Indy Sen

That's a good question. I think it will vary based on when you start your career as a PMM and where. I've seen PMM leaders go on to be CMOs and founders, or successfully transition over to areas like product management and general management.  In terms of roles/titles, you typically see a progression of the following type:  Product Marketing Manager (PMM) Senior PMM Group PMM Director PMM, Senior Director VP  Bigger firms like Google als have entry-level programs like the associate product marke ...Read More

Such a great question. I think the best thing you can do invest in yourself and "sharpen the saw". This is especially critical earlier in your career. A couple of approaches:  1.) Read - My mom has this saying: Books are like software updates for your brain. Yes, not all business books are spell-binding page turners, but you'll quickly see that your brain will free associate and you'll draw on differents nuggets, often at opportune times. I've stumbled on frameworks for example that helped chart ...Read More

The best way to think about it is across each funnel stage. Top of funnel: You want to measure and quantify whether your messaging resonates in the marketplace. The best way to measure this is through your PR channels and specifically at the time of a product launch or big initiative to see if your messaging has generated the awareness you wanted it to. At Google, we had this metric called "messaging fidelity," where we counted the number of coverage pieces that quoted our value props and messag ...Read More

Influencing: You need the ability to inspire and drive cross-functional teams, often without any of the "authority". Cross matrixed orgs FTW, baby. Storytelling: You can turn a plot into a narrative (see answer above). You have a knack for finding that storytelling hook that gets to your why this solution, and why now? Positioning: You can distill a product's features and benefits into something that's aspirational and make the audience feel like this product is uniquely suited to their needs, a ...Read More

Yes, in my experience there are definitely a few org considerations that will shape your fortunes as a PMM, and navigating those will determine whether you're set up for success.  The first, as you allude to is the function you report into. I've been in orgs where PMM has been in marketing, product or sales. IMO, PMM should always be part of marketing because, while you're no doubt deeply embedded with the latter two functions, you are by definition a marketer and need to be evaluated as such. T ...Read More

Great question, and always exciting to be at a juncture where you're considering expanding your GTM to address specific verticals and opportunities. Getting a vertical right is not always easy, but when you have the right structure and offerings, the work across other opportunities is very repeatable.There are several ways to think about this from a marketing approach: Picking the vertical: Spinning up a vertical marketing strategy within marketing is a big bet because you have to orchestrate a ...Read More

It's really the following three functions: product, sales and the greater marketing team. You will regularly interface with these three, and depending on the company will be deeply embedded with product and sales.  The one way I see this changing is that businesses increasingly need to bring B2D aka Business to Developer sensibilities to the fore. Think about how so many companies are becoming "platform companies" and that means that product marketing will also need to supporters stakeholders su ...Read More

This is a great question, and also a good one to answer early, as its sets the tone for what the relationship between PMM and Sales will be over the next months, quarters, if not years to come for teams and organizations of any size. IMO, PMM should absolutely be on the hook to support sales with all the self-serve materials (e.g. decks, battlecards) and resources (e.g. case studies, landing pages) needed to help navigate the early stages any every deal (lead -> opportunity) that can technica ...Read More

Looks like this question got the most upvotes so let me start with it and try and give as much context as I can. At Google we had the following heuristic for marketing which was:  1.) Know the user2.) Know the magic3.) Connect the twoIt informed our marketing overall, but especially our positioning and messaging. You asked about both and I would actually separate the two. For positioning it's always a good idea to start with the product and engineering teams. They are typically the closest to th ...Read More

Well that makes me feel old, but great question. I'd say time, a lower risk profile, and access to everything.Time is a non-renewable resource, and you'll want to protect it with everything you got. But the one thing you have going for you when you're at the beginning of your career is you can experiment, industry-hop. Invest in that time to learn. But do be clear about your learning goals. When it comes to a career you should never waste time in a field, function or industry you don't care abou ...Read More