Why Reverse Interview Questions Matter in Product Marketing The manager you choose will have the BIGGEST impact on your next role. A great manager will catapult your career, and a bad manager will hold you back and make you feel inadequate. Having worked at 6 companies across industries, I can say the biggest factor in my career success was optimizing my next role for the best manager. However, even though we all know it’s important to find the right manager, most people don't know how to determine the quality of the hiring manager during the interview process. So if you are currently job searching, you need to smartly and tactfully ask great reverse interview questions in order to make informed decisions. This will also have the added benefit of enabling you to take control of the interview process and be seen as more intentional and capable. Key Questions to Assess Manager Quality Below is a list of key reverse interview questions to ask during product marketing interviews. While not exhaustive, it serves as a helpful starting point. Huge shout out to my current clients who contributed to this list as well, based on their real-life, first-hand experiences. Also keep in mind, the most valuable questions you can ask are those aligned with the values that matter most to you, which you should have identified when you began your job search journey. Manager Quality What led you to join this company? What do you like/dislike about the journey so far? How do you take constructive criticism, and how did you respond to a time you received it? How would your employees describe your management style? What is your view on promoting employees? What is the promotional and growth path for this role in particular? What are the three things you think I can learn from you as a manager What are you doing to reduce burnout for your team? What is the most surprising thing about company X that is different from other companies you worked at? Business Strategy Why did this role open up, and why now? I understand the target customers are X - would you mind sharing more about the approach for determining ICP and targeting? What segments are you choosing NOT to focus on? What is the biggest challenge facing the company right now, and why? What does success mean for your company today? Of the three growth levers, which is most important (acquisition, monetization, retention)? What do you feel is the company’s greatest competitive advantage? What KPIs are you most focused on improving to drive revenue? How do you view the relationship between product marketing and product management? Role-specific What kinds of decisions do you expect the new hire to make, vs. deferring the decision to you? What do you envision success looking like in this role in 90 days and in a year? How do you hope this role contributes to meeting the key goals of the company? What’s the biggest impact you believe this position can make for the company? Company/Team Culture Can you define what being flexible means in a hybrid/remote environment? If you could describe the company culture in 3 words, what would they be and why? How did your company respond to social issues such as the rise in Asian Hate and the Black Lives Matter movement? How do you support your employees from diverse cultural backgrounds? Perception of you Is there any additional information I can provide that would elevate your confidence in me as a candidate? What is the profile of the candidates you think would be the most successful on your team? Additional Tips for Your Reverse Interview Process In addition to choosing from this list of questions to ask, here are some additional tips to keep in mind: How you ask the question also matters. If you are asking more sensitive questions, it’s always better to start by providing context on why it’s important for you to know and ask them in a positive, friendly tone. You can always request more meetings with the interviewers after you get an offer if you feel the information you got is insufficient to allow you to make a decision. Do not hijack the interview and demand to get all your questions answered no matter what. Even beyond asking questions, if you feel something is off, you can also do your own diligence by finding ex-employees on LinkedIn and getting some insider information. Finally, remember, you are valuable and you are in control of the interview as well, so don’t sell yourself short and get what you deserve! In summary, You should be asking smart reverse interview questions during your interviews, even in today’s job market. The questions to prioritize should be focused on what you value the most. If you don’t get what you need or have doubts, find other ways to learn more before you take the offer! And if you are in need of more in-depth, detailed guidance along your job search journey, then it’s the perfect time to sign up for my Product Marketing Job Search Course. For a limited time only, you get access to the 20+ video lessons PLUS access to my private student community, and LIVE group interview coaching sessions, at 50% off before 7/31. Check it out today! ​

When I started my career, I remember being told that I needed to climb the proverbial career ladder to succeed. So I worked really hard to pursue my path as a transportation consultant, always striving to earn more income, promotions, and prestige. But even after several promotions, I felt something was missing and I was deeply unhappy. The creative side of me was begging to be fulfilled, yet my job involved long hours of writing reports and doing technical analysis. Breaking Free: A Pivot into Marketing I thought, surely there is something better out there for me. So I went back to school to pursue an MBA. I had a lightbulb moment when I learned about marketing. It was exactly what I wanted to do and what would scratch that creative itch. When I decided to quit my safe job and pivot into marketing where I had zero experience, people thought I was crazy. Doing a 180-degree career pivot was no cakewalk. I was met with countless failures and rejections. But I didn’t give up. After several months of grueling interviews and developing a unique method for job searching, I landed my first role in marketing. That role led to 3 more leadership roles in product marketing before I realized I loved helping others land their dream jobs and grow their careers even more. So, I began to pursue new territory as a coach and solopreneur. Having helped over 150 people on their job search and career journey so far, I couldn’t be happier to be building again! Through my career loops, I’ve learned to define success in my own terms, and we’re going to explore how you can too. The Myth of the Linear Career Path The truth is, if you’re feeling unhappy or stuck in your career, the myth of the "linear" career path may be to blame. Nobody’s career is a straight line, and believing so can make us continue to go down the wrong path, overly focus on money and prestige, and feel the crushing weight of inadequacy if we are stuck on the same rung of the ladder for too long. In my case, I was only able to take the leap of faith to pivot first into product marketing, and then again into career coaching once I abandoned linear thinking. By letting go of the idea that I needed to climb the ladder in one industry or job function my entire life, I could entertain new possibilities and get unstuck. And I believe you can too. The Four Stages of the Career Growth Loop to Grow Your Career Just like the product growth loop, the career growth loop is a continuous process of regeneration and reinvention, with the learnings from previous iterations serving as inputs for the next iteration - driving compounding growth. Let’s dive in to explore each stage, and what to focus on or avoid at each. Stage 1 - Sprout You are at the beginning of your career as a young seedling. You may have just gotten your first job or you’re on the path to getting one. This is the time to roll up your sleeves, work hard, learn as much as possible, and stay curious. Most of the work at this stage may be tactical and repetitive, but it’s through repetition we learn and train our muscles to have a strong foundational skillset. What to Focus On Focus on finding a great manager. The most important mentor you will have early on in your career will be your manager. During the interview process, focus on finding managers with a lot of relevant experience, and who clearly demonstrate they are focused on mentorship. Not sure how to do that? Start with this list of reverse interview questions. What to Avoid Avoid optimizing for salary alone. At this stage, learning from the best and joining the right company is the best thing you can do. When you earn more knowledge and have more experience under your belt, your earning potential will grow rapidly in later stages. I was once offered a role that paid $30K more than other offers, but upon having further conversations with leadership, I realized they weren’t aligned on company priorities, which was a red flag. I turned down the offer, and 2 months later there was a shake-up at the company and the hiring manager was let go. The company I ended up choosing instead provided me with tons of learning opportunities by having a strong and diverse leadership that truly cared. Stage 2 - Growth The growth stage is one of the most exciting. You now have a few years of experience and feel more confident in your skills. Your execution capabilities have grown, so it is imperative to establish repeatable systems that work for you. These systems will serve as vital frameworks as you progress into the next phase and assume a strategic leadership role. What to Focus On Focus on becoming a T-shaped marketer. While gaining a general understanding of every aspect of your role is really important, you also want to develop at least one area of deep expertise that you enjoy while growing your reputation as a subject matter expert. Becoming the go-to person for a specific skill set will make you invaluable and grow your confidence, paving the way for the next stage of your career. For instance, in my first PMM role, I spent over 50% of my time enabling sales on enterprise deals. I created over 18 use-case-specific decks that significantly transformed our messaging and helped me build a reputation as a star storyteller. I won a sales award that year, which was instrumental in helping me get promoted. What to Avoid Avoid thinking there is only one way to grow. Instead of chasing after more and more titles in