What Is a Product Marketing Manager? Job Description and Salary – InstantFollowerz

Your R&D team has been working on a new product for months and investing valuable resources in its design and production.

They’ve carefully researched the market and the problem they’re trying to solve — and now it’s time to let your product marketing manager work their magic.

I hate to break it to you, but without marketing, your product (no matter how amazing) will never be found by the customers whose problems it solves.

This could lead to poor sales, financial failure and potential buyers still suffering from their original problems.

A product marketing manager can help you avoid this by finding strategic angles to connect your product features to your customers and their pain points.

I recently asked Nathan Oakleymarketing manager at RJ Living, to discuss product marketing and job responsibilities with me. I also asked him to describe a typical day as a product marketing manager. Here’s what I learned.

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What is a Product Marketing Manager?

I didn’t get into marketing through the traditional college route. And if you’re like me (or work in another field, like sales or customer support), you might not be that familiar with product marketing managers or their roles.

Through talking with Oakley, I learned that a product marketing manager, or PMM for short, is a specialized marketing professional who takes ownership of product positioning, messaging, and branding.

To get an even better idea of ​​their job duties, let’s take a look at this sample product marketing job description.

Product Manager Job Description

The Product Marketing Manager will be responsible for overseeing the creation and distribution of promotional campaigns for key products.

This person will have a good understanding of the product’s target audience and in-depth knowledge of relevant product features.

Product Marketing Manager Skills and Qualifications:

• Thorough experience in marketing and campaign management.
• Project management skills.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.
• Ability to analyze relevant information and make informed decisions.
• Ability to prioritize tasks and responsibilities across projects.

While I fully believe you can do any job with the right training and experience, employers are looking for a minimum bachelor’s degree for this role.

Ideally, your degree will be in business administration, marketing or a related field of study.

Some employers may even look for candidates who have an advanced degree and more extensive experience in marketing, sales, or advertising.

Although not required, there are certificates (such as Certified Product Marketing Manager differentiation) that can help better prepare product marketing managers for the responsibilities they will assume.

I think certifications are a great way to continue your education and gain new skills, especially if you’re looking to advance your career or jump into a new role.

The next question you might have about this role is ‘How much does a Product Marketing Manager make?’ It’s a legitimate question I’ve had, because as a former teacher I’m always surprised by the salary ranges for other careers.

According to PayScalethe average base salary for a product marketing manager in the US is $99,814 per year, although this can vary by company and experience level.

Basic Responsibilities of a Product Marketing Manager

Just like salaries, product marketing manager responsibilities can vary from company to company. However, I have found that there are a few key responsibilities that are universal to the role.

1. Market research

When I got deep into the role, the first thing I saw was market research. The Product Marketing Manager is responsible for understanding target audiences and market trends.

It’s their job to get inside the customer’s mind, understand their pain points, and then figure out how they can appeal to your product.

2. Positioning and sending messages

Once your product marketing manager has a clear idea of ​​how your product can help your ideal customer, they will work to create a clear product message and positioning.

Ideally, your product’s positioning and message is what will make your product stand out from the crowd. So it’s important that your PMM has done their research.

3. Create your go-to-market strategy (GTM).

What is a marketer without a marketing strategy?

Just as your content marketer is responsible for creating and ensuring the success of your content marketing operations, your product marketing manager is also responsible for working alongside other team members to craft and execute product launches.

4. Facilitation of sales

You might think that sales enablement is squarely the domain of your sales department.

And while that may be true, it’s helpful to partner with a product marketing manager to equip your sales teams with the tools and training they need to effectively sell your product to customers.

A product marketing manager can help create scripts and sales sheets to assist your sales teams in their efforts.

5. Performance analysis

While chatting with Denise, she also told me that performance tracking is key to her role as well.

Denise said: “Performance monitoring is also essential – I always make sure to review our analytics quarterly to fine-tune our campaigns, which has helped reduce our cost per acquisition by around 20% without sacrificing engagement.

Ultimately, I’d say it’s all about staying in tune with both the market and our audience to keep it all together.”

So if you want to know how your product is resonating with your customers, ask your product marketing manager.

