Should Product Marketing Report Into The Marketing Org? Or Should It Be Part Of The Product Team?

I've recently heard and seen many debates about the correct placement of the product marketing (PMM) team in the organization. Some say it should report into the Marketing org and the CMO, while others say it should be part of the Product team and report into the CPO.

In its essence, the PMM role required cross-functional collaboration: it’s impossible to perform well as a PMM without collaborating with different functions within the organization. These include marketing, sales, product management, customer success, business development, research and innovation. Regardless of the department they are placed in, you need to facilitate this collaboration and ensure that there is a close relationship between the teams and functions.

I've personally experienced both scenarios, where PMMs reported into the marketing org and into the product team, and there are pros and cons to each:

Why Should the PMMs Report into the Marketing Org?

Product marketing is a critical function that helps organizations develop and execute their Go-To-Market (GTM) strategies. While the product team is responsible for introducing and prioritizing new features, and defining the product’s future roadmap, the marketing department is responsible for introducing the product to the target market, with a message that will appeal to its target customers, promoting awareness of capabilities and benefits in order to sell it to customers. Product marketing not only provides the recommended GTM strategy to the marketing team, but needs to work closely with the rest of the marketing team to provide the needed tools and assist with the execution of this strategy.

A quick survey I did on LinkedIn shows that 66% think PMMs should report into Marketing:

I can’t say that I’m surprised. It is generally more common to place product marketing under the marketing department. There are a few reasons for that:

1. Focus on the Buyer Personas: Product marketing is all about understanding the buyer personas(s), and other personas that may be involved in the buying process (decision makers, evaluators, champions, gatekeepers, etc) and creating messaging that resonates with them. This is very different for product teams, who are typically more focused on the user personas. Depending on the type of product you are selling, the buyer and decision-maker personas can be very different from the users. They may have different requirements and needs from the day-to-day users. For example, a user might care about the product’s ease of use, while an executive decision maker will care more about cost savings.

2. Focus on the Buyer Journey: It’s not enough to understand the buyer persona(s), it’s also important to understand their journey - how do they do their research? Where do they go for information? What sources do they trust? Product Marketing is responsible for researching the buyer journey and building a strategy to meet these personas and influence them, as early as possible, and as many times as possible during their journey. This is a core responsibility of the Marketing team, being part of the marketing org makes sense.

3. Better Alignment with Marketing: By being part of the marketing team, product marketing can align product launches with broader marketing campaigns and ensure that the messaging is consistent across all channels. This improves the alignment with the overall marketing strategy and goals.

4. Marketing-Metrics-driven: Product marketing relies heavily on marketing metrics to measure the effectiveness of campaigns and messaging. Marketing departments gather a lot of valuable data and analytics that not only measures the impact of specific marketing activities but also helps measure the overall impact of product marketing efforts. For example, it can show which message resonates better and which keywords are searched more often.

Why Do Some Organizations Place PMMs Under the Product Group?

Although it is generally more common to place product marketing under the marketing department, some organizations may choose to place product marketing under the product team for a variety of reasons:

1. Technical expertise: Product teams are often made up of individuals with technical expertise who understand the intricacies of the product. In some cases, it may be more beneficial to have product marketers work closely with the product team to ensure that the marketing message aligns with the technical aspects of the product.

2. Closer collaboration with the Product Team: By placing product marketing under the product team, it can create a closer relationship between the two functions. This close collaboration can help ensure that the marketing message is aligned with the product vision and that the product gets feedback from the PMMs about the needs and requirements of the target audience.

3. Small organizations: In some smaller organizations, it may be more practical to have product marketing under the product team, especially if there is no separate marketing department.

So What’s the Right Answer?

There is no right answer.

By placing product marketing in the marketing department, organizations can ensure that the Buyer persona(s) and Buyer journey remain front and center in all marketing efforts, align product launches with broader marketing campaigns.

Placing product marketing under the product team can have some benefits, especially when working with complicated technologies, but it’s important to ensure that product marketing has a strong GTM focus and is aligned with the organization's overall marketing strategy.

The bottom line is that regardless of the placement of the PMM team, it must facilitate collaboration between different functions within the organization - especially the product and marketing functions.