You're leading a product marketing initiative you genuinely believe in, but every direction you turn, someone else is fighting for the same limited resources, stakeholder attention, and executive patience. If you don't sell your vision, your project gets cut or starved of support before it ever has a chance to shine. That's the reality for PMMs inside big organisations, where the work isn't just about go-to-market strategy but winning the time and space to actually do it right.

John McKiernan joins us as a product marketing leader at Postman who previously led the launch for Jira Product Discovery, the fastest growing product in Atlassian's history. John shares how he's mastered internal buy-in using frameworks that simplify complexity, narratives that create emotional connection, and experimentation that builds credibility when everyone's fighting for limited resources.

He reveals his strategy of treating internal projects like public product launches by giving them brands and compelling stories. John walks us through his Race Car Growth Framework that uses analogies like growth engines and turbo boosts to simplify complex strategies for executives. Central to this approach is genuine commitment to experimentation that builds trust with stakeholders who've been burned by overpromised initiatives before.

We also critique the messaging of Lovable, an AI-powered software development platform that builds full-stack applications from natural language prompts. John spots opportunities to strengthen their narrative by aligning storytelling with measurable outcomes and integrating clear evidence of success that ties back to tangible business objectives.

Key Takeaways: 

• Treat internal initiatives like external product launches with brands and compelling narratives 

• Use the Race Car Growth Framework to simplify complex strategies for executive audiences 

• Build credibility through documented experimentation rather than gut-feel proposals 

• Align product storytelling with measurable outcomes and stakeholder KPIs

LINKS

Lenny’s Racecar Growth Framework 

Lovable (messaging critique):  https://lovable.dev/ 

Connect with John: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-mckiernan-1a6b2719/ 

Connect with Elle:

Website: www.productmarketingadventures.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/

Remember when Netflix was just a DVD-by-mail rental service? Or when Apple only sold computers? Every giant brand started with a single, simple product story, but once you expand with more offerings, the narrative gets messy fast. Most PMMs face this brutal reality: you've built something genuinely valuable that solves multiple problems, but explaining it without confusing everyone feels impossible. You're stuck in the platform storytelling paradox where companies either lose deals or leave massive opportunities untapped.

Jonathan Pipek and Craig Brown join us as two experts who've cracked this code across dozens of companies. Jonathan is the founder of Blue Manta Consulting, having built PMM departments from scratch and mentored over 90 PMMs across 20 countries. Craig is the founder of Troubadour, the UK's first dedicated product marketing consultancy for B2B tech, and founding product marketer at fast-growing startups like Beamery and Invisible. Together, they walk us through a transformative case study where they helped a European legal tech company transition from single product story to platform narrative whilst entering the US market.

Their process reveals a five-step playbook for platform storytelling that actually sticks, starting with comprehensive internal alignment and market research before building flexible messaging frameworks. Jonathan emphasizes handling the potential sales cycle slowdowns that accompany strategic shifts, whilst Craig focuses on creating messages centered on problem-solving and clear benefits rather than feature lists. The key insight? Platform storytelling is as much an internal alignment process as it is an external marketing exercise.

We also dive into our messaging critique of Metomic's data privacy solutions, where Jonathan and Craig illustrate how subtle shifts in language and strategic positioning transform overly technical narratives into clear, compelling stories aligned with customer pain points. Their experience proves that platform messaging isn't just strategic repositioning but crafting stories that resonate internally and externally, guiding companies toward future growth whilst maintaining what made the original story work.

LINKS

Metomic (messaging critique): https://www.metomic.io/ 

Connect with Jonathan: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathanpipek/ 

Connect with Craig:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/craigobrown 

Connect with Elle:

Website: www.productmarketingadventures.com  

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

Change messes with our brains. Psychologists call it a threat state where our amygdalas light up and we resist anything unfamiliar. That's the reality Anand Patel faced at Goldcast when shifting from "just a webinar tool" to owning the full video platform story. Anand joins us as Senior Director of Product Marketing at Goldcast, having built PMM functions from scratch at four different companies and launched over 10 tier-one products. His approach to navigating stakeholder resistance during massive repositioning is what separates attempts that fizzle from ones that fundamentally transform market perception.

