Brandon McGraw

Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing, DoorDash

Subscribers

Content

What's a typical product marketing career path?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

I think typical is atypical in PMM. I come from a background in brand before and have managed team members that came from consulting, manufacturing, advertising, as well as traditional marketers. Many of those past team members have gone on to careers in other parts of marketing, to product, or t......Read More

6648 Views

How do you view the distinction between brand marketing and product marketing?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

I love this question because I came from brand marketing before. I like to think about it as the distinction between the promise and the proof. The partnership between these two teams is essential. Brand is the promise you make to your customers about your core ethos and what they can expect f......Read More

4594 Views

What are some things you wish you knew in your first few years of Product Marketing, that you have learnt since

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

I came from a background in brand and so my natural instincts served me most well on the outbound side of product marketing. I had my fair share of imposter syndrom in the early days when I looked at my peers and realized that I'd never done the traditional inbound work of a PMM. I spent more ......Read More

2056 Views

What are the most important soft and hard skills Product Marketing Managers can build to become successful in their field going forward?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

Hard skills may vary by company, but I think there are two that are critical: * Insights. Know the difference between an anecdote and an insight. This is especially critical when you work on a service at scale. Your best (and sometimes most challenging) users tend to be the loudest, so ma......Read More

1969 Views

What key metrics do product marketing managers need to meet in order to get promoted?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

This varies by company and role, but I generally think about the path to promotion on the two key vectors: ownership level and degree of autonomy. Strong performance against OKRs or KPIs is a core underpinning to that. When considering promotion I start there and then look at how the person h......Read More

1947 Views

What qualities in a B2B marketer do you think are applicable to Consumer Product marketing? What are skill gaps that a B2B marketer could improve on to become more consumer-focused?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

Business customers are all consumers at the core, but there are really important distinctions. For one, businesses have totally different buying patterns and a myriad of channels to reach them through. When you're working for a traditional consumer technology company you're most often relying......Read More

1524 Views

What courses or other education should one pursue when changing from Growth Marketing in the tech industry to Product Marketing for either a tech or non-tech B2C company?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

I'd consider, where possible, looking for opportunities within your company to hone the skills and make the transition over courses and education. I'd focus on three things: 1. Build Relationships: Growth roles generally put you in the position of being responsible for a key business KPI. F......Read More

1425 Views

What do you look for in the backgrounds of aspiring consumer product marketers (who have never held the role before) as a signal that they will be a good hire?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

I myself come from a less than traditional path to PMM after spending the first half of my career on the brand side of the house. I may be biased, but I think less than traditional backgrounds are really valuable in a PMM and I typically look for a couple of key characteristics: Trust Building......Read More

1178 Views

How do you get product management to bring you into initial design process?

Brandon McGraw

DoorDash Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing • March 31

Like all things, I think this comes down to trust building. When you're new, focus on building trust with PMs by showing that you can handle the highest priority, high impact problems they bring your way. Use this to show them that you know your stuff and can handle operating at the speed and pac......Read More

1091 Views

Credentials & Highlights

Senior Director, Head of Product Marketing at DoorDash