The Product Marketing Experts

From startup companies to being at a large scale organization, Jeff has been doing product marketing work since before it was even defined as PMM. In this interview you’ll hear his point of view on the emergence of self serve and how it’s impacted the role of product marketing. He shares how the environment at many companies has made the switch from a sales led environment to product led and why product marketers are earning their seat at the table in making big decisions. He also discusses the co-creation that exists with sales, how to position yourself in the market, advice on how to conduct listening tours and better serve as the cross functional diplomat to reduce friction amongst teams and champion stakeholders. Connect with Jeff on LinkedIn. Join Jeff on Sharebird.Questions covered in this interview:Can you share a bit more about how you got into product marketing, and also into more of a growth role?Product-led Growth is clearly a hot topic everywhere around us. How do you think about product marketing differently in a product-left growth company versus a more traditional sales or marketing led company?How have you structured your growth PMM team? How would you say it’s different from a traditional team?Beyond just structure, how is the role different for an individual PMM? Are there different traits or skills your looking for that a traditional PMM would need to develop?With your focus on growth, how do you draw lines on what you and your team handle versus others in marketing or product development?How do you think about driving user adoption at Calendly?Is there anything that a mentor, colleague, or manager has taught you that has served you well in your career? Can you share a bit about it?

Messaging is a fundamental aspect of product marketing that includes testing, refining, and a huge amount of internal alignment across the organization. It’s a living breathing process that when done right, equates to an impactful impression left on your market. Tune in to hear messaging frameworks that will help you win deals and make your GTM process that much more effective. Crisply articulating the unique aspects of your product that you’re bringing to market is key to the success of your GTM process! Follow Alexandra on LinkedIn.Join Alexandra on Sharebird.Questions covered in this episode:Tell me about your career path to becoming a PMM?What’s your outlook on the career of Product Marketing? Is it a good place to be right now? What’s one nuance about Messaging that you only know now because you understand it deeply? Around doing it effectively. 

How do we become product marketers? Pallavi shares her extensive background in marketing and how she’s evolved to lead all marketing functions at a quickly growing company. She also shares her take on the 80/20 rule, how to structure your team, and achieve KPI’s. You’ll also hear why she values happiness and believes that “the success of the company depends on the manager”. Follow Pallavi on LinkedIn.Join Pallavi on Sharebird. Tell me about your career path to becoming a PMM? What’s your outlook on the career of Product Marketing? Is it a good place to be right now? What’s one nuance about Product Marketing Org and KPI's that you only know now because you understand it deeply? Around doing it effectively. How do you think of structuring your product marketing team, or just generally?Based on the structure, how do you coordinate work across the team and have similar goals with PMs and other groups you’re working with?Speaking of goals, as a leader how do you measure the success of your team? How do you set goals differently for individuals on your team who are at different levels?What are some mistakes you’ve made and what you’ve learned from them?

Product marketing hasn’t always been recognized as a value ad to organizations, but more and more companies are recognizing the need for the function and therefore more roles in the field are being created. Keeping up on the trends in the market and playing to your strengths will ultimately help you not only land the role you desire, but keep that role and excel in it. This week’s expert shares his twist on the 80/20 rule and how identifying the areas you currently excel in and the areas you need to further develop leads to success in your career. Also, never underestimate the power of kindness and being a nice person. 

What makes your messaging stand out from competitors isn’t the simple task of stringing together a lovely sequence of words and putting pen to paper -  it’s the constant evolution and iteration, rooted in testing and market research, that ultimately sets your marketing apart. In order to know how to reach your target audience, you’re going to have to get customer insights and collect the data and feedback necessary to prove why your product is valuable, how it differs from others on the market, and what language best resonates with your customer. 

In this week’s interview with Andrew Forbes, who directs PMM at Zendesk, him and Jeffrey discuss GTM strategy - from organizing your team, sales enablement, getting internal alignment, to the importance of market research - tune in to hear how to make your product launches bigger and better. 

Follow Diego on LinkedIn.Join Diego on Sharebird. Questions covered in this episode:Can you tell us about yourself and your role at UiPath?UI Path recently went public. Can you share a bit about what that was like?As the leader of product marketing, what did you need to think about and do during the IPO journey?How long before the S1 filing did you and the team start preparing? Tell us about the narrative you created.What drove you and the UiPath team to create this narrative? And how did you go about it?How have you measured the success of the new narrative? What have been some of the outcomes you've seen?How has product marketing evolved from pre-IPO through today?What's one or two books you've read recently that have had an impact on you?

Follow Alex on LinkedIn.Join Alex on Sharebird. Questions covered in this episode:1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at ActiveCampaign?2. How do you and the product marketing team at ActiveCampaign think about storytelling?3. When you think about telling a new story or working on a narrative, where do you start?4. When that narrative is drafted, how do you refine and revise it to ensure it resonates with customers and the market?5. How do you ensure your narratives are focused on the customer or buyer?6. What storytelling framework does your team use at ActiveCampaign? 7. Once you've created a story, how do you measure it's success?8. As a leader, how do you coach your team on stories? 9. Are there any narratives you really admire out in the market?10. ActiveCampaign positions the company around Customer Experience Automation. What went into the decision behind that? We hear a lot about customer experience today, so how did you decide on this category?11. Are there any books or podcasts you've listened to recently that have impacted you or your career?

Follow Leah on LinkedIn.Join Leah on Sharebird. Questions covered in this episode:1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Gusto?2. How do you and the product marketing team at Gusto handle competitive intelligence? Do you have dedicated people for it, or is it a part of what every PMM is doing?3. How do you keep track of key competitors in your space?4. What reporting (if any) do you provide internally on competitive win rates or details about losses?5. How do you and the PMM team at Gusto learn and drive change throughout the organization with competitive intelligence?6. Competitive intelligence is important for product marketing teams to own and drive, yet there's also a danger in following competitors too closely. How do you prevent it at Gusto?7. Based on the intelligence you're gathering, how do you enable your sales and CS teams around competitors?8. Are there any assets you've found really helpful (or not helpful at all)?9. Especially in a time when everyone is remote and spread out, how do you communicate these updates and ensure everyone internally is on the same page?10. As a leader, how do you ensure that your team is balancing their time on competitive intelligence and all the other priorities that product marketers have?11. Are there any books or podcasts you've listened to recently that have impacted you or your career?

Connect with Becky on LinkedIn.Join Becky on Sharebird. Questions covered in this episode:1. Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your role at Snow Software?2. As a leader how do you set the tone, and build a great relationship with Product?3. At Snow, do you and the Product Marketing team help Product influence the roadmap or provide feedback on the market or competitors?4. What about when it comes to Go to Market strategy. What processes and systems have you put in place to share information?5. What information should PMs be sharing with PMMs (and vice versa)?6. When it comes to GTM strategy, how early should PM and PMM be talking and collaborating?7. How do you show PMs the value of collaborating early-on and treat PMM as a strategic ally?8. In your career has there been a PM/PMM relationship, or process that didn't work? If so, can you walk us through that and what you learned?