What Skills Do I Need to be a Product Marketer?

Creating a product of better quality than competitors are doing, or coming up with a fundamentally new solution does not automatically mean being successful. In the age of advertising, marketing comes first. That’s where the skills of the product marketer comes first. This specialist develops a marketing strategy and is responsible for its effectiveness. Product marketing (or PM) is an activity that encompasses introducing a new product to the market, promoting and supporting it throughout its entire life cycle. The product marketing institute is in the middle between product management, marketing and commercial teams. If all of the above works correctly, you can guarantee the successful promotion of the product to the market. Individual specialists (product marketers or product marketing managers – PMM) work in this area. They analyze and evaluate the size of target markets, their prospects, profitability and other parameters.

And what is a product marketer?

This is a specialist who formulates the values of the product and synchronizes marketing, sales and development. He plays a title role in product marketing. A product marketer researches the market, but first of all studies the buyer of the product. He is responsible for positioning, go-to-market strategy, key messaging and competitive differentiation. And he also helps sales and marketing teams perform at their best. So, a product marketer is responsible for the entire product promotion process. The specialist helps the team that creates and improves the product, the sales managers who sell it, and the marketing department that advertises it act in concert. The main goal of PMM is to competently convey the unique selling proposition (USP) of a product to users. To do this, he researches the target audience, generates and tests hypotheses, selects suitable advertising tools and channels and constantly monitors their effectiveness.

Here are the key product marketing manager skills to have to be successful in this profession:

1. Ability to conduct thorough market research to understand customer needs, market trends and the competitive landscape. This includes both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Research helps identify user needs, test hypotheses, and make decisions based on the data obtained.
2. Understanding customers is essential to identify their pain points, views, desires and behavior, and also empathize with them. You need to put yourself in the user’s shoes to understand the essence of their problem and offer a solution.
3. It is important to have a clear understanding of the product or service, including its features, benefits, and unique selling points and clearly formulate the product’s difference from analogues.
4.  The ability to develop compelling messaging and positioning that effectively communicates the product’s value proposition to the target audience is required. Product messages are those ones that the brand broadcasts to the target audience, from which people learn what problem the product will help them solve.
5. The ability to create different types of content, such as blog posts, white papers, videos, and infographics, to support marketing efforts.
6. Writing compelling and interesting copy for marketing materials, advertising, and product description is critical to this profession.
7. An ability to analyze data from various sources to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, understand customer behavior and make data-driven decisions. To do this, it is worth using a data-driven approach, which is based on data analysis that shows how promotion works.
8. Planning and executing successful product launches, including developing launch strategies and coordinating cross-functional teams. You must be able to build a Go to Market Strategy – a strategy for entering the market.
9. Ability to identify and segment target audiences based on demographics, behavior and other criteria to tailor marketing efforts accordingly.
10. An ability to develop cross-functional collaboration with product development, sales and other teams to ensure consistency and a cohesive approach to marketing.
11. The ability to tell a compelling product story that resonates with customers and creates an emotional connection.
12. Knowledge of various digital marketing channels and tactics including SEO (plus keyword research), SEM, social media, email and content marketing.
13. Ability to use analytical tools such as Google Analytics, social media data and marketing automation platforms to measure and optimize marketing efforts.
14. Ability to build a customer journey map and sales funnel. The specialist predicts all the stages that the target audience goes through to conversion and describes them in detail using these two tools.
15. Understanding how to measure return on investment (ROI) of marketing initiatives and make adjustments to improve results.
16. Cultural awareness and the ability to adapt marketing campaigns to different cultural contexts, especially in a global marketplace.
17. Technical skills.
    Depending on the product and industry, technical skills such as knowledge of coding, data analytics tools, or industry software may be required.

It is also important for a product marketing manager to have certain personal qualities and soft skills:

• Ability to formulate thoughts – convey values to the team and users.
• Analytical thinking will help you work with data and make decisions.
• Negotiation skills will be useful to present your ideas and defend your point of view in front of the team and management.
• In general, strong written and oral communication skills are needed to create compelling content and effectively present product information.
• Adaptability is also required. PMMs must be adaptable and open to learning new strategies and technologies.
• Creativity is very important. The ability to think creatively will help you stay several steps ahead of your competitors.

Overall, product marketing requires a combination of strategic thinking, creativity, technical understanding and strong communication skills to successfully bring a product to market and boost adoption. Remember that it is a dynamic field, and staying abreast of industry trends and continually developing these skills is critical to succeed in this role. If you want to bring a new product to market, consider turning to those who are well versed in it. Baltimore-based digital marketing agency Klik Digital, can help you in your endeavors. We offerdigital marketing for attorneys, as well asBaltimore SEO services. Launch your products and be successful with Klik Digital!