<p>The Product Manager vs. the Product
Marketing Manager
By Brian de Haaff CEO, Aha!
Building great products is exhilarating. It takes a group of committed, focused,
and passionate team members who play their positions to the best of their
abilities. When a group with a common set of goals and complementary skills
comes togetheramazing things can happen.
However, without clearly defined roles on the field and in the product team,
responsibilities become unclear and progress stalls. This is especially true
with roles like product management and product marketing — where each role
is critical for delivering the right product at the right time for the right set of
target customers.
The differences between the product manager and the product marketing
manager can vary across companies and industries. However, there are some
general guidelines that can help define the two roles and their distinct
responsibilities.
The product manager is the person responsible for defining, in detail, the
‘why,’ ‘what’ and ‘when’ of the product that the engineering team will build.
The product marketing manager is responsible for clearly communicating the
‘why,’ ‘what’ and ‘when’ to the marketplace. The roles are often considered
‘inbound’ versus ‘outbound’ but I do not think that is right. The product
manager must understand customers and the market and the product
marketer must understand the product. At the end of the day, both must work
together if they are going to build a lovable product.
Here are a few of the ways the roles complement one another and bring a
combined strength to the product team:
Vision
The product manager is responsible for setting a product vision and strategy.
Her job is to clearly articulate the business value to the product team so they
understand the intent behind the new product or product release. She owns
the strategy behind the product roadmap and must work with engineering to
build what matters.
The product marketing manager is responsible for defining the market position
within th