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Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) and Product Managers (PMs) are similar roles but with key differences between them. Because it is easiest to explain those differences by contrasting them side-by-side, both roles are explored in this chapter.
Both roles are somewhat unique within companies in that they simultaneously involve the dichotomy mentioned in the introductory marketing chapter of being both a voice for the company and a voice for the customer.
Instead of Marketing, the Product Management function may be a part of the Engineering department or even be a standalone department. In any case, PMs work closely with Marketing and it is useful to understand their role.
What They Do
Product Marketing Managers (more commonly just called Product Marketers) generally perform three broad sets of activities. The first set, which all PMMs do, is write and continuously update product-focused marketing collateral. This includes documents such as technical data sheets, brochures, white papers, website copy and sales presentations. These materials serve, in part, as the "voice of the company" to the market. Note that the kinds of materials PMs create are different than those that MarCom groups (see Chapter 2 for more about MarCom) create. MarCom generally focuses on positioning the company and on establishing a brand, and the audience for those materials includes prospective customers but also the general public, the media, and industry analysts. Product marketers only focus on the products, and the target audience is prospective customers. The goal of these materials is to explain what the products do and what benefits they offer to customers.
The second broad role PMMs play is developing product positioning. Product positioning is a somewhat amorphous concept, but essentially it involves defining a set of key points or statements that help everyone in the company appropriately articulate the most important product attributes for a given audience. As an example, if a Partner Marketing Manager is taking to a partner about an upcoming product release, what specifically should he or she say about that product? Or, if a Public Relations Manager is speaking to a reporter about a new product, what key points should he or she emphasize to ensure that the company gets accurate, favorable product coverage?
The third and perhaps most important function most product marketers perform is gathering market requirements from current and prospective customers, and feeding that information to the Product Management and/or Engineering teams to ensure that the right products—products that the market truly wants—are developed. This is the "voice of the customer" component.
Product marketers collect this information from a variety of sources, ranging from interviewing prospective customers and industry experts, to conducting surveys, monitoring competitors’ actions and many other techniques. Product marketers capture these requirements in what’s called an MRD (Market Requirements Document). In most companies, the MRDs are then reviewed by Product Managers, who adapt these higher-level, non-product-specific market requirements in the MRD into a PRD (a Product Requirements Document). An MRD defines what the market needs in terms of product capabilities, while the PRD defines in technical terms what the company needs to build to fulfill those market needs. Product Managers typically negotiate with Engineering departments to determine what features will or won’t be included, and on what timeline, using the PRD as a reference and the MRD more for context.
In some companies, this third function—inbound market requirements gathering—is performed entirely by Product Managers, in which case Product Marketers typically focus on creating marketing collateral. And in extremely sales-driven companies, decisions about what products to build are made entirely by some combination of Sales management, Engineering managers, and the executive leadership of the company.
In addition to these broad functions, Product Marketers often perform a wide array of other roles. These exact same roles may be performed by Product Managers, instead. The most common roles include:
Useful Skills
PMs and PMMs need a broad range of skills. These include:
Technical skills. Product Marketing and Product Management are the most technical roles in Marketing organizations. It is thus necessary for PMs and PMMs to have a solid grounding in the technologies their companies build. PMMs don’t necessarily need a technical undergraduate degree – in fact, most don’t have one – but they should at least have some hands-on technical skill. At a minimum, for example, a PMM in a Web software firm should know how to write HTML script. Get your feet wet. If you’d like to work for a computer hardware manufacturer, try building a PC at home. If you want to work for an Internet service provider, build a website. If necessary, take as many technical computer-related courses as you can.
Because PMs typically interface with Engineering departments, most PMs do have a technical undergraduate degree or more hands-on experience (self-taught computer programmers, for instance).
Most importantly, PMs and PMMs need to like technology, and need to be willing to keep learning about new products and technologies. If obsessing over product features, benefits and technical specifications sounds boring, this isn’t the right field for you.
Interpersonal skills. PMs and PMMs work with a lot of people, both internally and externally. Internally, they work with virtually every department in the company (PMs work more with Engineering, while PMMs work more with Sales and other Marketing functions). A certain level of diplomacy is thus very helpful. In addition, PMs and PMMs hold customer-facing roles. As such, they should have polished interpersonal skills. They should be comfortable meeting new people.
Communications skills. PMs and PMMs need to be effective communicators, on many fronts. First, almost all PMs and PMMs speak in public, whether presenting a seminar, delivering a webinar, or meeting with a group of customers. To be successful, you need to be comfortable speaking in public. If you fear speaking in public, join your local Toastmasters club or read books on conquering a fear of public speaking.