Because they are responsible for tracking metrics to determine product performance, your PMM can improve marketing strategies or adjust product positioning.

What does a Product Marketing Manager do?

After learning about the basic responsibilities of a product marketing manager, I asked myself, “What does a product marketing manager do?” Well, I thought I’d ask Oakley for specifics.

While their job titles may not explicitly say “Product Marketing Manager,” that’s exactly what they do.

Oakley told me that they are responsible for creating a story about their products that will encourage potential customers to buy them. They then collect customer feedback after the product launch.

In other words, when a product is being prepared for launch, the product marketing manager (or team) will be involved in educating the public about the value and benefits of the offering in order to turn potential customers into enthusiastic fans.

According to Oakley, you have to be good at analyzing people. “Because you work directly with the product, you have to be good at thinking strategically and understanding people and their needs,” he said.

I also learned that the role of PMM goes far beyond understanding people and how they will use your product. Instead, you also need to consider how they move through the sales funnel as well considering your product.

This means that PMM will focus on three levels of the sales funnel:

1. Acquisition. Raising awareness of your product through content such as SOCIAL MEDIA, copywriting and blogging. This requires the product marketing manager to determine what type of campaign should be done, create a budget for marketing efforts, create a project plan that will determine when this content will be published, and oversee the team that will create the desired content.
2. Engagement. Building trust and creating conversations with potential customers through events, campaigns and specific calls to action.
3. Conversion and retention. Converting potential customers into paying customers for one-time purchases and retaining loyal existing customers through subscription models or incremental purchases (when appropriate).

It’s worth noting that from one company (or campaign) to another, the responsibilities and expectations placed on a product marketing manager can vary.

How is a product marketing manager different from a product manager?

With similar titles, it can sometimes be difficult to understand the different roles available within a company.

Many often confuse product marketing managers with product managers, and while there are similarities, the roles carry very different responsibilities.

Both the Product Marketing Manager and the Product Manager give voice to the product. However, the difference is in who they speak to to them.

The product manager is vocal during the production phase of the product. They speak internally on behalf of the product, communicating with engineers and developers about its features and functionality.

A product manager is focused on answering the question, “Does this product solve the problem we set out to solve?”

A product marketing manager, on the other hand, is responsible for talking to the outside world.

Although these individuals will perform very different roles, they will sometimes work together. Both the product manager and the product marketing manager must have a good understanding face buyer and will share the research they have done to help others.

How to become a product marketing manager

Since both Oakleys have worked in this role, I asked if he could share with me some tips on becoming a Product Marketing Manager.

Both suggested that there are two ways you can become a product marketing manager: getting a degree in marketing with hands-on experience and training.

Study marketing or business to gain experience.

Oakley suggested that the easiest way to get into product marketing is by completing a graduate program.

“To get into product marketing, it’s easiest to start with an undergraduate degree in business or communications, followed by an internship in digital marketing, branding or sales. This will give you a solid footing to get your foot in the door,” he added.

While a bachelor’s degree is helpful, Oakley emphasized the importance of continued learning because the field of marketing is constantly changing.

He told me, “Never stop learning or improving in the industry. So continue to educate yourself on content and industry knowledge so you can progress in your role.”

Improvement and transition to product marketing.

You can switch to product marketing once you have marketing experience, even if your background is in digital marketing or content marketing.

When hoping to move into this field, it’s always best to start things off with experience in fields like digital marketing or brand management. Along the way, you’ll build analytical and communication skills.

There are various online courses that you can complete to acquire and strengthen your skills. However, Oakley suggests using LinkedIn Learning.

Product Marketing Managers: A valued team member

I learned that creating a product is only half the battle.

To succeed in launching your product, making your product extremely profitable, and ensuring that it gets into the hands of the individuals you intend to help, you need someone at the helm of marketing.

And through talking with Oakley, it became clearer to me how important it is to have a dedicated product marketing manager on the team.

Product Marketing Managers combine their expertise in marketing and psychology to help find the best positioning for your product. When you choose the right product marketing manager, they will bring the right customers to you.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2022 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.