the same role, growth could also be horizontal - you could move into adjacent roles, move into different types of industries, and sizes of companies. It’s OK to grow in whichever way you want to. Learning can happen anywhere. Stage 3 - Maturity Once you have reached the maturity level, you will notice that doing your job comes with ease, and people come to you regularly for advice, as you are the authority on the subject matter. You should have managed large projects, or perhaps you are leading an entire function. At this stage, the focus shifts towards building leadership skills and overall business acumen as an established leader. Drawing upon your extensive knowledge, it is time to formulate strong points of view (POV) that reflects your understanding of the role through your experience. What to Focus On Focus on developing your personal brand - which is an external reflection of your internal values. When you have a strong personal brand you will have clarity about yourself and attract the right opportunities to you. When COVID hit, I saw a lot of friends lose their jobs, so I decided to help them out by offering ad-hoc job search advice. To my delight, not only was I successful in getting them jobs, but I also enjoyed it so much that I decided to pursue it as a side hustle. I started posting on LinkedIn sharing exactly how I helped them, and that led me to build my thriving coaching business today. What to Avoid Avoid thinking you know it all. Even when you have achieved expertise in something, it’s important to listen to outside perspectives and learn new ways of doing things. Some of the best things I learned are from the employees I hired with far less experience (or so I thought)! Stage 4 - Harvest With a solidified personal brand and a strong skill set, this stage allows you to reap the rewards of your hard work through additional career options. You can leverage your expertise, unique values, and skill set in various ways. This may involve delivering paid talks, offering consultancy services, launching your own startup, or pursuing other ventures. What to Focus On Focus on opportunities that align with your values and lifestyle - Instead of pursuing every opportunity under the sun, think about what opportunities can further enhance your brand, could be complementary to one another, and can be more easily managed and scaled over time. For instance, many PMMs at this stage may become consultants, advisors, or contractors, making great income while maintaining a healthy work/life balance. What to Avoid Watch out for harvesting too soon, or harvesting for too long without planting new seeds for growth. I see many early career professionals capitalizing on additional income streams. While commendable, it's hard to harvest without any crops. True expertise matters and can only be earned through experience and hard work. As you harvest, you will naturally realize new paths you want to pursue, or new skills to gain. This signals it is time to restart the loop and become a beginner again. In summary, Careers are loops, not ladders. Career paths are often winding and cyclical with periods of massive growth, re-evaluation, rest (time off), and reinvention. You can stay in a loop for 10 years, restart a loop halfway through if you think it’s the wrong one, or do something else. And no matter where you are in your career, you are in the right place: every stage of your career serves a purpose even if it does not feel like it at the time. One action step you can do today: Read through this and figure out where you are in your career loop. Find the relevant suggestions I have for that stage, and choose one thing to improve on within the next week. Want more dedicated guidance to land, develop, and grow in your dream product marketing role? Then check out my 1-1 programs to help you: Overcome rejections and land your dream role with confidence Master your onboarding in the first 30-60-90 Days without burn-out or stress Gain career clarity and build out your career loops to become a strong, confident leader Interested in any programs above? Contact me whenever you are ready.

Navigating the Stages of Product Lifecycle for a Dynamic Product Marketing Career All products go through a product lifecycle. As a PMM, your role and focus can drastically differ by-product lifecycle stage, which can, in turn, affect your product marketing career and path. Specifically, this is how product marketing can differ by product lifecycle phase: 🌱 Introduction phase: This is where the product is initially introduced to the market. There is a lot of excitement for potentially disrupting a category or new ways to solve old problems. At this stage, a true 0-1 product marketer is needed to validate product/market fit, message/market fit, and plan and execute full GTMs to drive product awareness. When I was a 0-1 product marketer at a Series A startup, I created the first product launch process and spoke at length with customers to validate the message/market fit and refine our ICP. 🌿 Growth phase: You are looking at a mid-late stage startup doubling revenue each year and more. The goal at this stage is to penetrate the market as fast as possible. This means the PMM needs to split time between launching new features and scaling sales enablement. They also need to support major marketing promotional campaigns. Overall, there will be a shift towards more campaigns vs. new product launches. When I was at a growth stage startup, 50% of my time was spent scaling sales enablement to support AEs across 10+ regions as we needed to win more deals, faster. 🌳 Maturity phase: This is the phase where growth slows, and where the product is generally ubiquitous in the mind of the target customer. At this point, there likely are many other competitors in the market, so the goal is to grow and maintain market share. The PMM can focus on pricing/packaging to optimize revenue from existing customers and collaborate with the rest of the marketing team on brand refresh and competitive-focused campaigns to increase brand loyalty and take market share. When I was on AutoCAD - a 40-year-old product, my efforts were focused on global campaigns to establish our leadership position, attract a new generation of customers, and help avoid customers going to copycats. 🍂 Decline phase: At this phase, the product is in decline, with many similar products on the market. It’s also likely the company already has a broader product portfolio with newer products that are in the growth stage. The goal of a PMM at this stage is to continue maximizing profitability by squeezing $ from late adopters (e.g. developing regions) and promoting the entire product portfolio to upsell or cross-sell customers to newer products. For instance, at Autodesk, AutoCAD is bundled with newer products like Revit to drive up sales and prolong its usage. Crafting Your Unique Product Marketing Career Path I believe in building a strong and long-lasting career path that builds a diversity of experiences across all stages of the product lifecycle, but what works for each individual should be based on their specific strengths, values, and goals. So how does this affect you? 1. If you are looking for a new job, think about what stage of the company would better fit your skills and interests right now. 2. If you are currently working, think about new strategies most aligned with the stage of your product’s growth, and how you can prolong it. If you are looking for guidance to gain more clarity on which growth stage fits you best in a job search, or how to take more control of your career, please contact me and I would love to see how I can help.

​A few weeks ago I posted that product marketing is truly a connector role. It launches products to the market, enables sales, and partners with marketing to drive revenue. The Traditional View of Product Marketing This is why it’s typically represented by the widely adopted Venn diagram showing it sitting at the center of the three functions: The Shortcomings of the Traditional View While this framing is initially helpful, I believe it has several shortcomings: 1. It’s a me-centric point of view I can safely say other functions, especially product management, also think they sit at the center. This me-centric view unnecessarily creates ego and territoriality. 2. Misconception that PMMs have tons of ownership The most common reason I have heard why aspiring PMMs want to move into the field is that they want to have tons of ownership. In reality, PMMs have the LEAST ownership compared to other functions, and instead, have to influence without authority. 3. It overlooks other key areas in the business For instance, customer success and customer support often get ignored, as well as engineering and Ops roles. The fact is there are many other teams not represented in the diagram which are equally important to business success. Rethinking What Is Product Marketing: The Interconnected Web Instead, product marketing should be represented more as an interconnected web: In this web view, every function has an equally important part to play in the success of the company. In addition, holding this view shifts the mindset of PMMs from “How can I make myself look good” to “How can I help other teams look good”. Building Stronger Connections Across Teams It also encourages PMMs to see beyond their bubble and genuinely helps connect with other teams. For instance, one of the proudest things I did in my career was connecting Customer Success with Product to better influence the roadmap and communicate features to customers - which helped both teams reach their goals. Practical Implications for PMMs So how does this affect your job as a PMM? Here are a few practical tips you can apply to your job today: Recreate the web diagram for your specific role. Chances are the functions at your company may look a bit different. Draw it to represent the key functions within your company. Select and prioritize a few relationships to focus on. Instead of focusing on every line in the diagram, pick 2-3 to focus on based on the key objectives of your company. Brainstorm 1 way to add value to those relationships you picked. If you notice any gaps in those relationships, this is a great time to start closing the gap and think about 1 way you can immediately add value. At the end of the day, when PMMs enable other teams, they will naturally become an invaluable part of every company and act as the true connector. This view is messier, but I believe it’s more accurate.