Second, both roles require writing skill. PMs tend to write documents such as PRDs only for internal consumption, so writing skill is perhaps slightly less important. But PMMs need to be particularly good writers, as they are writing a variety of documents that will be visible to potentially thousands of readers. (Of course, most tech firms either have MarCom staff onboard who are good editors or they outsource editing to freelance contractors, but still, being a strong writer as a PMM goes a long way.)
Business skills. Good PMs and PMMs understand more than products – they understand business. Many PMs and PMMs hold MBAs, and increasingly employers prefer candidates who have one.
Sales and marketing skills. Even though PMs and PMMs are more technically focused than other marketing professionals in a tech firm, they are, first and foremost, marketers. If you have an undergraduate degree in Marketing, you might be fine in this regard. If not, take an introductory marketing course to familiarize yourself with the jargon that all marketers use. Longer-term, consider pursuing an MBA, whether full- or part-time.
Another invaluable skill is being able to think like a salesperson. If you have some solid Sales experience (sorry, working retail in high school doesn’t count), you’re already ahead of most other candidates.
PM/PMM process skills. Finally, whether you’re interested in product marketing or management, I strongly recommend you take attend a Pragmatic Marketing seminar (pragmaticmarketing.com). If you’re serious about pursuing a career as a PM or PMM, these courses are invaluable.
Career Paths
PMs and PMMs start their careers with that title at the Manager or Specialist level; I have never run into a PM or PMM with a title lower than that, though it probably happens. Managers generally focus on one or more product lines, class of products, or a particular market segment (see Chapter 6). Directors typically lead a team of PMs or PMMs.
The VPs of Marketing at many tech firms moved up through a PM or PMM track. The combination of product and market knowledge, direct exposure to customers, and the opportunity to work with multiple departments internally provides a very strong foundation for leadership success.
►See a sample job description for a Product Marketing position
►See a sample job description for a Product Management position
►BACK to the Table of Contents
Product Marketing and Product Management
Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) and Product Managers (PMs) are similar roles but with key differences between them. Because it is easiest to explain those differences by contrasting them side-by-side, both roles are explored in this chapter.
Both roles are somewhat unique within companies in that they simultaneously involve the dichotomy mentioned in the introductory marketing chapter of being both a voice for the company and a voice for the customer.
Instead of Marketing, the Product Management function may be a part of the Engineering department or even be a standalone department. In any case, PMs work closely with Marketing and it is useful to understand their role.
What They Do
Product Marketing Managers (more commonly just called Product Marketers) generally perform three broad sets of activities. The first set, which all PMMs do, is write and continuously update product-focused marketing collateral. This includes documents such as technical data sheets, brochures, white papers, website copy and sales presentations. These materials serve, in part, as the "voice of the company" to the market. Note that the kinds of materials PMs create are different than those that MarCom groups (see Chapter 2 for more about MarCom) create. MarCom generally focuses on positioning the company and on establishing a brand, and the audience for those materials includes prospective customers but also the general public, the media, and industry analysts. Product marketers only focus on the products, and the target audience is prospective customers. The goal of these materials is to explain what the products do and what benefits they offer to customers.
The second broad role PMMs play is developing product positioning. Product positioning is a somewhat amorphous concept, but essentially it involves defining a set of key points or statements that help everyone in the company appropriately articulate the most important product attributes for a given audience. As an example, if a Partner Marketing Manager is taking to a partner about an upcoming product release, what specifically should he or she say about that product? Or, if a Public Relations Manager is speaking to a reporter about a new product, what key points should he or she emphasize to ensure that the company gets accurate, favorable product coverage?
The third and perhaps most important function most product marketers perform is gathering market requirements from current and prospective customers, and feeding that information to the Product Management and/or Engineering teams to ensure that the right products—products that the market truly wants—are developed. This is the "voice of the customer" component.
Product marketers collect this information from a variety of sources, ranging from interviewing prospective customers and industry experts, to conducting surveys, monitoring competitors’ actions and many other techniques. Product marketers capture these requirements in what’s called an MRD (Market Requirements Document). In most companies, the MRDs are then reviewed by Product Managers, who adapt these higher-level, non-product-specific market requirements in the MRD into a PRD (a Product Requirements Document). An MRD defines what the market needs in terms of product capabilities, while the PRD defines in technical terms what the company needs to build to fulfill those market needs. Product Managers typically negotiate with Engineering departments to determine what features will or won’t be included, and on what timeline, using the PRD as a reference and the MRD more for context.
