AMA: OkCupid Director of Product Marketing, Jane Reynolds on Product Marketing Skills

It depends on the role. As Head of Product Marketing at OkCupid, I rely on data and analytics to drive product decisions. But ultimately, my priority is ensuring that our product lives up to our brand narrative and mission. Ultimately, a product marketer’s job is to ensure synergy between the product and the brand. Like with any hard skill, analytical knowledge can be learned; brand skills can be learned as well, but involve skills such as intuition and clear communication.

I started my career in editorial, and didn’t transition over to marketing until about six years ago. I can’t stress enough how important sharp communication and collaboration skills are when it comes to product marketing. So I’m incredibly grateful I first had the opportunity to focus on my writing and messaging before I switched to product marketing because it helped me develop the core components of communication, collaborating, and clarity. But since product marketing incorporates skills utilized in both technical and non-technical roles, there are numerous areas you can transition from: editorial, brand, buyer, you name it. In your resume, highlight when you’ve worked cross-functionally, and when you’ve used both qualitative and quantitative data to make decisions. It’s true that most product marketing roles incorporate data analysis and pricing optimization, but in many entry-level product marketing roles, these can be learned on the job. The qualities I prioritize are leadership skills, curiosity, collaboration (I know I’ve said this a lot, but it’s true!), and a positive, ambitious attitude.

Reach out to the product marketing network! Sharebird is a great place to start :) And I find that LinkedIn is another helpful resource for connecting with other product marketers to get insights from their experiences as well. Not only can people share case studies from the work they’ve done, but they can also provide guidance and feedback, and act as mentors. There are also a lot of wonderful classes available, including via Product Marketing Alliance. Check with your employer as you may be able to expense these classes as a career development opportunity.

Messaging is so important, not only when conveying new features, updates, and opportunities to your customers, but also when getting internal buy-in and gathering resources for a go-to-market plan. Start by putting together your message, focusing most importantly on the value, as well as the must-knows and how-tos. What are you providing to the user (or colleague), or trying to get them to do, and why does it benefit them? And see how other companies approach similar topics. Just because a competitor is doing something, it doesn’t mean to do the same—it could mean to do the exact opposite! But it’s helpful to have some context on what else is out there. Then, seek out feedback. Trust me, people love to give feedback on messaging ;) Get as much feedback as possible and note the trends—were there changes most recommended you make? Were there certain pieces that really resonated? And finally, test and test again. At OkCupid, we’re constantly AB testing our messaging in the app and our CRM to make sure we’re speaking clearly and thoughtfully to our users. If the goal of a new feature is adoption, test out different CTAs and see which ones drive the most click-throughs and use of the feature. Also be sure to note that different demos may respond differently, too. For example, you may find that millennials respond better to Test A whereas Gen Z responds better to Test B. The more targeted you can be, the better.

I agree that soft skills are key, and highlighting them during “STAR” stories is a great way to work them into your interview. You can also share them when expressing your interest in the role and/or asking about the role. Most job descriptions include some mention of soft skills, so note that when discussing the role with your interviewer and how the role felt like a great fit for you because of that. Ask about which soft skills the interviewer is looking for, and highlight which ones are your strengths.

I find that people with strong soft skills often have the ability to pick up the hard skills quickly. People who’ve honed their soft skills are proactive about asking the right questions, and are motivated to sharpen any hard skills that may be lacking, or need improvement. In basically any role that involves collaboration and teamwork (and which roles don’t?), the soft skills are most important for getting internal buy-in, planning a go-to-market strategy, and adjusting seamlessly when any issues arise. Of course basic hard skills in the area you’re applying for are required, but I focus on a candidate’s soft skills when assessing their fit for a role.

Clarity is key. With both internal and external comms, I focus on being as clear and concise as possible. And for internal communications, it’s important to make sure your colleagues see you as a resource. I always encourage anyone with questions or comments to reach out to me directly. When I’m writing an internal email, I think through what I would ask about the project I’m either proposing or reporting on. What is the purpose of this email? Why is it important? What research has already been done? What outstanding questions do we still have? Who does this impact? And never hesitate to ask a colleague to give it a once-over before sending it out to the group.

