Required Reading for Product Marketing Managers
Whether you are an aspiring product marketer or a seasoned operator, here are a list of books and resources to help you level up your product marketing game
I’ve worked in startups and tech companies for ten years, where I worked my way up to Product Marketing. So, when I talk to people who are interested in learning more about marketing at startups, I put together this list for people who want to learn more about the role.
Here’s my recommended reading list for folks who think they want to be a Product Marketing Manager (PMM) a tech company or startup.
How do companies make money?
To start, every PMM who wants to succeed needs to understand how businesses create value and make money.
📘 The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
Seriously, it’s a must. If you haven’t already read it, stop reading this right now and go download a copy from the library.
📘 Crossing the Chasm by Geoffrey Moore
This is like the tech sales bible, so definitely worth a skim (or at least reading a summary online.). I read Inside the Tornado back in the day, too… but I can’t really remember it, which makes me think maybe it’s not so great, but is probably worth a skim.
📘 Business Model Generation by Steve Blank
Blank is well regarded in tech, and every product marketer should read Business Model Generation.
Value Props, Design and Content Strategy
Product marketers today need to know a whole lot more than the “Four Ps” of marketing (product, price, place, promotion). Besides a working knowledge of lean principles and enough technical know-how to talk to engineers, PMs need to understand content strategy and UX design.
📘 Value Proposition Design by Osterwalder, Pigneur, Barnarda, and Smith
A gem of a book called Value Proposition Design is one of my favorite references and really gets into matching customers and products by Osterwalder, Pigneur, Barnarda, and Smith.
📘 Content Strategy for the Web by Kristina Halvorson
The other big content/ux person is https://www.contentstrategy.com/kristina-halvorson and she wrote seminal books like Content Strategy for the Web. She’s the mother of “Content Strategy” as it exists today.
📘 Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug
(You’ve probably read this, but I ❤ this book so much)
📘 Design for Hackers by David Kadavy
📘 A Beautiful Constraint by Adam Morgan and Mark Barden
Stanford d.school also has a bunch of useful resources: https://dschool.stanford.edu/resources/
Writing
You must know how to write well and make excellent PowerPoint presentations.
📘HBR Guide to Better Business Writing by Bryan A. Garner
is a good place to start. I also think books teaching lawyers how to write are good resources.
Use Grammarly, which has a Chrome plugin. It’s free. https://www.grammarly.com/
Experiment with Hemingway Editor, also free. http://www.hemingwayapp.com/
Business is about people
So much of this role involves working cross-functionally with people on other teams, working with agencies, and working with teams of writers and designers. Excellent communication skills are required.
Frankly, you can figure out how to do many marketing tasks on the fly using the internet to research best practices. But, as a marketer, you are basically always asking someone for something. So, you can’t do your job without help from other people: vendors, creatives, sales, executives, developers — you will need help.
Building relationships is essential. What separates the A-players from the pack is people skills and likability, so check out these books to learn how to work well with others.
📘 Thanks for the Feedback by Douglas Stone & Sheila Heen
By the authors of Difficult Conversations — another book I highly recommend — thanks for the Feedback changed my life. It breaks down how to give — and receive — feedback effectively.
📘 Radical Candor by Kim Scott
Scott worked at Google and Apple in the early days and, according to her book, once sent a flaming email to Larry Page. The anecdotes are fun, but the advice on how to manage people is essential.
📘 One Perfect Pitch by Marie Perruchet
So, you are always pitching or selling something, yourself in a job interview, a product in a sales deck or your company to investors. Help your executive team succeed by using the lessons in this book.
📘 Lean In by Sheryl Sandberg
Don’t be the only person in tech who hasn’t read this book. If you are a woman, read it so you can try and avoid the damaging impact of sexism at work. If you are a man, read it so you can avoid damaging the careers of the women around you.
Knowledge Checklist
Here’s a checklist of things you should be familiar with before you go to the job interview for a PMM role. It’s not comprehensive or specialized, but should at least help you prepare for a job interview.
Net promoter score (you can Google how to calculate it later)
The difference between benefits, features, and differentiation
Sales funnel
Sales cycle
Customer segments
Buying journey
Editorial Calendar
Content strategy
Difference between SEO and SEM
Basics of social media marketing for B2B and B2C
An idea about how to launch a product
Writing and editing
Just what, exactly, is a “brand”
Prepare to answer questions and give examples of successful campaigns, products, and customer experiences. Like “X is a good product because of Y and Z reasons.”
Pro Tip: If anyone actually asks you what the four Ps of marketing are, that’s a red flag.
And if you are looking for a job
📘 The 2-Hour Job Search by Steve Dalton
It’s a game-changer. Here is a book that explains how to leverage your network to get a job and lays out a checklist of tactical steps.
Extra credit
Make a portfolio
Hey, do you have an online portfolio? If you are looking to sell yourself as a PMM, then a slick portfolio is a must. WordPress, Squarespace, Wix are great choices and even Weebly will do in a pinch. Besides a great place to store all your best work, a good portfolio website demonstrates that you understand what a website is supposed to look like and to do.
Find a community
Find a Slack or Facebook group for marketers and participate in the conversation and ask questions. Marketing types usually love to give advice and tend to be gregarious. There are often job postings in these groups with individuals who are happy to pass in your resume.
Sign up for a pitch training
Plus, it’s never too early — or too late — to attend pitch training and public speaking training.