What Product Marketers ACTUALLY Do in Tech Companies!
About this video
Jeff Su, who says he has been a product marketing manager (PMM) at a large tech company for five years, explains what product marketers actually do. PMMs work on three product types: business-to-consumer (B2C) software such as Google Search, Instagram, and Notion and hardware such as iPhones, Chromebooks, and Oculus headsets; business-to-business (B2B) products such as Google Ads, Salesforce, and Workday; and business-to-developer (B2D) products such as Android and iOS. In his experience only 5 to 10% of a PMM’s time goes to the visible end result (for example Google I/O or Apple’s WWDC), while 40 to 45% goes to communication with internal stakeholders and external partners and 40 to 45% to ‘alone work’ like slides, tracking spreadsheets, and turning meeting notes into action items. Strong PMMs need relevant hard skills for technical B2B and B2D roles, plus soft skills: flexibility to pivot, strong communication and over-communicating internally, and an analytical mindset — illustrated by a campaign where five of 10 requested media channels had driven 90% of qualified leads the prior year, so the team focused on those five. Finally, citing veteran Google PMM Michael Schipper via Henry Wang’s interview, he describes how the role changes across pre-launch (market research and feature decisions), growth (user feedback and prioritization), and mature stages (staying top of mind against competitors).
Key takeaways
- Product marketing covers B2C, B2B, and B2D products, and the same product may need different PMMs for different audiences.
- In Su’s experience, only 5 to 10% of PMM time is the visible end result; 40 to 45% is communication and 40 to 45% is alone work.
- PMMs decide how feature changes are communicated to existing users and positioned to acquire new users across channels.
- Key soft skills are flexibility, over-communicating internally to manage expectations, and using data to push back — as when five channels drove 90% of qualified leads.
- The PMM job shifts by product lifecycle: research pre-launch, feedback and prioritization in growth, and differentiation against competitors at maturity.
Episode details: published June 21, 2022 · 7:40 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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