I'm always amazed when I think about the people I know who've worked in the same job function their whole lives – and sometimes within the same company. They're incredibly disciplined, the ultimate experts in their craft, and continue to be motivated by the same, consistent role and its core objectives. To that, I say good for them!

But as much as I admire that approach, it didn’t work for me. Instead, I felt the need to dabble in various jobs and functions to really hone my craft, become the expert, and yes – even stay motivated! While I've only held the job title as a product marketer for shy of five years, I can say that transitioning between multiple ‘complementary’ roles is why I was able to effectively make the jump into product marketing.

My journey into product marketing

Suffice it to say, that jump was a few years in the making. Prior to my first product marketing role, I had over 10 years of experience in marketing, communications, marketing research, and a little business development before getting into product management. But toward the end of my product management career, I felt stuck.

Stuck in roadmaps, tracking bug fixes, and heated feature debates. I knew I wanted to stay close to the product and be an influencer by way of customer needs. So, on a whim, I applied to a product marketing role and haven’t looked back.

Because of my recent experience in product management at that time, it was a relatively seamless transition which I believe was primarily due to the fact that, by this point, I'd spent time in all of my various cross-functional partners' shoes. Most important? The product management piece.

Transitioning into product marketing from product management seems logical and natural – and not just because the word “product” exists within both functions.

But do you know about the commonalities, as well as differences, between the two roles? And do you also know what you can gain by transitioning from one role to another?

Read on to learn more.

Defining product marketing vs. product management

Let’s start with the basics and define product marketing vs. product management.

Product marketing is “the driving force behind getting products to market - and keeping them there,” according to Bryony Pearce, CMO at Product Marketing Alliance. On the flip side of things, Atlassian defines product management as “an organizational function that guides every step of a product’s lifecycle by focusing on the product and its customers first and foremost.”

As you can see when reading the two definitions, there's a clear overlap in common interests. But there are also major differences as well.

To highlight the largest one, product management is responsible for creating a product, while product marketing is responsible for that product getting to market. In this case, product management ensures the execution of the roadmap, that requirements are met, and that what’s being developed is communicated to product marketing.

On the flip side of things, product marketing focuses on the larger go-to-market efforts. Product marketing takes the ball from product management and ensures that the features and requirements are positioned and communicated to the market in a way that resonates with decision-makers and users. Oftentimes, there is already overlap in those gray duties that may not be as clearly defined as product management or product marketing ownership.

Creating clarity out of murkiness

product marketing vs product management

Because there are gray areas, the above image is definitely one of my favorites of all time. So much so that I still refer to it when looking for a sanity check and also to articulate to my organization who actually does what. It also serves as a great visual to help one grasp what that transition from product management to product marketing might look like and where there may be overlap.

Each role requires unique skills. And for roles that are both driven by customer intent, you may just once again find similarities.

Comparing the key skills needed for PMs and PMMs

Every job from the dawn of time (yes, I may be exaggerating) requires hard and soft skills. In this case, we’re defining hard skills just like Workable does: “job-related knowledge and abilities that employees need to perform their job duties effectively.”

And thanks to Workable, we will be defining soft skills as “personal qualities that help employees thrive in the workplace.” Here are the skill breakdowns for product marketing vs. product management. I’ve also broken down the top three transferable product management skills when transitioning to product marketing.

Product marketing skills

As people in the product marketing field, we know that the list of PMM skills I provide won’t be all-inclusive of the total responsibilities we take on. After all, I don’t know that “providing sellers with product information” is as much a hard or soft skill as it is an exercise in patience.

But all joking aside, product marketing shines when flexing the below skillset:

Product management skills

As a more development and product-facing role, product management requires some level of additional skill set. More specifically, those most successful in product management:

  • Possess a working (sometimes technical) understanding of product development
  • Think critically and analytically
  • Conduct market research for new products being developed (and current products being tweaked)
  • Know how to write technical product specifications and requirements
  • Problem-solve
  • Manage their time well
  • Have an understanding of user experience best practices
  • Help determine product-specific pricing
  • Lead and have the ability to “grab the ball” (in non-corporate speak, that translates to “taking ownership”)
  • Ensure their priorities are flexible, while still keeping focus on the grand scheme of things
  • Communicate cross-functionally on key product-related deliverables

The top three transferable skills when transitioning from PM to PMM

As you can see, there's an overlap in some of the soft skills needed to succeed in both roles. Heck, there’s also overlap in the hard skills. So while we know that product marketing and product management aren’t the same, we also know that there are transferable skills that can be taken from one role to the other.

Here are three important skills that can be transferred from product management to product marketing.

  • Market and customer insights. Both roles need to make the most informed decisions possible regarding the product. And while their approaches may differ, it’s critical they understand the market and customers.
  • Competitive analysis and positioning strategies. Product management focuses on guiding product development. Product marketing emphasizes positioning and messaging. What exactly does this mean? That they both contribute to competitive analysis and positioning in some way.
  • Compelling messaging and value propositions. In this instance, product management ensures that product features align with what the customer wants and needs, while product marketing helps craft the go-to-market messaging seen by consumers.

What product management brings to product marketing

Product management professionals bring a LOT to product marketing roles. I think one of the biggest levers for making the transition to product marketing is understanding the level of effort and all the moving parts it takes to develop and deliver products and features.

Additionally, product management requires a significant amount of technical aptitude and depth of understanding of what the product or feature does, how it functions, and what the benefit is to the end-user. Product marketing takes that same concept but thinks about it a bit more creatively.

Product marketing asks questions like:

  • Where to slot a product, determining product-market fit
  • How to position a product, making sure the right product is for the right audience
  • What product messaging would resonate most, ensuring the benefits deliver a resolution to a customer’s pain points while simplifying any technical details

Product management professionals have the ability to bring the qualities they use to drive successful go-to-market launches and apply them to the actual product marketing process. That means the same qualities we know and love from product management -- analytical thinking, project management around feature/product releases, and deep market and customer knowledge -- are almost the exact same skills required for effective product marketing.

There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not applying analytical thinking on how my messaging is performing, or project managing the whereabouts of all the assets needed to launch a product. Simply put, absolutely everything I do is fueled by my buyer personas and market needs.

How a career transition can benefit an entire organization

While considering a career transition from product management to product marketing may seem like it only impacts your microcosm, it’s simply not the case. Having empathetic product management professionals in product marketing roles directly translates to a healthy organization as a whole.

Why? Because you can better communicate, proactively anticipate needs, and serve both product and marketing functions. Plus, with strong foundational knowledge to position the roadmap and communicate the product vision, you’re now an advocate in your organization for the needs of your customers. And who can argue with that approach?

Product management’s logical next step is product marketing

At the end of this article, it seems most important to sum up what we’ve learned. We know that product marketing and product management aren't the same. We also know that making the jump from product management to product marketing can build empathy, only further enhance those hard skills while fully leveraging soft skills, and benefit the entire organization.

All this is to say: be the best product management professional you can be. The skills you’re using every day can eventually lead you to an exciting new opportunity in product marketing that you may have never known before reading this that you’re wholly qualified for.