Surbhi's Transformation from Freelance Consultant to Product Marketing Manager Surbhi Gupta was a star client of mine. When we met, Surhbhi was struggling to balance her life as a mom and being the owner of a freelance consulting business. She had been out of the corporate world for 3 years and while she had extensive marketing experience, she had no formal background in product marketing. But through our work together, she landed a PMM job at a reputable startup earning a great salary that exceeded her expectations. Her story is truly transformational. I recently caught up with Surbhi, to give her a chance to tell her story and share some of what she’s learned. I hope she inspires you, the way she’s inspired me! Finding the Right Career Path at Avalara Yi Lin: I'm super excited to chat with you today. Could you share with the audience where you work right now? Surbhi: Of course! I'm a product marketing manager at Avalara. Avalara is into tax compliance for the B2B audience in the Fintech space. I earned my MBA in marketing in 2013 and joined Hindustan Times, the largest media house in India as a marketer responsible for social media, promotion, campaigns, and more. I worked there for five years in different capacities, eventually becoming a senior marketing manager. Then I moved to Seattle with my husband, had a baby, and decided to start my own consulting firm in brand and marketing, so I can have a more flexible schedule while still working in marketing. I eventually went on to hire and manage 5 people in my consulting firm. The Decision to Shift into Product Marketing Yi Lin: I love that you started your own business and you have such an amazing background! So how did you decide to break into product marketing? Surbhi: It's funny because I heard the term "go-to-market" and it intrigued me. I knew about it before but with its increasing popularity on LinkedIn, I wondered if there was more to it. Watching product marketing videos made me realize PMMs do GTM, and I became interested in exploring the field for its unique challenges and opportunities. It was a refreshing change from my previous work, and I was excited to pursue it despite not knowing how to get there. Yi Lin: What did you do initially to try to pivot into product marketing? Surbhi: Initially I learned a lot just by reading online, watching videos and free resources, including following you on LinkedIn! I then started to apply for roles. I realized while I was getting some first-round interviews, I could not progress past the hiring manager round. I realized my stories were not cohesive and as a working mom, I really didn’t have all the time dedicated to interview prep and I needed to change. I couldn’t wake up at 5 am, interview prep, and then have to get through the day. Yi Lin: As a working mom myself, I really empathize with you. It’s hard enough to job search, let alone having to take care of a baby and run your own business! So what did you do next? Surbhi: I realized I needed help when I returned from a family visit. I told myself I HAD to get a PMM job in 3 months. I knew that if I didn’t prioritize or focus on it, I would just have delayed the process - delayed the learning and my goal. I knew I may be able to do it alone, but to get the results faster and to keep my sanity intact, I needed a career coach - especially someone who has gone through the exact process and who fully understands my situation. This is when I reached out to you, and within just our first call I decided to work with you because of exactly those reasons - you have been there, done that, and you shared great insights with me just in that 30 min. Sometimes, as a mom, I feel the responsibility is huge. I am taking care of my daughter at night, and then it’s 11 pm, I am laying on the couch, and I realize I didn’t do anything for myself. I decided at that moment to prioritize my own career needs and hiring you would be a gift for me. Yi Lin: Wow, thank you for sharing that! It’s really a powerful step to prioritize your own needs! You have such wonderful skills and I knew instantly that you would be a great PMM. I was happy to provide guidance. Would you share then how the job search process was while working with me? Surbhi: Partnering with you — who are equally excited about my dreams and success — helped me tremendously to land the PMM role. First of all, I had instant relief when we started working together, as you provided me with frameworks and a specific plan of action for every milestone. You laid out exactly what I needed to do after each session, so I knew I was held accountable and that really motivated me and kept me on track. During the job search, I felt the level of detail you put into the program was something I didn’t see in other coaches. You didn’t just show me how to go about getting referrals and using untraditional ways to reach the hiring manager, you also created specific templates and sample messages I could modify and use. You had a template for everything from resumes to tracking progress, interviews, and even assignments which were so helpful. Your resume edit, in particular, was a game changer - it was not a generic resume edit. I was getting completely stuck in my head, but you came in and helped reframe my experiences in a way that exactly described me and highlighted my unique value. I started getting interviews with the new resume and it was remarkable! Finally, as we approached interviews the approach you used to structure questions really changed the game - they actually made me feel more confident in my own skills as I walked into each interview. Apart from the 1-1s I also loved the group sessions and the student community you built which was great for emotional support. Overcoming Challenges and Winning the Role Yi Lin: Wow, thank you for sharing all that! I was so glad when you got the offer because I knew it was the perfect opportunity for you, and you have shown so much resilience in the process. On the other hand, I know the process was also not free of challenges, especially on the emotional side. Would you share how you were able to overcome the challenges? Surbhi: Absolutely, it was definitely not smooth sailing all the way and particularly there were two difficult times I faced. The first one was when I wasn't getting enough calls for product marketing roles. I wanted to give in and switch back to marketing, but after discussing it with you, you reminded me that my dream role was product marketing and that I should keep going and focus on doing one thing at a time. For instance, reach out to 5 hiring managers in a week. I am really glad you didn’t make me give up because then I started landing more interviews and progressing to the final rounds. The second turning point was when I got rejected in the final round with this company I thought I was a shoo-in for. I remember being extremely upset but then speaking with you, you objectively assessed my situation and made me realize the huge progress I made and that success was around the corner. A lot of the time, I felt you were not just a coach, but a friend who I can be completely myself with. You are open, flexible and were available whenever I needed help. Yi Lin: It was clear that your answers kept getting better and better. I only taught you the techniques but you did it all! Now that you are a PMM, how do you like the role so far? Surbhi: I love it. I look forward to Mondays and I look forward to tomorrow. I realized I might not know the mechanics of, say, a full positioning/messaging project, but I know I can learn it. I am fully tapping into my superpowers of collaboration - I can ensure projects get done, and I am learning and drawing energy from everything around my work. It’s awesome. Yi Lin: That’s so great to hear! What advice would you have for anyone who is on this job search journey now? Surbhi: For anyone trying to break into product marketing or land a dream role, I’d say, 1) believe that you can do it and have a positive mindset, and 2) do something about it. Put an action plan together, and have a defined strategy. Then, when you encounter roadblocks (which are inevitable), don’t take things personally. Try to get the help you need, whether it is from a coach, a community, or something else. It's about getting help in whichever form you find useful at the time. What I would caution against is just sitting there by yourself and waiting for something different to happen. — Thanks so much to Surbhi for sharing her perspective! Hearing stories like hers is what motivates me to do the work I do. If you’re struggling in your career, just know: You’re not alone! I’ve been there. Surbhi was there. And when you’re having a hard time, asking for help isn’t weakness—it’s proof of wisdom. If you could use some help, contact me on my website, and let's chat!

