PMA releases annual ‘State of Product Marketing’ report

published on 09 November 2021

Product Marketing Alliance (PMA), an international membership organization for the product marketing community has released its annual ‘State of Product Marketing’ report, based on survey data from over 2,000 product marketing professionals.

The survey paints a hopeful picture of the product marketing space while revealing the challenges that product marketing managers (PMMs) face. 66.5% of respondents said they are keen to enter the next stage of their career in product marketing, while only 4.5% said that they were looking to leave the field. This is despite only 5% of respondents saying that they are sure that their role is understood by their organization.

The survey also shows that a large percentage of PMMs work alone - 21.1% said that they were the only product marketers in their company. They are also highly active, with 32.8% being responsible for five or more products, a small increase over previous years.

Interestingly, despite being known as the “the voice of the customer”, one in five product marketers said they do not speak directly with their customers, and disappointingly, the level of influence PMMs have on their product’s direction dipped slightly compared to last year’s findings.

PMA’s founder, Richard King, says of the report:

“We were blown away by how well last year’s State of Product Marketing report went down and I’m confident 2020’s edition won’t disappoint. There are some really interesting stats in here and being able to now compare many of them, like-for-like, to 2019’s data has provided us - and hopefully you - with a really rich source of data.”

Of the surveys 2,000 PMMs, almost two thirds (64.2%) were from North America, with Europe (24.4%) and Asia (5.6%) the second and third-best represented continents.

Richard King concludes by saying:

“On the whole, both in and outside of this report, I think it’s fair to say the role of Product Marketing is well and truly on the up and gaining momentum worldwide, but there are definitely some areas in need of improvement - for example, with the level of influence PMMs have, how many say they feel valued, and the number of Product Marketers who say their internal counterparts 100% understand the nature and value of their role.”

And Kompyte, who sponsored the report, commented:

“The 2020 State of Product Marketing Report is truly a comprehensive view of all things product marketing. From the breadth and depth of data collected to the range of participant experience from different industries and company sizes. This report provides a benchmark for those working to not only grow their functions but elevate their role and overall strategy.”

The full report can be viewed here.

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Product Marketing Alliance was founded in February 2019 with a mission of uniting product marketers across the globe. And it did just that. Within just 12 months of launching, it gathered more than 10,000 enthusiasts from the USA to Russia, Greece to Germany, England to Australia. All with one shared goal: to drive demand, adoption, and the overall success of their products.

Contact details:

Bryony Pearce

Head of Content

bryony@pmmalliance.com

+44 7824 394 237

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