HOW TO GET A PRODUCT MARKETING JOB

By Jeremy Schifeling.

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STEP 1: WHAT ARE PRODUCT MARKETING JOBS ALL ABOUT?

Example: Product Specs

• AKA: Product Marketing Management (PMM)
• Overview: Marketing solves the Field of Dreams problem: Wrongly assuming that if we just build it, they will come. By bringing the product directly to the market, marketers make sure that customers are actually aware of the latest and greatest.
• Example project: Develop a go-to-market campaign to launch the iPad.
• What you do all day: Research your audience, plan campaigns, execute campaigns, measure results
• Roles: Product Marketing Manager (manages how a product is brought to market), Copywriter/Voice + Tone (generates copy for marketing campaign), Marketing Operations (executes marketing campaigns via email and advertising), PR/Communications (engages press to get the word out)
• What they look for: Candidates with a mix of creative and analytical skills
• Example job: Product Marketing Manager, Uber

STEP 2: WOULD YOU BE A GOOD FIT FOR PRODUCT MARKETING?

Ask yourself if you’d love doing these kinds of things all day:

• Understanding the marketplace and customers
• Partnering with the product team to develop features that serve the audience well
• Positioning products to appeal to those customers
• Working cross-functionally with designers and copy-writers to develop campaigns
• Analyzing campaign results and optimizing based on the data

If your answer is “Yes” to the majority of activities, you’d likely be a good fit for Product Marketing jobs.

STEP 3: WHAT SKILLS DO YOU NEED FOR PRODUCT MARKETING JOBS?

For each major activity, I’ve listed the most common keywords from across dozens of job descriptions, as well as a sample resume bullet:

For each major activity, I’ve listed the most common keywords from across dozens of job descriptions, as well as a sample resume bullet:

• Understanding the marketplace and customers
  • Keywords: market research, segmentation, targeting, surveys, interviews, competitive analysis, customer needs, pain points, customer feedback
  • Sample Bullet: Segmented smartphone marketplace and identified the two segments that would drive 90% of our revenue
• Partnering with the product team to develop features that serve the audience well
  • Keywords: cross-functional, insights, roadmap, voice of the customer
  • Sample Bullet: Collaborated with the product and engineering teams to incorporate additional privacy controls based on customer feedback
• Positioning products to appeal to those customers
  • Keywords: marketing strategy, branding, messaging, go-to-market (GTM) plan, positioning, value proposition
  • Sample Bullet: Developed a go-to-market plan for new SaaS offering, leading to a 75% life in subscriptions within the first six months
• Working cross-functionally with designers and copy-writers to develop campaigns
  • Keywords: channels, marketing campaigns, content marketing, collateral, social media, case studies
  • Sample Bullet: Oversaw the production of 20 case studies for sales website, generating 300 new leads
• Analyzing campaign results and optimizing based on the data
  • Keywords: A/B test, experimentation, product usage, data, SQL
  • Sample Bullet: Ran experiment on homepage funnel, increasing lead generation 30% over existing flow

STEP 4: WHAT PRODUCT MARKETING TRAINING DO YOU RECOMMEND?

If you want to brush up on any of these skills, check out Brad Batesole’s Online Marketing Fundamentals course on Lynda. I like two things about this course in particular:

1. It’s comprehensive. There are so many new marketing tools at your disposal these days - SEO, search, display, social media, video, email, etc. - and Brad covers them all!
2. But it’s still grounded in hard-core strategy. Too many marketers get caught up in all the latest growth hacking tricks without establishing a clear strategy. And so Brad makes sure you have that firm foundation before moving on.

Plus, you can complete the whole course in a day - and you’ve got a whole month to take it for free. So definitely a great way to get started in this field!

STEP 5: HOW DO YOU ACTUALLY GET A PRODUCT MARKETING JOB?

To help you convert your passion and skills into an actual job, I’ve put together a step-by-step course that covers how to:

• Design a resume that will mark you as an insider to tech recruiters
• Make sure you find every single great tech job across multiple sites
• Get a referral at just about any tech company - even if you don’t know anyone directly
• Prepare for every kind of tech interview question with point-by-point formulas