Historically, manufacturing companies have always created roles for product managers, whose job is to help shepherd each new product or product line from its inception through development and ultimately through product launch.
While this is undoubtedly a crucial role, more and more manufacturers are discovering its limitations. Simply put, product managers don't have enough hours in the day to attend to the technical dimensions of a product and the marketing and branding concerns. As such, more and more manufacturers are supporting their product managers with a new position: product marketing managers.
For companies in the food manufacturing space, a product marketing manager can play an essential role in bringing new offerings to the marketplace and positioning them for long-term success. Consider the job description of the product marketing manager and how this role enhances the work done by product managers.
Product Marketing Managers Explained
First and foremost, what is a product marketing manager?
A product marketing manager is responsible for developing and executing strategies to promote a company's products, sometimes an entire product line or family. The person in this role conducts market research to better understand consumer needs, analyze competitors, and identify target demographics.
Collaborating with both the marketing and sales teams, product marketing managers craft messaging, positioning, and go-to-market plans to drive product adoption and revenue growth. Their work may also entail supervising product launches, developing marketing collateral, and assessing campaign performance, adjusting strategies as needed.
In short, product marketing managers play a pivotal role in maximizing the success and profitability of the products they represent. And in a competitive landscape like food manufacturing, this can provide the entire company with the advantage it needs.
Product Marketing Managers vs. Product Managers
It's worth lingering over how a product marketing manager's role differs from that of a product manager.
Here's one way to think about it: Product managers are concerned with ensuring that a product is built the right way and that each iteration represents better alignment with customer needs, goals, and pain points.
The role of the product marketing manager is to figure out all the contours of a product, knowing it inside and out in order to best represent it within the marketplace. Additionally, a product marketing manager may provide customer feedback to the product manager and the rest of the design team, allowing for smart tweaks, revisions, and updates.
One thing that cannot be stressed enough is that these two roles must work in harmony together. Using Gocious product roadmap management software can help ensure everyone is on the same page and moving toward the right goals.
Why Food Manufacturing Companies Need a Product Marketing Manager
Product marketing managers bring several unique benefits to the food manufacturing industry.
- Understanding of the marketplace. Product marketing managers conduct market research to understand consumer preferences, trends, and behaviors related to food products. They provide insights that allow food manufacturers to give customers what they want.
- Competitive analysis. Food manufacturing is a cutthroat field. Product marketing managers can help by analyzing competitors' products, pricing, and marketing strategies to identify threats and vulnerabilities and pinpoint areas of opportunity and expansion.
- Brand building. Product marketing managers create marketing campaigns and strategies that not only extol the virtues of specific foods, but also create a sense of goodwill and loyalty to the brand more broadly.
- Strategic product launches. Additionally, product marketing managers guide the launch of new products, organizing cross-functional teams to ensure a successful introduction to the market. This involves coordinating messaging, pricing strategies, distribution patterns, and more.
- Support for sales personnel. Product marketing managers can also provide members of the sales team with the necessary tools and resources to sell the products effectively. Examples include everything from sales training to creative materials to market analytics.
Food manufacturers typically face steep competition. One way to gain an advantage? Invest in a robust product marketing infrastructure. Bringing a product marketing manager on board and ensuring teamwork with the product development team may be a critical step in that direction.