As a product marketer, if you are stressed or feel like an imposter, you are not alone. Besides all of the deadlines, lack of understanding of what you do, or general mentorship, many of us PMMs experience a broader tension: What level am I supposed to be at? What’s the path for me? Unfortunately, I can say with confidence that more than 50% of startup PMM roles are wrongly leveled. This is a real problem, both for businesses and for employees. Navigating Your Product Marketing Career Map To help solve this issue, I am excited to share the Startup PMM Career Roadmap. By creating this, I hope to help you, current PMMs, and job seekers, understand what title you should target based on your experience and career goals. So let’s dive in to understand this map in more detail. Two Factors for Career Growth in Product Marketing To begin, growing and advancing in product marketing is a balance between 2 factors. The first is the amount of guidance and oversight needed (Y-axis), and the second is strategic work opportunity (X-axis). As you progress in your career, you will (generally) need to do more strategic work and be increasingly independent. The Four Main Roles in Product Marketing Based on the mix of these 2 factors, there’s a natural progression of four main roles in product marketing: 1. The BEGINNER (Associate PMM) This is a role for someone with 2-4 years of total work experience. Look for this kind of role if you’re just getting started in your career and trying to break into product marketing. Companies generally hire for this role if there is a lot of tactical work that needs to be done. You should get plenty of guidance and mentorship in this role (from a Director or Sr PMM), given you will need to be trained from the ground up. Offering this level of guidance is often not a priority for leaders, which is one of the reasons I believe there are very few Associate PMM roles on the market. 2. The KICKSTARTER (PMM) This is the traditional starting point for product marketing. However, that doesn’t mean it’s an entry-level job. PMMs generally have 4-7 years of total work experience, since they need to be capable of supporting large strategic projects such as positioning and messaging while executing multiple projects (sales enablement, product launches, etc). Leaders should aim to spend 30-70% of their time coaching PMMs to help them gain confidence and navigate more complex projects. As a PMM, evaluate whether you are getting the amount of guidance you need to succeed in the role. Based on my discussions with hundreds of PMMs, lack of guidance is the #1 cause of stress for PMMs. 3. THE ADVANCER (Sr PMMs). Sr PMMs are experienced individual contributors who have mastered the core areas of product marketing. They are expected to launch Tier 1 products with minimal support, design and implement research studies on their own, and meaningfully contribute to positioning and messaging work. Leaders should aim to spend ~20-30% of their time coaching Sr PMMs. They are also generally high performers with a clear track to becoming a leader. If you are a Sr PMM, ask yourself if you are being given the scope that will stretch and help you grow. 4. THE LEADER (Director of Product Marketing) The Director needs to be a people manager. While most Directors need to roll up their sleeves and become players/coaches to some degree, this role is distinguished by leading other product marketers and owning the entire PMM function for the company (or product line). As a Director, you will set the strategy, liaise with other teams, and mentor your reports. You will generally not require much oversight from senior leadership and are the functional head entirely responsible for the results of your team. The coaching from senior leadership is likely focused on executive functions (communication skills and people management), rather than core PMM skills. The expectation is that you are already a master of your craft. Special Cases in the Product Marketing Career Path This is the standard leveling and path at most startup companies—anywhere from Series A to IPO—but I’ll include a few caveats: The First PMM: At very early-stage companies, the founders or general head of marketing will likely complete product marketing functions. The level of the first hire will depend on the company’s needs, but I would be cautious about seeking this kind of position unless you are a Director level (so you can implement a strategic plan immediately) or Sr PMM level (so you can do the hands-on work and grow into a strategic role when it’s time to expand the team). A mistake would be joining as a junior PMM, as they may be expecting you to replace the role of the founders. Head of PMM: This is simply a title used to call the person at the top of the PMM food chain, which could be at the Director or VP level (confusing, I know!) The VP-level title is a natural progression from the Director level and generally is present at later-stage startups only. The IC PMM: What if you want to be an individual contributor, rather than progress up the management ranks? That’s totally fine. People who want to pursue that track generally take Sr. PMM roles and can have a great career there. However, given the collaborative and cross-functional nature of product marketing, even an IC PMM needs to be able to work well with other people. With those outlier situations explained, I hope you have a good understanding of how these roles progress. But if you are looking to find your place in the PMM world, there are two particular anti-patterns to watch for. Anti-Patterns to Watch Out For 1. The Stressed-Out Doer (PMM without enough support) This is a very common case I see. This could be a Sr PMM or even PMM asked to manage a large number of tactical projects with little oversight. They are hired with the promise of ownership, but that ownership came at the cost of real mentorship which they need. People in this position often just take orders from the Sales team or launch what’s needed, but don’t have the expertise to develop the PMM functions that companies really need. If you find yourself in this situation, seek out mentorship or coaching. If this is not available within your organization, ask around in your network for product marketers who might be able to advise you. There are lots of great resources available online. I’d recommend ShareBird—or, you can always set up a call with me! ​ 2. The Glorified IC (PMM leader, but only in title) This is someone who has the title of Director but has no authority. Maybe they are really not managing anyone, or perhaps they have an overbearing manager who makes all the strategic decisions above them. Either way, it will be very hard to show value in this role and the person may feel bored or underutilized. Although this can be frustrating, it’s actually a great opportunity: Impress your boss by asking for more responsibilities and opportunities to make decisions. Be Cautious but Optimistic In summary, your career success and your mental health can be significantly affected by how well your role is designed, and how much support you are given. Comparing your current role and responsibilities to the Product Marketing Career Map above will help ensure you are at the right level and on the right path to be in the best place to succeed. If you are a job seeker, spend time asking the hiring manager thoughtful question to really understand the scope and support they can provide you. If you get stuck, here is a set of reverse interview questions that can help.

Product marketing is enjoying a meteoric rise, but I also know from speaking with many of you that being a product marketer can be stressful - burnout, lack of best practices, and uncertainty about how to rise up are just some of the challenges. So today, I will show you how I went from feeling stressed and awful to getting promoted to Senior Product Marketing Manager and the Director of Product Marketing in less than three years while working less. So let’s dive right in. The Path to Success in Product Marketing Without Burnout Lesson #1: Focus on one big project that will deliver an outsized impact The biggest secret to doing any job well is to have focus. And that means letting go of the desire to do every aspect of product marketing at once, which will dissipate your energy and lead to diminishing returns. To have focus, you need to work on the one project that will have an outside impact at a given time and then double down on that. The best way to find the project is by speaking with others. When I start a new job, I talk to nearly everyone in the company. I try to understand the biggest challenges that no one is helping them with. I then create a plan to address that, show results, and get feedback. For instance, when I was at my first startup, I had to enable a team of 50+ enterprise sales reps - who were the main drivers of our revenue. I had no idea where to begin helping them, but as I spoke to them individually, it because clear that all the reps said something different about our value prop. So I focused on standardizing our pitch to increase win rates. I dedicated an intense 2 months to revising our sales deck and listened to dozens of live pitches before rolling out the final product. The sales reps could see the difference right away and I was given a cultural award for the work I did to help them. If you are struggling with figuring out your big project, ask yourself the following questions: What is the most crucial goal of your company? Which team is most important for influencing that goal? What are the different levers that can affect that goal? What lever can you most readily influence? Lesson #2: Ruthlessly prioritize your time and energy To focus on the projects with the most impact, you need to say no to things. This was something I had to learn the hard way. Saying no does not mean rudely telling your boss you won’t do work, but it means smartly delegating, reducing, or postponing certain tasks. After getting burned out in my first year as a PMM, I now religiously prioritize my time every week this way: Each Monday, I start by writing out all the tasks/commitments I have in front of me, and ask myself the following questions: Does this task move me closer to my most important goal (from lesson #1)? How much effort does it require to do this task? I then lay out all my tasks in a 2x2 matrix as shown below that maps effort against impact (source: ProductPlan): Quick wins - this is where you spend a good amount of time here. Major project - this may be a longer-term strategic project. This could present a great collaboration opportunity. Fill-ins - these can be delegated or reduced in scope if possible Thankless tasks - these should be eliminated Over the years, sticking to this principle has allowed me to excel in product marketing without burnout, producing more results while working less. Lesson #3: Collaborate to create win-win situations Growing up in a hyper-competitive environment, I was told to be successful, I had to be better than everyone else. But the flaw of this statement is it assumes life is a zero-sum game - that there is only a finite amount of “pie”, and my win comes from someone else’s loss. When we live life as a zero-sum game, we are always hyper-competitive and stressed out. That is no way to live. In fact, life is more like a positive sum game - your gain can be someone else’s gain as well. And I have fortunately benefited so much in my career by collaborating with others to create win-wins. When we collaborate with others, we: Benefit from each other’s talents and get the project done faster and better Gain additional perspective and empathy from others’ POV Gain constructive feedback that helps us improve Enjoy our work more and feel a sense of camaraderie As a product marketer, your most likely collaborators are other product marketers, other marketers (demand gen, brand, content marketers), product managers, or customer success managers. These individuals/teams have natural synergies with you, are equally aligned on the same goals, and have complementary skill sets. In the sales enablement example above, I didn’t do it alone. I partnered with