It sounds like the feedback you’re getting may not be constructive, so I encourage you to ask your boss for specific examples, as well as recommendations of how they can see you improving. It’s more than okay—it’s appreciated—to be honest that you want more from the feedback so you can ingest it and apply it to future projects. Even if you don’t agree with the feedback, understanding how they got there will help with finding a common ground and creating goals together. Be proactive and schedule regular check-ins so you can be sure you’re both on the same page; doing this shows initiative which a good boss will respect.

A collaborative attitude is a must. Product marketing is one of the most cross-functional roles in any company, so the ability to work well with colleagues in every vertical of the business is vital. Hand in hand with this is strong communication skills. Product marketers drive both internal and external messaging, so being able to communicate succinctly and effectively is key.

It’s so important to understand the lift of the project you’re petitioning to add to the roadmap when approaching the team. If you’re not sure, speak with the stakeholders beforehand. When I first began my career in product marketing, many product features I thought would be a relatively low lift were not, and vice versa—which could lead to me not giving enough lead time on a feature, or prioritizing projects that weren’t as impactful. Even now that I have a deep understanding of the mechanics of our product, I confirm the required work of any ideas we’re working on before bringing to roadmap planning. And whenever I can, I build off of product features we already have, or have created before, to cut down on unnecessary work. It’s also important to give as much lead time as possible when you can. At OkCupid, sometimes our product marketing asks are responses to moments in time and we can’t give prior notice. For example, when the BLM movement began in 2020, we knew showing support was incredibly important to our users and we wanted to give them that opportunity as soon as possible. Our product team dropped everything, and we were able to deliver a BLM profile badge within four days. And while that was certainly not advanced notice, having that be an outlier versus the norm helped to get the team on board to drive it forward; that, plus the fact that the entire OkCupid team felt strongly about showing our support, and letting our users do the same.

The voice of the customer should be what drives your decisions as a PMM, and it reaches you through various channels. In some instances for OkCupid, that is completely data-driven. For example, when Roe vs Wade was overturned in 2021, we saw an 18% increase in users stating they are pro-choice on their profiles, so it was clear that finding a pro-choice partner was increasingly important to our users. Therefore, we launched our I’m Pro-Choice profile badge so users could filter for other users who were pro-choice. And it worked: people with the badge are nearly 2x more likely to get a reply to a message compared to those who don’t have it. Other times, we are driven by ideas and feedback from our users (and potential users) that may come more anecdotally. We see what our key demo is discussing on social media and what topics are trending, and implement new features. Recently, we added new matching questions written by ChatGPT because we found that millennials and Gen Z are more and more interested in AI and how it will begin to play more of a role in our everyday lives. Those questions now have hundreds of thousands of responses from our users. Having data to back up decisions and new product features is vital. But it’s important to remember the human aspect of the product you deliver, and listen to what your customer may be saying beyond just on your platform.

First off, congrats! The positive impact that can have on revenue and growth is pretty remarkable. When standing up a new function, I always think broadly to start. For example, when considering “competitors”—think beyond your direct competitors so you can cover a more robust scope. A company in a parallel industry can be just as helpful a case study as one in the same industry. At OkCupid, we’re often looking to social media and self-improvement apps for inspiration. Analysis will also be key. Be sure to have the tools in place so that analysis will be accessible for all stakeholders. Transparency is so important when analyzing data. And on that note, make sure everyone’s aligned on the function’s KPIs from the start; plan a weekly email or sync to review updates and unforeseen issues. Finally, it’ll be important for the function to be closely aligned with the product and marketing teams. These teams will help bring the learnings to life. Let them know about the analysis you’re most excited about so they can add any pieces that may be helpful for their teams in creating new features.