The challenge isn't just managing different opinions. It's managing different threat responses across sales, customer success, leadership, and customers, each with legitimate concerns rooted in human resistance to uncertainty. Anand reveals his strategy for treating stakeholders as individuals with distinct needs, fears, and motivations rather than a monolithic group that needs to "get on board." His approach combines transparency with continuous communication, genuine flexibility to alter plans based on feedback, and something most PMMs overlook: openly acknowledging discomfort whilst painting a compelling picture of what's possible.

We also dive into our messaging critique of Remarkable's digital notebook, evaluating how their innovation-focused storytelling could better align with diverse user needs and specific stakeholder pain points. Anand's playbook proves that effective change leadership is both art and science: strategic in approach, empathetic in execution, and relentlessly focused on understanding that resistance isn't the enemy, it's just stakeholders' brains doing exactly what they're designed to do.

LINKS

Remarkable (messaging critique): https://remarkable.com/ 

Connect with Anand: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/anandmpatel/ 

Connect with Elle:

Website: www.productmarketingadventures.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

Launching into a new ideal customer profile is like being traded to a completely different sports league. The rules are different, the competition is unfamiliar, and you've got to earn trust from scratch. Natalie Marcotullio joins us as a rising star in product marketing at Navattic and two-time solo marketer for early-stage SaaS startups who's mastered wearing every hat whilst delivering results. 

Today, Natalie walks us through her step-by-step playbook for navigating uncharted ICP territory with strategic precision that separates successful launches from expensive experiments. We dive into her foundation-first approach, including how she leveraged insider insights from Navattic's founder to build narratives that genuinely resonated with solution engineers, and her revolutionary use of custom GPT for internal enablement that replaced endless Google docs with interactive, targeted messaging support.

We cover Natalie's data-driven segmentation strategy that combines rigorous science with creative intuition, her sophisticated launch execution featuring tiered email campaigns and CEO-level personalization, and the momentum-building tactics that kept conversations flowing through webinars and strategic partnerships. We also explore our messaging critique of Loop and Tie's sustainable gifting platform, brainstorming ways to enhance clarity and spotlight real customer impact through authentic storytelling.

If you're gearing up for an ICP launch or questioning your current strategy, Natalie's playbook offers something most frameworks miss: heart and purpose behind every tactical decision. It's not just about launching with momentum. It's about launching with intention that sustains long after the initial excitement fades.

LINKS

Loop & Tie (messaging critique): https://www.loopandtie.com/ 

Connect with Natalie: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natalie-marcotullio/ 

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

We all talk about customer obsession, but here's where most PMMs fall short: workload. We carry so much ownership that carving out time for true customer insight feels impossible, yet without it, your ICP is a guess and your go-to-market strategy rests on hope instead of evidence. Today, we're unpacking how to stop talking about customer obsession and start building a voice of customer system that actually scales within the constraints of a busy PMM's reality.

Langley Barth joins us with an unconventional path from US Naval officer leading warships and ballistic missile defense missions to lead PMM at Intuit, where he's reimagining professional tax software for high-value firms. His foundation of empathy, discipline, and service has translated beautifully into championing customer voices. When he's not mentoring hundreds of military veterans or working at Intuit, you'll find him tending to his San Diego backyard mini orchard of 16 fruit trees and thousands of honeybees.

Lang reveals his structured approach to building scalable voice of customer systems that fit into already packed PMM schedules, including how he leverages AI tools like Google's Notebook LM to extract patterns from customer feedback and transforms insights into actionable strategies through cross-functional alignment. We also explore our messaging critique of Eight Sleep's compelling but stats-heavy approach to sleep technology marketing, discussing how brands can weave more storytelling into impressive performance claims.

LINKS

Eight Sleep (messaging critique): https://www.eightsleep.com 

Connect with Langley: 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/langleybarth/  

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

Feeling overlooked as a Product Marketing Manager? If you're not evangelizing your value, someone else is defining it for you. PMMs possess a powerful blend of strategy, insight, and impact, yet we're often the best-kept secret in our own organizations.

Today I'm sharing insights from my conversation with Hattie, PMM founder of productmarketers.com. By her twenties, she'd built and exited her own company, then became CMO at Tempo Software where she drove substantial ARR growth as their sole PMM. Hattie's become the voice PMMs turn to when they're ready to be seen for their authentic expertise—not just as messengers delivering someone else's vision.

