Where does product marketing belong?

Product marketing is often difficult to place within a business, as it acts as the bridge between product and marketing.

I am often asked where product marketing should sit within a company. Given the function’s name, it often sits in either marketing or product, but is sometimes it’s own cross-functional team as well.

Advantages of being part of Marketing

1. Strong market orientation as market trends, customer needs and competitive dynamics impact all marketing activity
2. Unified messaging across platforms that isn’t overly technical and not understood by the market
3. Resources will be more available for product marketing within the marketing team as the wider team will benefit from product marketing’s research and activities
4. Objectives will focus on revenue growth and align with marketing

Advantages of being part of Product

1. Exposed to more technical product knowledge and can ensure messaging is accurate
2. Improved collaboration with product managers so marketing strategies align with product development
3. Faster feedback loops from customers to product managers so improvements are made that will benefit customers and improve revenue

Where should it sit in your business?

I have seen product marketing under marketing and under product in various businesses. It is dependent on:

• Your objectives
• Your product
• Your leaders’ strengths
• Your customers

Follow these steps to decide where product marketing should sit in your business.

1) Set goals for revenue growth and addressing customer needs

This should always be the aim of your business. Start here and set your Go-To-Market strategy and function objectives accordingly.

2) Determine the remit of Product Marketing

Qualify what product marketing is for your business (this might change over time). Is product marketing focusing on solving problems in the product, or more about communicating the product more effectively?

3) Place Product Marketing within a team

Based on what the product marketing team will be working on, place the team within the business. There are also benefits from spending time under different leaders when appropriate.

4) Mitigate against any disadvantages

Wherever product marketing sits within a business, there are pros and cons. Mitigate against any disadvantages they may face with tools such as dotted line reporting, office arrangements, shared KPIs, cross-team meetings, etc.

Determine where product marketing belongs base on what will best fit with customer needs.

If you’re looking to improve your marketing team, get in touch.