What Does a Product Marketing Manager Do? A Career Guide

Product marketing managers, also called solutions 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. In order to successfully reach their goal, product marketing managers typically work with colleagues across many departments throughout the product’s life cycle.

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 works in order to efficiently work together.

Product manager vs. product marketing manager

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

Product marketing manager role and responsibilities

A product marketing manager communicates the value of a specific product or products to people outside of the organisation, such as potential buyers, clients, or investors. Although the role can vary across different companies, here are some common 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 aspects such as product features, user experience, naming, and packaging.

• During a product launch, product marketing managers will own the product’s go-to-market strategy. 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 iterations of the product.

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:

• Ability to collaborate across teams and work with people of varying backgrounds 

• Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, translating marketing vocabulary into language understood across disciplines

• Deep understanding of marketing platforms, including social media

• Analytical and problem-solving skills to evaluate products and market research

• Creative and detail-oriented work habits

• Ability to create a story with the product

What tools do product marketing managers use?

Product marketing managers may use different tools depending on their specific responsibilities and their 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

The average salary for a product marketing manager in London is £61,859, according to Glassdoor [1]. However, individual salaries vary depending on location, experience, company size, and job responsibilities. 

For example, in Manchester, the average annual salary is £52,155 [2], while the average annual salary for a product marketing manager in Edinburgh is £50,523 [3].  Despite differences, all listed salaries are much higher than the median salary among all occupations in the United Kingdom, which was reported to be £32,000 in 2022 by the UK Office for National Statistics [4].

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. University courses, apprenticeships, and gaining experience through entry-level roles are all potential methods to enter this field. Here are some steps you can take to pursue a career as a product marketing manager.

Consider a degree.

Marketing roles are typically suited to people of many educational backgrounds, but holding a diploma in a relevant field may help you stand out to employers when seeking a position. In particular, subjects such as marketing, business management, advertising, psychology, and digital marketing may help develop foundational skills to succeed in this role.

To enter a relevant educational programme, 1 or 2 A levels are generally required for a higher national diploma, while 2 to 3 A levels are often required to enter a degree programme.

Develop product marketing skills.

Product marketing manager roles may require anywhere from three to 10 years of work experience, depending on the company. To start building work experience, consider beginning in an entry-level position such as a marketing executive or marketing assistant. In this role, you will be able to learn skills in marketing, build your network, and study for professional qualifications outside of your job responsibility to move into management positions. These roles are often offered as an apprenticeship, and hiring managers generally look for 4 to 5 GSCEs at grades 9 to 4 when considering candidates. For advanced apprenticeships, A levels in English in maths are often desired.

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, take a 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 vice president and senior vice president designations.

Some product marketing managers may also shift into other marketing specialisations or product roles during the course of 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 toward and will be able to hone your expertise and career path accordingly.

Next steps

Product marketing manager is an in-demand career that uses a combination of marketing, analytic, and human skills to drive the success of their 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.