Tag: How to transition into product marketing

BY: PEACE ATTAH I have been working in product marketing for 3 years now and It is the best career decision I ever made. My decision to transition to product marketing came while I was researching “Tech jobs that pay well without coding”. It was my chance to earn tech money without coding while working a creative and dynamic job. Here's how my journey started My name is Peace and I started my career as a customer service representative at a boutique in Abuja after graduating with a political science degree and a mini degree in fashion & styling. I went from customer service in fashion to social media management for an online retail store to digital marketing in financial services, marketing communications in financial services, then product marketing associate in B2B Payment and now product marketing manager in B2B SaaS. It took me 7 months and 3 interviews to land my first role in product marketing and this article covers all the steps that I took. What will you get from this Article? My 5 step transition process (written step-by-step) Tips and best practices to nail your interviews. Before I take you through the steps I took, I'll ask you to ponder on why you want to transition to product marketing. Whatever your reason might be, you need to understand three things: It's not a “get rich quick” opportunity. Like any other job, you have to earn your way up to your dream salary You won’t regret it You will have to learn everyday, experiment a lot and work with a lot of people. If you cannot see yourself doing this, don’t bother. Product marketing is not for you. When I started my transition process, I was very intentional about the steps I took. I was determined to succeed, and I did. That’s how I know that you can do it too by taking intentional steps - one after the other. My Five step transition process 1. Researching my target company, industry & the skills required. I reviewed job descriptions for product marketing roles from startups I admired and larger companies. This step is very important as a first step because it helped me understand what skills are required for both types of companies, which clarified which type of company I wanted to target and where the gaps in my skill set were. Learn more about what to look out for and why during your research here. 2. Laying the foundation After reviewing job descriptions and requirements, my second step was to make a plan. I created a list of Fintech startups I was curious to work with & followed them on LinkedIn and Twitter. I started posting frequently on LinkedIn, preparing myself to stand out as a curious marketer ready for product marketing while following product marketing leaders & learning from them (I consumed product marketing almost 24/7 across social media channels). I also listed out the skills I needed to learn and made a plan to learn them. 3. Understand. Practice. Apply! Mastering the required skills The third step I took was to start acquiring the skills I lacked through online courses, youtube, on-the-job experiments and following product marketing leaders. To make this easy for you, I have included some free resources, beneficial courses and experiments that you will undoubtedly find helpful. Free online resources: There are a lot of resources on Youtube and Product Marketing Alliance that I utilised to learn about product marketing and the necessary skill sets. Online courses: This may sound as a surprise but instead of taking a product marketing course. I took a brand & product management course from the Wharton school via coursera. Then I followed this course with a Product management course from Udacity. I did this because I learned that understanding how to support other fields of marketing and the product team is a key quality (This has paid off so well today) Ps: you can take a product marketing course if you choose to. The reason I do not recommend it at this stage is that you don’t have any experience yet to maximize the value of these courses. I have had mentees come back to me to review their course assignments because they don’t have any practical experience to make sense of it. Some product marketing courses I recommend are: PMA, CXL and Utiva On-the-job experiments: While I learned as much as I could, I started applying them at my job at the time as a marketing communications lead. I picked up templates for market research from Product marketing alliance and started conducting my own research on our customers. Doing this gave me the practical experience to understand why this is an important skill and the results from this helped me start the next experiment: Positioning the product and then the next; a product re-launch plan which I created using a go-to-market template from product marketing alliance & multiple other online resources. These experiments and their results would eventually make my resume look like a product marketer in the making. In my book: From Zero Skilled To Sought-after; How To Land Your First Job in Product Marketing, I detailed all the hard and soft skills you should pay attention to and how they are applied in product marketing. After I had applied these skills I learned and gotten some results, I was ready for the next step. 4. Curating a winning resume and portfolio The idea to put together a portfolio was something I learned from a youtuber one of those nights I spent learning about “standing out in your product marketing job search”. It was simple: If 1000 people apply for this “entry level role” 990 of them probably don’t care about the role and only care about getting the job. How can I prove that I understand the role, I want to get the job and that if given the job, I can learn the fastest & be the best choice for the team. My first marketing portfolio consisted of my marketing project for Udacity (during my product management studies) and the experiments I ran in my previous role. It was simple and sectioned according to the core skills required for the job. The point of this portfolio is not to show any expertise but to show that you know how product marketing works, you understand the core skills required & to show how you think/your process. 5. Apply. Interview. Get the job My final step was applying for entry level product marketing jobs in Finance since I was familiar with the industry. My almost 2 years experience in Finance would also be a competitive advantage, so it made perfect sense to target this industry for my transition. If you have up to 4+ years cumulative experience in content, brand or growth marketing, you might be able to target a mid-level position (product marketing manager) only if your experience & skills align with the job requirements. All of this together landed me my first set of interviews and my first job. Something you must know is that you need to understand the job requirements for any job you are applying for. If they want someone to support their existing team for an important product launch, then your resume, portfolio and interview must focus heavily on how you can support their team in multiple capacities. If you miss this point, you may have all the right skills and experiences but still not get the job because you are failing to align your experience and skills to their needs. Tips and best practises for you Your resume should showcase the core skills and experience required for the job you are applying for so tailor it to each job requirement and keep it updated. Remove experiences that are not relevant to the product marketing role you are applying for. Study what the company does and its people before your first interview (don’t go to an interview and ask them to tell you what they do - that’s a bad rookie move that will not do you good). Ask questions that matter in your interview. Ask about how they gather customer feedback today, how they want customers to think of them or what they want to achieve in the next 6 months. Be sensitive: don’t go too Gen Z on your millennial recruiter. Study the vibe and adjust to it. Be open to learning and let them know it. Talk about how flexible you are and show that you are good at receiving feedback. Don’t pretend you know something if you don’t. Instead, show them that you are passionate, creative and a fast learner. Key takeaways The transition to product marketing is possible for anyone. However, it’ll be a lot easier if you have a background in marketing or a related field. A well-defined plan and a commitment to learning are essential for success. A strong resume and portfolio can help you stand out from other candidates. Effective interviewing skills are critical to landing the job. Connect with Peace via LinkedIn Want to know about Blurpe? Blurpe is a startup that connects top marketing talents to companies looking to hire. Think of it as a bridge, on both ends of the bridge, you will find Blurpe. Bringing Job opportunities closer to our talent pool and on the other end ensuring that companies achieve their marketing goals by making their hiring process 5X faster.

Tag: How to transition into product marketing

From Customer Service to Product Marketing in 7 Months: Peace Attah’s Journey

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