You're developing a product marketing team. How can you make sure it's the best?
Product marketing is a crucial function that bridges the gap between your product, your customers, and your market. It requires a mix of skills, such as market research, messaging, positioning, storytelling, launch planning, and analytics. But how do you build a product marketing team that can deliver on these diverse and dynamic tasks? Here are some tips to help you create and manage a high-performing product marketing team.
Before you start hiring or assigning roles, you need to have a clear vision of what you want your product marketing team to achieve and how they will align with your overall business objectives. What are the key challenges and opportunities for your product in the market? How do you want to differentiate your value proposition from your competitors? What are the best channels and tactics to reach and engage your target audience? How will you measure and optimize your product marketing performance? These are some of the questions you need to answer and communicate to your team.
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Start with understanding your organization and interfaces. Product Marking sits between multiple teams. The mission can vary greatly. The only constant is PMM helps sell what is shipping today - and will be blamed for lack of new clients. Some quick questions to stimulate your assessment: Does PM or PMM own product messaging? Who leads product launches? Is PMM your primary content marketing writer? How mature is your campaign team; do they expect PMM to know the campaign metrics? Does PMM have a place in the client requirements process, or strictly take what is handed to them? Unless you know what the mission is all your hires are wrong.
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- Conduct skills assessments to understand team members' skills and abilities -Categorize team's skills into soft skills and hard skills -Invest in both soft and hard skills through coaching, training, and mentoring -Create the right environment for the team -Provide ownership, responsibility, and autonomy to team members -Align team's goals with overall business goals -Regularly assess and communicate team's progress and impact to senior leadership -Continuously develop and nurture team's skills and abilities through training and addressing any gaps.
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Built a few product marketing teams in my day, and here's how, Find folks who can write, research, and geek out on our product (togetherness is key!). We gotta stay on top of the market, what our rivals are up to, and what keeps customers up at night. No flying blind! We try things, see results, and adjust based on data. Gotta stay sharp, you know? Give them projects, goals, and the tools to rock it. Set them up for success! We listen closely, understand their needs, and craft messages that resonate. Empathy is our superpower.
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It's crucial to grasp your market stage (innovator, early adopter, etc.) and your position in the product category. This understanding empowers you to determine the skill sets required to formulate a PMMT. For instance, a PMM working at a start-up may need different skills than those at a scale-up or mature organization, giving you the knowledge to adapt and excel in your role. I have listed skills below relevant for any stage: 1. Enjoy understanding the Why and speaking with customers 2. Excellent communication skills and storytelling. 3. Fact, finesse, force and outcome-driven. 4. Create and anticipate trends and distill them for the organization to take action 5. Solid financial acumen. 6. Data-driven and know how to calculate risks.
Product marketing is not a one-size-fits-all role. Depending on your product stage, market size, and customer needs, you may need different types of product marketers with different levels of expertise and experience. For example, you may need a product marketing manager who can oversee the entire product marketing process, from research to launch to retention. Or you may need a product marketing specialist who can focus on a specific aspect, such as content creation, user feedback, or competitive analysis. Regardless of the role, you should look for candidates who have the relevant skills and fit your company culture and values.
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I. Product manager 1. Identifies a market need/pain/problem -> defines in the abstract a solution that leverages the company's strengths/capabilities. 2. Sells sr. mgt. on pursuing such solution -- including the necessary resources. 3. Conveys the solution parameters to the development team -> establishes project plan including milestones. 4. Meets regularly with development team, to monitor their progress against milestones and associated deadlines. II. Product marketing 1. Asks product manager what the product will provide, for what target audience, in what ways that are uniquely valuable. 2. Develops messaging and sales tools accordingly. 3. Trains the reps on using both. Expert in messaging and selling - very rare!
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I have always hired for fit and to complement or fill gaps in the PMM teams I have built over the years. As mentioned, the market and product stage and the organization's maturity in processes also guide the type of individuals who will thrive versus those who will not thrive. I have always been right about candidates who exemplify passion and find purpose beyond a job and product.
Once you have your product marketing team in place, you need to make sure that everyone knows their roles and responsibilities, and how they collaborate with each other and with other teams. You can use a framework such as RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) to define who does what, who makes decisions, who provides input, and who gets updated on each product marketing activity. This way, you can avoid confusion, duplication, or gaps in your product marketing process.
