4 Differences Between Product Managers And Product Marketers

Every Product Manager should have a stint as a Product Marketing Manager at some point of their career.

I say this after having worked as a product manager & marketer for Talentera & vFairs for a number of years. Don't get me wrong - the work is different & distinct but I can easily testify that one role helps you get better in the other.

First, how does each role differ?

1. Strategy

• Product Managers build product strategy to achieve business metrics, target user personas & build roadmaps
• Product Marketers identify favorable segments in the Target Addressable Market & create go-to-market plans to bring the product in front of them

2. Tactics/Actions

• Product Managers conduct discovery, write specs, work with designers to build prototypes, drive engineering to build & release a product increment
• Product Marketers create marketing campaigns, messaging & creative briefs, push them into distribution channels like websites, search, social & email marketing to get the word out to relevant audiences

3. Metrics

This varies from product to product but

• Product Managers focus on product adoption, utilization, engagement metrics like Revenue, MAUs, NPS, Churn rate
• Product Marketers might also report on similar metrics but also care about MQLs, CAC, Lead to Demo rates, CPC etc

4. Focus

• Product Managers focus on defining the product & developing the right thing
• Product marketers focus on positioning the product in front of the right audiences & creating a linear path to purchase

Do they have commonalities? Sure.

1. Both research the underlying pain points of the audience & figure out the job-to-be-done.

2. Both perform competitive analysis & play a part in pricing.

3. In case of PLG-enabled products, both are involved in the acquisition part of the funnel.

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So, my product management duties helped me be a better marketer. How?

1. Knowing the product constraints better, I was able to avoid fluff & false claims during messaging.

2. Since I knew about the capability of the product well, I was able to come up with more applications & identify more audience segments.

3. As I knew the product roadmap well, I was able to shape longer-term narratives with marketers & create effective GTM campaigns.

4. I was able to create customer-facing roadmaps quickly as I had the mockups on my drive (or in my head).

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And product marketing helped me in my product management duties as follows:

1. It really helped me create better & cultured short-copy for my product screens (e.g. headlines, blank states etc.).

2. It helped me become a better storyteller for my tech team, giving them a movie-like walkthrough of what the hero (customer) goes through.

3. It helped me get clarity on a feature's value by attempting to express it's value from a customer perspective.

4. I learnt things like SEO, customer journey maps, positioning & branding which helps in consistent product design & effective discovery.