The connection between different departments never fails to amaze me.
Last week, I was on a paid vacation with my colleagues. Don’t let the word vacation fool you, though. We could’ve bonded over our favorite gum brand, but no. We chose to bond over work instead.
Before I knew it, we were talking about our jobs. I don’t need to say that it was a really LONG talk, but you know what they say: keep a thing seven years and you’ll find a use for it.
And I did. Now that I conversed with REAL product marketing managers, I have even MORE things to tell you.
Whether you’re an employer or employee, this article aims to fill you in on the product marketing manager role through the insider information I’ve got from people who had product marketing experience.
So, get ready ’cause this will be a hell of a ride on PMMs.
Who Is a Product Marketing Manager?
A product marketing manager (PMM) is the person who is in charge of product strategy—all in the name of bringing a product to market. There is more than meets the eye, of course. The holder of this title must be able to harmonize all respective tactics that are included in the process. PMMs should design a go-to-market strategy based on the chosen product strategy, all synchronized with the overall marketing strategy that displays product positioning to get the desired outcome from promotional campaigns that they lead.
Prior to it, they collect customer feedback, conduct a competitive analysis, and study market trends to execute a successful product launch in the target market. In the end, there is a reason they make data-driven decisions; they have to plant and process all of the data and insights to achieve product-market fit.
Future of Product Marketing
The future of product marketing seems to be bright, thanks to the strategic development toward customer success.
To elaborate, product marketing is here to stay as long as business objectives are built upon a customer-centric approach. There might be many variables that tend to change from company to company. Still, the nature of product development generally doesn’t change: building the product that each target customer in the market needs.
So, supporting customer-based business development within cross-functional teams enables product marketing roles to focus on the customer journey, thus delving deeper into specific product marketing assets that work for customer success.
That’s why sticking up for the future importance of any job in product marketing is relatively manageable due to the never-ending process of customer-oriented product development plans.
Product Marketing Manager Job Description
Let’s check how industry experts describe PMMs.
#1 Apple’s Product Marketing Manager
Number one on the list of product marketing job descriptions is Apple.
Apparently, they are looking for a PMM that is willing to improve each product launch plan by enabling marketing campaigns to be linked with insights from other departments, such as the sales team. Concluding that Apple is looking for someone who is capable of moving product marketing strategy to the next level by using data from various teams with great verbal communication skills wouldn’t be wrong at all.
#2 Amazon’s Product Marketing Manager
Moving onto Amazon, it’s crystal clear that their main goal is to find a PMM that will help them create a marketing team that is informed about other branches’ actions so that there could be unity within the plans they make. Also, putting importance on buyer personas and customer segments throughout the customer journey seems to be one of the ways they assure customer success.
#3 Dropbox’s Product Marketing Manager
Dropbox really lays the cards on the table with one of the most detailed job descriptions. Except for the theoretical knowledge, what they seek to find in a product marketing manager is project management skills—which will enable them to promote the content this person will provide externally and internally. For this reason, this person should be ready to post blog posts or product guides on their current products through various marketing channels to maximize products’ potential as well.
#4 Google’s Product Marketing Manager
Based on the list of responsibilities right above, Google seems to put importance on digital marketing as they clearly state that they’re looking for someone with copywriting skills to put their practical experience into the written content to get potential buyers’ attention. With that being said, they expect the product marketing team to represent users in order to have some kind of a sales tool that would connect them, which would increase product usage via user experience.
#5 Microsoft’s Product Marketing Manager
In Microsoft, metrics and KPIs carry a vital message. Thus, the data PMMs acquire from each plan and campaign works as an indicator of whether product enhancement is needed or not. So, the outcome of marketing plans plays a big role in both business and revenue goals. Consequently, product messaging and positioning are two means that will get product features across to create more demand for products.
Top Skills a Product Marketing Manager Should Have
PMMs might rely on their previous experience and knowledge in product management and product marketing to fit into a product marketing manager job description; however, being a top-notch PMM requires some specific skills. Here are all the key skills:
- Research and analysis skills. Before and after marketing campaigns and plans, research and analysis should be two inseparable components for PMMs.
- Marketing knowledge. To understand and improve marketing materials, PMMs must have some prior knowledge regarding the field.
- Project management skills and organizational skills. Each PMM needs to manage and deliver tasks with the product marketing team on time.
- Oral communication skills. Giving presentations in front of a big crowd shouldn’t be a big thing for a PMM since they do it on a regular basis.
- Customer empathy. For a PMM to succeed, market research isn’t the only item they need to study; understanding customers’ needs and pain points is vital for them to base a plan upon it.
Responsibilities of Product Marketing Managers
Skills ✅
It’s time to dig into the responsibilities of PMMs. PMMs must:
👉 promote a company’s products and their features to introduce them to a target audience and market.
👉 study these products to have a deep knowledge so that they can smoothly execute the marketing process.
👉 create marketing plans and campaigns for these products with the help of other teams to attract new customers.
👉 actively participate in the decision-making process, including strategies, plans, campaigns, distribution channels, content type, and many more.
👉 create and manage budgets for product marketing.
👉 conduct research and analyses, such as competitive analysis, to determine what product offering lacks.
👉 collaborate with other teams to drive revenue and boost sales.
👉 monitor user acquisition to check whether the campaigns bring enough awareness to the product or not.
👉 enable upsell and cross-sell to boost revenue by conversion and create customer loyalty.
👉 place importance on user onboarding to drive user retention and hinder users from churning.
Conclusion
From preparing product roadmaps to determining product pricing, a product marketing manager has a lot to do.
The primary goal of this article is to present to you what a PMM does in detail so that both employers and employees can understand what this position means for company goals and business objectives in the long run.
If you are ready to start your journey into product marketing, this piece will surely help you out!
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is a product marketing manager?
A product marketing manager is a person who takes the lead in actions regarding product and marketing. To elaborate, a PMM conducts market analysis, finds the correct strategy to promote products, prepares and runs marketing campaigns, gets customer feedback, and actively makes data-driven decisions with other team members.
Is product marketing a good career?
While being a career that opens many doors, product marketing is also a wise career move. Thus, many people transition from another department to product marketing teams as a degree in marketing isn’t necessarily needed. Besides, the beauty of product marketing lies in customer empathy since product marketing managers understand customers’ needs and try to meet their expectations by putting themselves in their shoes. As long as you’re fine with this maintaining this business relationship, product marketing is a great department to work in.
What’s expected from a product marketing manager?
A product marketing manager has to attend to a lot of things, but designing a product strategy that will fit the general marketing agenda is one of the main duties. Moreover, running marketing campaigns, conducting research and analysis, getting constant feedback, working on data to keep track of metrics and KPIs, focusing on product positioning, and maintaining the connection with the other teams to get the most productive outcome are included in the duties of a PMM. Ultimately, what a PMM achieves to do is boost sales and drive revenue by creating product awareness with the help of the promotion of product features and value proposition.
