Hi I’m Daniella, your @pmmunderhood guest host of the week! 👋🏼 I’m excited to share some insights this week and get to know the PMM Twitter community better.

First off, huge shout out to @NatashaKatson for starting this handle. Such a great resource that I hope we can continue to grow with our collective knowledge. 📖

Here are themes for the week 1) The journey to product marketing and tips for new PMMs 2) The PMM toolkit 3) How to ace user research 4) My favorite PMM-relevant Twitter threads.

I’d love to hear feedback on what resonates most!

As I often say to people, the road to PMM can be a meandering one! 🛣

I want to know... what did you do BEFORE you were a PMM?

Here’s my PMM journey in a nutshell... I’m currently @canva, an online design and visual comms tool.

I first dipped my toe into PMM @Kahoot, a game-based learning platform.

But I never thought I’d end up in PMM! Read on for my story.

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Both @canva and @Kahoot are high growth SaaS startups/scaleups that have varied use cases.

Waayyy before that, I was actually in the nonprofit world - yup! - doing fundraising for a children's charity, @lumos.

I did digital fundraising, events, and trusts & grants.

Fun fact, here were my two most unique jobs:

1⃣ Working as a warden at Buckingham Palace 👑
2⃣ Testing food for @marksandspencer’s head office and creating a cheese database 🧀

Anyway... my transition from nonprofit to tech was crazy. A baptism of fire. I was clueless.

I started in community management, which I believe set me up for success later down the line as a PMM. Why?

User empathy. 💙

I listened to users day in, day out - their complaints, dreams, and goals. I constantly asked questions, and got to know power users really well.

I got up to speed quickly on user personas, the problems we solved, and where we failed.

Y'know, the bread and butter of PMM!

Eventually, I became a marketing generalist and found myself unofficially doing a lot of PMM “stuff”.

I got the chance to work on a brand new product for the workplace. I jumped in headfirst, working with a new product team.

I have a huge respect for PM as a discipline. I’ve been lucky to work with incredible Product leads and mentors, and stellar PMs to help me along the way.

A good PM/PMM relationship is hashtag blessed. 😝 pic.twitter.com/JiCCukDKSK

For the current product marketers: did you have an “aha” moment where you realized PMM was your “thing”? 💡

I personally remember my “aha” moment when PMM clicked for me.

I read two articles, back when I was “kinda” doing PMM but hadn’t drank the kool-aid yet.

The first is an interview by @JoannaLord on when to invest in product marketing.

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Joanna is a successful CMO and the perspective of the article - explaining to business leaders why and when to hire PMMs rather than how to become a PMM - helped me understand their value.

Her vision for PMM is centered around 4 tasks, and is about driving customer activation and retention, rather just acquiring new ones.

Common knowledge for us PMMs, but a good way to differentiate from other marketing sub-disciplines. pic.twitter.com/4nd7fNSdQ1

She also notes that:

“What you're looking for is a respect for both disciplines [product & marketing]. Product marketing is not either/or. It's absolutely both”

This opened my eyes to the strategic importance of PMM.

Link to the full article: review.firstround.com/classpass-cmo-…

The second is by GTM and positioning expert @julessupan.

Again, it’s not an article written for PMMs - it’s for founders. But it applies to crucial work a PMM does.

Julie always asks the same 5 questions when looking at positioning for an early stage product. ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/bBT8jp85Io

The goal is precision, not to be one-size fits all.

This is a big mistake early founders - and PMMs! - can make. Wanting to be everything, to everyone, in order to drive up user numbers fast.

These questions help you understand your precise target customer.

The next step is to define your high-expectation customer (HXC)

They are your ideal customer (not just an early adopter). They gain the most benefit from your product, and are the key to virality.

Your product must exceed their expectations.

To find your HXC, do your research with customers to understand them. Don’t focus on product features, focus on their goals and desires.

To calibrate, use these questions ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/cLKB42gJAz

This helped me understand how I needed to get in the head of my customers to approach product positioning.

Link to the full article: review.firstround.com/what-i-learned…

For new or “stealth” PMMs, it can be daunting to know how to build your career in this crazy, cross-functional world. Let’s talk tips.

How do you build a good PMM resume, even if you don’t have direct experience?

There are 4 key steps you need to take.

