Building the Product Marketing Function with Deanna Dong

"Product marketing at its core, it's really about connecting your customers with your products. It's quite simple, right? Customers have many different choices and you get to make the argument for why they choose you.”

In this episode, Krystina Rubino sits down with Deanna Dong, the product marketing lead at Writer, a generative AI company. Formerly the VP of Marketing at Wealthfront, Deanna’s experience in early to late stage companies across AI, SaaS, healthcare, FinTech, and crypto gives her a unique perspective on the role of product marketing at any company.

Deanna dives deep into why product marketing is crucial for startups and what it takes to build this function from the ground up. Get tips on how to effectively align internal stakeholders, the importance of experimenting with positioning and messaging, and when to hire your first product marketer.

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⏰ Timestamps:

00:00 Introducing Deanna Dong, Head of Product Marketing at Writer

01:15 Explaining the foundational role of product marketing in startup success

03:00 Exploration of product marketing's evolution from early to later stage companies

04:26 The importance of target audience identification and the pitfalls of a broad target approach

05:35 How product marketing gets operationalized through collaboration and internal alignment

06:24 Discussion on tactical steps for establishing effective product positioning

07:36 Utilizing customer feedback and competitive analysis to refine product marketing strategies

09:04 The challenges of aligning various team opinions and the strategies to manage them effectively

10:42 A/B test segment comparing different marketing strategies and personal preferences

27:44 The transition from early to later stages in product marketing roles and the ideal timing to hire a product marketing manager

31:25 Leveraging AI in product marketing and the future of the role in an AI-driven landscape

35:38 Deanna shares her personal career path and the lessons learned from navigating various roles and taking sabbaticals

45:32 Closing thoughts and the importance of figuring out personal career desires and goals

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🔗 Mentioned in this episode

Writer: www.writer.com

Wealthfront: www.wealthfront.com

UserTesting: www.usertesting.com

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