Candace Marshall

Excellent question. To answer your first question, as product marketers, we get requests for all types of content. One tip is to align on a bill of materials, segmented by launch tier. That way, every time you launch a new product, you know exactly what resources you will develop. Ensure you align and set expectations on this bill of materials with your cross-functional partners, like sales, enablement, and marketing. This will help streamline your launch efforts because any time there’s a launc ...Read More

As PMMs, we’re on the hook for successful product launches but often rely entirely on teams we don’t directly manage. Product needs to hit GA, Marketing needs to plug into product announcements into pipeline campaigns, Enablement needs time to train GTM....it can be a lot to coordinate! What’s worked for me is starting with a clear launch strategy and workback plan, then bringing all stakeholders together early through a kickoff meeting to align on timelines, owners, and priorities. From there, ...Read More

In my experience, the best cross-functional relationships are built on trust and that starts with clear communication and follow-through. When both sides can count on each other to show up, share context, and deliver, that’s when things start to click. I try to create structure around that through regular touch points. The strongest relationships I’ve had are the ones where we’re advocating for each other in rooms we’re not in. That level of trust doesn’t happen overnight, but when it does, it m ...Read More

In large companies, you can make your mark as a PMM through alignment and relationships. Firstly, it's important to ensure your work directly aligns with the company's goals and objectives. Start by familiarizing yourself with your business unit's OKRs (objective key results). For example, if your company is trying to increase market share in a specific region and let's say you have a product launch coming up, you should proactively think through how to position the product and tailor the messag ...Read More

Sounds like your business is growing - how exciting! It's hard to answer this question without knowing how your business is structured but I'm happy to share common structures for 10 pmms. Structurally, a people manager or team lead should have at least 3-4 people; this is typically a good "pod" size and enables your people manager/team leads to scale. So with 10 pmms, you could have 1 Director with 2 people managers with 3-4 under them. When b2b businesses are growing, typically the focus for p ...Read More

Great question, and it's common! Many of the products my team own today serve both B2B (business-to-business) and B2C (business-to-consumer) use cases. Generally, we develop our product messaging and positioning broadly enough to speak to both. It's critical to anchor to the pain point and value. If needed, you can also consider verticalizing your product messaging to speak more directly to b2b and b2c use cases. It doesn't have to be either/or. My last tip is just consider where in the funnel i ...Read More

Great question. Personally, I think feedback is a gift and I do love getting it - but timing and context are everything. The key is to bring stakeholders in early. If you wait until the final stretch, the pressure to deliver can close you off to input or lead to unproductive last-minute pivots. That said, not all feedback carries equal weight. I try to anchor decisions to the goals of the project and weigh input accordingly. For example, when working on messaging, I try to prioritize voice of th ...Read More