The New World of Product Marketing
This post is Part 3 in the 5-part series The Power & Impact of Good Product Marketing.
One of the questions I get asked the most is, “What does a product marketer do, anyways?”
This is a tricky question to answer, as product marketing looks different at every organization. But, there are a few common threads that tie the role together.
In most cases, people’s perception of product marketers is shaped by the old world of product marketing. In the past, product marketing would be relatively hands-off in the product development lifecycle. A PMM would be handed a completed product, and then asked to create some marketing. This would include writing a value proposition, producing marketing materials, and then helping with sales enablement.
But, that world has changed, and product marketing is evolving! The role is now focused more on strategy, and less on execution.
The new world of product marketing puts PMMs at the heart of the business. Product marketing is responsible for understanding market and competitive trends, and translating those trends into revenue and growth strategies. Product marketers work hand in hand with product management to shape the product roadmap and drive go-to-market strategy. And they are involved in the entire customer lifecycle, from acquisition to churn.
The Strategic Spectrum
If we were to take all of these old and new world responsibilities and plot them on a spectrum, we would have strategy on the one end, execution on the other, and go-to-market planning in the middle. The strategic activities are inputs to product and go-to-market planning, while the execution activities are outputs of that planning.
The skill sets required to complete the left half of the spectrum is completely different than the right half. If you were hiring someone to help with market analysis, pricing and positioning, you might lean towards a business-focused candidate. But, if you were hiring someone to focus on content creation and lead gen, you would probably want someone with a writing background.
Defining what the role of product marketing will look like, and where it will fall on the strategic/execution spectrum, before you start hiring is so important in order to avoid a mismatch of skills.
Where your team falls on the spectrum is completely up to you, but the most effective and influential product marketing teams often focus more on strategy and lean on their marketing counterparts to roll out execution.
Once you’ve decided what the role of a product marketer will encompass, it’s time to decide which department they’ll report into. We’ll discuss the options — and the pros and cons of each — in the next post in the series.
