Chapter 28How to Guide a Product Marketing Career
A career path in product marketing can go in almost any direction—leading growth, product, marketing, or a business unit. There is no set track. Strong leaders help product marketers become versatile and highly skilled so any career path is possible.
This chapter provides a roadmap for how to guide product marketing skills over time. The year ranges should only be used as guides.
Early Career: One to Five-ish Years
Broad, rapid learning is the name of the early career game. Hone their ability to interpret market signals in addition to learning how to do specific functional tasks well.
Don't shy away from detailed and concrete feedback. Commenting on an email's content is not micromanaging if it makes all subsequent emails more effective. Help them learn what excellence looks like.
It's a great time to let them lead initiatives, such as a website redesign or crafting strategy at a campaign level. Make sure they learn how to measure impact and success.
Functional Skills
- Ability to interpret customer and market research
- Able to do insightful market tests and customer interviews
- Competitive analysis
- Product demonstrations
- Sales tools
- Website content
- Thought leadership content
Foundational Skills
- Writing—strive for more concision and story telling
- Oral—learning to read the audience and adjust accordingly and on the fly if necessary
- Holding productive discussions with customers, sales, and product
It's equally important in these ...
Get Loved now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