We explore Hattie's strategic playbook for making your value undeniable: mapping your internal power players, cultivating champions who advocate for you, and creating a visibility system that connects your work to business outcomes. The biggest shift is embracing your authentic strengths as your competitive edge. Recognition isn't about working harder—it's about strategic positioning and consistent communication.

We also dive into our messaging critique of Guideflow's website. Despite delightful animations, they were underselling themselves with scattered messaging. Their challenge mirrors our own as PMMs: stop apologising for your expertise and start owning your unique value proposition. Diluted messaging gets diluted results.

Consider joining initiatives like Hattie's PMM challenge for practical strategies and community support. Because the best PMMs don't just execute campaigns—they shape how organizations understand and value product marketing itself.

Your expertise deserves recognition. Time to make sure it gets it.

LINKS

The Profitable PMM Challenge

Guideflow (messaging critique): https://www.guideflow.com/ 

Connect with Hattie:

Website: https://www.productmarketers.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hattiethepmm 

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

Moving upmarket to Fortune 1000 accounts isn't just about great products—it's about building trust with complex buying committees. Kevin Gough joins us as one of the most creative problem solvers in product marketing, from launching Google Cloud products to leading category-defining efforts at Okta, Asana, and Grammarly. Today he's sharing how he built trust strategies that opened enterprise doors and helped Okta beat Microsoft at their own game.

Kevin reveals his approach to mapping each stakeholder's unique trust requirements—treating trust like a product with features and proof points. We explore Okta's "trust ecosystem," including their genius microsite showcasing uptime data and compliance documentation usually buried in legal folders. This wasn't transparency theater; it was demonstrating trust with actual receipts that transformed market perceptions.

The magic happened when Kevin mobilized the entire go-to-market team around trust, transforming it from marketing message to company-wide mission. His approach proves platform storytelling isn't about louder claims—it's about earning trust one stakeholder at a time, proving even Microsoft-sized giants become beatable when you get trust right.

LINKS

Rippling (messaging critique): https://www.rippling.com/ 

Connect with Kevin:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevingough/ 

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

What happens when the market shifts or your product evolves so dramatically that your positioning story no longer fits? Today we're exploring one of the boldest moves a PMM can make—shaping or even creating an entire market category. Whether you're redefining your space, staking a claim in an emerging category, or building one from scratch, this is where strategy, narrative, and business collide in ways that can make or break your product's future.

Michael Olson joins us as Senior Director of Product Marketing at Splunk, recognized as a top 100 PMM on ShareBird and founder of the Product Marketer blog. Michael's the person teams turn to for tough questions, customer advocacy, and thoughtful strategy. He walks us through his decision-making framework for category creation: creating a new market category for game-changing products, redefining existing categories with fresh twists, or expanding into adjacent markets with new perspectives.

Our conversation covers Michael's five-step narrative crafting process—identifying big changes, framing problems, de-positioning the status quo, describing the promised land, and framing your category as the pathway forward. We dive into securing internal buy-in through company roadshows and external activation via analyst engagements and strategic marketing campaigns. Michael shares a real case study from Splunk's challenge of associating with the observability market, resulting in improved brand recall and industry leadership status.

Michael's advice for aspiring PMMs centers on being pragmatic whilst keeping customers front and center, using language that genuinely resonates with your audience. He encourages PMMs to venture beyond product expertise and become market maestros who understand competitor strategies and market nuances—because there's nothing quite like market mastery to bolster your career journey!

Key Takeaways:

• Market category creation requires strategic decision-making - Choose between creating new categories, redefining existing ones, or expanding into adjacent markets based on your product's unique position

• Five-step narrative framework drives category success - Identify big changes, frame problems, de-position status quo, describe the promised land, and frame your category as the solution pathway

• Internal buy-in precedes external activation - Run company roadshows to secure internal support before launching analyst engagements and strategic marketing campaigns

• Customer-centric language trumps product expertise - Use terminology that resonates with your audience rather than internal jargon or technical specifications

• Market mastery accelerates PMM careers - Understanding competitor strategies and market nuances beyond product knowledge creates significant career advancement opportunities

LINKS

Walnut io (messaging critique): https://www.walnut.io/ 

Connect with Michael:

Website: https://theproductmarketer.com/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelolson1/ 

Sharebird: https://sharebird.com/profile/michael-olson 

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

Most PMMs pride themselves on being customer obsessed, but there's another critical audience we often overlook—our own sales teams. If you want your product to win in the market, you have to win over the people taking it to market. Today we're exploring how to move beyond handing off enablement decks to truly influencing how your sales team operates, transforming them from order-takers into strategic partners who genuinely understand your product's value.

