Are product marketers, marketers?
Absolutely.
Which is why I thought it was cool that Gab, Zach, and Eric invited me on their podcast “We're Not Marketers 💀” to explain my point of view.
I think it’s great that these guys are chatting with people who may have a different POV, to talk about the nuances of product marketing and how to level up as PMMs.
So, why do I believe PMMs are marketers?
You can get a sense for my POV in the clip below, but to sum it up, I think great PMMs need to balance both strategy and execution.
As a PMM (especially a founding PMM where I spent my career), you are entering a company with potentially many different POVs are what product marketing is/does.
At the beginning there may be a lot of execution work expected of you. It may feel like a slog and you may be eager to start shifting your focus to more strategic work.
But the reality is that even the best strategy is useless if you can’t turn that into actual marketing → messaging, content, campaigns, launches, that effectively communicate it to the market.
So if you want to be a successful founding PMM, or 1st/2nd PMM in a startup — I think you should be a student of great marketing.
- Learn how a broader GTM strategy works.
- Learn how to create great content.
- Learn how to run a campaign.
Because that's the stuff that brings your strategy work to life.