Last summer, I found an opportunity I couldn’t resist: Setting up the product marketing practice for an organization.

I had not done anything like this before. And I couldn’t wait to stretch myself in this role.

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Looking back six months later, I recognize the big levers that positioned me–and the role of product marketing—for early wins.  

I want to share my experience with those starting or considering entering a product marketing team of one.

Let’s get started. 

Before you accept….

You’ve had a good conversation with colleagues during your interviews. The role is exciting. But before you accept, ask yourself, “Is there agreement from leadership on the role of product marketing?”

Everyone says they want change. But to push the change, you need a champion behind you. I made sure I knew the organization’s need and agreement for this role, confirmed who’d be my champion when the going got tough, and I understood the vision for this position. 

If these questions cannot be answered, run. 

Before you start….

Read The First 90 Days by Michael D. Watkins 

Take notes. Reflect. What do you want to do differently in this role?

Two things resonated with me after reading this book.

Drawing a line in the sand from my previous role to my new role. Knowing that what made me successful in my previous role may not work in not current role. I would need to learn the new levers of success.

Identifying what I want to do differently. In my last role, I hit burn out. I was crispy. I knew I didn’t want to go through that again. I took time to reflect and identify where I could take responsibility for my time. Easy? No. But, setting boundaries allowed me to save my sanity and energy, not only for work, but more so for myself and family.

Now that we covered the prep, let’s start with four action items. 

1-Create your 30-60-90 day plan

I started my 30-60-90 before I began my job. Sure, I didn’t know the company yet, but my draft provided my supervisor my early focus. (Bonus: way to make an early win and gain trust with your supervisor!) 

We outlined key areas for focus each month. This was truly a driving function. And by understanding my goals and talking them through, I quickly learned the success levers for my position.  (final plan)

2-Schedule meet and greets cross-functionally

This may sound obvious, but do this. Immediately.

I was lucky that my supervisor prepared a cross functional organizational list for me and identified key team/individuals to meet. 

More than any other prep, this was a game changer to learn about my position, view of product marketing, and allow me to quickly identify gaps and opportunities.

Before I met with anyone, I prepared a list of questions. I also made notes of the skills, and successes/accomplishments I wanted others to know about me. 

My favorite question was, “How do you see my role helping you?”  

(Ask this, and you’ll uncover many gaps!)

When I completed my over 40 meet and greets, I reviewed all my notes and created a summary and categories gaps and opportunities by themes.

I can’t tell you how often I have referred back to this.

This is the one and only time you’ll have an opportunity to see the organization and processes with fresh eyes. Don’t pass it up.

3-Get to know your product and product team 

I scheduled weekly 1:1s with product team members. Requested demos. Asked questions. Asked more questions. 

My goal was to not only become the SME on the product but also to develop a relationship with this team. No surprise, I spent most of my time here.

I also wanted to learn where they saw the product marketing roles and responsibilities. This was a brand new function. Some worked with product marketers in the past. Others had not. I knew I had to start slowly and find key areas and early wins to build our partnership before implementing big changes.

4-Learn the company priorities and product roadmap 

Through other articles I read, I understood that the first year I would most likely be completing the roadmap rather than influencing it. The roadmap (obviously) is a key tool to learn what is at stake for the company and for the audience. 

I used the roadmap as a tool to inform and align cross functional teams. In doing so, I brought a greater awareness and purpose of these releases to others and began to gain traction in my job. 

Last point, and something I didn’t think of until much later, building a brand new role in an organization is change management. I wasn’t prepared for push back. Some may feel threatened because they have been doing product marketing (or some form of it) before you arrived. Others might see you as the order dictator. You will need to work harder to make them a partner with you. 

Every organization is structured differently, but I have found that these actions have helped me to leverage success.

Stay tuned for my next post where we’ll get more into the tactical work of building product marketing and showing the value of the role.