my PMM peer who provided valuable feedback on my sales decks - we even tagged team to sit in on sales calls. The collaboration allowed us to deliver our project in record time and helped establish the value of the product marketing team as a whole. So, what project can you get help on, and what can you help someone else with? Lesson #4: Ask with intention So you delivered impact and accomplished some really important goals for your company. What’s next? Just delivering results and hoping you will get recognized is unlikely to get you promoted. You have to ask for it. In fact, this is the best advice I have received in my career. Since then, almost all of my promotions or raises are because I proactively asked for them. But how do you ask for something effectively? And how do you avoid the fear of being told no? Here are a few tips I recommend: Make your intentions clear - Promotions don’t happen overnight, and can sometimes take months to build a case. So plan to have a conversation with your manager at least 6 months before you want to get promoted. Layout your intention to move to the next level, and get clarity on what is required for you to achieve that. Ask for it in the right way - When you have demonstrated progress towards achieving the requirements, it’s time to make the ask. Share specific examples of how you have met or exceeded the requirement, and the IMPACT that had on the company as a whole. Have a low emotional attachment to the outcome - Instead of just focusing on yes or no at the moment, be open to alternative possibilities, timing, and feedback. It also shows your willingness to grow and compromise. Lesson #5: Build career portfolios, not career ladders Hopefully, by following Lessons 1-4, you are well on your way to getting promoted and climbing the proverbial career ladder. However, in recent years, more people have discovered that the best careers are not always straight lines. Rather, they are non-linear “squiggly careers” ( source: HBR). Indeed, our careers (and life) are more than just a series of promotions. Getting promoted is not the end in itself, but a means for you to stretch yourself, learn more, and grow through new types of experiences. So instead of being overly focused on a title, or salary, focus more on what new skills will you get to learn, and what new exciting challenges will present themselves. And when you let go a little from the chains of the career ladder, you will open yourself up to explore more career possibilities - whether it is to take on a side hustle, build a passion project, or take a career break - to build a truly fulfilling career portfolio. When I look at my own career path, I see two distinct periods. The first was when I was a transportation consultant when I fixated on just getting promoted and earning more money. The second was when I decided to quit my job and make a dramatic pivot to doing something different. Though the path was way more squiggly (and I have had many challenges and countless failures), it was the most exhilarating part of my career. Best of all, by not fixating only on getting promoted, I ended up getting promoted faster. Thanks for reading. Whenever you are ready, I can help you: Accelerate your career growth Overcome impost syndrome Master product marketing fundamentals Transition into a new role with confidence

Insights on the Current Job Market for Product Marketers 2022 was a year of constant change with drastic shifts in the tech labor market (and massive layoffs). With such uncertainty, it's natural to wonder what 2023 will be like for product marketing. An Interview with Rebecca Tan, Senior Recruiter at Creative People So back in December, I laid out my top 7 predictions for product marketing in 2023 in my LinkedIn post, where I mentioned that while more pressure will be put on product marketers, the roles will be even more critical this year. However, I thought it could be even more insightful to hear the perspective on the labor market from a recruiter directly. This is why I am excited to interview Rebecca Tan, Senior Recruiter from Creative People in today's issue. Navigating Job Opportunities and Career Growth for Product Marketers Below, she shares her perspectives on the job market for product marketers and practical tips to help you navigate the landscape, whether you are a job seeker or hiring manager. So let’s begin. Yi Lin: I am so excited you are here Rebecca! Could you introduce yourself to everyone? Rebecca: Hi! I’m a Senior Agent at Creative People, a people-first boutique recruiting agency that focuses on helping innovative start-ups grow their product, brand, and marketing teams. I oversee all of our Product Marketing and Communication searches. Yi Lin: Thank you! The year 2022 has been interesting. Could you share what the hiring market was like in the past year from your experience? Rebecca: Last year, I saw an explosion of product marketing roles earlier in the year - this is everything from MAANGs to smaller orgs creating product marketing departments for the first time. A lot of organizations began to recognize the strategic need for product marketing and the role it can play in growth. In Q4, we began to see a slowdown in the market with the layoffs in tech due to the rapid growth companies experienced at the height of the pandemic. It was difficult to see and not easy for the candidates that were impacted. On the other hand, I’m optimistic as we’ve continued to see opportunities arise in the market, but there is a shift in the way companies approach hiring to be more strategic. Y: Thank you for sharing that. I have observed similar patterns as a hiring manager and coach. I’d love to understand what you see as the shift. R: I truly believe Product Marketing will remain a critical and strategic role. The difference is that we won’t be seeing the “hyper-growth” that many organizations experienced during the pandemic. I fully agree with the perspective that you shared in your LinkedIn post, which is that companies are going to be more thoughtful and strategic in how they build their teams and allocate resources. Similarly, I also believe we’re going to see more emphasis on “retention” - how we can keep customers and maximize their value. PMMs can play a critical role in this as the voice of the customer. I think this retention mentality will also extend to the companies as they think about how they can retain and nurture existing talent. Y: I love that last point you made about retention and investing more in employees. But what will that mean for people looking for new jobs? R: You should 100% be looking for new jobs and companies will continue to hire, as new roles will pop up (even as there could be fewer backfills). I always recommend candidates have a pulse on the market and take those first chats to learn more even if the timing isn’t right. Take your time and network so you understand what’s out there and when the right thing comes along, you’ll know. Y: Fully agreed! It’s always better to be prepared. I also see more startups and companies add new product marketing roles and teams (even as they shed other functions) given the importance of this role in helping with business strategy and growth. Overall, would you say you are bullish or bearish on the market for product marketers? R: I am bullish. With anything, there will always be highs, lows, and changes. There is just a shift in the way companies are approaching hiring and growing teams during this time. I know it can feel uneasy with the number of layoffs we’ve seen, but at the same time, I’ve continued to see opportunities with companies hiring especially in startups. Y: Thanks for sharing that, and it's reassuring. I want to switch gears a bit and talk about how candidates should job search in today’s economic climate. What are some things you recommend candidates do to stand out and best prepare? R: First I highly recommend LinkedIn. We always talk about “geeking out” in your market and being an expert. Connect with your “dream companies” and leaders within your industry (like Yi Lin!). Do not be afraid to reach out to people and hiring managers to ask for informational interviews and make connections. Getting the perspective of others in your space can help change how you approach searches or represent yourself, and then make yourself top of mind to those target companies. I also recommend refreshing your LinkedIn profile to express your personality, interests, and projects you’re proud of. For many hiring managers and recruiters, your LI profile is the 1st reference point before your resume. Y: I am so glad LinkedIn is the first thing you brought up. It’s how I landed my first internship offer earlier in my career. Submitting your resume online or just counting on your friends to refer you is not enough in today’s market. I also recommend job seekers create cold referral opportunities through networking. R: Yes totally! So the second thing I recommend is tailoring your experience and story to the job description: talking about yourself and distilling your experience can be one of the most difficult things. But think of yourself as similar to the products that you work with every day. How are you developing and storytelling about yourself? If you find this difficult to do (as it can be to do it for yourself), this is where I recommend you work with someone like Yi Lin who is an expert in this area and specializes in product marketing. By talking to someone else you can vocalize things out loud and get a fresh perspective that helps you frame your experiences in a much more compelling way. Lastly, I also recommend using a recruiting agency. Recruiters have a pulse on the market and what hiring managers are looking for. We like to call ourselves “agents'' because we try to present multiple opportunities to our candidates. It’s like being a matchmaker. We pair our companies and candidates up to allow for personal career development and company growth. Y: I love that last point you brought up as many have not thought about using recruiting agencies. How can a candidate get agency representation from you? We absolutely represent candidates from diverse backgrounds as the needs of hiring managers can vary. I love making connections with candidates, even if I don’t have a role that’s a close fit at the time. So you can just reach out to me! YL: Amazing! What about companies - what mistakes do typical startups make when hiring PMMs? What should hiring managers do differently? Great question! Product Marketing can be interpreted in different ways. But at its foundation, product marketers are the voice of the customer and should be able to speak the different “languages” of cross-functional teams (typically sales, product, and marketing) to drive strategy. I’ve seen companies make mistakes when they’re making their first PMM hire. I’ve seen over-leveling, where it’s positioned as a senior role, but the needs of the company are creating assets/collateral to support the sales team. The opposite can be true too, where they are looking for someone to act as a director but only giving them a manager title/salary. As a hiring manager, I would take a step back and assess what the short and long-term needs are for the team and how that aligns with existing resources. From there, identify where the gaps are to hone in on the profile you’re hiring for. I would also consult specialists who can help advise an org if a hiring manager isn’t as familiar with the PMM landscape. Y: Yeah I have seen this as well. This unfortunately happens due to the immaturity of the function. I generally tell candidates to target two levels of title, and also focus more on the responsibilities and scope, and less on the title itself. Anyways, this has been so insightful. To wrap up, are you currently taking on more companies to represent? Absolutely! For hiring managers in product marketing, please reach out to me if you are interested in expanding your team! We can help paint a landscape of the industry, conduct salary analysis, develop JDs, and more. Reach out even if it’s to make the connection and say hello! Yi Lin: Fantastic. Thank you so much for the wonderful insights!

