What Makes for the Best Product Marketing Managers?

I’ve acted both in Product Marketing leadership and individual contributor roles throughout my career. As a leader, I’ve thought long and hard about the skillsets and perspective that my best Product Marketing Managers shared. This list is based on that. One thing to call out – you’re not likely to find a Product Marketer who has all of these elements. But in my opinion, you want to find someone who has most and the capacity to become or do the rest.

And by the way, when seeking out a great Product Marketer, ask the stars on your team for recommendations. Great definitely begets great.

  • “Owns” versus “Supports” their product/service/solution portfolio
  • Has strong problem-solving skills
  • Lives by Sales/Product Management targets for measure of success
  • Always strives to get in front of or drive insights from customers and prospect audiences
  • Knows the product/services/solutions better than anyone else in Marketing Maintains close ties with Sales
  • Communicates with their stakeholders including leadership with regularity
  • They communicate well, in general
  • Has a nearly daily interaction with Product Management counterparts and teams
  • Forges strong ties with their Marketing team members to drive greater collaboration as a force multiplier
  • Fundamentally understands and believes in the Product Lifecycle (PLC) or trying to get to one
  • Can originate ideas for content as well as write content (ideation, writing and development)
  • Is always is looking for new approaches to experiment with
  • Stays up on the latest developments
  • Is not afraid to push back on what and how to take things to market, and when not to do it at all
  • Understands the value of campaigns and content to drive results
  • Understands the spectrum of marketing tools they have in the toolbox that can help to move the needle