Grant Shirk

Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences, Cisco

About

Grant Shirk is the Head of Product Marketing for Cisco Meraki. With over two decades of experience in marketing strategy, positioning, product design, and leadership, he's truly an enterprise software nerd at heart. Prior to joining the Meraki tea......more

Content

What's your best product marketing 30-60-90 day plan to make a big impact at a new company?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Time for some radical transparency. I'm in the midst of this right now. Tomorrow is my 30-day milestone at Cisco Meraki. It's been an awesome first four weeks, and I'm really looking forward to what's next. (Shameless pitch - we're hiring, too!) The size of the company and team adds a laye......Read More

6753 Views

How would you approach this product marketing interview assignment?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

Pulling this one up. It's outside the realm of KPIs and measurement, but I think it's really critical. And I have a few strong opinions here. If I can summarize this back, as part of your interview process, you were given an assignment to build an overall strategic plan to take a flagship pro......Read More

1871 Views

How do you create competitive intel that is really beneficial to sales (i.e. they actually read and use it)?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • April 13

This is a fun one. An aphorism we could coin here is that "Competitive battlecards are just like datasheets. Every salesperson desperately wants a new one, but nobody ever uses them." The challenge is that most competitive intel and content is boring, too detailed to use in the moment, hard t......Read More

1140 Views

There's always a new topic (or sales ask) to cover. How do determine the team has covered one "enough" and balance the need for breadth versus depth?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

This is what makes PMM so fun. And also a little chaotic. You're frequently context-shifting between strategic investments (a 12- to 18-month horizon), quarterly operational work (those "big rocks" and Tier 1 launches), and the daily/weekly/monthly execution below the scenes. And then a compet......Read More

1106 Views

What’s a successful GTM look like for you? Who do you involve & how do you influence to get the best ROI?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • August 16

The pressure's on for this one. Feels like this is the kind of topic first chapters in business books are devoted to. A successful GTM is hard to describe in detail. Every business, customer, product, team, and marketplace are different and the right path through can vary widely. And the deta......Read More

1073 Views

How do you showcase or describe to interviewers your work in messaging and positioning, without actually showing documented work?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • April 13

This is a great one! It's also something few people do well in an interview setting. It's a bit challenging to do verbally, but if you think it through in advance, you can be prepared when the opportunity presents itself. The first thing - the success of your positioning in an interview settin......Read More

1058 Views

What are some best practices you recommend for bringing brand creative and product design teams together in a collaborative setting?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • December 15

Okay, this is a fun one, so I'm going to start here. As a former UI designer (at Pixo and Tellme Networks**), this is probably the most fun you'll have in product marketing. You're bringing together three functions that thrive on different kinds of creativity. Words, emotion, and structural desig......Read More

1042 Views

Other marketing roles have clear KPIs; PMM is the only role where we have multiple KPIs. Is there one or two that is critical for PMMs?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • July 6

I am a huge proponent of shared KPIs. Like Product Managers, Product Marketers often have to work through and influence other teams in order to reach their goals -- and, more aspirationally, to help their customers reach their goals. Shared metrics have superpowers. They drive alignment, account......Read More

1012 Views

Who are the critical partners/stakeholders in the organization for industry PMM?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • August 16

Other than everyone? Product and UX - To highlight industry-specific opportunities for roadmap or positoning Sales - To help them drive better discovery, solution positioning, and credibility with a customer PMM - To pressure test messaging and inherit the best, most compelling value props ......Read More

974 Views

How do your industry PMMs collaborate with product- or sales segment-focused PMMs?

Grant Shirk

Cisco Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Campus Network Experiences • August 15

There are two questions here, and I'll address both. One answer is much shorter than the other. How do we collaborate across industry and core PMM? Constantly. At Meraki, we do have an Audiences team focused on both industry and a few specific LOB personas. The give and take is pretty regular.......Read More