Some of you may know that I started my career as a civil engineer, working for a consulting company for six years before making a major pivot into tech and product marketing. So when I started my first product marketing role, I tried to absorb everything I could. I was fortunate to be among a team of product marketers with a strong leader who taught me a lot of the fundamentals of product marketing and empowered me to get promoted within one year on the job. The Unique Challenges of Being a First-Time Product Marketing Leader Feeling more confident and wanting to grow, I decided to join a Series A startup, where I was the only product marketer. While it was exciting to have full ownership of the function, that excitement soon turned into stress and imposter syndrome. The truth is, I was woefully underprepared for the role as a first product marketing hire or head of PMM, which came with its unique set of challenges: No one understands product marketing, or misunderstands it - The role of product marketing is still relatively new, and in most cases, poorly understood. Even though you may be hired to work on “strategy”, you could easily be reduced to a glorified content creator or launch machine. This unique challenge means you need not only to do excellent work but also do the RIGHT kind of work. Taking on too much too quickly - Because of the lack of understanding of product marketing, or the fact you may be only a team of one, there is a tendency to take on too much too quickly in an effort to prove yourself. This not only leads to burnout but also does not deliver the best results due to a lack of focus. Not spending enough time on building relationships - This burnout means you can deliver tunnel vision quickly to deliver more and more results, instead of doing the necessary relationship-building work. The reality of being the de facto head of a function means you have to spend as much time evangelizing your role as actually doing it. Luckily, I was able to recognize these challenges in time, and turned my learnings into a framework that provided me with clarity and helped me to succeed, where I was then promoted to Director of Product Marketing within 1 year of joining the company. Turning Product Marketing Leader Challenges Into Opportunities The Maturity Journey Framework Today, after building the product marketing team at Teachable from the ground up, my team was recently awarded one of the Best Places to Work for Product Marketers in 2022, largely thanks to sticking to and applying this framework. So, I am super excited to introduce the Maturity Journey Framework for first-time Heads of PMMs or solo PMMs. I hope it will allow you to deliver value quicker and better while minimizing stress. This framework essentially breaks down growing a product marketing function into three stages, each with its unique objectives. Just like achieving any goal, success is not built in one day, and by breaking down key milestones into stages you will reduce stress and have more success. So let’s dive into more detail. The Three Stages of Growing a Product Marketing Function 1. Crawl Stage: Generate quick wins (1-6 months) When you are new on your job, the most important thing is to clearly understand the biggest gaps and most obvious opportunities the company faces. I recommend going on a listening tour in your first few weeks and speaking to your key stakeholders around the company. This will allow you to then create a gap analysis and identify initiatives to close the gap. One of the common mistakes to avoid here is trying to do too many things too quickly (like attempting to build out every single functional area of product marketing). Once you have identified the initiatives, I recommend prioritizing them into quick wins or major projects depending on how much effort is required to complete them. While some projects are extremely important to tackle (e.g. a complete positioning exercise), it may take a long time to deliver results, so it’s important to also work on one or two quick win projects. At the end of the day, the faster you can generate value the quicker you can build trust. When I first arrived at Teachable, I realized the GTM launch process was broken. Knowing there was a major feature that needed to be launched immediately, I worked with the Product Manager side-by-side to test out a new process that I introduced. It was significantly better than what existed before and helped us deliver results quickly. This success bought my trust in my work and I was then able to implement more programs that took longer to generate results, such as spending 2 months talking to customers to improve our positioning. Finally, as you are delivering value, don’t forget to also evangelize the function by regularly sharing with other teams what product marketing is, what you are working on, and how you can help these other teams deliver value. 2. Walk Stage: Build the foundation (6-12 months) Once you have delivered quick wins and established some trust in your abilities, you can start setting the foundation of product marketing by building out processes. If that first product launch you did was a success, now it’s time to build out a more formalized process for all product launches going forward - you will have more confidence this will work and you will also have an easier time getting buy-in. At this stage, I also highly recommend setting up a regular research process where you devote at least 20% of your time to conducting critical research each quarter, whether it’s customer, market, or competitive research. Research is the foundation of all great product marketing and the insights you get from your research powers strategy and avoids you from becoming a tactical machine. If your team has a budget, I also recommend working with consultants to deliver larger research studies (e.g. quantitative buyer personas) faster. Additional product marketing areas that are important to tackle include building out the enablement process (sales, customer success, or marketing team enablement) and/or more advanced areas such as pricing and packaging. 3. Run Stage: Scale for success (12 - 18 months) With more built-out processes that are working well and wins under your belt, it’s now time to scale the PMM function for success. This could mean adding more head counts, hiring additional agencies, or adding more automation (e.g. competitive intelligence tools) to help you deliver even more value and insights faster. While you could be adding these resources as early as the crawling stage, a common mistake I see new Heads of Product Marketing make is asking for too many head counts too quickly - it’s hard to know who to hire and what to hire for when you have not built the foundation and understood the true needs of the business through hands-on learning. If this also happens to be the end of the year, then I recommend conducting resource planning so the budget can be allocated for the next fiscal year. For resource planning, this is the process I recommend: Summarize the team’s key accomplishment in the previous fiscal ear tied to the goal of the company. For instance, what impact did the personas project help achieve? Higher conversion rate across the funnel? Better retention? Understand the goal of the company in the next fiscal year. Usually, these are either acquisition, retention, or monetization. Also, understand what is the actual KPI that the company is tracking towards . e.g. grow subscribers by 30% next year. Then from there, list out ALL of the activities you are doing now already to help reach the goal. These could be things like GTM launches, research, etc, which should continue. Brainstorm additional things you need to do to hit the goal that you are not doing today. Most importantly, in order to accomplish those things, what additional resources are needed? This could also be expansions of existing activities. Share your plan with your manager and make sure you include how much of those initiatives you can accomplish with your existing resources, and with the new resources, The goal is to get them to prioritize for you and understand what you CAN NOT do if you are not given the resources. This is not an exercise to make demands or blindly ask for things. In summary, establishing yourself as the first PMM or the head of PMM takes time and patience. With the right expectations and a methodical approach, you will achieve success while minimizing stress. I have also created the table below to show the success patterns and anti-patterns to watch for as you go through your journey. As you go through this process as a new leader, you also don’t have to do it alone. I have coached nearly a dozen product marketers and leaders in the past year and helped them get more clarity, reduce stress, and deliver results faster. As you approach the end of the year, now is the best time to reflect on 2022, build your vision and strategy for 2023 so you can take control of your career, and start the new year with a bang. So Let me know how I can help you on this journey through my 1-1 coaching programs. My leadership coach programs can also be reimbursed through your department's L&D budget.

