Josephine Ruiz-Healy

Quantitatively test your messaging through experimentation:  A/B test different types of messages on your website  A/B test different types of messages through paid social & organic social A/B test different types of messages through SEM — I find this to be the easiest channel to experiment with given all you have to do is change copy.  A/B test different types of messages through email  A/B test different types of messages through in-product experiments — for example, our product is offered ...Read More

Depends on the role. If I’m hiring an Associate PMM, I don’t expect to see prior PMM experience. It’s more about seeing a demonstrable record of achieving results, hearing a growth mindset during the live interview, and evaluating their communication skills with a take-home interview.  If I’m hiring a PMM or Senior PMM, I look at their prior PMM experience to determine if they have related experience for the open role. PMM can vary depending on the customer you’re serving (B2C vs B2B), the sales ...Read More

Yes, as long as you are connecting the dots with your own work and applying what you’ve learned to your team. For example, I’m a big fan of Lenny’s Podcast and the MKT1 Newsletter — they’re great ways to learn how other companies approach product, marketing, and strategy and improve your own team’s growth or launch initiatives. I directly used one of the MKT1 Newsletters to inform annual planning for my team. You can find inspiration everywhere — keep your eyes peeled for good marketing in the w ...Read More

Before I explain the difference between messaging and copy, let me quickly recap positioning. Since positioning informs messaging and messaging informs copy, it’s important to start there.  Positioning is the foundation of all product marketing activities. I love the way that April Dunford defines it — ‍"Positioning defines how your product is a leader at delivering something that a well-defined set of customers cares a lot about." Once you know your positioning (this template helps), create a s ...Read More

While messaging informs content, content brings messaging to life for the right users, at the right time, and in the right channel.  Practically, this means that a content expert will choose the messages which will most resonate with the audience and determines how to best deliver those messages, taking into into account factors such as: The context in which the content lives — e.g. a post on socials versus a blog post on a website or a video on YouTube The unique audience of the content — e.g. ...Read More

From the start of a project, outline a clear RACI on the key deliverables needed to get to market, including 1) Positioning, 2) Pricing, 3) Messaging. Share it with the working team early, so you can make sure everyone is on the same page. For example, positioning and pricing might require approval from a GM or whoever is accountable for the business goals, whereas messaging might require approval from a Senior Marketing Leader. Further defining the RACI helps you determine who has to approve th ...Read More

I recommend creating a messaging document which can serve as a source of truth for internal teams. That document can include things like your positioning, key messages / value props, a glossary of key terms, and even a “do” and “don’t” section (e.g. do talk about X in this way, don’t talk about it in this way).  If you work on a self-serve product, it’s critical that you share this document with your Product and Design team, so that a given user is seeing the same verbiage / language across the ...Read More

I wanted to develop mastery across PMM core competencies — inbound and outbound. At some companies, they split up product marketing into inbound or outbound teams, but I find that the most successful PMMs are those that can do both.  Inbound, i.e. the research that dictates what features and products to build for your target audience. This includes a strong understanding of your customer, competitors, and their market. Earlier in my career, I focused on taking on increasingly more challenging in ...Read More

While an important part of product marketing is aligning with product goals and plans, most product marketers don’t spend enough time developing marketing-led strategies. I see a lot of PMMs that rely on product for direction, but the best marketing teams develop narratives that are out in front of the product, implement marketing levers that bring that messaging to life, and ultimately guide product direction.  For example, our marketing team noticed that customers were increasingly viewing and ...Read More

Start by clarifying where you want to go and what experiences will get you there. Where do you want to be in two, five, ten years? When you research or chat to people in those roles, what experiences have they had that you’re missing? Some of the best advice I ever received is to think about your career less like a straight shot up a corporate ladder and more like a portfolio of different experiences.  With that lens, growth can take many forms beyond just promotion — leading a challenging new p ...Read More