Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing, Amplitude

Content

Director, Product Marketing

How does your company define the difference between product marketing and integrated/brand/customer marketing? Do you see value in having both roles, e.g. Integrated team works more closely with the creative team on seasonal/holiday/brand campaigns whereas Product Marketing works more closely with the Product team on product launches, user research/insights, positioning strategy, etc. I have found it challenging for Product Marketing to own all of this, and often see different skill sets from marketers who are great at creative brand campaigns vs. PMMs who are skilled at positioning a new product and bringing it to market.

I see those as different skills sets and usually different teams but I don't think there are strict lines in between them. Product Marketers should own the story, the core positioning and messaging, the surrounding context / thought leadership and GTM strategy. Ideally there are counterparts in i...more

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Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing

What advice do you have on stakeholder mgmt for small PMM teams (i.e. 1-3 ppl) that are coupled with larger, growing stakeholer teams (i.e. sales =15-25; CS = 20-30; Product = 8-12; marketing = 5-10)?

You have to align on what priorities you are working on and when. I even suggest having a sort of PMM roadmap. If you can get that agreed to at the leadership level then it will be a lot easier to have conversations with your stakeholders across teams. There are always going to be firedrills you...more

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Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing

Tips for managing stakeholder input: are there any templates or best practices for when to gather input and how to incorporate (i.e. whose feedback to incorporate vs. ignore, etc.), especially as it relates to a timeline?

The best way to manage stakeholder input is to start with a project plan or institutite a cadence that has specific points for stakeholders to provide input. Otherwise, as I am sure most PMMs have experienced, it comes in all over the place and in moments where it's not helpful. For example, wh...more

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Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing

As a product marketer, how do you build trustworthy relationships with Sales leadership and Sales?

Love this question. I believe that a major difference between successful PMMs and those who struggle is their relationship with the Sales org. Here are some ideas that can help you build trust with sales: 1. Help win a deal - This might mean some busy work creating slides, joining a call ...more

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Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing

Do you have any success/failure story to share around how you managed to influence a difficult stakeholder? Lessons learned?

Friction with stakeholders definitely comes with our jobs. While it can be stressful, frustrating and evening maddening, ultimately I think it also makes us better PMMs. That's my biggest suggestion for how to approach these situations. Ask yourself what can you learn from their pushback? A few ...more

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Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing

What are some cornerstone KPIs that product marketers should use for every GTM strategy?

I'm glad you asked about KPIs. As Product Marketers, we don't have the luxury of a single metric or even a couple metrics. We own the health of the story & vision our company is selling. I say health intentionally. It's not just that we own the story (we do) but we also need to make sure it's lan...more

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Nate Franklin

Director, Product Marketing

I have to do a global roll out of a new first call pitch deck. How do I make it interesting?

Love this question! Definitely a daunting task for any PMM. Here are my top three suggestions: 1) Incorporate customers 2) Get sellers to present 3) Make it a competition. Incorporate Customers - This can be hard to do but it will go a long way to making it land. In the past, I've done this with...more

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Credentials & Highlights

Director, Product Marketing at Amplitude

Product Marketing AMA Contributor

Stakeholder Management

Lives In San Francisco, CA