and think critically in real time, and your ability to prov......Read More
1470 Views
What advice do you have for recent graduates that want to go straight into product marketing?
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?
10 Answers
Savita Kini
Savita Kini
Cisco Director of Product Management, Speech and Video AIJuly 23
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 experience you gather that would help you to position yourself in product marketing.  - pick ......Read More
844 Views
How do product marketers make sure they're learning enough varied skills to be a well-rounded professional when scope is an issue?
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.
9 Answers
Christy Roach
Christy Roach
AssemblyAI VP of MarketingOctober 8
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 to change jobs in order to get the experience you want and think there are plenty of ways to get......Read More
1917 Views
How important are brand marketing skills for product marketers compared to analytical skills?
There is often a huge emphasis on analytical skills, instead of brand marketing skills, when it comes to product marketing job descriptions.
16 Answers
John Gargiulo
John Gargiulo
Airbnb Head of Global Product MarketingNovember 30
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 marketing and brand marketing are becoming increasingly blurry. Think of it as simply different pro......Read More
18908 Views
4 Answers
Liz Tassey (she/her)
Liz Tassey (she/her)
Highspot Vice President Product MarketingJuly 8
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 customers is incredibly powerful), win/loss reports, gleaning insights from your customer experience an......Read More
988 Views
14 Answers
April Rassa
April Rassa
Aventi Group Product Marketing ConsultantSeptember 28
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 packaging words in a way that will be accepted by a specific group of people. A PMM should write wi......Read More
1445 Views