Director of Product Marketing interview sample task

Interviews tell you one half of the story, tasks put all that talk into action to ensure the candidate lives up to your expectations. Here's a sample task - feel free to use it as-is, tweak it, or just draw some inspiration from it.

Task 1: Outline how you would approach the launch for this new product. (1000 word max)

What to look for in a response:

It’s a good sign when the candidate can give you their view of launch types. For example, major, minor, and update. With a “major” product launch being the most robust, they need to show an awareness of the significant budget they’ll need to design and deploy an “all hands on deck” effort with a pre-launch/teaser campaign, a press release, market research, white paper, testimonial videos, an internal and/or in-market event, sales training day, and more. If the product team is just releasing a bug fix, they should still want sales and customers to be informed, but there’s no need to blow up any balloons. Instead, an email and internal announcement will do fine.

Some product marketers include programs and tactics that only fall within the realm of marketing - demand gen, competitive intel, messaging, and sales enablement. Some are the ringleader that coordinates alignment across the business: finance for pricing and invoice processing, Customer Support for product training and glitch-preparedness, Operations for how to process orders in the CRM, and more. Here’s a sample response from a Director of PMM who has operated as the latter:

The programs and tactics within a launch depend on the market and revenue impact of the product we’re launching. Therefore, I operate on the principle of having major, minor, and update launch processes, where “major” is the most robust and “update” is the simplest. Assuming this launch will have a major impact on the industry and company revenue, I would facilitate a major launch plan. Below is how I would coordinate the plan at a high level, and what I mean by each item.

Here’s a guide to how they should break down the phases of launch:

Phase 1: Plan

  • Establish a launch team: Include key stakeholders representing product, client strategy, marketing, sales, partnerships, and finance. Set a weekly meeting cadence to start, then scale back the cadence and stakeholders as needed.
  • Define/refine the need with market validation: What are the challenges faced by retailers? Why is this product the ideal solution? With agreement from all stakeholders, align on the need.
  • Collect competitive intel: What other B2B companies offer ways for retailers to engage with shoppers via social? On which platforms?
  • Determine total addressable market (TAM): What is our true market potential by segment?
  • Pick the launch date: Based on business requirements, operational readiness, and known blockers, when can we launch this?
  • Project Plan: Create a framework in a project management platform, assign owners and dates, and use as a tracker going forward.

Phase 2: Build

  • Budget: Receive initial marketing budget from Finance.
  • Determine pricing: With Finance, leverage competitive intel, market insights, and current pricing plans to determine optimal pricing.
  • Define goals/KPIs: Tie back to quarterly OKRs; consider average product adoption rate, MQLs, open rates, etc. Make them difficult but not impossible to obtain.
  • Draft the marketing launch plan
  • Identify key segments & audiences: Leveraging TAM and customer feedback, determine our primary and secondary audiences by vertical and persona.
  • Draft messaging and positioning: Draft based on differentiation. Identify business outcomes to the buyer, using preliminary findings from product market research.
  • Develop operational readiness plan: Confirm all departments are informed and prepared to support this product.

Phase 3: Refine

...and so on until launch.

Task 2: Write a blog post announcing the new product launch. (350 words max)

What to look for in a response: If they’re interviewing for a Director role, it’s safe to assume that they’re already written a blog post or two throughout their career! Still, they may need to be reminded that this is not a press release, it is a blog post! The message should be light yet exciting.

Again, this is how an experienced PMM leader would go about structuring her response:

“I generally structure launch posts the same way as case studies: value-based title, problem, solution, proof point, call to action. As such, I would structure my response something like this”:

  • Title: Company launches new Social Chat Product, helping retailers connect with shopper-base like never before
  • Problem: As shoppers get entrenched in noisy, never-ending social media scrolling, the opportunity for retailers to capture their hearts and minds becomes increasingly difficult. Now more than ever, retailers need to creatively connect with shoppers in a way that will not only increase their fan base, but also earn their trust and loyalty.
  • Solution: We’re launching “Social Chat Product!” Special Chat Product helps you increase followers and have meaningful conversations with your shoppers on social media. Here’s how it works… (include brief description).
  • Proof: We asked a few customers to test Social Chat Product and they averaged a X% conversation rate and X% increase in shopper conversion! Here’s what one retailer had to say about it: (Insert quote).
  • CTA: Visit our brand new product page to learn more and sign up for a demo!