How can I leverage my background in digital media planning and social media to pivot to product marketing?

serenaji·Jul 18, 2022

Posted in:Navigating Career Transitions Women of Color Marketing Advice Job Hunting Tech Product Marketing

Hi everyone! Thank you for taking the time to read this.

I have about 6 years of work experience, 4 in digital media planning, and 2 in organic social media, plus some freelance work in copywriting, email marketing, etc. My most recent role was at a streaming service brand and I'm currently taking a break from work to enjoy summer as well as figure out my next role.

I want to continue down the tech path and get another role in-house for a tech company. My goal is to pivot into Product Marketing and I would love some advice on how to sell my story and my experience to both get the interview and then the role! I'm open to Product Marketing Associate roles, though I don't see too many of those, and feel that my biggest hurdle is that I've never actually worked on a product or new feature launch.

I'd be appreciative of anyone who can offer advice and even some time to chat virtually, and I'm happy to share my resume as well.

tinymegaphone·Jul 18, 2022

Highly recommend the advice in this article, written by a job search strategist I trust: https://www.productmarketingalliance.com/get-hired-for-product-marketing-jobs-with-a-pmm-mindset/

serenaji·Jul 19, 2022

Thanks, I'll give this a read now!

annamiller·Jul 18, 2022

Hey Serena, Sounds like you have great work experience, now it up to how you package your experiences in applying for Product Marketing roles. Make sure to study the job descriptions as a way to understand the words people in that world use to describe work that you've probably done, but used different terms to describe. For example, there may be products you've done social media launches for. It's important to start connecting your skills with the terminology in Product Marketing.

serenaji·Jul 19, 2022

Thanks for the advice!

arielleshnaidman·Jul 19, 2022

Hey @serenaji - agree with what other folks have shared here. Another approach would be to get some foundational training in product marketing that you can speak to on your resume/application. And from there, try to get some product marketing consulting gigs so you have work you can speak to. I'm a Director of Product Marketing at Olivine Marketing (product marketing agency) and we actually have two offerings that can help you with both:1. Playbooks: https://www.olivinemarketing.com/playbooks --> shows you the templates, frameworks, and processes we run ourselves with our clients on positioning, messaging GTM strategy, personas, etc.2. Marketplace: https://www.olivinemarketing.com/marketplace-consultant Apply to consult on product marketing through Olivine and get matched with clients if you're accepted. Hope that helps/gives you another angle to think through!

rosalynlockhart·Jul 23, 2022

Wow! Thank you for sharing this @serenaji! I'm in a similar boat - looking into pivot from Content/Brand Marketing to Product or Growth Marketing. I wear any hats in my current role, but I'm working toward specializing in Product Strategy and Marketing Analytics. I love the resources that were shared here as well.