✅ Content
✅ Relevancy
✅ Design
✅ Review

Read on for how to approach each one.

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Content first. ✏️

Write down all your experience first - just get everything out there.

Reframe into responsibilities & achievements. Achievements MUST be quantifiable w/ #s or %s. Your contribution to growth, revenue, production, etc.

@AskAManager has tons of advice on this.

Content, part 2. ✏️

Add a skills, a (short!) education section, and other achievements.

Summarize with 1-2 lines using key words and action verbs. Tailor this depending on the role and company you are applying for.

There's probably too much text. Now it’s time to trim by 20%.

Demonstrate relevancy. ✅

Recruiters will be looking for direct or transferable skills in:

1) user research
2) market expertise - and passion!
3) communication & writing
4) working cross-functionally

Share your website, social media, etc. An online presence is expected.

Design. 🎨

@canva is my favorite - I used it long before I worked there!

Pick a template and keep it to one page only, using text boxes to break it up.

Use consistent, easy to read fonts and neutral colors.

Review. ⛏

Upload your resume to @ResumeWorded.

The results will be brutal - that’s ok. It will check for action words (yay!), fluffy language (nay!), and how you quantify impact (double yay!)

Tweak until you get a better score.

Do the same with your LinkedIn profile.

TL;DR - showing quantifiable achievements, and demonstrating relevancy, will matter more than having the “perfect” experience.

If there is only one takeaway though - you are probably writing too much text. pic.twitter.com/NQCfYRMKo1

Let’s look at the PMM toolkit.

Read on for 3 PMM important tools I use on a daily basis, and my tips on how to use them.

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You set a specific set of tasks or actions for them to take, and they then record themselves going through it.

It’s eye opening to see where they get stuck, if they don’t understand which action to take, where to click, or if your messaging makes sense.

However, User Testing is not the key to solving all your problems. You’ll still need to use other methods to understand a user’s JTBD.

Paid testers are also likely to be more polite and less passionate about your product!

I use it to keep the most up to date overview of my product insights - features matrixes, positioning & messaging, and demos.

It’s also my secret weapon for my GTM plans. I keep track of (and tag) owners, dates, statuses, and link out to all relevant docs, designs, and more.

Figjam is great for workshops and design critiques.

I’ve never met 80% of my colleagues in person, due to the pandemic and being on the other side of the world to them. With Figma I can collaborate with them in real-time.

Figma also helps you brainstorm fast.

I’ve been part of several crazy 8s sessions, where everyone comes up with 8 quick ideas to answer a problem. The sticker tool offers a fun way to upvote, and you can drag ideas around to prioritize.

Which tools do you love as a PMM?

User research is a crucial skill for product marketers.

Read on for my tips to ask the right questions, and making the most of the precious opportunity you have to hear from your users.

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Check existing research and define your goal.

The answers you’re looking for may exist already. Check internal resources first.

Be clear on what you want to know and which research method is the right way to get that information. pic.twitter.com/D4wdeGnCXn

Speak your user’s language.

Avoid technical jargon, terms used internally, abbreviations, and provide examples to add clarity.

When conducting surveys, ask direct questions and avoid absolutes.

Be specific, clear and precise. Include instructions, if applicable. Absolutes are inflexible and mean the respondent is forced to answer in a rigid way, usually with a Yes/No answer, which is not useful.

Ask one question at a time.

If there are questions in your survey that contain the word “and” – it can be a red flag that your question has two parts.

Follow up interview questions with "why?"

Avoid closed questions and dig into their answers with lots of “Whys” - this adds more layers to their answers.

Focus on what they do, not what they say.

If they say something is a problem, ask them how they’re currently solving for it. If they’re not trying to solve for it- it’s not a (big enough) problem.

Use open-ended questions carefully.

These are useful when you are trying to capture new ideas or information for which you have no basis. Don’t ask too many, as this makes it harder to analyze the data.

What are your top tips for user research?🧩

Let’s close out the week on a high note with some of my favorite marketing Twitter threads!🧵

I also like tools like @hotjar to set up surveys at certain parts of the user journey - you can do this in your product itself or on specific landing pages.

Great for pulse checking and to complement other research.

It’s been a blast hosting @pmmunderhood this week!

Follow me @followdaniella for tweets on product marketing, or DM me if you’d like to chat further! pic.twitter.com/KMh3jL6zjw