1
Grow your (product)
marketing career
Robin Pam
Director of Product Marketing
robin.pam@optimizely.com
@robinpam
Slide 2
Slide 2 text
2
Slide 3
Slide 3 text
3
Politics Startup IC Startup Director
Slide 4
Slide 4 text
4
I love this job
Business
strategy
Cross-
functional
relationships
Customers
Product marketing
Slide 5
Slide 5 text
5
Hard skills are important
Messaging & Positioning
Making a great deck
Market research
✔
Project managing a launch
Slide 6
Slide 6 text
6
Hard skills do not always equal results
Messaging & Positioning
Making a great deck
Market research
✔
Project managing a launch
Execs don’t say it
Sales team doesn’t adopt it
Product team ignores it
Customers don’t buy it
Slide 7
Slide 7 text
7
How do you have the impact you want? On
the business, your product line, your career?
Slide 8
Slide 8 text
8
Credibility
Slide 9
Slide 9 text
9
How many of you manage people?
Slide 10
Slide 10 text
10
Slide 11
Slide 11 text
11
CREDIBILITY has to do with the words we speak. In a sentence we might say, “I can trust
what she says about intellectual property; she’s very credible on the subject.”
Slide 12
Slide 12 text
No content
Slide 13
Slide 13 text
No content
Slide 14
Slide 14 text
No content
Slide 15
Slide 15 text
No content
Slide 16
Slide 16 text
I don’t think you have enough technical
credibility to do this job.
-VP of Product Marketing who launched me on my path
“
”
Slide 17
Slide 17 text
No content
Slide 18
Slide 18 text
18
The 4 ingredients to credibility
1. Product knowledge
2. Data ownership
3. Customer empathy
4. Constant communication
Slide 19
Slide 19 text
19
Be a product expert
Slide 20
Slide 20 text
20
Slide 21
Slide 21 text
21
Slide 22
Slide 22 text
22
Be a good SE for your product
CHEAT CODE TO PRODUCT:
Slide 23
Slide 23 text
23
Own your data
Slide 24
Slide 24 text
24
Revenue is key
Slide 25
Slide 25 text
25
Building an MVP dashboard
Pre-sales metrics
● Trials
● Pipeline
● Closed revenue
Customer health metrics
● Usage
● Churn risk
Slide 26
Slide 26 text
26
What do you
need to report
on to show
success?
Awareness
Consideration
Evaluation
Traffic
Leads
Free signups
MQL
SAL
SAOs
Pipeline
Sample Metrics
Win rate
Revenue
Customer!
Slide 27
Slide 27 text
27
Are we driving
enough top of funnel
interest?
What questions
do you need to
answer at
every step to
drive impact?
Awareness
Consideration
Evaluation
What is our
conversion rate from
traffic to qualified
lead?
Are salespeople able
to create and close
pipeline?
Sample Metrics
Who are we losing
to, and why?
Customer!
Slide 28
Slide 28 text
29
In the process, you will become the expert in the data required to
prove success
Slide 29
Slide 29 text
30
Get close to the revenue,
and own the narrative.
CHEAT CODE TO DATA:
Slide 30
Slide 30 text
31
31
Be a customer advocate
Slide 31
Slide 31 text
32
We all love stories.
Slide 32
Slide 32 text
33
1. Get out of the office.
Slide 33
Slide 33 text
34
1. Get out of the office.
Sales
meetings
Product
meetings
Customer
success
Events
Slide 34
Slide 34 text
35
2. Share what you
learn
Synthesize, make it actionable
Taking notes works!
Slide 35
Slide 35 text
36
3. Build a “Personal
Customer Advisory
BoardTM”
Slide 36
Slide 36 text
37
37
1.Get out of the office
2.Take good notes
3.Maintain relationships
CHEAT CODE TO CUSTOMER EXPERTISE:
Slide 37
Slide 37 text
38
Communicate constantly
Slide 38
Slide 38 text
39
Putting it all together
Executive summary with
quick bullets & CTAs
Progress toward annual
metrics
Below: KPIs (pipeline,
revenue, customer health)
Distributed to all
stakeholders and exec
leadership (opt-out)
Slide 39
Slide 39 text
40
Getting the resources (and
attention!) you deserve
CFO
CEO
Slide 40
Slide 40 text
41
CHEAT CODE TO COMMUNICATION:
Write good email
Slide 41
Slide 41 text
42
The 4 ingredients to credibility
1. Product knowledge
2. Data ownership
3. Customer empathy
4. Constant communication
Slide 42
Slide 42 text
43
The 4 ingredients to credibility
1. Product knowledge
2. Data ownership
3. Customer empathy
4. Constant communication
Drive business results
Grow your influence
Get promoted
Slide 43
Slide 43 text
44
Thank you!
Robin Pam
Director of Product Marketing
robin.pam@optimizely.com
@robinpam