If somebody asked you to describe marketing, what would you say?

I’d be willing to bet that the majority of non-marketers would say something along the lines of “the process of bringing a product to market.”

While this isn’t necessarily wrong, it’s just scraping the surface of marketing.

However, it is a pretty good start to describing product marketing.

That’s right. When most people think of the word “marketing,” they’re actually thinking of something a bit closer to product marketing.

Product marketing is the stage of marketing that focuses on post-product development efforts. This includes pricing and positioning products, crafting messaging, conducting demonstrations and trade show presentations, creating sales collateral, and more – all focused on the same end-goal of driving demand and sales of your organization’s offering.

If this sounds like something you learned in a Marketing 101 class, you’re probably right. Product marketing focuses heavily on the 4 Ps of Marketing – product, price, place, and promotion.

Your product marketing manager will be the driving force behind these efforts. To do this, they’ll work closely with your product management and sales teams to define your product’s key differentiators and value prop. This will require a deep understanding of your product, as well as comprehensive knowledge of the competitive landscape and your ideal buyer.

With that, they can start to craft your brand’s messaging and develop tactics to drive demand.  

The product marketing manager will spearhead the your post-product development marketing efforts. This includes acting as the “voice of the customer” and having a deep understanding of their needs and desires. They will address questions around the product, the target customers, how they will reach those customers, and how to price the product. They also may manage a team of other product marketers.

When it comes time for your team to hire a product marketing manager, the below job description can be a helpful starting point. In fact, we invite you to use the template and adapt it to your own organization's needs and requirements.  You may also alter this job description for a product marketing specialist.

Are you looking to hire other marketing roles, as well? You can find more job descriptions on our full list of marketing job descriptions.

Not looking to grow your marketing department just yet? We’ve still got you covered! Check out our comprehensive guide to job descriptions.

Product Marketing Manager Job Description

Title: Product Marketing Manager

Location: Chicago

With more than 400 percent growth since 2015, ACME Corporations is North America’s leading energy provider, with the single largest retail customer base nationwide. Since its founding in 2007, ACME Corporations has strived to meet the highest standards of energy delivery, customer service, and cost efficiency. Our mission is to be the top-tier energy provider while fostering a collaborative, diverse, and inclusive workplace.

ACME Corporation is looking to hire a product marketing manager to be responsible for post-product development marketing efforts. This individual will act as the voice of the customer by addressing questions around our product, determining target customers, how to best reach them, and more. The ideal candidate will collaborate across functions to deliver an effective product marketing strategy to meet the business objectives in the most efficient manner.

Responsibilities:

• Work closely with sales and product teams to develop product pricing models, key messaging, and value proposition
• Together with the product team, educate both internal and external stakeholders on our product features and their benefits.
• Create marketing programs (e.g. sales documentation, product videos, website copy, blog posts, ) that articulate the benefits of our products
• Conduct market analysis to obtain understanding of the competitive landscape and help establish product differentiators
• Create sales collateral and tools that align with the buying process and help move prospects & customers through the sales cycle
• Assist sales on calls when appropriate to provide deeper dives into the product.
• Speak and present both internally and externally to promote the story of our product.
• Lead a small team of product marketing specialists and interns; establish individual and team metrics and report on success.

Requirements:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s in marketing or related discipline
• 6+ years of product marketing, product management, or digital marketing experience, preferably in a related industry
• Strong communication skills
• Ability to develop, organize, and maintain process documentation
• Ability to create, update, and maintain training documents
• Excellent grammar, punctuation and spelling skills
• Proven track record of executing successful product launches
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills and ability to sell ideas well through creative & innovative presentations.
• Exceptional project management skills
• Prefer working in a collaborative, cross-team capacity. This role requires you to work across functions and departments to bring to life the product. You are at the center of our entire organization, constantly interacting with teammates, prospects, and customers.
• Ability to effectively prioritize and manage your time to address multiple responsibilities in a fast-paced, professional environment
• Metrics-driven and analytical; proven ability to prioritize, drive, and achieve results through self and others under time pressure

For even more help in writing your own product marketing manager job description, we’ve sourced the following examples from three companies looking to hire.

The following examples show organizations that have followed a typical job description structure, but customized it based on their unique needs and expectations.

