What To Look For When Hiring A Product Marketer

So you’ve made a great product. Now what? You’re only halfway to the end goal of releasing your product, and now comes the hard part - taking it to market.

Product development, whether it’s physical or digital, is at its very core a competitive creation - and while the odd unicorn does shift industry dynamics and product development into new and unexplored places, the marketing and releasing of a product is always set within a complex context of existing products and competition, price expectations, marketing noise, customer expectations, corporate advocacy and, increasingly, stewardship and sustainability. 

Most product development teams will have a close relationship with their marketing division, and the person most integral to the smooth rollout of new products to market is your Product Marketer. 

Your PM will wear many hats - in essence, they’re a specialist marketer. They don’t operate or develop in some separate niche of marketing but, much like MarTech specialists, they have specific skills from two different sectors that make them effective: they understand the rhythms, requirements and limits of marketing, promotion, and advertisement, and how products answer a customer’s needs; and they have to understand the development process, creation, and timescales of product development.

So what makes a world-class, competitive, effective Product Marketer? We’ve put together a 4 point hit list you need to consider when seeking or developing, a great PM:

Market-led, Trend Led

Your Product Marketer sits astride your PD team and your communications team. They typically craft product strategy and content, e-commerce copy, pricing, sales, and marketing strategy and guide sales and customer service teams on market approaches. Therefore, you need to make sure your PM is not only a fan of what your PD team has made (an essential facet!) but also understands the market movements in the wider industry. It sounds like a very basic fact, but you can afford to be choosy about who you bring in for this role. 

There is no point bringing in a PM from a software background for a PM role in the cosmetics industry. Despite the roles on paper sounding the same, both markets have diametrically opposed customer bases, marketing channels, trend movements, and branding goals.

Cultural Alignment

It, therefore, follows that your PM has to live and breathe your brand and your working culture, especially when it comes to labor or environmentally exhaustive products (see below).

As your PM sits in between different parts of your company, they will often be leaned on to provide a consistent brand tone of voice and approach. In a way, they’re like a brand QC - checking off and bringing together products into a viable, sellable, and marketable product, that's affordable, relatable, and right for your customers.

Your PM needs to be your company, otherwise, the brand edifice collapses, as does your central point of product marketing reference.

Creative Input

One of the most effective ways of engaging with the right sort of PM is to listen to them and involve them. Product Marketers in many cases have a background directly within PD and will be able to provide an objective view on processes through the lens of marketing. This is their critical value proposition.

As they also know the market and more than anyone will lead discussions around value proposition: they have a part to play in the development and roll out.

Sustainability

Finally, dependent on your product, you cannot ignore the rising tide of sustainable CSR expected of manufacturers and brands across the world. 

PMs have a key part to play in translating the “cost” of your product to your marketing team, and therefore your customers, and will have to lead that messaging. Luckily, great PMs will already know the best ways to go about this, unique to your company, and should be able to directly communicate it to your stakeholders, both internally and externally. It’s classic direct marketing, and essential to your company's stewardship of the environment.

Do you have a need for a great product marketer but aren’t sure how to get started filling that role? Sloane Staffing can help you find the right fit for your team. Get in touch with us today to learn how we can help!