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What Exactly Is A Product Marketing Manager? 

Author: Simone Kohl

· 3 mins read

In the diverse field of product management, there are many types of product managers. Among others, there are the regular product managers or the product marketing managers. The Project Marketing Manager role aims to increase the demand for the product through various marketing activities. Sales can be increased by having a good product. These roles, both Product Manager and Product Marketing Manager, are important for the growth of the company. 

What is Product Marketing?  

  • Product marketing is about bringing products to market and making sure it reaches users. The position is an interface between the product, marketing, and also sales.  
  • It is important because without marketing the product cannot be found. And this is the reason why you choose a certain product and not another. Marketing consists of story-telling, which should cause a product to be bought. This is also a feature that differentiates your product from that of a competitor.
  • For more about developing a product development strategy, click here.

What does a Product Marketing Manager do?  

It is the responsibility of the product marketing manager to position the product correctly, adapt the branding, and tell a story for the product. Collecting customer feedback and optimizing the product based on it is also part of a product marketing manager’s position. His task is to accompany the customer along the marketing funnel and offer him the right content at the right time. The goal is to convert a prospect into a buyer.  

The Work Moves on Three Levels: 

  1. Customer acquisition  
    • This level is about making the customer aware of the product and arousing interest. There are numerous ways to do this, such as social media or blogs. With the help of CTA and certain campaigns, people should become aware.  
  2. Conversion  
    • This is about the customer performing a target action. It is about binding the customer to the company.  
  3. Growth  
    • In addition to generating new customers, it is also about retaining customers. Customers should be accompanied throughout their entire customer journey to keep the bounce rate as low as possible. 

Which Skills do you need as a Product Marketing Manager? 

The Product Marketing Manager requires many skills: 

  1. Expert in Marketing Strategies.  
    • The strategy is the basis for all marketing activities. It is about planning and rethinking all actions. The Product Marketing Manager needs a broad knowledge of the markets and products, how they are introduced and which methods are best for the target market. This includes market research and competitive analysis.  
  2. Marketing Expert 
    • As mentioned above, the Product Marketing Manager should convince customers about the product and encourage them to buy it. Therefore, it is essential for this position to be an expert in marketing and to successfully implement communication strategies.  
  3. Take Leadership 
    • Working with the team is also an important aspect of the position. The product manager outlines the product positioning and is in close contact with the product marketing manager. The latter then links each feature of the product to a benefit for the customer.  
  4. Sales 
    • The position also includes supporting the sales department. Sales support the customers in buying the product. As a Product Marketing Manager, you give the tools to the sales department, this can be a product training or a presentation of the product. He also knows which products need to be highlighted to complete a successful purchase.  

Difference Product Management and Product Marketing Management  

What are the differences?  

  • A product manager focuses more on the development of the product. His work consists of working with engineers and he makes decisions about the features that the product should have. He asks himself how the product can solve a problem of a customer. He also drives the launch of the product and collaborates on a strategic plan. The strategy can then be discussed with the development team and with them, the overall development of the product can be started.  
  • The Product Marketing Manager is responsible for overseeing the strategy and knowing the customer groups and personas. It also includes developing campaigns and tools that support the team and attract potential customers to the company. Therefore, it is also helpful to consider both roles separately.  

How do they work together? 

  • The two roles work closely together. Both need an understanding of what customers want and what solutions need to be found. They do joint analysis and share information. For example, you can work together on buyer personas. The Product Manager can find out how the product needs to be made and what problems the user might have. The Product Marketing Manager can then figure out how the product can best reach the users.  

Why You Shouldn’t Combine the Two Roles Into One Person  

Although the titles are similar, the positions have different functions within the company and each division. Each role has its area of work and also workload. One person would simply have to do too many tasks including developing product pricing strategies, managing product backlog, performing various analyses such as competitive analysis or loss analysis, customer surveys, working with various teams such as sales team or PR teams, creating training for sales and much more, which is a lot for one person to do from different areas. 

Stay tuned!

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