Ben Geller

For landing Sr. PMM Interviews, here is a six-step approach (thanks to Coach Erika, for the framework): Hone your online profile/resume Know what’s out there (about you or authored by you): this could be your LinkedIn profile, Medium, Twitter, Github, etc Assess whether it fits how you’d like to present yourself Modify as needed to represent yourself as you’d prefer Walk down memory lane: Pick three to five recent major projects in your careers, and then remember every single detail they can rec ...Read More

A great PMM dashboard is an expression of your company’s strategy. Start with the business objective, define the key results that reflect your approach to that objective, and then select KPIs that measure progress. For example, for an enterprise business, KPIs should align closely with enterprise funnel health. That means tracking both volume and conversion across: Top-of-funnel: qualified leads by score, source, and intent signals Mid-funnel: hand-raise events like webinar attendance, demo requ ...Read More

Generally, one of the mistakes I’ve seen people make is A/B testing subtle changes in messaging and using these test results to drive decision-making. For example, before Nike was known to the world, I doubt “Just do it” would have performed well in an A/B test or focus group. But the reason “Just do it” is so well-known and successful is the consistency with which it’s been used and the strong brand underpinning the messaging. Rather than spending time sweating these small changes in direction, ...Read More

This is a problem we often face at You.com, where we sprint to bring new features to market and iterate over time, rather than waiting until the final vision for the feature is realized. The way I like to approach this problem is by designing messaging and related collateral for the desired end-state—where we are going—and then working backward to strip away features for the initial release. This approach helps maintain continuity in messaging as the feature set evolves, bringing clarity to user ...Read More

Generally, when messaging for a technical audience, I have two rules of thumb: Simple is best. If something is too complex to make sense to a layperson, it means you're not explaining it clearly enough. Generally, I've seen messaging for technical products fall into the trap of using too much jargon. Don't follow that temptation! Use plain English as much as possible, keeping in mind that the audience does not have nearly as much context as your internal employees. As an old copywriter friend us ...Read More

One of my favorite documents I create for a product launch is a PM <> PMM Launch Handoff Brief I use this document to help facilitate and standardize the transfer of information from PM to marketing. This will help you ensure product marketing has the context they need to bring this new product to market. We generally have the product owner complete this document with PMM at the beginning of launch planning. Don’t have time to meet? Have the PM record a Loom clip talking through each quest ...Read More

One of the biggest struggles I've seen for PMMs is explaining the role and the value we create to team members who have never worked with PMM before. If you encounter this challenge, here's a simple framework I've found helpful: Elevator pitch: Product Marketing’s superpower is being the “Voice of Customers to Product and the Voice of the Product to Customers”: Voice of Customers to the Product (Inbound) Audience Strategy (Segmentation, Targeting) Consumer Insights (Unmet Needs) Positioning (How ...Read More

Generally, for tiering GTM Launches, I like to think about the extent to which the product experience & how we market the product changes. Here's the tiering system I recently implemented at you.com that has been battle tested in 50+ launches: Tier 1: Major Product or GTM Shift Description: Product experience and/or how we market the product fundamentally changes Frequency: 2-4/year Campaign Strategy: Dedicated Campaign Example Distribution Channels: Heavy PR push, eEvents Pre-launch testing ...Read More

The biggest mistake I’ve seen on PMM resumes, is failing to directly address the problem/challenge the role is being hired to tackle. Usually, when I’m hiring there’s a very specific challenge I’m looking to address, and it’s clear in the job description what that challenge is. When I’m scanning a resume I’m looking for indicators that the candidate has related experience, so I know they can come in and contribute from day one. So, I’d recommend whenever possible help the hiring manager connect ...Read More

I love the JTBD (Jobs to be Done) framework for improving messaging. The JTBD framework helps define the high-level tasks your users are trying to accomplish using your product and how they evaluate success. When you deeply understand what users are "hiring" your product to accomplish, you can shift your messaging from focusing on features to emphasizing the value to the user.The classic quote on this style of thinking is from HBS Professor Theodore Levitt: “People don’t want to buy a quarter-in ...Read More