Product Marketing Manager 101

With the tech industry advancing rapidly, companies are creating new roles to fill necessary gaps in their workplaces. Traditional marketing is becoming more obsolete as companies are discovering new platforms and software to grow their marketing programs, creating a demand for more specialized teams and skills. In fact, the marketing sphere has expanded to encompass all sorts of areas related to sales including analytics, operations, and social media. Particularly, many companies are looking to hire product marketing managers (PMM).

What Product Marketing Entails

What is product marketing?

Product marketing is very much what it sounds like -- you lead outbound marketing activities around a specific product or service your company is selling. The role focuses on all aspects of the product lifecycle, including building a profitable plan to promote a certain product, and researching how it compares to its competitors.

Being cross-functional

From researching internal content for sales teams to use, to creating external content for customers, there is a lot of variance that comes with the role. Because of this, a product marketing team is typically working very cross-functionally across all branches within the company, including product managers (PM), sales enablement, demand generation, and content marketing. Above, you'll see a roadmap on the various teams PMMs work with and how it fits into a loose timeline for creating a marketing strategy.

Therefore, PMMs must be team players – they understand how their roles intersect with other teams, and have strong communication skills instead of stepping on anybody’s toes. In addition, because there are so many moving parts to devising a wide-scale marketing campaign, PMMs need to stay organized and manage their time so that they are able to complete all their tasks.

How Product Marketing is Unique

How is it different from other marketing or sales roles?

Although marketing may seem like a general term for advertising a product, a PMM works at the heart of its launch.

PMMs are the first to know about a new product or service, and begin the process of learning about the product, researching competitors, and coming up with a product strategy (i.e. who to target, which product features to highlight, which platforms to advertise on). While sales teams are more focused on acquiring new customers and selling the product, a PMM remains true to its name -- they solely focus on the product itself and how best to present it to the world. This makes them experts at building value propositions and targeting the proper communication channels.

By acting as a touchpoint for product knowledge across the marketing department, a PMM plays a critical role in establishing the vision for a product and working with other marketing teams to bring that campaign to reality.

Product Marketing v. Product Management

Although the two may sound similar, the roles are vastly different. Product Managers will work with R&D and engineering teams to figure out what type of product or service to develop, or what features of an existing company product to improve on to create a more successful product.

Meanwhile, Product Marketers are given a new product or service and focus on creating a go-to-market strategy -- they typically aren't that involved in the actual product development. Although they are different roles, PMs and PMMs do work closely together -- Product Managers will often brief PMMs on a new product that is launching so that PMMs know all of the details before they start strategizing a marketing campaign.

So, let’s talk about some specific responsibilities that PMMs take on. Being a PMM means having a flexible work schedule depending on what projects you’re assigned to.

A few responsibilities outlined in most job descriptions include:

• Study company products
• Plan and participate in new product launches
• Conduct and analyze market research (i.e. research competitors)
• Communicate to sales teams on which product features to focus on when facing customers
• Brainstorm customer-facing marketing programs with growth and content marketing teams.
• Create internal documents for sales and marketing teams
• Take part in presentations explaining a product and/or marketing campaign
• Brief the public relations and social media teams on how to formulate messages about new products

However, different companies assign varying responsibilities. Product marketing manager jobs are challenging and fast-paced, so be prepared to think on your feet if you want to excel in a full-time role.

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Getting a Job in Product Marketing

What are the qualifications?

Due to the new, evolving nature of this field, there is no predictable route to getting the job. However, with the right skills, relevant experience and industry knowledge, landing a product marketing manager role may be less of a challenge. 

When looking for a potential PMM, recruiters are hope that candidates check a few boxes. Even though it's a flexible role, the job still requires a specific skill set.

If you have a bit of work experience...

In addition to teamwork, organization, and time management, PMMs should have experience with technical research, such as analyzing data and being able to keep track of industry trends. This is important because a PMM needs to master a product by understanding how it is selling, why it’s important, and how it is doing in relation to competitors. 

PMMs should also have a strong sense of creativity and experience with the media industry. Although graphic design and copywriting are typically not required skills, they are definitely strong pluses because they are in-demand creative skills that are useful when formulating any strong marketing strategy.

If you're a student or recent grad...

The best way to establish a strong profile is by focusing on your relevant work or school experiences. While marketing experiences are standard, they aren’t the only way to get a PMM position. Any work or school experience that demonstrates your abilities to be flexible, analytical, and creative are strongly encouraged because the PMM role is so nuanced. 

If you don't have any "relevant" experience...

For those who don't have those experiences, but still want to enter the product marketing field, there are plenty of ways to show recruiters why you are a great fit for the role. Recruiters need people who can think outside the box -- while millions of products exist, a PMM needs to be able to prove why their product is the best. Ultimately, technical skills can be taught, but by showing your recruiter your innate, soft skills, you will be able to demonstrate your understanding of the role and how you have what it takes to fill that gap. 

👉 Get advice from a real Product Marketing Manager here

Where do I look for a PMM job?

Fortunately, many tech companies, ranging from larger corporations (i.e. Facebook, Google, TikTok) to smaller startups are on the lookout for a self-starting PMM. Try out a job board like WayUp or connecting with other PMMs on LinkedIn to find a job that fits best with your abilities. As more and more companies realize the importance of product positioning and strategy, the field is getting more competitive, but also more abundant with new job positions.

Let’s Talk About Salary

According to GlassDoor, the average base pay for a PMM is around $104k a year. Depending on the company, that range can go as low as $16k a year to as high as $116k a year. When comparing salaries to other roles in tech, the PMM role remains relatively competitive: 

• Product Manager, Average Base Pay: $109k
• Software Engineer, Average Base Pay: $92k
• Social Media Marketing Manager, Average Base Pay: $66k
• Sales Manager, Average Base Pay: $99k

Product marketing is currently becoming an in-demand field for many companies, ensuring that most PMMs will be able to negotiate competitive terms for their pay. 

👉 For more tips on salary negotiation, click here.