How do you align these two critical functions? There are many methodologies and frameworks for new product introduction that all drive towards similar outcomes. Whether you use Pragmatic, Sirius Decisions or your own home grown approach, there are a few key areas to make sure you are aligned to drive the outcomes you are shooting for. And these areas span beyond just the immediate launches. These cover the long-term adoption and growth strategy of the product.
Product Marketing and Product Management have a few areas of overlap. I call them the grey areas, where who owns what is debatable, and every company has different execution models and expectations for these areas. For example, in most companies with established Product Marketing functions, this team owns positioning, messaging and the "how we talk about what value we bring" do aspect of the product. However in smaller organizations, Product Management often takes the ownership of this, leading to less than optimal outcomes because of the more inside-out and technical oriented approach, and as these words get reflected in marketing campaigns, events and customer interactions, if the messaging is not customer-centric enough, it is likely going to fall flat.
The best way to approach any grey areas is through active discussion and assessment of how mature the product and the organization is. You can do this by running your own workshop with the PM team, or by hiring an external consultant to help with this. The question to ask is: What are the top areas of opportunities or gaps in coverage that are customer-centric that Product Marketing can step in and help with? An example would be Customer Advisory Board meetings. Pre-Product Marketing organizations have other functions take this on. Or competitive messaging - another classic area where Product Managers tend to take the lead on when a product marketer could help. Any market or customer centric activities should have PMMs as the driver, with support and input from PMs and other functions. It is critical to also define the type of input or support required from the PM team, as this relationship is a critical one, like two sides of a coin. You cannot do either job effectively without support from the other. But all this takes time to discuss, align on and execute. However once a game plan is in place, with clearly documented outcomes, sky is the limit.
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