Richard King

When the CEO pitches a terrible new feature

“Horse pants“ 🐎


How it usually goes...

The CEO does an @ channel in Slack

“I've got an AMAZING idea!“


Product Marketing:

*internal screaming*


Because sometimes your job isn't just positioning products...

It's protecting the product from “innovative“ ideas that should never see the light of day 😅

Remember CEOs (myself included)
→ Not every idea needs to ship
→ Not every feature adds value
→ Not every pitch deserves a deck


As Jimmy Kimmel proved on Shark Tank:

Just because you CAN make pants for horses...

Doesn't mean you SHOULD.


The best Product Marketing teams

know when to say no.

(Even to the CEO)



So protect your 2025 road map PMMs.

Tell your CEO: “no horse pants“

IYKYK 😉 - Get product marketing certified >> https://lnkd.in/eq-7gdzn

👋 Hey PMMs

Have you felt this?

Product marketing is not just making decks “look pretty.“
Product marketing is not just about enabling sales.
Product marketing is not just writing blog posts.

Product marketing is a strategic function that drives the success of a product from concept to launch and beyond.

It's more about:

→ Deeply understanding your market, customers, and competition
→ Defining the product's value proposition and positioning
→ Crafting compelling messaging that lands (and sticks)
→ Developing the GTM strategy & aligning every team
→ Training sales to pitch and handle objections

(the list goes on and on and on)


Which is the beauty of product marketing!

But also why it's so frequently misunderstood.


It's a role that requires a unique blend of strategic thinking, creativity, analytical skills, and the ability to influence and collaborate across the organization.


Product marketing is equal parts art and science.

Not just making decks look pretty 😉 ✌️



h/t Ali Schwanke

Louder for everyone in the back!

Let your PMMs be PMMs.

Not content marketers.
Not designers.

PMMs.

✌️

📌 Friendly reminder:

Great ideas can come from anywhere.


One of the most important parts of culture?

Promoting people and their ideas.

Without the politics.



👋 Ever heard of a corporate boomerang?

At The Alliance, we call them 'Loopers'.

They're the ones who leave... and then come right back.


In the last 3 months, we've welcomed back 3 Loopers.

That's not just a coincidence. It's a culture.


Because when you create an environment where the best ideas win, guess what?

Your customers win. Your company wins.

And your employees who leave?

They may just find their way back home.


--

👀 P.S. Have you ever been a Looper?

Apple “innovation“

😅


Steve Jobs would be so proud...

First genmojis

now this?



Yea...



I will probably still buy it BUT...

I do want to talk about one of the traps that I'm seeing coming into this year.

Companies have seen a pretty massive wake-up call where some of their traditional playbooks (like SEO) are completely up in flames overnight.

This is driving two types of leaders that I'm seeing now kind of emerge in the fire.


1) The reluctant adopters being “forced“ to innovate

They keep talking about the “good old days“, while complaining about having to overhaul their tech stack and marketing to make room for AI.

They feel pressured to do something new but really don't want to.

So they end up greenlighting a ton of different experiments.

Not because they believe in them. But mainly so when their board asks them: “why did we miss this quarter?“, they can point to a list of “AI investments“.

You can feel that they REALLY don't want to change.

Had a convo with a few leaders like this.

You can tell from their tone.



VS...



2) The hungry to adapt leaders


These are growth minded leaders who see the MASSIVE opportunity with AI today.

They're hungry to advance their career and they see a chance to build a totally new playbook.

One that if they get right? They can easily justify a one or two level jump from IC to Director lets say. Or Sr Manager to VP.

They are learning outside of their core hours. Excited to pick up new challenges and test how AI could tackle that problem.

You can tell when you talk to them how bullish they are on the future of GTM.


Within 90 seconds, I can tell which marketers fall into these camps. And 90% of the time, you can tell by asking them about what they're doing with AI.

Usually marketers in this camp literally LIGHT UP.

You can see their eyes get big and they're so pumped to tell you what they're working on.



P.S. Whats your AI pet project rn?

This Disney+ launch was genius:

PMMs, you should steal this social playbook 👉

Every Disney brand replied to the Disney+ launch tweet.

All with funny on-brand messages in their POV.

From Pixar to Star Wars and The Avengers.

They created one epic thread.

The result?

Massive engagement for their launch 🚀


📌 Key takeaways for us PMMs:

1) Tap into your entire brand ecosystem
2) Stay true yo your brand voice
3) Coordinate for max impact

Well played Disney!

Well played 👏👏👏



h/t mkobach on X for the great thread

This analogy.

10/10 😂


“Just ship it by Q4!“

-- Every exec who has never shipped anything


Product orgs face this pressure all the time.

The problem?

The same people selling you “6-month roadmaps to business success“ are the ones who've never actually built anything.


Real operational excellence isn't about arbitrary deadlines.

It's about having the guts to face reality.


📌 Friendly reminder:

In my 20 years of building companies, I've learned that the best leaders don't start with the end date.

They start with the truth.


And sometimes that truth is:

“This will take longer than we want it to.“
“Our timeline isn't realistic.“
“We need more resources.“


Because rushing to meet arbitrary deadlines?

That's how you end up with:

→ Burnt out teams
→ Poor quality work
→ Missed expectations



My 0.002:

Stop rushing what “needs“ to ship in Q4.

Or it's going to cost you.

The most dangerous part?



You will never see it on a dashboard.

If your people don't feel heard or valued?

You can bet they're going to look for a new role in 2025.

That's the cost of you putting unrealistic pressure.


Don't do it.


--


👋 P.S. Have you felt this before?

👋 PMMs are strategists. Not designers.

Let them use their real superpowers.


Are you using your PMMs as glorified designers?

Then you're missing the point entirely.


Iron Man didn't save the world with PowerPoint.

Let's not expect our PMMs to either.

Put them where they truly shine.

(hint: not in Google Slides)


💪 Their superpowers?

→ Positioning and messaging, not font selection
→ Go-to-market strategy, not slide transitions
→ Competitive intelligence, not infographics

Let PMMs be PMMs.

Not designers.

✌️✨

--

👋 P.S. Felt this before?

How do you manage it internally?