How do PMMs and PMs effectively work together in SaaS?

TL;DR

• Unclear roles and day-to-day tasks cause a clash between these two teams. 

• Effective collaboration includes syncing on product strategy, understanding the market and customers, nailing down product messaging, launching the product successfully, and maintaining clear communication. 

• Clear communication and proper planning can prevent the clash between Product Marketing and Product Management.

Are you a SaaS owner who faces the headache of the unending war between PMMs and PMs? As exhausting as it may be, there’s a way to make this work.

Today we’ll look at their responsibilities, what causes their disagreement, and how they can effectively work together.

Responsibilities of PMM and PM

When building a smooth relationship between these 2 teams, the key is understanding their role and responsibilities. Let’s look at their various duties and how they shape the success of your products. 

Product marketing is responsible for the following:

• Engaging potential customers to understand their needs, motivations, and pain points.

• Crafting an excellent strategy to show off your product’s value.

• Learning how to make your product stand out from the competition.

• Equipping the sales team with pitch decks, insight into what makes your products better than your competition, and top-notch training sessions for all new feature launches.

Product management is responsible for the following:

• Researching and understanding customer needs and market trends.

• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to define product strategy and roadmap.

• Translating customer feedback and market insights into product requirements.

• Prioritizing features and enhancements based on impact and value.

• Working closely with engineering teams to ensure timely and successful product delivery.

Now that we know what each team is responsible for, let’s find out why they sometimes clash.

What causes Clashes between these two roles?

Product managers sometimes don’t get the role product marketers play in the big picture. Both teams are involved in the product’s feature awareness and adoption, but you sometimes need to clarify who does what. Else it can lead to mix-ups and stepping on each other’s toes. 

Keep in mind that these two teams are in different departments. Even though they’re supposed to work together, their day-to-day tasks can pull them apart. They both want to impress the customer and might see each other as getting in the way.

Ways for both teams to effectively collaborate

• Be in sync: Make sure product marketing and product management agree on the product strategy and roadmap. This means keeping the convo flowing and regularly chatting about the product roadmap, strategies and metrics. 

• Get to know the market: Product marketers and product managers should team up to understand the market and customers. This means diving into market research, customer feedback, and competitive analysis.

• Nail down product positioning and messaging: They should work together to craft the perfect messaging that speaks to the target customers. To do that they need to  understand the customers and the competition, and use that info to highlight what makes your product unique. 

• Launch it right: Work together to plan and execute epic product launches. This includes creating marketing materials and coordinating launch events.

• Sales support: Support the sales team with the right tools and resources, like demos and sales collateral.

• Pricing: Work together to figure out a pricing strategy that matches the product’s value and is reasonable to the target market.

• Product performance: Both teams must keep tabs on how the product is doing. This means looking at revenue and customer satisfaction metrics and using that info to make product decisions.

• Customer feedback: Work together to get customer insights. This means finding out how customers use the product and where they think it can improve.

• Clear communication: Keep communication and teamwork strong within the product team. Keep everyone on the same page with the product strategy and roadmap with regular meetings and discussions.

Conclusion

In a nutshell, lack of clear communication and the absence of proper planning often leads to the clash between product marketing and product management. Feel free to use our suggestions to keep both teams aligned and enable them to move your business forward.