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Product Marketing Manager Skills | Marketing Executive Search & Recruiting

6 Important Skills to Look for in a Product Marketing Manager

The right product marketing strategy has the power to transform your business. A common mistake businesses make in product marketing, however, is focusing too much on the initial launch of a product. You don’t want to have a successful launch for the product or service to fall flat a few months later.

Product marketing is all about bridging the gap between the product and marketing communications so that you can successfully bring a product to market and keep it there.

Managing this aspect of the business is no easy feat, which is why the product marketing manager role exists. Product marketers are excellent multitaskers and should come with a versatile skillset.

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6 Essential Product Marketing Manager Skills

The product marketing manager role varies from company to company. While this marketing role is not particularly standardized, every product marketing manager should have these six core skills:

Creativity
Collaboration
Research skills
Marketing skills
Empathy
Communication skills

Continue reading for a deep dive into each product marketing manager skill.

1.) Creativity

Product marketing managers need to be creative as they often work closely with the marketing team. The ability to think creatively about the marketing strategy will help the manager come up with new and exciting ideas for promoting your products and services.

The ability to think outside the box is also helpful during the product design process. A creative thinker will look at your product and be able to brainstorm unique features or add-ons that will make the product even better.

2.) Collaboration

The willingness to collaborate with others is a necessary skill for a product marketing manager. A product marketing manager not only has to work closely with the marketing team, but they also work with customer support, sales, and product development departments.

Being open to collaboration and input from different teams is what makes the product marketing manager role so valuable to a company. The manager can listen to everyone’s perspective and find a way to make changes to a product or marketing strategy that will further the success of the business.

3.) Research Skills

Market research can offer insight into the success or failure of a product launch. If you don’t understand the research, however, it’s hard to make the right changes. Research skills enable a product marketing manager to analyze product success as well as gain a deeper understanding of the target market.

When interviewing candidates, look for managers with Google Analytics experience or a similar background experience. A product manager with the right research skills will help your team recognize marketing and product patterns so you can take advantage of data insights.

4.) Marketing Skills

Since the product marketing manager role works so closely with the marketing team, marketing skills are a necessity. The manager you hire should be able to look at a product or service and explain it in clear, non-jargon terms that a potential customer would be able to understand.

Marketing skills will also help the manager understand the overall marketing strategy of the business as well as competitors. You want someone in the role who understands the key differences between marketing campaigns that performed well and ones that didn’t so that the right changes are implemented moving forward.

5.) Empathy

A product marketing manager with empathy brings value to the position in two important ways. These include:

Building rapport with customers: The manager recognizes customer pain points and wants to help improve their experiences whether that’s through the product, customer service, or communication
Product creation: By empathizing with customers or clients, a product marketing manager will be able to look at a product from a different perspective and offer ideas that closely align with customer needs.

6.) Communication

Finally, communication is a vital skill for a product marketing manager. Not only is this role interacting with a wide variety of company departments, but they’re also connecting with customers. A product marketing manager with exceptional communication skills will clearly convey information to all teams and create smooth collaboration between departments.

The ability to communicate effectively through written and verbal forms is also vital when handling customers. Marketing copy can either resonate with a customer or drive them away. Top-notch communication skills will allow your product marketing manager to connect with customers and deepen connections all across the company.

How to Find the Best Product Marketing Manager

A product marketing manager wears many hats, but the six core skills listed above will be useful no matter what role the manager is playing. Find a PMM with these skills and you should see your sales, marketing, customer success, and product production improve.

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6 Key Skills to Seek in Product Marketing Managers | Marketing Recruiters