David Sanderson

My experience is probably a bit unique, but it may be helpful to those interested in the role. I started my career in a technical support/customer success role, then later moved into an entry-level product management role (probably most aligned with a product or business analyst), and then moved into product marketing as at an associate level. This was all at the same company over a number of years, so I already had a deep knowledge of the customer, their fears and frustrations, etc., as well as our products, by the time I moved into my associate product marketing role. I also spent a number of years as a freelance content marketing creator early in my career when I was still in my support role where I worked directly with my CMO at that time (again, all at the same company). So I had already proven that I was a good writer, knew our products, and knew our market/customer base. These three aspects are key to product marketing. So key, I'll say it again: know your market, know your products, and be a good communicator. When a position was open, they contacted me; I didn't even have much of an interview process. I essentially started and hit the ground running on day 1. But again, this was all at the same company over a multi-year period before I moved into product marketing. So all of that to say, that if you want your first product marketing role, start planting those seeds today. And if you can't check those boxes yet (market, products, and communication), start creating ways or building relationships in which you can achieve each of those.