What Product Marketers ACTUALLY Do in Tech Companies!

Summary

The video explores the role of a Product Marketing Manager (PMM), highlighting its growing importance in tech companies. Jeff, a PMM with five years of experience, explains the different types of products PMMs work on (B2C, B2B, B2D), the distribution of their time between communication, execution, and solo tasks, and the qualities that make successful PMMs, such as flexibility and strong communication skills. The video also outlines the responsibilities of a PMM across a product’s lifecycle, from pre-launch to maturity, offering insights into how marketing strategies evolve at each stage.

Takeaways

• 💼 Product marketing has become crucial in tech companies, with a strong demand for product marketing managers (PMMs).
• 📊 There are three main product categories PMMs work on: Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B), and Business-to-Developer (B2D) products.
• 🕒 PMMs spend 40-45% of their time on communication, 40-45% on solo work, and only 5-10% on the final result of campaigns.
• 🗣 Communication is key for PMMs, both internally with teams and externally with partners, to ensure a unified narrative and adherence to guidelines.
• 🔧 Product marketing requires hard skills (especially for technical products) and soft skills, such as flexibility, strong communication, and an analytical mindset.
• 📈 The PMM role changes based on the product's lifecycle: pre-launch (market research), growth (user feedback), and mature (staying competitive).
• 📊 Data-driven decision-making is vital for PMMs, helping to prioritize actions and focus resources on the most effective channels.
• 💡 PMMs must understand their audience deeply and choose the right communication channels for both existing and new users.
• 🔄 Flexibility is crucial, as feedback from users and teams may require PMMs to pivot quickly in their strategies.
• 🏆 Being a PMM is rewarding, especially when ideas and campaigns come to life, bringing value to the product and the company.

Q & A

What is product marketing, and how is it different from regular marketing?

Product marketing focuses on promoting and positioning a specific product to the target audience, ensuring its success in the market. Unlike general marketing, which can include various forms of brand or service promotion, product marketing hones in on the specific features, target users, and lifecycle of a product.

What are the three types of products that Product Marketing Managers (PMMs) typically work on in tech?

PMMs in tech usually work on three types of products: Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B), and Business-to-Developer (B2D) products. B2C includes both software and hardware, B2B focuses on products for businesses, and B2D caters to developers, often offering platforms or tools for app development.

How does a PMM's role differ depending on the product's target audience?

The PMM's role adapts based on the target audience. For example, a B2C product will require campaigns focused on consumers, whereas a B2B product demands strategies aimed at businesses. Different PMMs might work on the same product but target different audiences to meet their unique needs.

How do PMMs typically spend their time?

According to the script, PMMs spend 5-10% of their time on the final deliverables or end result, 40-45% on communication with internal and external stakeholders, and the remaining 40-45% on 'alone work,' such as creating slides, tracking data, and turning meeting notes into actionable steps.

What are some high-profile events that showcase a PMM’s work?

High-profile events like Google I/O and Apple's WWDC showcase the work of PMMs. While the public sees the event’s final execution, months of planning, communication, and coordination with speakers and agencies go into these events behind the scenes.

What is 'alone work,' and why is it important for PMMs?

'Alone work' refers to the individual tasks PMMs perform, like building spreadsheets, preparing presentations, or summarizing meeting notes. Despite its name, it’s a crucial part of organizing and executing campaigns or product launches, providing structure and data for team collaboration.

What are some qualities of strong Product Marketing Managers?

Strong PMMs possess a combination of hard and soft skills. Hard skills include technical knowledge relevant to the product, while soft skills include flexibility, strong communication, the ability to manage expectations, and an analytical mindset for making data-driven decisions.

Why is flexibility important for a PMM?

Flexibility is key because even the most well-planned strategies may need to pivot based on real-time feedback from users or internal teams. PMMs must be open to adjusting their plans without letting ego get in the way.

How does data help PMMs make decisions?

