What Does a Product Marketing Manager Do? 2024 Career Guide

Product marketing managers work at the intersection of product development, marketing, and sales. Their broad responsibility is to develop and implement a marketing strategy roadmap for a specific product. Product marketing managers typically work with colleagues across many departments throughout the product’s life cycle to reach their goals.

As their title suggests, product marketing managers focus heavily on marketing, so they often coordinate efforts with strategists across various marketing disciplines, including digital, social media, brand, and market research.

Cross-departmentally, product marketing managers may also work closely with product managers, user experience (UX) designers, engineers, and stakeholders in the product’s launch, including communications and sales teams. It can be helpful for product marketing managers to know a bit about how each of these departments operates such that they can work together efficiently.

Product manager vs. product marketing manager

What is the difference between a product manager and a product marketing manager?

A product manager oversees strategy as a product moves through the design and build process, while a product marketing manager oversees the public-facing communication strategy about a product.

Product marketing manager role and responsibilities

A product marketing manager communicates a specific product's value to people outside the organisation, such as potential buyers, clients, or investors. Although the role can vary across different companies, here are some everyday responsibilities you may see in product marketing manager job descriptions:

• Before a product launch, product marketing managers may interpret market research and apply relevant findings to the development process. Their insights may impact product features, user experience, naming, and packaging.

• Product marketing managers will own the product’s go-to-market strategy during a product launch. They’ll ensure that all messaging regarding the product is accurate and presented in a way that potential customers will care about. They may also oversee the creation of content about the product, including videos, blog posts, or slide presentations.

• After a product launch, product marketing managers will oversee customer response, reacting as necessary to any feedback. They may pursue additional growth campaigns and experiments or suggest potential improvements to future product iterations.

Product marketing manager skills

Product marketing managers use many skills common amongst both marketers and product managers. Here are some skills hiring managers may seek in candidates:

• Communication

• SharePoint

• Editing

• Microsoft Office

• Adobe Acrobat 

• Powerpoint 

What tools do product marketing managers use?

Product marketing managers may use different tools depending on their specific responsibilities and company. In general, the tools they use may fall into the following categories:

• Market research and analysis: Typeform, UserTesting, Segment, Amplitude

• Workflow and project management: Trello, Asana, Slack, InVision, ProductBoard, ProdPad

• Content creation: Sketch, Wistia, Venngage, Canva

• Marketing: MailChimp, HubSpot, Customer.io, Chameleon, Ahrefs, BuzzSumo

Product marketing manager salary

According to Glassdoor, the national average salary for a product marketing manager in India is ₹16,74,590 [1]. Moving into a senior product marketing manager increases the salary to ₹25,00,000 annually [2].

How to become a product marketing manager

There are many paths to becoming a product marketing manager. Often, getting there requires a combination of education and experience. Here are some steps you can take to pursue a career as a product marketing manager.

Consider a degree.

To become a product marketing manager, you’ll need a bachelor’s degree in marketing or a related field, as no specific degree programme exists for product marketing management. A degree in business or advertising can also qualify you for a role in product marketing management. 

Beyond a bachelor’s degree, some jobs may require or prefer candidates with a Master of Business Administration (MBA) postgraduate degree.

Typically, people will have a few years of work experience on their resume before applying for MBA programs. So, if you’re just starting, it may be beneficial to seek an entry-level position before pursuing your MBA.

Develop product marketing skills.

After obtaining a bachelor’s degree, you can begin your career as an entry-level product marketing manager. Each level of advancement takes approximately two years, and promotions can require a master’s degree or certification.

Product marketing managers work across many industries, so if you have an idea of the products, industries, or companies you’d like to work with, look at current job descriptions in those areas to get a better idea of the qualifications you should focus on building. 

Product marketing manager career trajectory

After becoming a product marketing manager, people may move into varying levels of seniority, with designations such as senior, principal, director, and senior director. Some companies may also have a vice president and senior vice president designations.

Some product marketing managers may also shift into other marketing specialisations or product roles during their careers. For example, some people transition from product marketing management into product management, or a product marketing manager may lean into the research aspect of their position and become a market researcher. As you gain more experience in the field, you’ll likely notice the areas you gravitate towards and will be able to hone your expertise and career path accordingly.

Next steps

The product marketing manager position is an in-demand career that uses a combination of marketing, analytics, and human skills to drive the success of its products. Learn job-ready skills to prepare yourself to take the next step towards a position in product market management by completing the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Professional Certificate on Coursera. In this course, you’ll learn the fundamentals of digital marketing and e-commerce, how to engage customers, and the analytical tools you’ll need to enter your first position in this exciting field.