The Secret Sauce: How Marketing & Product Teams Can Better Collaborate

In today’s tech landscape, the relationship between marketing and product teams can make or break a company’s success. When these two departments work in harmony, magic happens - but getting there requires intentional effort and understanding from both sides. 

We had a conversation with Jenna Hasenkampf, a former marketing director turned product manager, who uncovered insights on how these teams can collaborate. 

Why this partnership matters

As Jenna Hasenkampf, a former marketing director turned product manager, puts it: "Product is really at the heart of the company because it's owning why your company exists." This fundamental truth underscores why marketing and product teams need to be in lockstep.

The relationship between these teams isn't just about launching features or creating promotional materials – it's about truly understanding and serving customer needs. When marketing and product teams collaborate effectively, they create a powerful feedback loop that drives both product innovation and market success.

Keys to successful collaboration

1. Share Customer Insights Regularly

Both teams bring unique perspectives on customer needs and behavior. Product teams often have deep insights into how customers use the product, while marketing teams understand how customers perceive and evaluate it in the market.

Jenna emphasizes the importance of sharing these different viewpoints: "Marketing will be able to tell us like, here's how your competitor is selling and what they're saying when they're selling against you... There's a lot of back and forth there."

2. Align on Product Understanding

Marketing teams need to deeply understand the product to communicate its value effectively. As Jenna notes, this means product teams should share key resources:

• Product personas

• Competitor and category analysis

• Product requirements documents

• Feature roadmaps

• Product strategy

3. Break Down Communication Silos

One crucial insight from the discussion is that product marketing shouldn't be the only connection between marketing and product teams. Brand marketing and other functions need to be involved too, as they all contribute to how the product is positioned and perceived in the market.

4. Focus on the 'Why'

Both teams need to understand not just what customers are asking for, but why they're asking for it. Jenna shares a valuable perspective on this: "Instead of trying to get them through, yes, that is a possible solution. But tell me more about this pain point... The more you understand that pain point, the better you are at understanding what problems to solve."

Creating a Sustainable Partnership

The key to long-term success is creating sustainable channels for collaboration. This means:

• Regular check-ins between teams

• Shared access to customer feedback and insights

• Clear processes for feature launches and marketing campaigns

• Open lines of communication at all levels

When marketing and product teams work together effectively, they create a powerful engine for company growth and customer satisfaction. The result? Better products that truly meet customer needs and marketing that authentically communicates their value.

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