Tracy Montour

Product Marketing is a highly strategic role and can add value to a number of positions. I think the most obvious choice is to progress from PMM to Head of PMM to VP Marketing and ultimately, CMO - this is not the only path. Many PMMs make great Product leaders, Strategy leaders, or can even progress to become the CEO. Find which elements interest you, understand where your strengths are, and go for it!

Leverage the channels that you own and the ones you can earn. What does your marketing team and sales team currently own? Email marketing, one-pagers, ADR outreach, website copy, content, blogs. What can you earn? PR, analyst highlights, podcasts, etc. Get creative! Not every launch has to cost a lot.

This is a great question! I find that PMMs often come up through the ranks from different experiences. For example, customer successs managers often make great PMMs since they have deep customer empathy. The ability to demonstrate customer-focus, problem solving skills, and cross-functional influence will set your apart from other applicants who may have traditional PMM experience. I hope this helps!

It is critical to have a product playbook that outlines this entire process and indicates explicity R+R (DACI model often works best). It all starts with the product vision including: What is the product? (vision) Who is the user? What is the problem we are trying to solve and why does it need to be solved? Why now? What are the use cases? Next, you need to look at the competitive landscape: What currently exists? Who bought it? Who's using it? What are they saying? What are their pain points? How many competitors are there? Is it a mature market? new one? Is there 1 dominant player? Define the product metrics: How do you measure engagement? Are you interested in DAU/WAU/MAU? What is the usage funnel? Do different users have different funnels? What is the "end goal"? Is it clear enough? Make the POC, and then move into GTM strategy... Pricing: How much will this cost? What is the pricing strategy? Implementation enablement What are the technical caveats? Create RFP response/overview How are we positioning this? What is the messaging and channel strategy? CS/Sales Enablement

Every GTM strategy starts with positioning and messaging. A detailed and well-aligned positioning document is essential. This should include personas, the problem you're solving, how the solution is defined, what the competition is, the positioning statement, and use cases (it can include more or less depending on the size of the launch and your specific scenario). From there, the messaging should be defined. And only after this should the GTM channel strategy be created. At minimum, these three documents must be created. Hope this helps!

The lines between sales enablement and product marketing will always ebb and flow between different organizations. There should be a more clear line between sales op and product marketing. Sales ops focuses on data analysis, training and support, revenue forecasting, and general sales process optimization. I would say this role likely has more ovverlap with sales enablement than with product marketing. No matter your situation, sit down and map out the R&R boundaries. If you're at a small company, you'll likely have to wear multiple hats - and that's okay! Ensure you know what you're responsible for and then take extreme ownership. 

Getting started can feel overwhelming, so I just want to give you a few resources to start with. Sharebird is a great community to start with online. So kudos for finding us here! I also recommend the following books: - Play Bigger: How Pirates, Dreamers, and Innovators Create and Dominate Markets - Obviously Awesome - Playing to Win: How Strategy Really Works Most importantly, Product Marketing is about strategy and understanding the customer. If you're trying to break into a role in your current company, I recommend getting involved in anything related to Voice of the Customer and talking to your Marketing/Product/Product Marketing leaders. Most PMMs come up through the ranks in other functions. You've got this!

I often find these assignments are about your approach to problem solving, positioning, and alignment rather than the work you actually produce. This is how I evaluate candidates. To me, it's all about their approach, rather than their output. You can't be expected to be an expert on the product or target audience before you even join an organization. I would recommend "showing your work" and helping the interviewing team understand your approach, as well as how you would measure success if you were to join the team. 

Like many have said here, Product Marketing org structures can be vastly different. I believe the organizational structure starts with where Product Marketing sits in the org. Traditionally, there are three options for this: marketing, product, and reporting directly to the CEO. In my experience, PMM teams that report outside of marketing are more likely to be aligned to product strategy and the strategic roadmap planning and therefore might reflect a similar structure as the Product Management org (by product line, solution, vertical, etc). It's important to look at the needs of the company, the size of the PMM team, and how the product is positioned in the market. The short answer is there is no "right" answer. 

The role PMM plays in the website depends where PMM sits in your organization. If PMM sits within marketing, they may own website metrics, budget, and responsibility but if PMM sits in product, they will likely have to work with marketing on website updated and iterations. Whichever is the case for you, ensure the website has a clear owner so that you can partner with them and that there are clear R&R for updates and measurement.