Data allows PMMs to make informed decisions, such as optimizing campaign spend or determining which features or marketing channels to prioritize. For example, in a past campaign, a PMM used data to focus on the top-performing channels instead of spreading the budget across all options.

How do PMMs adapt their responsibilities across the product lifecycle?

PMMs’ responsibilities vary across the product lifecycle. In the pre-launch phase, they focus on market research and product positioning. During growth, they gather feedback and prioritize impactful changes. In the mature stage, they find ways to stay competitive and top of mind for users.

Outlines

00:00

📈 Introduction to Product Marketing

Product marketing has surged in popularity among tech companies, with increasing demand for product marketing managers (PMMs). The field's distinction from general marketing is explored as the video sets out to explain the role of PMMs. Jeff, a seasoned PMM, introduces himself and outlines three primary product types that PMMs in tech typically handle: Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Business-to-Business (B2B), and Business-to-Developer (B2D). He highlights how products like Notion and Android/iOS span multiple categories, requiring different PMMs for distinct target audiences. Jeff also breaks down how PMMs spend their time, emphasizing the large portions spent on communication and solo tasks like creating presentations and tracking metrics.

05:01

🎯 Behind-the-Scenes Work of PMMs

The role of PMMs goes beyond visible outcomes, like high-profile events (Google I/O, Apple WWDC). Jeff explains that while events are the public-facing 'end results,' much of the PMMs' work occurs behind the scenes in communication and collaboration. Internally, they work with stakeholders to craft unified messaging, while externally, they ensure that partners and agencies adhere to brand standards. He also introduces 'alone work,' where PMMs prepare materials such as briefs, spreadsheets, and notes to keep campaigns on track. Jeff emphasizes the long-term planning and coordination required, contrasting it with the short duration of public-facing events.

🔔 PMM's Role in Communicating Product Changes

Jeff provides an example of a PMM's work in B2C digital products, particularly after a feature update. He outlines the considerations a PMM must make, such as deciding on communication channels for informing existing users and acquiring new ones. He discusses potential options like in-app notifications, emails, and even country-specific platforms like WeChat. PMMs are responsible for determining how to position product changes and deliver messages effectively. Jeff humorously asks for feedback from other product marketers and adds a lighthearted note about job satisfaction.

🛠️ Hard and Soft Skills for PMMs

Jeff transitions to discussing the key skills required for strong PMMs, splitting them into hard and soft categories. Hard skills, such as understanding technical products, are more important in B2B and B2D roles. For example, being familiar with TikTok Ads would help PMMs in that space. On the other hand, soft skills are crucial across the board. Flexibility is essential due to the fast-changing nature of feedback and execution. Communication skills are highlighted as vital, with a focus on simplifying complex information for external audiences and maintaining consistent internal communication. He adds that managing expectations, saying no diplomatically, and using data to guide decisions are all critical elements of a PMM’s success.

📊 Analytical Decision-Making in Campaigns

Jeff shares an example of using data to make informed marketing decisions. His team faced budget constraints but was able to analyze previous campaigns to determine which media channels produced the most qualified leads. By presenting this data, they convinced stakeholders to focus on five top-performing channels, allocating the remaining budget to other parts of the campaign. This story underscores the importance of an analytical mindset for PMMs, allowing them to prioritize resources efficiently and justify their decisions to internal teams.

🔄 PMM Responsibilities Across Product Lifecycles

Jeff introduces the idea that the responsibilities of PMMs shift depending on the product lifecycle stage—pre-launch, growth, or maturity. He references an interview with a Google PMM to illustrate how PMMs conduct market research in the pre-launch stage, gather feedback and prioritize features in the growth stage, and stay competitive during maturity. Jeff shares his experience working on mature products like Google Ads, where he crafted campaigns that differentiated Google from competitors by leveraging unique synergies with other Google products like Play and Cloud. He clarifies that even at large companies, not all products are mature—each has its own lifecycle.

