Jeff Rezabek

The great thing about Product Marketing is that there are so many different entry points. I came from more of a content marketing background, but I've known amazing PMMs with a product background or customer success background that also crush it. Each path comes with its own strengths and value to the organization. So there isn't a wrong path. If you want to go into PMM, try getting involved with more PMM activities that will give you the experience to add to a resume. Find a mentor (when I discovered PMM, my head off marketing had a PMM background and mentored me). Take classes if you can. And get involved with different communities (like sharebird).

If you're creating a two-pager sales enablement asset, always assume it will be shared externally at some point, so make it so that if it gets in the hands of a prospect, the branding is the same, and the information isn't confidential. Without knowing much about your product or audience, I would look for themes and create multiple documents if available. For the customer quotes and case study stats, I've always used those as sidebar callouts. The themes I would look for include: * Product - This is the obvious first option. You'll want to create this asset if you have multiple products in your portfolio. Additionally, if you have competitors that aren't in your space but prospects frequently look at both your solution and that one, it's essential to create a product enablement document here, too. * Usecase - If your product serves different use cases or jobs to be done, this would be my next enablement asset. Group the case studies and quotes into similar use cases to help your sales team (and prospects) understand how you can help them achieve what they currently can't. If you have information on competitors and how you do it differently, you can add it here. * Persona - The final format and structure I'd recommend is to align the document, quotes, and case study on the different personas you serve.

I've done this a few different ways in the past. One way is by partnering with Product Management to grade a release item and then assign a launch level to a release based on a grade (is it new/innovative, is it going to match the market, impact to customers, impact to the market, etc.). The product team will launch the feature if something doesn't fall into the launch level threshold. When that happens, we will collect data and look for opportunities to package the feature into a future release announcement to help tell a bigger story. The other way I've done this is to do a quarter release where we package the features with the biggest impact/value on the market (customers, prospects, partners, etc.) into a single quarterly release theme. The KPIs we capture are media pick-ups and sign-ups (beta sign-ups or request demos on the "what's new page"). The product team will usually measure feature adoption (or $ generated if it is a paid feature), which should also be tracked on the PMM side.

To help with this, you must think like you're new to tech or the industry. Even if you don't use it in external-facing messaging, you need to gather as much info as possible to help craft it and enable your internal teams. While "serverless" or "fully managed" may mean something to your champion, it may mean nothing to their executive or budget holder. Further, there may be competitive advantages to your fully managed offering of features that set you apart. One of the best tips for this is constantly asking, "So what?" Even if you think you know the answer, you need to ask this a few times. This will help you dig deeper than the feature to understand what the actual value the champion will get out of using your product or feature.

I have completed nearly all of the Pragmatic Marketing Courses. While they were great, in my experience, they were geared more toward the product team. Foundations, Market, and Launch were good, and I still find myself thumbing through the workbooks every so often. If you have more experience in Marketing than Product, and you're just getting into PMM, I would recommend looking into Product Marketing Alliance's Core Certification. It covers a lot of topics and provides a bunch of templates.

The most important sales enablement activity that PMMs should being doing is meeting with the sales team regularly. Split it up into smaller groups that way you give everyone an opportunity to speak comfortably. Understand what's working, what's not, and where you should focus future enablement sessions or update materials based on feedback. In the enablement sessions (regardless of topic), it's important to frame it around your personas and messaging to help reinforce it.

The top skills I'd recommend for someone new to Product Marketing include: * Communication: Even in an age of AI, it is incredibly important to write focused copy well. Sure, AI can help, but you need to craft the prompt and refine and revise the copy to provide the touch of the human factor. Outside of written communication, you'll also need to be a skillful verbal communicator. * Asking Questions: Part of the role of a product marketer is asking questions and then sitting back and listening to the response. Then, drill deeper with a follow-up question, and then ask the question again. Asking intelligent questions, actively listening, and being able to repeat the information in your own words then will help you stand out. * Relationship building: Finally, I'd say being able to forge relationships across departments to build trust and become the go-to person that CS, Product, Sales, Marketing, etc., can go to when they need something or have questions. Usually, open communication and empathy will help with this.

My approach to developing messaging for a new product or feature is to set time with the product owner to fully understand what's being developed, why, and for whom. Ask as many questions as you can, even the ones that seem simple or obvious. Ask about functionality. If it does X, ask why and then say so what? I've worked with many great product owners in my career, and this type of questioning was welcomed because it helped them see the big picture (and sometimes opened the possibility of future scope capabilities). Some key questions I ask are: * Who is the target of this feature (persona, usecase, vertical, product, etc). * What are the challenges that the audience is currently experiencing that are causing them to look for this feature? * What's the impact of this not getting solved for them? * What's the old way of solving this? * What's our solution? * How does it work? * What value does it bring to the audience? * So what * How is this different than what's currently available?

The biggest mistake product marketers make when revising existing messaging is being closed-minded. It's easy to resist wanting to change something that you worked on or have strong convictions about. However, look at the data and listen to conversations from sales and CS. Listen to the market. What was created six months ago may have been messaging that resonated with your ICP, but products change, and markets change quickly. When revising your existing messaging, you and everyone involved need to have an open mind and be willing to change the parts that no longer work or resonate. Even if it is something that "we've always said."

A few strategies that I've used to share messaging pillars with my organization include: * Creating a hub in our intranet that provides view-only access to personas and high-level messaging (I share the full messaging doc only to the teams that need it) * Conduct an internal enablement session where you go over the messaging * Bonus points if you do a Voice of the Customer enablement session where you interview the customer and rephrase their response to validate the value pillars * Create an interactive demo where you go over each value pillar and provide a customer quote that aligns to the pillar. This is useful for on-demand training for when new employees start.