Bhavika Thakkar

As PMMs grow from mid-level to senior-level, they are consistently expected to demonstrate these 3 areas- Strategy vs. Execution- Product Marketers start their career by doing product launches or messaging or growth but a VP of Product Marketing is expected to build a 3-5 year strategy to drive business growth. That requires bringing understanding the market, the competition, differentiated value, pricing/packaging, GTM motions, technology advancements and bringing it all together to build the s ...Read More

I'd ask why are they doing that? I'm sure no one likes to do work that others can do for them so if they are creating their own messaging and positioning I'd sit down with them or with your manager and their manager in the spirit of asking for feedback. Is their messaging resonating? Is their messaging accurate? Is their messaging covering differentiated value? How can you incorporate what's working into your official messaging so you are consistent across marketing and sales content? Asking que ...Read More

I love this question. I've personally always sought roles where Product Marketing is a strategic business leader vs. a marketer and a launch manager. Microsoft is definitely organized where Product Marketers have business ownership which gives them the empowerment to shape product with their product and engineering counterparts. Adobe and GoDaddy are similarly organized. I believe Salesforce is too(but don't quote me on that). But, these are some questions you want to ask when you interview with ...Read More

Networking is key and even more important when leaders hire for mid-senior roles. I always start with people in my network. I don't think having exact experience matters as much as mindset, product understanding and attitude to get things done. I've done a product role because someone took the chance in me knowing that I exceled at Product Marketing. Here's how I'd approach finding roles in adjacent functions- Since you come from performance marketing background, taking up roles in a data-orient ...Read More

If all of your SaaS competitors require an enterprise demo, I wouldn’t treat that as “no pricing data.” It just means you need to compare pricing architecture instead of exact price points. Look at how they package value: what is gated behind enterprise, what their value metric seems to be, whether they price by seat, usage, volume, workflow, location, data, integrations, support, compliance, or outcomes. You can also triangulate through customer interviews, win/loss calls, procurement conversat ...Read More

Someone from investment banking or finance industry would already have strong analytical chops. I think this is a huge advantage as data-oriented PMMs automatically have advantageous position in career growth. You'll naturally excel in funnel analysis, TAM analysis, segmentation, Running the business work. Where I think you'll want to build skills are- Customer empathy. Just talk to 20 customers a quarter in the early days of transition. Not all decisions in Product Marketing are excel based. Th ...Read More

AI accelerates competitive analysis, messaging gut checks, audience-specific copy, and creative development — all helping get products to market faster. Key ways AI is being used: 1. **Competitive analysis**: Quickly running gut checks on positioning statements and messaging. 2. **Audience-specific messaging**: With AI, decision-making power has shifted from technical decision makers to end users. AI helps rapidly adapt core messaging for different audiences — IT TDMs, BDMs, C-suites, and end us ...Read More

I've been a SaaS, Marketplace and now AI PMM so a PMM can represent multitude of things. At it's core, Product Marketing is taking 'something' and figuring out how to make that 'something' a winning product/service/solution by building a strategy. I think if you're doing that with services, that can easily translate to product marketing if you're doing some of the work as below- Understanding your customer segments and building target profiles Building differentiated value prop keeping competito ...Read More

The answer to this question is the same as what I responded to another question asking about difference between Group PMM and VP of Product Marketing. In short, it's strategy, product influence and business impact. Here's what I typed up- As PMMs grow from mid-level to senior-level, they are consistently expected to demonstrate these 3 areas- Strategy vs. Execution- Product Marketers start their career by doing product launches or messaging or growth but a VP of Product Marketing is expected to ...Read More

I’d first separate the business model question from the pricing question. If the company is still deciding between subscription vs. advertising, that needs to be resolved first because the success metrics are very different: subscription depends on perceived value, habit, retention, and willingness to pay; advertising depends more on scale, engagement, and audience monetization. But if competitors are already succeeding with subscription pricing, I’d use that as a signal that consumers have perm ...Read More