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To build a successful product marketing team, consider the following roles: Writer: Responsible for crafting compelling copy and content. Creatives: Designers who bring visual elements to life. Brand and Messaging Specialist: Ensures consistency and resonance in brand identity and messaging. GTM Expert: Coordinates the launch strategy if resources allow for a larger team. In smaller teams, individuals may need to assume hybrid roles, but it's crucial to assign clear responsibilities. Technical roles should be handled by experienced individuals, while there's room for flexibility in creative areas. Establish regular checkpoints to ensure alignment and progress. Prioritize product familiarity among team members before diving into tasks.
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The RACI matrix is a pretty standard method to not step on people's toes and not get others stepping on yours. Successful organisations use that all the time. I have had comments before from business leaders stating that a RACI matrix is not necessary and one should rely on business relationships to do your job. I beg to differ. It is a mix of relationships and clear structure that set organisations apart. Working based on just relationships can bring office politics and conscious/unconscious bias against people in the mix. With a RACI matrix, everyone knows where they stand and where the accountability lies. Sometimes people won't like having accountability. Hence the absence of the RACI matrix.
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A product marketing team typically includes a variety of roles, each with specific responsibilities that contribute to the overall success of the product. Here are some common roles: Product Marketing Manager: Leads the team and oversees the product’s marketing strategy, including messaging, positioning, and go-to-market plans. Content Manager: Develops and manages content initiatives, ensuring that all marketing materials align with the product’s messaging and value proposition Data Analyst: Analyzes market data to identify trends, measure campaign effectiveness, and inform strategic decisions Channel Marketer: Focuses on optimizing and managing specific marketing channels to reach the target audience effectively
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Define specific tasks and objectives for each team member, aligning them with the overall goals of the product and company. Clarify who is responsible for market research, competitive analysis, messaging development, and go-to-market strategies. Establish clear communication channels to facilitate collaboration and prevent overlap. Regularly review and adjust roles as needed to accommodate changes in priorities or team dynamics. By providing clarity on responsibilities, everyone can focus on their strengths, work efficiently, and contribute effectively to the success of the product marketing efforts.
Product marketing is a fast-paced and constantly evolving field. You need to provide your team with the training and support they need to keep up with the latest trends, best practices, and tools. You can organize regular workshops, webinars, or courses to help your team learn new skills or improve existing ones. You can also encourage your team to join product marketing communities, networks, or events where they can exchange ideas, insights, and feedback with other product marketers.
Product marketing is not a static or linear process. It requires constant testing, learning, and iterating based on customer and market feedback. You need to foster a culture of feedback and innovation in your product marketing team, where they can share their successes, failures, and learnings, and where they can experiment with new ideas, approaches, or solutions. You can use tools such as surveys, interviews, reviews, or analytics to collect and analyze feedback from your customers and stakeholders. You can also use methods such as brainstorming, prototyping, or A/B testing to generate and validate new ideas for your product marketing.
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Cultivate autonomy and embrace a drastically diverse skill set! Autonomy breeds a culture of innovation and empowers team members to think beyond traditional boundaries. You can give your team the freedom to explore and experiment. Please encourage them to take calculated risks and pursue unconventional ideas. And, look beyond the typical product marketing skills. Encourage team members to develop a deep understanding of customer success collaboration, sustainability awareness, legal and compliance knowledge, and even UX design. By cultivating a diverse skill set, your team can approach challenges from multiple angles and create truly innovative solutions.
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Building a high-performing product marketing team requires focusing on two key areas: structure and talent. Structure: * Align with your business goals: Define your product marketing goals (e.g., launch success, market awareness) and structure your team accordingly. * Choose the right team structure: There's no one-size-fits-all, but common structures include feature-based or customer-centric. Talent: * Seek well-rounded product marketers: Look for individuals with a mix of marketing expertise, product knowledge, and customer understanding. * Prioritize strong communication and collaboration: Effective product marketers can bridge the gap between product, sales, and marketing teams.
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Regardless of function or team in a function, ensure your teams feel empowered and have a sense of ownership. Give people the room to fail, learn and reach new heights they didn't know they could achieve or conquer. If you are in a position to hire, don't give the phrase below lip service - "hire people better than you and get out of their way." Let them know the guard rails are there to be broken with calculated risks. "Break Em'
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