In some companies, this third function—inbound market requirements gathering—is performed entirely by Product Managers, in which case Product Marketers typically focus on creating marketing collateral. And in extremely sales-driven companies, decisions about what products to build are made entirely by some combination of Sales management, Engineering managers, and the executive leadership of the company.
In addition to these broad functions, Product Marketers often perform a wide array of other roles. These exact same roles may be performed by Product Managers, instead. The most common roles include:
- Competitive intelligence is discussed in much more detail in Chapter 8, but essentially it entails tracking what the company’s competitors are doing, and using that information to help Sales sell against competitors’ advantages or helping the company decide if it should build or modify products to compete more effectively.
- Sales training involves educating the Sales team on how to position newly introduced product features, how to sell against competitors’ features, and at a higher level how to understand the market for the product.
- Product pricing is usually developed jointly between Marketing managers, Sales managers and the Finance department. Even so, the PMM usually maintains the official price list.
- Market evangelism is a fancy way to express that most PMMs and PMs conduct seminars and webinars (a seminar delivered over the Internet) and speak at industry events of all kinds.
Useful Skills
PMs and PMMs need a broad range of skills. These include:
Technical skills. Product Marketing and Product Management are the most technical roles in Marketing organizations. It is thus necessary for PMs and PMMs to have a solid grounding in the technologies their companies build. PMMs don’t necessarily need a technical undergraduate degree – in fact, most don’t have one – but they should at least have some hands-on technical skill. At a minimum, for example, a PMM in a Web software firm should know how to write HTML script. Get your feet wet. If you’d like to work for a computer hardware manufacturer, try building a PC at home. If you want to work for an Internet service provider, build a website. If necessary, take as many technical computer-related courses as you can.
Because PMs typically interface with Engineering departments, most PMs do have a technical undergraduate degree or more hands-on experience (self-taught computer programmers, for instance).
Most importantly, PMs and PMMs need to like technology, and need to be willing to keep learning about new products and technologies. If obsessing over product features, benefits and technical specifications sounds boring, this isn’t the right field for you.
Interpersonal skills. PMs and PMMs work with a lot of people, both internally and externally. Internally, they work with virtually every department in the company (PMs work more with Engineering, while PMMs work more with Sales and other Marketing functions). A certain level of diplomacy is thus very helpful. In addition, PMs and PMMs hold customer-facing roles. As such, they should have polished interpersonal skills. They should be comfortable meeting new people.
Communications skills. PMs and PMMs need to be effective communicators, on many fronts. First, almost all PMs and PMMs speak in public, whether presenting a seminar, delivering a webinar, or meeting with a group of customers. To be successful, you need to be comfortable speaking in public. If you fear speaking in public, join your local Toastmasters club or read books on conquering a fear of public speaking.
Second, both roles require writing skill. PMs tend to write documents such as PRDs only for internal consumption, so writing skill is perhaps slightly less important. But PMMs need to be particularly good writers, as they are writing a variety of documents that will be visible to potentially thousands of readers. (Of course, most tech firms either have MarCom staff onboard who are good editors or they outsource editing to freelance contractors, but still, being a strong writer as a PMM goes a long way.)
Business skills. Good PMs and PMMs understand more than products – they understand business. Many PMs and PMMs hold MBAs, and increasingly employers prefer candidates who have one.
Sales and marketing skills. Even though PMs and PMMs are more technically focused than other marketing professionals in a tech firm, they are, first and foremost, marketers. If you have an undergraduate degree in Marketing, you might be fine in this regard. If not, take an introductory marketing course to familiarize yourself with the jargon that all marketers use. Longer-term, consider pursuing an MBA, whether full- or part-time.
Another invaluable skill is being able to think like a salesperson. If you have some solid Sales experience (sorry, working retail in high school doesn’t count), you’re already ahead of most other candidates.
PM/PMM process skills. Finally, whether you’re interested in product marketing or management, I strongly recommend you take attend a Pragmatic Marketing seminar (pragmaticmarketing.com). If you’re serious about pursuing a career as a PM or PMM, these courses are invaluable.
Career Paths
PMs and PMMs start their careers with that title at the Manager or Specialist level; I have never run into a PM or PMM with a title lower than that, though it probably happens. Managers generally focus on one or more product lines, class of products, or a particular market segment (see Chapter 6). Directors typically lead a team of PMs or PMMs.
The VPs of Marketing at many tech firms moved up through a PM or PMM track. The combination of product and market knowledge, direct exposure to customers, and the opportunity to work with multiple departments internally provides a very strong foundation for leadership success.
►See a sample job description for a Product Marketing position
►See a sample job description for a Product Management position
►BACK to the Table of Contents