The responsibility for marketing and selling a product varies depending on the organization.
In startups and smaller companies, it often falls on the product manager; in larger organization, it falls on dedicated product marketing managers and sales professionals
Product Marketing (PMM) has the primary goal of understanding the market and buyer (their needs, alternatives, buying process, etc.) in relation to the company's products and services. It is strategic marketing at the product or product line level.
Product marketers utilize knowledge of the market, product, product strategy, and competition to enable Marketing and Sales organizations to execute optimally in activities related to the product. PMMs prepare and develop documents defining positioning, messaging, competitive differentiation, and go-to-market strategy, simultaneously ensuring senior management is aligned with these.
PMMs are also responsible for working with internal teams to conduct a successful product (or feature) launch, from training sales with the go-to-market positioning, messaging, and differentiation... to creating data sheets, website copy, white papers, and other marketing collateral.
While these deliverables are some of the most visible ones that PMMs product, the primary focus and value of PMM is strategy: understanding the buyer and market dynamics to influence the product roadmap (often called 'inbound PMM') or positioning and messaging ('outbound PMM'). The work of a PMM can support other groups, such as corporate marketing (i.e. Brand, Campaign, etc.) in creating consistent, highly effective collateral.
The first thing you'll often hear is that "product marketing looks different wherever you go." Product marketing varies by company and by team.
The terms inbound and outbound come from two common marketing strategies that companies take. Outbound marketing is the traditional method of marketing by pushing messaging out to potential customers. Inbound marketing is a more recent approach of helping yourself "get found" (i.e. through content) by people who want to learn about and shop in your industry.
Product marketing responsibilities can often be defined as inbound or outbound.
Inbound responsibilities include...