B2B Product Marketing Career Path – How to Land a Product Marketing Role

Today's post is an excerpt from The MFS B2B Product Marketing Guide.

Product marketing is a field that is challenging, exciting, at times testing, but, ultimately, very rewarding. Rewarding in both the financial terms on offer but also in terms of the personal satisfaction gained from overseeing a successful product launch. PMMs today are in high demand but the competition for roles is fierce. In this section, we will take a look into the career path of the modern PMM and how aspirants can break into this field.

ACCESS THE MSF B2B PRODUCT MARKETING GUIDE HERE →

B2B Product Marketing Background

PMMs today come from a diverse range of backgrounds. There is no set career path, nor is there a prescribed education route. In fact, it may well be the set of experiences and skills acquired over a diverse career that makes someone realize mid-career that they are in fact an ideal candidate for product marketing. That being said, in terms of education backgrounds and previous roles, there are some areas that will have more crossover with product marketing than others.

In terms of education, programs like MBAs or other business courses will give you a solid grounding to embark on a career in product marketing. Bachelor’s degrees in areas like computer science, psychology, product management, or even philosophy can also help to build up some of those key skills we mentioned earlier around critical thinking, creativity, and technical knowledge. College will give you the foundation to build your career, but what you do after will probably prove more decisive.

If you have finished college and are looking to specialize and really hone in on the area of product marketing, there are various certifications that can be completed that may give you an edge in the job market.

In career terms, landing that first role in product marketing can certainly be challenging. Again, when you think about the skills outlined in the previous chapter, many of those skills and competencies are those that will be sharpened and developed over the course of a career. As a result, it is worth considering various related roles as your stepping stone to product marketing. Roles in marketing, product management, customer success, sales operations, business development, or product development will all have an element of crossover with product marketing. Indeed, it may well be in one of these earlier roles that you start to really develop the skills you will need to succeed in product marketing.

B2B Product Marketing - How to Get in the Mix

Whether you are applying for a product marketing role internally or as an external candidate, there are some activities you can undertake that will improve your chances of landing the job.

Upskill - As we have stated, PMMs need a broad range of skills and are continuously developing their competencies throughout their career. If you are missing any of the skills laid out in the previous section, then you should be looking to address any weaknesses.
Outreach - Find someone you want to emulate and reach out. This person might be a successful PMM within your company or someone externally that you admire. You should reach out to this person in a no-pressure capacity and ask for some advice on how to get into product marketing. Many people are happy to take on a mentorship role in situations like that and can provide invaluable insights that you won’t find in a textbook. The worst that can happen is your message gets ignored - nothing ventured, nothing gained!
Positioning - We have already talked about the importance of product positioning for PMMs, but, in this instance, the positioning we are talking about is how to position yourself as a candidate. This step requires some thought and it is worth visioning out the role you see yourself playing within the organization as a PMM. Think about the skill set and knowledge you have already acquired and how you will leverage it in a future role. This step will help you to articulate the value you can bring to the role during the interview phase.
Networking - Networking, in addition to reaching out to people you would like to emulate, can help open some PMM doors for you. There are product marketing groups on Slack and LinkedIn that might be worth joining, and it is worth keeping an eye out for any professional groups located in your area that might have some cross over with product marketing.
Resume - Take the time to finetune your resume in such a way that it highlights all the parts of your career or education background that are in any way relevant to product marketing.
Interview Preparation - There is so much generic interview advice dished out by HR and recruitment professionals today - but, apologies in advance, we will indulge in a little bit of interview preparation advice ourselves in this instance! Industry and product knowledge is absolutely essential to product marketing, so you will need to do the hard yards to prepare for an interview. Think about how you would position the product, how it stacks up against competitors, and any relevant industry trends you need to be aware of.
Personal Website - Another activity that will take some time, but won’t do you any harm. Think about building a site that highlights your skills or covers product marketing-related topics.

B2B Product Marketing - Career Progression

Once you land that first product marketing role, there will be plenty of scope for upwards progression. A typical product marketing career might progress along the following route.

Associate Product Marketing Manager - This role would be entry level and hands-on contributing to all the various product marketing activities including creating product launch marketing and sales materials, learning about customer personas, sitting in on team meetings, and researching the market. Learning on the job and developing key skills is paramount here. The salary for this role ranges from $80,000-$150,000 per year.
Product Marketing Manager - In the PMM role, you will start to lead those key GTM initiatives. You are starting to become the master of your own domain. The salary range for a PMM is $100,000-$150,000.
Director of Product Marketing - The next step on the ladder is a director role where you will start to hand off some key tasks and instead adopt a more strategic stance where you can oversee product marketing activities and ensure they remain aligned to the company’s strategic goals. Salary range here is $150,000-$220,000.
VP of Product Marketing - Success product marketers can see themselves taking a seat at the intersection of market leadership and executive decision-making. As VP of Product Marketing, you will start to oversee global GTM execution and ensure the company’s business units are aligned. Salary range here is around $200,000-$250,000.
C-Suite - It is not unheard of for a PMM to end up in the C-suite. In fact, the broad set of experiences and skills associated with PMMs is, in many ways, the exact type of background that is essential for executive leadership.

This post is an excerpt from our recently released MFS B2B Product Marketing Guide. If you would like to read more you can access the guide in full here. If you have a marketing challenge you are looking for support with, you are welcome to set up a no obligation initial strategy consultation with our team.