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Product marketing sits at the intersection of product, sales, marketing and retention. It’s the gear centre in the organizational venn diagram of everything that keeps the machine ticking along. Product marketing is the painstaking connection of more dots that you’ll find on A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte. It is part science and part art; it’s finding the fit and the phrase and the influence.
It’s…complicated.
So, with this in mind, we approached some of the rockstar Product Marketers we know and asked them to share some details on what they do and how they do it.
Meet Kim Ellery.
Kim emigrated from New Zealand in 2012. He landed in Vancouver as Senior Product Marketing Manager at Absolute Software and was recently named Director of Product Marketing. Here’s a look at a random day in Kim’s life. We appreciate the glimpse and the insight.
How would you describe what you do?
Work to ensure our product meets the needs of the market, the way we talk about the product resonates, and ultimately our sales teams can effectively sell our product.
6am – Struggle to wake up and welcome the world. Dousing myself in hot water is first priority, then I’m seeking out the caffeine. I prefer the manual routine of making coffee, the same process each morning removes one decision from my day. Then its breakfast, at which point I’m catching up on news, trying to prevent myself from skimming the inbox.
6.35 – My fiancee is on her way to work well before me, which gives me a kick in the ass to get going
6.45 – 10 minutes of meditation. I’ve found this makes a huge difference quieting the noise and also helps level-set . After meditating, I’ve got a relatively clear head to jot down some notes in my journal, listing what I want to achieve that day and what I’m grateful for. This helps with priorities. I also try and list how much time I spent exercising the previous day, and how much ‘deep work’, which I consider un-interrupted work on a high-impact task, either professional or personal. Knowing I have to write this down holds me accountable for the previous day.
7.00ish – I’m ready for what the day brings. This time of the year, I’m on a conference call with our global sales teams. Normally I would try and get to the gym.
8.15am – In the warmer months, I’ll bike downtown to our office. I need an extra kickstart today so I swing by JJ Bean for a flat white (a real coffee for all you North Americans)
8.45ish – Normally in the office: open my inbox and take stock of what’s going on, fire off any emails that require urgent attention.
9:15am – The rest of the Product Marketing team is in and activity is underway. As the team is in one location, it’s easier to collaborate. Start of each day is discussing what we need to get done, what priorities have changed, where we need to work with others. We will also discuss any new ideas, sometimes just to simmer. While it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day ‘firefighting’, as a team we are focused on delivering value, either to internal stakeholders or customers, and that’s often through doing something new or different.
9.30am – We have a giant whiteboard (a relic from the pre-app world) where we list deliverables for each release, or what is required by end of week. Each item has an owner, and is crossed off when content is complete. From the whiteboard, 2-3 high priority tasks will end up on each of our notebooks, where an additional 4-5 items list. I find written lists easier to manage, rather than getting caught up in the inertia of an inbox.
10am – In product marketing we have mini-seasons and right now we are in go-to-market mode, developing and launching content, working back from the launch dates. This involves keeping other stakeholders updated, and ensuring they have the necessary messaging and components to enable their teams. Conference call this morning to ensure everyone is on the same page and on track.
11am – As we have a wide range of partners, I’m on call with a partner explaining a new offering and potential partnership opportunities.
12pm – Meeting up with a friend for lunch downtown, discussing whats happening in his industry and market trends. Always good to hear how other companies/industries are approaching challenges, especially as B2C becomes more similar to B2B marketing.
What’s the best part of your job?
Feedback from customers stating they use and love our products. Always great to hear from our field and sales organization when features and supporting materials are resonating with customers.
1pm – Have a slide deck and positioning statement I need to prepare for an upcoming presentation. Bounce this off to one of our partner managers for feedback.
2pm – Weekly roadmap meeting with Product Managers. First we assess the current roadmap and adjust items based on development progress and net-new features. Product Marketing is then responsible for ensuring the latest version is communicated and made available for sales/customers. We discuss a few upcoming items to ensure the customer value is understood. Spend the back half of this meeting assessing the product ideas that have been submitted in through our product ideas portal. It’s great to foster innovation throughout the company, especially outside of the product teams.
3pm – Have 2 hours blocked out in my calendar to complete an update to our Products & Services messaging guide, headphones on and music pumping.
5pm – Review an FAQ a team member has been working on, touch base on daily activities. Respond to any emails on fire.
5.30pm – Normally my brain starts shutting down at this time, and I need to get away from screens, however a last minute request for an upcoming event came through where I need to finalize some slides. I always say Product Marketers are not slide monkeys, but it’s such a key element of business communication that it’s hard to avoid.
What’s the biggest challenge you face in your role?
Staying tuned in with our customers and the market as it constantly shifts and evolves. It’s a challenge but its also the reason many of us are in Product Marketing, nothing stays still.
6.30pm – Time to switch off, jump on my bike and head home.
7pm – At home and start prepping and cooking dinner. Sit down for dinner with my lady and discuss the day, upcoming plans for weekend.
8pm – I don’t normally watch a lot of TV, but I recorded a documentary about British Golf open winners, which for many would be like watching paint dry! I find the mental and physical aspects of golf fascinating.
9.30pm – Sit down and fire off some personal emails to family back home, organize plans with friends for upcoming concert, then write this very article 🙂
10.15pm – Final check of work emails, before switching off (again)
What advice would you give to someone wanting to enter the field of product marketing?
An important aspect of product marketing is building relationships—within the company across Product stakeholders, with the sales organization, and importantly, within the customer base. Continually think about how you can deliver value to each of these groups. This will allow you to continue to use these groups as sources of market knowledge, helping you be more effective.
You can also follow Kim on Twitter here.
Absolute is the industry standard in persistent endpoint security and data risk management solutions. Persistence® technology from Absolute provides organizations with visibility and control over all of their devices, regardless of user or location. If an Absolute client is removed from an endpoint, it will automatically reinstall so IT can secure each device and the sensitive data it contains. No other technology can do this. Persistence technology is embedded in the firmware of computers, netbooks, tablets and smartphones by global leaders, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Fujitsu, HP, Lenovo, Microsoft, Panasonic, Samsung, and Toshiba, and the Company has reselling partnerships with these OEMs and others, including Apple. For more information about Absolute, visit www.absolute.com.
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