✨ Personal Reflections and Closing Remarks

Jeff reflects on his five years as a PMM, expressing his passion for the role. He enjoys the creativity involved in developing new ideas and watching them come to life through team efforts. He encourages viewers to leave comments or ask questions about the PMM role, sharing his enthusiasm for product marketing and emphasizing the rewarding nature of the work. Jeff closes with a friendly goodbye and a lighthearted reminder to keep learning.

Keywords

💡Product Marketing

Product Marketing is a strategic function that involves promoting a product or service to its target market. It is a field that has gained popularity in tech companies as it bridges the gap between product development and market needs. In the video, Jeff, a product marketing manager, explains that product marketing involves understanding different target audiences and creating campaigns tailored to them.

💡Product Marketing Manager (PMM)

A Product Marketing Manager is a professional responsible for the marketing of a specific product or product line. They work to understand customer needs, create marketing strategies, and communicate the value of the product to various audiences. In the transcript, Jeff shares his experience as a PMM, emphasizing the diverse responsibilities and the importance of this role in tech companies.

💡B2C (Business-to-Consumer)

B2C stands for Business-to-Consumer and refers to the process of selling products or services directly to consumers. In the video script, B2C products are mentioned as one of the types of products PMMs work on, including both software like Google Search and Instagram, and hardware like iPhones and Oculus headsets.

💡B2B (Business-to-Business)

B2B, or Business-to-Business, involves the sale of products or services from one business to another. The script mentions B2B products like Google Ads and Salesforce, which are aimed at other businesses rather than individual consumers.

💡B2D (Business-to-Developer)

B2D, or Business-to-Developer, is a niche in product marketing where products are aimed at developers. Examples given in the transcript include platforms like Android and iOS, which provide tools for developers to create apps for consumers.

💡Campaigns

A campaign in marketing refers to a series of planned actions or strategies to achieve a specific marketing objective. The video discusses how PMMs may work on separate campaigns for the same product, depending on the target audience, such as consumers, businesses, or developers.

💡Communication

Communication is key for PMMs as they need to interact with various stakeholders. The script highlights that a significant portion of a PMM's time is spent on communication, both internally with teams and externally with partners, to align on messaging and ensure brand consistency.

💡Alone Work

Alone work refers to tasks that PMMs perform independently, such as creating briefing materials or tracking campaign metrics. In the video, Jeff describes this as a substantial part of his job, which includes activities like building spreadsheets and turning meeting notes into actionable items.

💡Tech Events

Tech events like Google I/O and Apple's WWDC are mentioned as examples of high-profile occasions where PMMs' work is visible to end-users. These events represent the 'end result' of months of planning, communication, and coordination by PMMs.

💡Hard Skills

Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be used in a particular job. In the context of the video, hard skills for PMMs are particularly relevant for technical roles, such as understanding the intricacies of a product like TikTok Ads, which would require prior experience or knowledge.

💡Soft Skills

Soft skills are personal attributes that contribute to professional success, such as flexibility, communication, and analytical thinking. The video emphasizes the importance of these skills for PMMs, as they need to adapt to feedback, communicate effectively, and make data-driven decisions.

💡Product Lifecycle

The product lifecycle refers to the stages a product goes through from its introduction to the market to its eventual decline. The script discusses how the role of a PMM changes depending on the product's lifecycle stage, whether it's pre-launch, growth, or mature.

Highlights

Product marketing has exploded in popularity in tech companies, large and small, with a high demand for skilled product marketing managers.

Product marketing is distinct from general marketing by focusing on specific products and aligning closely with product development.

There are three primary types of products PMMs work on: B2C (Business-to-Consumer), B2B (Business-to-Business), and B2D (Business-to-Developer).

PMMs spend 5-10% of their time on what’s visible to users (the end result), while the majority of their time (40-45%) is spent on internal communication and ‘alone work’ like preparing documents and strategies.

