If it quacks like a PMM š„
Am I a Content Leader or a PMM?
The last time my designation was officially Product Marketing Manager was 2020.
Unmetric ā the startup where I was simultaneously the PMM, the content marketer, and, for a while there, somehow also the person who wrote UX copy ā was acquired by Falcon.io, which eventually merged with Brandwatch. Much of my work from 2018 to 2022 now exists only in my memory and the Internet Archiveās good graces. Two extra strands of hair lost every time I open my portfolio to confirm this. :)
But one thing that (thankfully) didnāt disappear with the acquisition is the muscle.
Since 2022, I've been heading a Content & Creative team. Content Marketer is what it says on paper.
But in practice, I've facilitated several positioning workshops to pressure-test our messaging and sharpen our USP. I've led market entry research that shaped both the content plan and the strategic framing underneath it. I work with Sales on an ongoing basis to understand where our messaging lands and where it loses people. And I own product launches end-to-end, from the core messaging framework down to the copy on the final asset that goes live on launch day.
Soā¦ Am I a PMM?
Well, not really.
This duck unfortunately walks like a Content Marketer and quacks like a PMM.
As in, Iāve spent my career not fitting cleanly into either lane.
Typically, the PMM builds the strategy, packages it into a brief, and passes it to the Content team. The Content team produces polished assets for use across channels.
In my case, however, Iāve inadvertently done both. From 2016 to 2020 as a Product Marketer who created multi-channel content. And from 2020 to 2026 as a Content Marketer who somehow also does the launch strategy, positioning, and competitive research.
Aaaand, I wouldnāt have it any other way.
The overlap is the point
IMO: The mid-sized SaaS companies where the PMM and the Content Lead are the same person, or work close enough to be the same person, are onto something.
While I do believe these are two different functions with their own processes and value, both teams do need to know the otherās work to have a successful GTM motion.
From a Content seat, this looks like not limiting my teamās scope to mere launch deliverables.
With every feature launch, we also look at whether every asset is aligned with the positioning, if the competitive intelligence is actually showing up in the narrative (instead of, ya know, that one slide deck 3 people have seen), and if weāre launching around what the user gains and not just what the product does.
These are PMM questions but asking them from a Content seat has made my work more rewarding. And these are essential skills for Content teams to have so they donāt become the de facto arts and crafts department.
Content Marketing is not your arts and crafts department.
Weāre not just here to write pretty words
The one thing earlier-career me did that I now use as advice to every new content marketer is this: ask why now before asking what are we writing.
Youāre not just the āwords personā. Youāre not here to execute on someone else's vision and make it look pretty. You're here to figure out what strategic problem exists in the market and solve it with words.
This framing changes everything about how you write a brief, run a launch, and measure whether the work actually did anything.
Finalā¦ quack? š£
I still reach for different titles depending on the room. Content Marketer when Iām talking about the work. Product-Led Content Marketer when Iām trying to explain why I care about the positioning doc as much as the copy.
But if the last ten years have taught me anything, itās that the title matters less than whether youāre asking the right questions before you write a single word.
No matter what the role is, I do wish to keep writing about it on here, and hopefully at a better cadence than the one I have going right now. ;)