Why product marketers should rethink networking

Networking doesn’t start when you need a job. It starts on your first day of a new job.

Too often, we treat networking as a purely transactional tool – reaching out only when we are in job search mode and asking a stranger for a referral. But real networking is about building relationships over time through curiosity, generosity, and trust, long before you need anything.

The PMM lens: internal networking as a stakeholder management strategy

As product marketers, we are trained to listen. We conduct customer research calls. We ask open questions. We try to understand what customers actually need before we position anything.

That’s a skill most people in business never fully develop. It’s one of our greatest strengths. Yet internally, it’s easy to fall into a different pattern. Conversations become centered around requests rather than understanding.

Think about your own cross-functional relationships. Are most of your interactions happening because you need something, or are you investing in those relationships before there’s an ask?

Product marketers work across nearly every function. The table below isn’t about right or wrong; it’s simply a way to reflect on where your interactions tend to fall today.

Notice that the examples in the last column aren’t additional tasks but a shift in mindset. Instead of engaging only when there’s a deliverable, you’re building familiarity, trust, and context over time.

What if you approached your product manager the way you approach a customer – not to get something, but to understand something? What are they working on? What’s keeping them up at night? What would make their job easier?

The same mindset applies to sales, customer success, marketing, and leadership. The strongest cross-functional relationships aren’t built during moments of urgency; they’re built through small, consistent conversations long before you need someone’s support.

That’s relationship building. And when it’s driven by genuine curiosity rather than an immediate agenda, that’s what networking really is.

I encourage you to audit your stakeholder relationships quarterly.

My journey: networking to learn about PMM

Networking doesn’t just influence how you collaborate today; it helps shape opportunities throughout your career. I’ve seen this firsthand in my own career and while coaching professionals across different career stages.

When I transitioned from brand marketing into product marketing, I wasn’t looking for a job. I was trying to determine whether product marketing was the right next step. I had built a successful career across CPG and retail, but I knew every industry has its own language, expectations, and ways of working.

So I started talking to product marketers. I asked what they loved about the role, what challenged them, and what skills mattered most. Those conversations helped me realize that many of the strengths I’d already developed were transferable.

Networking gave me clarity. By the time I made the transition, I understood not only what the role required but why it was the right fit for me. 

Breaking into PMM: networking to make a career transition

Careers are rarely linear. Career coaching should support this, and that is why I created Your Career Wings – as I’ve been there, I get it.

The experiences you gain in one role often prepare you for something entirely different – whether by choice or circumstance. One of my clients, based in Brazil, had spent several years in strategy consulting, working with companies in the consumer goods and retail sectors. He wanted to move in-house into a role where he could apply his creativity, with the long-term goal of transitioning into product marketing.

Although he had developed deep expertise across multiple clients, he wasn’t effectively communicating how those skills translated to an in-house marketing role.

With a targeted networking strategy in place, he had thoughtful conversations that helped him better understand the field while refining how he positioned his experience.

Those conversations helped him land an integrated marketing role, giving him the in-house experience he needed. From there, he continued building relationships internally, sought out opportunities to collaborate with product marketing, and ultimately made a successful transition into a PMM role.

Growing in PMM: networking as a leadership strategy

As your career grows, networking becomes about more than learning or opening doors. It becomes one of the ways you lead.

One client early in her career wanted to launch a Women’s Employee Resource Group (ERG). She had a compelling vision but no formal authority to make it happen. She needed to bring together colleagues – regardless of title – and earn an executive sponsor who believed in the vision enough to help bring it to life.

At first, imposter syndrome crept in: “I’m not senior enough to pull this off.” But leadership rarely begins with authority – it begins with relationships.

Together, we mapped out who she needed to learn from, who could champion the initiative, and how to approach those conversations with genuine curiosity rather than an immediate ask. As trust grew, so did momentum. She built a small but committed team, earned executive sponsorship, and successfully launched the ERG with organizational support.

Networking wasn’t what happened after she became a leader; it was how she learned to lead.

What’s your next step in networking?

Opportunities rarely come from having the largest network, but from relationships built on curiosity and trust. It starts with showing up long before you need something in return.  That’s the kind of networking worth investing in.

Start by building the relationships that will define where your career goes next. Whether you are two years in or twelve, the question is the same:

Are you building relationships intentionally or waiting until you need something?