Product marketing is a sub-field of marketing that is responsible for crafting messaging, go-to-market flow, and promotion of a product. Product marketers are responsible for getting products to market and keeping them there. They are the overarching voices of the customer, masterminds of messaging, enablers of sales, and accelerators of adoption. Product marketing managers can also be involved in defining and sizing target markets along with other business stakeholders such as business development and sales as well as technical functions such as product management.
Product marketing deals with marketing the product to prospects, customers, and others. Product marketing works with other areas of marketing such as social media marketing, marketing communications, online marketing, advertising, marketing strategy, and public relations, to execute outbound marketing for their product. The role of product marketing is to answer five strategic questions:
- What products will be offered (i.e., the breadth and depth of the product line)?
- Who will be the target customers (i.e., the boundaries of the market segments to be served)?
- How will the products reach the target customers (i.e., the distribution channels to be used)?
- How will the products be priced?
- How will the products be promoted?
Product marketing is the process of facilitating a products journey to market. This includes deciding the products positioning and messaging, launching the product, and ensuring salespeople and customers understand it. Successful product marketing drives sales and aims to drive the demand and usage of the product.
Product marketing is a great role for someone who thrives in a dynamic and cross-functional environment. People who are drawn to this work tend to enjoy planning, storytelling, deeply understanding what customers need, and working across multiple teams to produce a wide variety of deliverables.