Key events like Google I/O and Apple's WWDC are the culmination of months of internal planning and collaboration by PMMs with various teams and partners.

PMMs are responsible for choosing the best way to communicate product updates to users, whether through notifications, emails, or platform-specific channels like WeChat in China.

Hard skills for PMMs include a deep understanding of the product and its market, especially for more technical B2B and B2D roles.

Soft skills, such as flexibility, communication, and managing feedback, are critical for PMMs as they often need to pivot based on real-time feedback from teams and users.

Strong communication skills are essential for PMMs to simplify complex information for both internal and external audiences.

PMMs need an analytical mindset to use data for decision-making, helping prioritize efforts and budget allocation.

PMM responsibilities vary by the product’s lifecycle stage—pre-launch, growth, or maturity—each requiring different strategies and priorities.

In the pre-launch phase, PMMs focus on market research and feature prioritization; in the growth stage, they gather feedback and implement high-impact changes.

In the mature stage of a product, PMMs need to differentiate the product from competitors and maintain customer engagement through unique offerings.

Working on Google Ads, the PMM strategically integrated Google Play and Cloud products to create a more comprehensive solution, setting it apart from competitors like Facebook Ads and Amazon.

Product marketing offers the opportunity to be creative, pilot new ideas, and see campaigns come to life, making it a rewarding career for those interested in tech and innovation.

Transcripts

- Product marketing, a field that is recently exploded

in popularity with tech companies, large and small,

fighting for the best product marketing managers.

But what exactly is it that we do?

- Yeah, so I honestly didn't even know product marketing

was a field.

- Apple only traditionally had product marketing managers.

- Why is it not just marketing?

Why is it product marketing?

- And that is what we are here to find out.

Let's get started.

Hi, friends. Welcome back to the channel.

If you're new here, my name is Jeff

and I've been a product marketing manager

at one of the large tech companies

for the past five years now.

And this is everything I know about being a PMM.

First, there are three types

of products PMMS in tech generally work on.

Business-to-Consumer, B2C products

that can be further broken down to software;

Google Search, Instagram, Notion,

and hardware; the iPhones, Chromebooks, and Oculus headsets.

Then you have Business-to-Business,

B2B products such as Google Ads, Salesforce, and Workday.

And third, Business-to-Developer,

B2D products like Android and iOS.

Products like Notion offer both B2C and B2B solutions.

Android and iOS reach us, the consumers,

through the Play and App Stores

while at the same time supporting developers

in creating those apps as well.

Since the needs of those target audiences;

consumers, businesses, developers are so different,

it's not uncommon to have different PMMS working

on separate campaigns for the same product.

For how we spend our time, this will obviously vary

by company and product but in my experience,

only 5 to 10% of our time goes into

what I call the end result.

40 to 45% of our time is spent on communication,

and the remaining 40 to 45%

is spent on what I call alone work,

which is not as sad as it sounds.

Let's take two very high-profile tech events as examples,

Google I/O and Apple's WWDC.

Both events last for a maximum of one week

and that's the part end users

like developers and consumers actually get to see

and experience right from the event landing page

to the confirmation emails.

And, of course, the actual event itself.

Those are the end result.

What we don't see are the months PMM spend communicating

with internal stakeholders and external partners.

For example, internally, we work with all the speakers

to align on a single narrative.

Externally, we make sure the creative agencies adhere

to our brand guidelines.

And alone work, it's not that sad,

at least, to introverts like myself.

This could be where the PMM is creating slides

to brief the project team,

building spreadsheets to track the number of signups

and turning meeting notes from the communication phase

into next steps and action items.

I actually have an entire video teaching you

how to plan marketing events step by step

so check that out afterwards.

To give a completely different example,

let's say you're a product marketer

for a B2C digital product.

After about multiple rounds of feedback,

the product team finally rolls out with a feature update.

As a PMM, you and I get to decide

how to communicate this change with the end user.

Is an in-app notification enough?

Should you email and send them a text message?