Product Marketing Manager Job Description Examples

To see how real employers are writing their product marketing manager job description, check out the examples below!

Yello

Product Marketing Manager

Chicago, Illinois

Yello’s talent acquisition software enables companies to humanize the candidate experience by providing unprecedented speed and transparency throughout the candidate journey. Founded in 2008, Yello supports hundreds of organizations globally by serving as a key strategic partner in optimizing recruiting operations and talent relationship management.

In 2017, Yello closed a series C funding round of $31 million and continues to grow quickly. We’re looking to hire people who believe nothing is impossible, love to learn and be curious, can be accountable for success, always enjoy the journey and will own their personality. If this is you, come grow your career with Yello.

About The Role

We are looking for an energetic, unstoppable Product Marketing Manager to join our team! Reporting into a Sr. Manager, the Product Marketing Manager will bring new Yello products and features to market. As a product marketer, you will be responsible for communicating the features and benefits of our products through compelling storytelling.

You will be expected to be an advocate for Yello’s product set and its benefits - driving demand and usage of our offerings. You will partner closely with teams across the organization, specifically Product, Sales, and Marketing to establish positioning and messaging, build product launch strategies, run and analyze product releases, develop sales enablement content, and drive customer engagement through ongoing marketing programs.

Not currently in Product Marketing? It may be to your benefit.

We are looking for someone who has deep industry expertise in HR Technology, whether you come from years in HR consulting, systems implementation, or have direct product marketing experience in the space. The ideal candidate will have a passion for marketing coupled with a robust understanding of the talent acquisition market and associated buyer/customer personas.

How You'll Make An Impact

• Together with the product team, educate both internal and external stakeholders on our product features and their value proposition.
• Create marketing programs (e.g. product videos, website copy) that articulate the benefits and use cases of our products to drive qualified leads and to engage customers
• Create sales collateral and tools that align with the buying process and help move prospects & customers through the sales cycle
• Speak and present both internally and externally to promote the story of our product.
• Assist sales with RFI/RFPs to provide deeper insight into the product.
  

What We're Looking For

• Minimum of 4 years experience of product marketing with a proven track record of executing successful product launches (or related experience).
• Experience in SAAS based software, HR technology software.
• Ability to flourish in a fast-paced, high-growth work environment and comfortable with ambiguity.
• Experience using a CRM like Salesforce and/or an email marketing tool like Groove
• Demonstrated ability to learn quickly and apply problem-solving skills to business and technical challenges.
• Excellent organizational skills with attention to detail.
• Ability to communicate cross-functionally and up to C-level.
• Proficiency in written communication with an ear for ‘voice’ and an eye for grammar/spelling.
• Strong verbal communication skills with the ability to sell ideas well through creative & innovative presentations.
• Bachelor’s degree in Marketing, Business or related field or equivalent professional experience.

Additional Information

We are the trailblazers in our space and we continually strive to learn and grow, but there is always time to celebrate a colleague's birthday or a recent success. We dress casually, have one of the best views in the city and the whole team sports Apple laptops. Our CEO Jason Weingarten and President Dan Bartfield always have their office doors open. And with opportunities for professional advancement, medical, dental and vision insurance, and a 401K match – Yello has you covered.

• Yello is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, age, protected veteran status, or disability status.
• Candidates local to Chicago are preferred.
• You must be authorized to work in the United States.
• Must be able to sit or stand for continuous periods of time
• This role frequently communicates/interacts with individuals, must have strong written and oral communication skills
• Yello reserves the right to assign or reassign the responsibilities and requirements to this job at any time

Twitter

Sr. Product Marketing Manager

San Francisco, California

Twitter is looking for an experienced and impact-oriented Senior Consumer Product Marketing Manager to join the Consumer Marketing Team and help grow adoption of Twitter’s products. We focus on driving the full marketing process from gathering insights from product and consumers, to developing strategies, to executing campaigns, and measuring and optimizing results. Consumer Product Marketing values trust, accuracy, collaboration, and impact. Join us in making Twitter one of the most loved daily experiences for people looking to find out what’s happening.

What you’ll do:

This role will help drive understanding and awareness of our product offerings by owning consumer insights, competitive analysis, product positioning, naming, objectives and metrics, to overall GTM strategy.

