AMA: Klaviyo Director of Product Marketing, Jenna Crane on Product Marketing Interviews

As you can probably tell, I am a big fan of focusing on process, not just outcomes. I like to ask people to walk me through a project they led, and I ask them plenty of questions — things like 'why did you decide to position it that way?' or 'what was the most difficult part of the process, and how did you handle it?' Usually when you dig into the details it becomes apparent whether they led the work autonomously or just played a small part. I'm also a big fan of hypotheticals. I give someone a scenario that is well within the scope of what they would be doing in the role, give them plenty of background context (and make sure they know they can ask me for more information), and then ask them to walk me through how they would approach it. 

Getting on my soapbox here for a second (though I suppose I've been on it this whole time) — make sure your resume is concise and clear. It should be 2 pages MAX, ideally 1 page. I don't care if you've been in the industry for 30 years, you should be able to distill down your experience into 1 or 2 pages. I've passed on candidates who technically have strong experience because their resume is a long rambling mess that I tried to read and couldn't get through. This sounds like a ridiculous and arbitrary practice, but it's not. Here's why. Your resume is the first work sample you submit. It's an example of how you position yourself as a candidate. Think of it like a one-pager you'd make for sales, but about yourself. If a candidate struggles to convey their experience (and value) in a clear, concise, and compelling way, the same will be true for how they market our company and our products. 

My favorite question is "What would be your positioning statement for yourself as a product marketer?" I love that question because it shows me how comfortable they are with the basics of positioning, and it tells me a lot about the aspects of product marketing that they care most about. For example, they may highlight their strength in messaging and positioning, or their customer-centricity, or their ability to partner with teams across the company. It's also another opportunity to see how they communciate complex concepts in a clear, concise, and compelling way. I've heard a lot of great responses, and there is no right answer. But I always come away with a deeper understanding of how they view their strengths, as well as the type of work they like to do.

I'd recommend having on hand: * Your story. Be prepared to give a brief walkthrough of your background and experience. I always like to see when someone has a strong narrative about their career — why they made each move, the highlights of their experience and what they learned, and what they're looking for next. * An example of a product launch or major project you led that you were particularly proud of. Be prepared to talk about the process of putting it together, any difficulties you faced and how you overcame them, and what the impact was (with actual metrics like revenue, product adoption, or awareness / engagment lift if you can!). * Examples of how you've worked with each of the functions represented on the interview panel. If you're speaking with a PM, a sales director, and a performance marketer, for example, prep stories about how you've worked with product, sales, and performance marketing. * A few companies that you think are doing product marketing well. The first time I got asked this question in an interview, I didn't have an answer prepared, and it was super tough to think of a few on the spot. You may not get asked this question, but you'll be grateful to have an answer in your back pocket if you do. * Questions for each of the panelists. Even if they're basic ones like 'how do you envision the person in this role will work with your team?' or 'what are the characteristics of people who are really successful at this company?' you don't want to be left without any questions for the interviewer. 

Make sure you talk about the process! That includes: * What was the existing state when you started (i.e. messaging didn't exist, it did exist but it was falling flat / was outdated, etc.)? * How did you go about developing the messaging (i.e. what inputs did you use)? * How did you test and/or validate it with customers / prospects? * How did you socialize it and get buy-in internally? How did you roll it out? * How was it received in the market? (Can be anecdotal if needed, but of course ideal to have actual quantified impact) * What was the most difficult aspect of it, and how did you overcome it? (For example, the market was super crowded and differentiation was hard to come by, internal stakeholders had lots of strong and divergent opinions, etc.) The actual messaging output itself is important, but I also care deeply about how you got there, because that's what gives me confidence that you can do it again successfully. 

Absolutely writing samples! I always ask for those. (As you can tell from my other answers, communication is something I care deeply about!) Case studies, landing pages, pitch decks / other enablement assets, and messaging frameworks can also be great additions to a portfolio. Just make sure you can speak to the process of building those, because it's impossible to know just from looking at them how much was built by the candidate vs. a collaborator. What really makes a candidate stand out, I've found, is a short 'about me' deck. I've seen some great decks that include: * Work samples (including some commentary about the process of developing that work) * Some thoughts about their approach to product marketing * A slide or two about their career and the highlights of their experience * Bonus: Something that tells me a little bit about who they are as a person outside of work (hobbies, things they're passionate about, etc.) Not only is this full of great insight into the candidate, but it's also a great example of how they position themselves. It's essentially a sales enablement asset, which should hopefully translate into how well they can do that for our company and products. 

1. They didn't prepare. It's really hard to justify moving a candidate forward if they don't know basic details about our company, their answers lack details and depth, and/or they don't have questions for the interviewer. 2. They are too long-winded or rambling, and/or their answers are mostly jargon. Of course we want to hear candidates reference terms we use in our day-to-day work. But if all their answers are more buzzwords than substance, or if they struggle to communicate in a concise and clear way, we have to pass. So much of product marketing success is about effective communication — with customers and prospects, as well as people across the company — so I give this a lot of weight. 3. They can't effectively connect with cross-functional partners on the panel. We make sure our panels have key partners from the cross-functional teams they'd work closely with. Sometimes we see candidates struggle to build rapport or have productive conversations with those interviewers, which can indicate they may not have enough experience working with those teams. (It also doesn't make those key stakeholders super excited to partner with that person.) Less common but even more concerning: we sometimes see people who, in trying to talk about their experience working with that function, inadvertently disparage that function. (For example, throwing their current product team under the bus is always concerning, but especially when talking to a PM.) That's a big red flag.

I think the best product marketing candidates — and product marketers — have one thing in common: empathy. Empathy helps you understand where others are coming from, and that is the foundation of great messaging & positioning as well as great collaboration. If you can put yourselves in your customers' and prospects' shoes — what they care about, their needs and pain points, what success looks like to them, their emotional state at different phases of the customer journey, etc. — you are halfway to creating great messaging. And if you can put yourselves in the shoes of your cross-functional partners — what they care about, what they're worried about, and what success looks like to them — that is the foundation of a strong and productive collaboration. 

Prep and practice! Prep your answers beforehand, have them on hand for reference if you need them. Practice by getting in more reps. Talking about yourself and your experience gets easier every time, and you get more insight into the types of questions that come up (so you can improve your prep).