Breaking Down the Role of a Product Marketing Manager There is no denying that product marketing is in demand today. In 2022 the role was consistently ranked as one of the best 50 jobs in the United States, surpassing even popular roles like Product Design and Program Management, according to Glassdoor. Despite its surging popularity, many job seekers are struggling to pivot or land a role in product marketing. Every week, candidates come to me with questions such as: I have no tech experience, can I still become a PMM? I have been prepping for months, but struggle to even land an interview. What can I do? I keep getting passed over by more experienced candidates, am I not cut out for this? I know you can transition into product marketing without tech or marketing experience. After transitioning from being a transportation engineer to a product marketing manager myself AND coaching nearly 100 professionals to land their product marketing roles even during the pandemic, I know you can do it too. In this article, I share with you the key steps you can take to pivot into product marketing, typical mistakes candidates make, and how you can avoid them to pursue your dream role with confidence. What Product Marketing is (and what it’s not) To find and land a product marketing job, you need to first understand what product marketing is. Too often the role of product marketing is reduced to product launches, generating collaterals, or supporting the sales teams. While these are the activities a product marketer does, it is not the purpose of product marketing. The purpose of product marketing is to tell the story of the product and use marketing strategies to reach product adoption and business goals. My LinkedIn post below summarizes product marketing in a nutshell. Another common misconception is about the relationship between product management and product marketing. Many people think product marketing is a supporting function to product management or is a “backup” career to product management. This couldn’t be further from the truth because the two roles are actually distinct and both are necessary to help drive adoption and business goals. In simple terms, product management puts products on the shelf, and product marketing gets products off the shelf. You need both functions to build and sell a successful product, and great product marketers are highly respected peers of product managers. This article by the 280 Group provides excellent insight into this. How to pivot into product marketing without experience Many articles out there offer advice on how to find a product marketing job if you are already in tech or have access to product marketers at your company (this Hubspot article is a great one). But the reality is this process is 10x harder for career switchers in non-tech or non-marketing roles. My goal with this section is to provide you with a proven strategy for pivoting into product marketing regardless of your experience - and focusing specifically on the job search phase. Five steps to getting your dream product marketing role even without direct experience Step 1: Assess your current skills It’s impossible to reach your goal if you don’t know where you need to go. The first step is to map out the key skills required to be a product marketer and how you measure up today. Product marketing does not require a laundry list of skills. In fact, what is required can be broken down into two main buckets: Core competencies - these include research/data analysis, storytelling, product launch, and enablement skills. Soft skills - these include influencing without authority, a bias for action, writing/verbal communication skills, and emotional intelligence. While candidates generally understand that soft skills are transferable, many think they do not possess any of the hard skills. But the reality is even the hard skills can be transferable - after all, the principles of research are the same whether you are a product marketer or not. The key is to correctly identify what past experiences can be translated into product marketing, which can be hard to do on your own. As a result, this is usually where I start helping new clients when we begin working together. What if, after mapping your past experience to product marketing skills, you find that you have huge skills gaps? That is definitely possible but the surprising fact is that 90% of all my clients match at least 70% of product marketing skill requirements, even without any tech or marketing experience. This could be explained by the fact that product marketing by definition is a highly diverse role with very transferable skills. Step 2 - Target the RIGHT companies Once you have matched your skills, the next step is to determine what companies you should be targeting as not all opportunities are created equal. Identify your key strengths and prioritize opportunities that you are passionate about AND have a competitive advantage (I will talk more about this later). One of the most common mistakes candidates make is using the “spray and pray” method, where they apply to as many jobs as they can. When that does not work, they apply to more jobs only to have the same thing happen again. This creates a vicious cycle as shown below. This approach to targeting companies will not only waste your time but will also yield sub-optimal results. Instead, the best approach for career switchers is to narrow your focus by targeting companies where you have a competitive advantage. To uncover your competitive advantages, start by listing out all types of customers, industries, transferable skills, and products that you have had experience with within your previous roles. Then find companies where your competitive advantage will be a key requirement for the role. For instance, as a former transportation engineer, I was the exact target customer of Autodesk’s AutoCAD product. My in-depth knowledge of the customer and their needs differentiated me from all other candidates and helped me land the role. When evaluating these opportunities, don’t forget to also evaluate the company culture, and whether you are a fit. This will not only help you land the interview (as culture fit is also a competitive advantage) but also help you thrive in the role once you land it. When I work with clients, we create a specific rating system for determining and scoring each job opportunity that best aligns with their skills and passions. Step 3 - Craft your personal story Once you have determined which companies to target, it’s time to create your personal story. Your personal story is NOT just your resume - it’s your entire brand from your resume/cover letter to how you introduce yourself in LinkedIn messages to hiring managers. Despite its importance, typical personal stories for candidates generally resemble a laundry list, which is ineffective and uninteresting. The reality is that you can’t expect the employer to connect the dots for you through your experience - you need to tie your background to why you are naturally the best candidate for the job, despite your lack of direct experience. To craft the best personal story during interviews, start with your most important skillsets that directly tie to the jobs you are targeting, and highlight 1-2 key accomplishments to support your skills before wrapping up with why you are interested in the role. My client Ayushi has a really unique background as a software engineer which she thought was not relevant. However, we completely reworked her story to make her engineering background a central part of her skills and rationale for her ability to grasp technical concepts quickly. She was able to use her story to land a great role at a B2B SaaS startup, where she is marketing a complex technical product. Step 4 - Apply the right way Now that you have a great personal story and thoughtfully crafted resume, it is time to apply. The last thing you want to do is to submit your resume online, where it will sit with hundreds of other resumes. What you need to do is to get referrals as much as possible. This is because getting a referral is 15x more effective than submitting online (Jobvite). For most companies, when you get a referral you bypass the online application pool, so the resume goes straight to the recruiter or hiring manager to be reviewed. So what if you don’t have any warm leads? Then you need to get a cold referral. This means reaching out directly to the hiring manager on LinkedIn in your target companies, with a thoughtful message that directly ties your background to why you are a great fit for the role. In addition, you can also play the long game by following your target companies or hiring managers on LinkedIn and interacting with their posts (thoughtfully). My client Tanner was able to land an interview (that turned into an offer) by thoughtfully commenting on the hiring manager’s posts. One of the most common questions I get is whether you should include a cover letter with your application. While there is a lot of advice that says cover letters are unnecessary, I believe they are crucial for your job search success. These are the reasons why: It signals high intent. Out of 100 applications, only 5-10% of candidates will write a cover letter. If someone puts the effort to write a cover letter, it immediately signals they are more serious about the job. It highlights your most important competitive advantages that are not apparent in the resume, which is especially true for career switchers. It shows your writing and storytelling skills, which are key skills for any great product marketer. All this is to say, your chances of landing an interview are significantly higher when you write a cover letter and include that no matter how you apply. Step 5 - Ace interviews and assignments The most critical part of the job search process is preparing for the interviews. Before we dive into the strategy, let’s look at what a typical interview process looks like for product marketing in the table below. Analyzing what each interviewer is looking for is the first step to acing interviews. Then when it comes to preparing for each interview, be sure to prepare thorough examples using the STAR method while highlighting your key strengths through your responses. But just using the STAR method