We’re glue. But we’re far from crazy.

There’s an analogy I use to explain what product marketing is to people who don’t know.

It’s really quite simple: I ask them to think about the Introvert-Extrovert spectrum. Then I ask them if they would agree that engineers, technical people, and product managers tend to linger more at the introvert side, while sales and marketing folks tend to linger toward the extrovert side. Sure, there are individual exceptions but overall there’s pretty strong agreement.

From here, people typically share stories about how these two sides are rarely comfortable in each other’s company. Right?

Then I say ‘well, that’s exactly the space where product marketers thrive!’.

Our chameleonic nature lets us glide fluidly from one side of this spectrum to the other. We’re equally comfortable talking backlog and roadmap with the Product folks as we are strategizing messaging with Marketing or doing a customer demo of a new feature for Sales. Both sides love us for our ability to be ‘one of them’.

That’s why we’re the glue. We bind all these teams together smoothly and effectively, serving as the conduit between all of them. We feed market and persona data to Product, we feed messaging and positioning to Marketing, and we help Sales master the product and refine & differentiate their pitches.

But we’re not crazy glue! These other teams may see us as a little weird, but they’re deeply grateful for us for being great listeners, great helpers, and keeping them well insulated from each other ;)

Wear it with pride, fellow PMMs. We are the glue that keeps the larger team intact and moving. Without product marketing, either important information and capabilities are lacking or they’re owned by someone who already owns enough and isn’t doing it justice.

Be the glue!