WRITTEN BY Ben Marullo, CONSULTANT at Fluvio
You successfully navigated every round of interviews, aced the take-home assignment, and accepted an offer for your first role as a Product Marketing Manager (PMM). Congratulations! But, now what?
Becoming a PMM can be as challenging as it is exciting. Understandably, mastery in product marketing doesn't happen overnight—it's a journey that requires time, effort, and a wealth of hands-on experience. However, this doesn't mean you can't shine early on.
Remember this: Being new to product marketing isn't necessarily a disadvantage—it's an opportunity to ask questions, challenge the status quo, and bring fresh perspectives to the role and ongoing projects. It’s your ticket to explore, investigate, and dive deep into understanding your products, customers, and market dynamics.
Here are some strategies that will help you navigate your early days as a first-time PMM, giving you a head start and setting you up for success:
Become a Subject Matter Expert in your Market
Your most important goal is to become a subject matter expert in your product domain. This goes beyond knowing the product; it's about understanding the market, the competition, and the voice of the customer.
To understand your market and get up to speed quickly, it’s crucial to conduct independent research. This involves gathering, analyzing, and interpreting information about your target market, customers, competitors, and industry. Utilize company resources and internet research; you will always be able to analyze messaging and positioning of competition based on publicly available information online, such as company websites. Additionally, prioritize listening to sales calls and meeting with customer-facing teams to clearly understand your ICPs, personas, and customer pain points to understand the voice of the customer.
Lastly, cultivate a genuine passion for your product; your enthusiasm will shine through in your marketing efforts.
Deepen Your Product Knowledge
First and foremost, if you're new to product marketing, you must understand your product intimately. You may come from a sales background, a traditional marketing background, or even a product team. Knowing your product is critical in all those roles, but it’s even more important for a PMM. Understanding your product in-depth forms the foundation of all your marketing efforts. Dive into product manuals in tools like Confluence, engage with the Product Management (PM) team, and use the product yourself. The goal is to gain a comprehensive understanding that goes beyond surface-level knowledge. This is critical because it will help you know your product's unique value and weak areas.
Communicate with Transparency and Honesty
Transparency and honesty in communication are crucial for a new PMM. Regularly share your insights, uncertainties, and learning progress with your colleagues.
Transparency implies that you're open and upfront about what you know and don't know and what you do to learn and improve. It's about being clear and precise, leaving no room for misunderstandings or misinterpretations. This is essential for PMMs because you will gather valuable data and insights about the market, customers, and competition. Sharing these insights with your team helps everyone to be on the same page and make informed decisions.
For product marketers, honesty is about being genuine in your communications and actions.
This openness helps build trust and promotes a collaborative atmosphere. Providing honest feedback, whether positive or negative, is essential for the growth of your team and the product. Constructive criticism can help identify improvement areas and foster a culture of continuous improvement.
As a new PMM, your communication style can significantly impact your team dynamics and the success of your product. Therefore, practicing transparency and honesty in your communication is crucial.
Foster Collaboration Across Teams
Unlike some roles, PMMs don't operate in a vacuum. You must collaborate with multiple teams who all have a stake in the success of a product launch. Each team you collaborate with will have different roles, responsibilities, and priorities. Understanding these helps you interact more effectively with each team and allows you to align your efforts to support key KPIs. For example, if the sales team's priority is increasing customer conversion rates, you could focus on creating marketing collateral that addresses common customer objections.
Regular meetings and open communication channels are essential for facilitating cross-functional teamwork. Setting up weekly meetings with teams you need to collaborate closely with and including clear agendas will ensure everyone is on the same page and allow collaborative problem-solving. Open communication channels via Slack or email allow for quick and easy sharing of information, questions, and feedback.
In conclusion, becoming a successful PMM is a multifaceted endeavor. It involves becoming a subject matter expert in your product domain and understanding the market, competitors, and customers' voices through various research methods and tools. Communication is vital in this role, requiring transparency, honesty, and collaboration to align with cross-functional teams. Regular learning and curiosity are essential traits that help navigate this complex and dynamic role effectively.
If you feel like you may have imposter syndrome, don't worry – this is very normal. With time, persistence, and authenticity, you will learn that even if you don’t always feel like a PMM, you are well on your way to becoming a product marketing expert.
Work Cited
Larabel, Fatima. "NIHITO Principles in Action: Strategies for Conducting Systematic Buyer and User Interviews." Pragmatic Institute, 10 July 2018, (www.pragmaticinstitute.com/resources/webinars/product/nihito-principles-in-action-strategies-for-conducting-systematic-buyer-and-user-interviews​)