With a new calendar year underway, professionals the world over have set targets as they strive to develop their respective careers, recognize their personal targets, and develop their product marketing skills.
As usual, we’ll be by your side every step of the way, as you seek to climb the corporate ladder.
We’re starting the year as we mean to go on, so sit tight as we bring you:
- Advice from global product marketers on how enhance your product marketing skills, and
- Recommended product marketing courses.
How to improve your product marketing skills
“Product marketing is a dynamic field. Keep honing your craft! Leverage peer communities like Product Marketing Alliance, find a mentor and read books by leaders in our industry. Make it one of your personal goals each quarter to learn something new or try a different tactic.”
Jessica Muñoz, Head of Product Marketing at LiveIntent
“Restate your purpose over and over if you’re in an org that doesn’t have a clear, established PMM function yet.”
Kim Pfluger, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Splice
“Be the voice of the customer to your company and the voice of your company to the customer.”
Soleil Kelley, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Sprinklr
“Never assume that what you say is what others hear.”
Brendan Dykes, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Genesys
“Listen to your clients first. Research a lot. Get to know the market.”
Ana Luisa Ferreira, Product Marketing Manager at SoftDesign
“Don’t ever assume anything. Go with an open mind. Put yourself in other people’s shoes.”
Maria Alice Roche, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Athenian
“To me, the role is about energizing a whole bunch of teams to move in the same direction and motivating them to get things done well. So, set the tone: be positive, open, and friendly.
“And always be prepared with concrete meeting agendas, latest plans, timelines, next steps, and deliverables. When you’re the team people can count on and consult, that’s a great feeling. Enjoy the results and enjoy the ride!”
Monica Raszyk, Director of Product Marketing at Kontent by Kentico
“Never stop learning about product marketing, your buyer, the market, and technology.”
Sophie Pagalday, Director of Product Marketing at Locus Robotics
“Learn to tailor communications to your various audiences, whether that’s your Product Manager, senior leadership, or your consumer base.”
Dayna Shoemaker, (People) Manager of Product Marketing at Fivetran
“Write down what your product/service does that no one else does. Write down what you do better than others that helps your customers. Spend your time here, not on table stakes.”
Kevin Markl, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Anaplan
“Customer content rules. A single success story or co-webinar can create tens of successful offshoot assets and quotes usable across a wide range of internal and external assets.”
Tanner Luxner, Product Marketing Manager at Flexera
“Form strong relationships early and be empathetic with each of your stakeholder’s needs (you’re working with a wide range of teams and departments all with different challenges). Clear, open communication is your biggest asset.”
Danielle Delahunty-James, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Paddle
“Arm yourself with consumer data and anecdotes to help you influence your colleagues.”
James La Vela, Senior Product Marketing Manager at VaroBank
“Never stop learning. Product marketing is an extremely diverse, strategic yet tactical role. It’s impossible to be an expert at everything under the PMM umbrella, so it’s important to never stop learning.”
Emily Pathmajeyan, Senior Director of Product Marketing at Carrum Health
“Never burn bridges – you might need the help someday.”
Colleen Green, Senior Product Marketing Manager at VMware
“Bias to action: Take an ambiguous problem/challenge and start chipping away at bringing definition and clarity to it without fear of failure. Make decisions with the information you have, and adjust as you gain new insight.”
Miles Buckley, Director of Product Marketing at ClickUp
“Communicate with everyone. This isn’t a sit-at-your-desk-and-churn-out-content role if you’re doing it well. You need to constantly be throwing yourself into conversations with customers, product management, sales, and customer success.”
Rob Vanderzyppe, Product Marketing Manager at Appian
“Be a connector. The more you understand your stakeholders, the more value you’ll bring to your organization.”
Silvia Kiely Frucci, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Castor
“Keep an eye on competitors, but don’t become obsessed – your goal is solving a problem for your customers, not copying or responding to what your competitors are doing.”
Jamie Wallis, Product Marketing Manager at Gearset
“Always start with the customer. What do they know? When do they know it? Where did they learn it? What do sales people wish the customer knew before they get to them?”
Kate Laing, Product Marketing Manager at Voltera
“Always think about who your target audience is, what problem they need to solve, and how your work/company can help with that. The customer should always be the hero; your product/company is their guide to success.”
Grace Windheim, Associate Product Marketing Manager at Kapwing
“Listen to your sales team. They’ll tell you what you need to create, what the customers want, and what other players are going after your business.”
Cherie Pye, Product Marketing Manager at Lexia Learning
“Garner support from all your stakeholders early and often. Set clear roles and responsibilities related to the launch.”
Cait Gossert, Senior Product Marketing Manager at PwC
“Don’t be afraid to go back to the basics and keep it simple, product and sales will most likely always want to lead with a feature or function, help them tell the story.”
Jill Sawyer, Product Marketing Manager at RLDatix
“Know your stakeholders (whether these are customers or your C-level) and be flexible to adapt to them. As PMMs we should always be trying to resonate – from the messaging on our website to the PMM strategy presentation to c-level – and that means understanding and speaking the language of others.”
Ashley Herbert, Head of Product Marketing at Recruitee
“Become an expert at quickly consuming information. Get good at asking questions.”
Reilly McClure, Senior Product Marketing Manager at SiteTracker
“Listen to call recordings! To market to customers, you need to hear their pain points in their own words.”
Jessica Andrews, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Copper
“Understanding of the customer and how that translates into actionable recommendations is the most important superpower product marketing has in its repertoire.”
Glen German, Director of Product Marketing at Assurance IQ
“Make sure you state your opinion. You have a much broader overview of the happenings within your company than most of your colleagues. Make sure to take advantage of that.”
Elad Plotnik, Product Marketing Manager at Smarter Commerce
“Wrap your brain around the business. Even if you don’t have a deep understanding of every launch, feature, enhancement, or product, you need to be able to see and know enough to be able to empathize with your customers, communicate across teams, and create opportunities.”
Anna Daugherty, Product Marketing Manager at Stoplight
“Actual (not faked) empathy is a wildly underrated skill – this applies to both customers and for internal stakeholders.”
Phil Burch, Director of Product Marketing at Sendoso
“Talk to your customers, your product managers, marketing people, and sales reps. Then combine the data you’ve collected and watch the magic happen.”
Igor Kranjčec, Head of Marketing at Mediatoolkit
Recommended product marketing courses
Self-development goes much further than learning ‘on the job’. To really perform to your optimum potential, you need to devote time, effort, and resources to external training programs – and this is where we come in.
We’ve worked arduously to build an unrivaled bank of product marketing courses that’re sure to enhance your understanding of key product marketing principles, from Go-to-Market strategy, sales enablement, to competitive intelligence, to name a few.
Check out our full range of courses, heed the aforementioned advice, and unleash your peak product marketing productivity.
