Building a Product Marketing Team
10 Answers
Naman Khan
Blend Chief Marketing Officer • March 18
There are 3 that I couldn’t live without: Total Project Manager (TPM): This is the “quarterback” of the launch, they own the master launch plan, ensure dependencies are captured, establish alignment & drive accountability. When I was at Salesforce, we assigned a TPM for Dreamforce every year fro......Read More
2687 Views
17 Answers
Ross Overline
Fivestars Senior Manager, Product Marketing • August 16
While there are benefits to both, judging from my experience, I believe PMM reporting into Marketing is more effective. * Reporting into makreting creates stronger ties between PMM and the revenue organziation (marketing, sales, operations, etc.) and can therefore lead to more buy-in from......Read More
1122 Views
21 Answers
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I often like to ask, “What accomplishment are you most proud of?” as well as, “In your last performance review, what were your opportunities to improve and how have you worked to address them?” I like the question “What accomplishment are you most proud of?” because it often helps me understand w......Read More
5092 Views
15 Answers
There’s no one typical product marketing career path. Product marketers are often utility players, and get into product marketing from a wide range of backgrounds like content, campaigns, sales engineering or enablement, or even product. Once you’re in a product marketing role, you can expect to ......Read More
8746 Views
How can you allot more time to strategy and larger picture items when you're leading a smaller PMM team (less than 3 total ppl)?
Leading a smaller PMM team means you're still in the weeds many times and it can get difficult to make time for strategical thinking—topics that need to be discussed and brought up with leadership. Any tips on how to balance that?
5 Answers
Amanda Groves
Crossbeam Senior Director Product Marketing • September 7
Protect your calendar! Set aside Do Not Disturb (DND) time for strategic thinking and honor that time. Try to establish a "no meeting" day at your business where you have dedicated space to GSD and think strategically. Set the expectation that if you accept a meeting, there must be a clear agenda......Read More
284 Views
2 Answers
Lindsey Weinig
Twilio Director of Product Marketing • August 17
I love the power of a new perspective. I recommend an inspect, reflect, then suggest approach. Taking time to gather information from and form relationships with teams you support including product, sales, sales enablement/programs, marketing, as well as peers at your level will help you gauge yo......Read More
5375 Views
4 Answers
Amanda Groves
Crossbeam Senior Director Product Marketing • September 7
Why product marketing? - Tells me their motivations. If they have a drive to serve customers and a discipline for storytelling, it'll shine through. If not, I'll know it's not a good fit. How do you define and measure success of product marketing? - It's important to suss out if your philosoph......Read More
317 Views
How do you think about team structure and organization when you have 5PMMs vs 20+PMMs?
Do you ladder individuals into verticals? When does a team warrant a manager vs a collection of ICs?
2 Answers
John Hurley
Notion Head of Product Marketing • May 4
When scaling from 5 PMMs to 20+ PMMs, it becomes increasingly important to have a well-defined team structure and organization. One approach is to ladder individuals into verticals based on their area of ownership and area of expertise. As the team grows, it may be necessary to have discipline le......Read More
1897 Views
What does your product marketing team org structure look like?
Do you simply have Product Marketers by product/portfolio? Do you have a release communications manager? Someone in sales enablement? What other roles exist in your product marketing teams today?
11 Answers
Patrick Cuttica
Square Product Marketing Lead • October 16
See the answer above to the question "I wanna make the case to hire some more product marketers - we're a team of 2 for a company of 400. Whats the ratio where you are? Have you seen any external data on this?" -- I think I mostly covered this in that answer. In short, we have a Go-to-Market ......Read More
7429 Views
Rachel Cheyfitz
Coro Head of Product Marketing and Documentation • September 9
I'm strongly against tests except for under very certain circumstances for specific candidates - only when my intuition is a little wavy - and even then, I often skip the test and reject the candidate actually. Instead of this, I suggest making sure you ask the right questions during the inte......Read More
634 Views