Are you a PMM in China,

so WeChat is the best channel to use?

And that's just for existing users.

How can you position this change,

and what channels should you use to acquire new users?

By the way, if you're watching this

and you're in product marketing,

would love to know your thoughts down below,

and let me know where they're hiring.

Just kidding. I love my job.

On that note, let's talk about qualities I've observed

in strong PMMS.

And this can be broken down to hard skills and soft skills.

I'd say hard skills are more relevant

for B2B and B2D product marketing roles

where the product is a bit more technical.

For example, if you wanna be a product marketing manager

for TikTok Ads, not TikTok but TikTok Ads,

it helps if you're either an account manager

at TikTok selling the product to businesses

or if you use it yourself

since you would literally know the strengths

and shortcomings of the product.

Moving over to soft skills,

I would say, first, you have to be really flexible.

Even if you came up with the perfect idea

and you are already executing on it,

real-time feedback from users and other teams

may mean you need to quickly pivot into another direction.

So you can't really let your ego get in the way,

which is something I may or may not be still working on.

Second, sounds cliche, but strong communication skills.

For example, how can you boil down the dozens

of awesome features into one memorable takeaway

for your external audience?

On the internal side, product marketing managers need

to know how to manage expectations by over-communicating.

My rule of thumb is I'd rather have the sales team tell me,

"Jeff, please shut up.

You've said this so many times. I get it."

Instead of, "Hang on, you never told us that."

You also need to learn how to say no

without burning bridges.

And this is where the third soft skill comes into play.

Having an analytical mindset.

Using data to make decisions really help PMMS,

number one, push back effectively against teams

that raise a bunch of requests, and number two,

find that message that really resonates with users.

For example, recently, my team was asked

to spend marketing dollars on 10 media channels

to drive more leads, but our budget was limited.

So we looked at a similar campaign from last year

and found that five of those channels drove 90%

of qualified leads.

We shared this finding within the working group

and everyone agreed it made more sense

to focus on the top five channels

and invest the remaining budget

in other parts of the campaign.

Now that you have a general understanding

of what product marketing managers actually do

and the qualities companies look for,

you might be wondering, should you be a PMM?

And the answer to that question largely depends

on how mature the product is

because your responsibility changes

throughout the product lifecycle.

And here I wanna give a huge shoutout

to Henry Wang's interview

with veteran Google PMM Michael Schipper.

I'll link that video down below.

According to Mike, there are three stages;

pre-launch, growth, and mature.

If the product is in the pre-launch phase,

the PMM needs to do a lot of market research

to determine what the audience needs

and also helps decide what features are rolled out first.

In the growth stage, the product is gaining attraction

and here, the PMM really needs to, number one,

gather feedback from the expanding user base

and number two, prioritize the changes

that will make the most impact.

In the mature stage,

your product will face a lot more competition

so the PMM has to figure out a way to stay top of mind

for users when competitors are offering similar features.

For example, I work on Google Ads.

It's a mature product,

and our friendly competitors include Facebook Ads,

Amazon Ads, Microsoft Ads, and TikTok Ads.

So for one of my campaigns, I brought other Google products

like Play and Cloud together

to give our clients a more comprehensive solution.

Facebook or Meta doesn't have a cloud offering,

and back then, Amazon Appstore didn't exist,

so our message really stood out in that instance.

And in case you haven't noticed, working at a large company

doesn't automatically mean you're in the mature stage.

It depends on the product.

The iPhones and Max are very established

but Apple Ads is relatively new.

On a more personal note,

I have really enjoyed being product marketing

for the past five years or so.

I love coming up with and piloting new ideas.

And when you see that event or campaign come to life

because of the efforts of you and your team,

it really does feel like you're able

to create something from nothing.

If you have questions about being a PMM,

leave them down below.

If you are a PMM, would love to hear your experiences.

See you on the next video.

In the meantime, (clicking tongue) have a great one.