In this cross-functional role, you will collaborate closely with product, consumer insights, engineering, PR, and the in-house creative agency. You’ll translate your deep understanding of Twitter users into inspiring product stories, new ways to engage our audience, and campaigns that deepen consumers’ connection with Twitter.

Who You Are:

• You use insights and data to inform user narratives and programs that improve the consumer experience leading to user growth and product awareness and adoption . Above all, you have the strategic experience and creative chops to help drive world class marketing.
• You have a strong consumer product marketing background
• You have a demonstrated ability to leverage consumer and product research to develop messaging and programs that drive user growth
• You possess strong quantitative background to support data-informed decision making
• You have a track record of developing strong relationships with product managers and engineers
• You have a proven record of successfully launching products and programs globally and locally
• You are a self-starter who thrives in a fast-paced environment, at ease and calm with frequent pivots in priorities
• You are experienced working with creatives and media, both in house and agency, to create and measure world-class campaigns
• You have a global perspective

Requirements:

• BA/BS degree with MBA or equivalent with marketing emphasis
• 8+ years experience in consumer product marketing
• 3+ years experience managing teams
• Experience working with product management and engineering organizations
• Experience in creative or media agency account management or planning experience a plus
• Strong quantitative analytical ability and excellent written and oral communication skills, including executive presentations
• A strong track record of developing and maintaining highly collaborative cross-functional relationships and a demonstrated ability to lead cross-functional initiatives
• Ability to handle the pace and ambiguity that comes with working in a fast-paced tech environment
• Passion for Twitter platform and understanding of the social media industry and its changing landscape

Google

Product Marketing Manager

San Francisco, California

Whether you're on a consumer product (like Gmail, Search, Maps, Chrome, Android) or a business product (Google Ads, AdSense, Google Marketing Platform, Analytics), you take part in a complete marketing experience as you lead every facet of the product's journey. From determining positioning, naming, competitive analysis, feature prioritization and external communications, you help shape the voice of the product and help it grow a loyal consumer base. This means you work with a cross-functional team across sales, corporate communications, legal, webmasters, product development, engineering and more. In this role, you'll be involved with product marketing strategy from beginning to end.

By applying to this Product Marketing Manager role at Google, you will be considered for both B2B and B2C marketing opportunities across our marketing organization. Roles are available in, but not limited to, the following groups and product areas: Ads, Brand and Reputation, Acquisition, Go-to-Market, Growth, Partnerships, Google Play, Hardware, Small and Medium Business, Search, Social, Waze and YouTube.

Know the user. Know the magic. Connect the two. At its core, marketing at Google starts with technology and ends with the user, bringing both together in unconventional ways. Our job is to demonstrate how Google's products solve the world's problems-from the everyday to the epic, from the mundane to the monumental. And we approach marketing in a way that only Google can-changing the game, redefining the medium, making the user the priority, and ultimately, letting the technology speak for itself.

Responsibilities

• Work across several aspects of marketing – from branding and positioning to targeted outreach and strategy, Go-to-Market strategy, campaigns, advocacy, events and communication.
• Create and execute innovative strategies and marketing plans that drive awareness, engagement and product adoption.
• Partner with cross-functional stakeholders including product, user experience, design, analytics, creative and leadership, to drive product roadmaps, strategy and execution.
• Develop actionable, data-driven insights to inform product and marketing strategy.
• Leverage marketing insights to better understand our customers and represent the voice of the user.

Minimum qualifications:

• BA/BS degree or equivalent practical experience.
• 4 years of industry experience in marketing.
• Experience in market research, messaging, positioning, branding, creative development and campaign execution.

Preferred qualifications:

• MBA degree.
• Experience planning and rolling out large-scale/global marketing campaigns, and the ability to identify and implement scalable process improvements using a data-driven approach.
• Experience developing and executing marketing strategy successfully while collaborating cross-functionally and building consensus, with effective project management expertise.
• Demonstrated problem-solving and analytical capabilities, with the ability to develop creative/non-traditional solutions for challenging, undefined problems.
• Passion for working with technology products and solving consumer needs.

At Google, we don’t just accept difference - we celebrate it, we support it, and we thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products and our community. Google is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, ancestry, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, citizenship, marital status, disability, gender identity or Veteran status. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you have a disability or special need that requires accommodation, please let us know.