is not enough. One of the most important ways to prepare for product marketing interviews is by using frameworks. Frameworks allow you to structure your thinking and present a cohesive plan that can be more easily understood and communicated internally. Frameworks can include Go-To-Market, Market Research, Positioning/Messaging, Enablement, and more. I spend a significant amount of time with each client practicing product marketing frameworks. This is not only crucial for acing interviews but for learning how to be a great product marketer. For instance, my client Mara used the GTM framework we went through to land two offers while learning how to build the best GTM strategy in the process. The assignment stage is where a lot of candidates trip up. In general, there are presentation assignments and writing assignments - both of which require strategic thinking and communication skills. The key to doing them well is by avoiding the temptation of jumping in to solve them right away but instead smartly outlining the thought process first. Bonus Step - Make yourself the irresistible hire After going through all the hard work of the previous steps, you should be getting offer letters. However, if you just don’t seem to be able to close the deal, I suggest reading this bonus section. When you get rejected in the final stage of interviews, it’s generally not because you lack experience (otherwise you would not have been moved forward). Here are the typical reasons why you may not be landing the role: You didn’t show enough interest As a hiring manager, I want to hire candidates who demonstrate they are highly interested in the job. This could simply be reiterating your interest after interviews and following up promptly. Or you may have to go above and beyond to show your commitment to the role. For the role you really want, I recommend going above and beyond by creating a 30-60-90-day plan, sending in sample collateral, or something else that is unexpected. You didn’t address your weaknesses While no candidate is perfect, you want to understand exactly what the hiring managers are looking for in terms of key skill sets, and promptly diagnose if you have a skill gap. Developing a great relationship with the recruiter to get feedback after interviews can help you tremendously in gauging your candidacy, and allow you to address your weaknesses in subsequent interviews. My client Simeon promptly sent in a product positioning deck to show he can actually do positioning - and got the job immediately. You are not targeting the right companies If you’re convinced you have demonstrated all your skills, you have gone above and beyond but you still did not get the role, then your underlying issue might be not targeting the right companies. As I mentioned before, you have the highest chance of success in jobs where you have the best alignment in terms of domain experience and passion. If you are targeting jobs where you have little to no competitive advantage, you will likely lose out to candidates who have that slight edge, all else being equal. What’s Next? Pursuing a product marketing career without prior experience is possible with persistence and the right strategy. The world of product marketing is all the better because of the diverse backgrounds of people who make up the field. Reflecting on your WHY and what makes you unique is the first step to your success. Additional resources: To gain real-life advice on finding, landing, and growing a career in product marketing, follow my LinkedIn posts, released weekly. Learn the best product marketing frameworks by reading LOVED: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products by Martina Launchengo, Silicon Valley Product Group To understand my path to coaching and my coaching philosophy, listen to my podcast episode with Product Marketing Life, hosted by the Product Marketing Alliance

In today’s issue, I want to share the top early-career mistakes made by four marketing leaders who I admire, and the lessons they learned in the process. I truly believe in life, there are no mistakes or failures, just lessons learned. Hopefully, by reading this, you will learn important lessons that will help you in your career. Ok, let’s dive right in. Mistakes and Lessons from Marketing Leaders 1. Emilia Korczynska - Head of Marketing at Userpilot What is your biggest early career mistake? My biggest career mistake was not getting into marketing earlier and thinking I need to go to school or get certifications to do that. I started out my career as a journalist. I love languages and have a degree in Linguistics. But I am introverted and just didn’t see myself moving on to marketing or feeling I have what it takes to do marketing. How did you learn it was a mistake? I was working at a translation agency when clients started asking me to produce content. That was when I realized I like content marketing and could do it, as it’s the perfect marriage between my interest in languages and journalism, which involves doing a lot of research. So I embraced that and moved to work for tech startups which allowed me to dive deep into the topic and allowed me to do really interesting work. I started building out entire marketing functions using my strong background in content marketing. As a matter of fact, today at Userpilot our marketing is 100% inbound and focused on organic SEO, which has been working well for us. Knowing your mistake, what would you/have you done differently? I would focus more on what I am good at, and not chase fads or try to do everything. This extends both to my own career and business. For instance, I was trying to learn Google Ads but had absolutely no interest in it, so I hired someone to do that while I focused on what I am naturally good at - content marketing. ​ 2. Alex Henthorn-Iwane - VP of Marketing at Firstbase What is your biggest early career mistake? My biggest mistake stemmed from not paying attention to the first-team/second-team principle. This concept is from the popular book The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. The first team consists of your peers, such as other marketing leaders while the second team consists of people who report to you. I got so focused on taking care of the team that reported to me that I didn’t spend the time and focus needed to build enough connection and communication with my peers. How did you learn it was a mistake? This led to a situation where my team’s results were outstanding, but my peers didn’t understand the value we were bringing. That led to a lot of needless friction and (for me) heartache. It’s a lesson that definitely got burned into my psyche. Knowing your mistake, what would you/have you done differently? I would focus on the first team as much as the second team. Sometimes that means having difficult conversations. It’s important to not shy away from engaging those peers who may have a particular agenda. Engage them with the best intention and goal to help the company. This way your motivations are clear and clean and aligned with the company. Do not let the situation devolve into turf wars simply because you don’t want to communicate with your first team. 3. Anand Patel - Director of Product Marketing at Appcues What is your biggest early career mistake? My biggest early career mistake is not taking into consideration how important a role my manager plays. In the first 4-5 years of my career, my focus was just on finding a job, any job. Part of that is due to graduating during a downturn. It was not until I joined Paysafe that I realized how pivotal a great manager is to your career success. Having a manager who cares and supports your growth is one of the great accelerants you can have. How did you learn it was a mistake? Partially, it was a positive feeling I had after finally getting a manager who 100% supported my growth. But what really brought it home was when I got a promotion after a year. A big reason for this promotion was my manager advocating for me and being my champion. I didn’t realize this was possible in any of my previous roles. What would you have done differently, or what have you done differently as a result? I would’ve done a better job of evaluating my manager before taking my early jobs, which is something I definitely do now. Now, when looking at opportunities, three of the top priories are whether I will enjoy the work and learn from it, the type of people I will work with every day, and the kind of manager I will have. That last one has started to positively impact my career trajectory. 4. Brian Lee - Product Marketing Lead at JPMorgan Chase What is your biggest early career mistake? My biggest early career mistake was not tailoring my approach to the interviewer. I was interviewing for an internal promotion, and as a part of the process, I met with potential future team members and cross-functional partners. I asked pointed questions about what was working, what wasn’t, and how they would improve things. This helped me formulate what I would do if I was hired for the role. I made it to the final rounds and was interviewing with the big wig regional manager. During our discussion, I brought up that I spoke with her team and that based on their feedback, there are some items I heard as areas of opportunity. I even offered suggestions and I thought she would appreciate my directness. How did you learn it was a mistake? I thought I was a shoo-in for the role after the interview process especially since I was already doing a lot of what the role would require. Unfortunately, I didn’t get this role. The HR representative told me afterward that some of what I said was taken as rather harsh and that it’s important to consider your audience/who you’re talking to and their perspective. Knowing your mistake, what would you/have you done differently? Looking back, I could have been more tactful in approach/tone and possibly also solicited the manager’s perspective. I also could have brought up the great things about the team and what I perceived as operating well. This is now something I consider when giving feedback in general - it’s important to give ALL feedback, the bad AND the good. Reflecting on the Wisdom of Marketing Leaders That's all folks, thanks for reading! Which of these spoke the most to you? ​