Sharon Markowitz joins us with experience leading product and partner marketing at Atlassian, LinkedIn, Intuit, and Zoom. Named a top 100 product marketing mentor by ShareBird, Sharon's also founder of Your Career Wings, coaching marketers on upskilling and career development. At Zoom, she encountered a classic challenge during rapid expansion—standard functionalities weren't meeting customer expectations, creating conversion bottlenecks that required innovative solutions beyond traditional PMM approaches.

Sharon's breakthrough came when she stepped outside conventional PMM roles, establishing a sales incentive program funded by the marketing budget. By listening to sales reps who wanted simple perks like company swag, she built a program that energized the sales force and propelled deals forward. Her deep engagement wasn't just about meetings or chat channels—it was fostering genuine relationships and maintaining alignment with sales objectives, ultimately driving millions in new customer value.

We also dive into Sharon's four-step playbook for sales influence: listen attentively to both external customers and internal teams, embed yourself in sales calls to understand their needs, build initiatives collaboratively with the sales team, and be bold enough to step outside your lane when business demands it. Plus, we explore our messaging critique of Time Left, a B2C app connecting strangers for midweek dinners, and Sharon shares insights on keeping messaging simple while identifying growth opportunities.

For those looking to tap into Sharon's expertise further, she is offering personalized coaching with Your Career Wings & a 20% discount with PODCAST20 on your first paid booking of 1:1 Career Coaching Session through August 31, 2025.

This is an incredibly insightful conversation with Sharon, and I hope you're inspired to transform your approach and break creative boundaries in your own career.

LINKS

Time Left (messaging critique): https://timeleft.com/ 

Connect with Sharon Markowitz on LinkedIn

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/ 

Most PMMs don't track customer lifetime value, but we absolutely should. When you understand CLV, every trade-off becomes crystal clear—you know exactly where to focus your energy and can shape strategies around what actually retains your best customers. 

Today we're diving into how Visa built their lifecycle marketing practice from scratch, turning one-and-done transactions into proper repeat engagement.

Terry Setiz joins me with 20+ years at Coca-Cola, HBO, Hasbro, and Visa. Here's what surprised me: Visa isn't a credit card company—they're a payment tech powerhouse (obvious, once you think about it!). Terry’s team embraced e-commerce with Visa Checkout, smashed down silos between marketing and IT, and created the genius 'One Hand' campaign featuring NFL stars making touchdowns while checking out simultaneously.

Terry's golden advice? Stop treating product launches like tick-box exercises. Think long game, experiment like a mad scientist, and don't be scared to pivot when data tells you to. His approach proves that understanding your market and solid KPIs keep everyone aligned whilst building for both today's wins and tomorrow's growth.

For our messaging critique segment of the show, Terry chose Modelo Beer as our subject. He praises their authentic tagline 'Brewed for those with a fighting spirit' for genuinely resonating with working-class audiences who take pride in hard work. However, he warns against generic sponsorships and endless product extensions that could water down their strong brand identity.

Terry brings us a masterclass in turning CLV insights into actionable strategy. Consider this your guide to understanding how your customers' true long-term value can transform every strategic decision you make as a PMM.

Key Takeaways:

• CLV clarity transforms every PMM decision because you finally know the actual long-term payoff, not just vanity metrics.
• Breaking down silos between marketing and IT creates go-to-market magic that addresses real needs whilst making life easier for users.
• Treat launches as continuous journeys focused on repeat engagement rather than forgettable one-time events.
• Creative campaigns with relatable stories demolish feature-focused messaging, especially when solving actual pain points.
• Strategic KPI alignment with executives keeps long-term vision intact whilst smashing immediate growth targets.

Terry’s Formula:

Customer Lifetime Value = (Average Purchase Value x Purchase Frequency x Customer Lifespan)

LINKS

Modelo Beer: https://www.modelousa.com/

Connect with Terry:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/terry-seitz-57aa654/ 

Connect with Elle:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elle3izabeth/