The Wider Brief
About Skype
Skype is software that enables the world’s conversations. Millions of individuals and businesses use Skype to make free video and voice calls, send instant messages and share files with other Skype users. Every day, people everywhere also use Skype to make low-cost calls to landlines and mobiles phones.
Skype is a product focused company offering global, multi-model voice, video and text communications. At Skype, Product Managers are accountable for delivering these disruptive, market-leading, real-time products, and Product Marketing Managers work with Product Managers to monetize these products. Product Marketing Managers own the go-to-market strategy and marketing plan for their products and inform the other commercial elements of the Product Plan. Product Marketing Managers also provide recommendations and market / customer insights to support product positioning, pricing and priorities, financial forecasts, and other product elements. While they do not have P&L accountability, Product Marketing Managers are expected to drive financial results for their products through target market selection, product positioning, and marketing campaign development and support.
The Business Specific Brief
Skype Product Marketing Managers drive the commercial and financial success of their products through six key responsibilities. In most cases, they are expected to perform, not manage, the execution (e.g. document creation) in these areas:
1) Develop the commercial elements of the Product Plan with guidance and approval from Product Managers and Business Unit General Managers including:
§ Value proposition definition and product positioning
§ Feature prioritization for product roadmaps
§ Market and opportunity sizing
§ Pricing (elasticity)
2) Own the Go-to-Market Strategies and Product Marketing Plan for their product(s) including:
§ Product Marketing Plan budget, messaging, customer targets, and metrics
§ Product and BU specific marketing campaigns
§ Partner marketing throughout the lifecycle
§ Implementation across corporate marketing, 3rd party agencies, and marketing partners
3) Own new and existing customer relationship and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) campaigns including:
§ Campaign briefs and budgets
§ Collateral and targets
§ Post-campaign analysis
§ Implementation through centralized CRM
4) Maintain customer and business intelligence
5) Undertake and support “white space” market research to identify new product opportunities at the Business Unit General Manager/Director level
6) Manage and develop Associate Product Marketing Managers
Product Marketing Managers report to either a Director of Product Marketing or a Director of Product Portfolio Management depending on the size of the business they support. Product Marketing Managers will be evaluated based on “value add” from research and insights as determined by 1) the financial performance of the products they support, 2) Product Managers/Director evaluation, and 3) the success of their campaign initiatives in driving revenue/ROI. Product Marketing Managers may be responsible for multiple products. Product Marketing Managers responsible for large products may manage Associate Product Marketing Managers who implement research, conduct analysis, and develop campaign collateral as needed.
Key Responsibilities
Develop the Commercial Elements of Product Plans
The Product Marketing Manager is responsible for developing and recommending the commercial aspects of the Product Plan to best position the product for financial success. The Product Marketing Manager will:
§ Recognize new market opportunities for the product and maximize usage and revenues by defining, executing, and analyzing customer and market research
§ Identify target customer segments and develop compelling value propositions to meet the needs of each segment
§ Create market requirement documents (MRD)
§ Evaluate and test financial potential of new features with customers to inform product roadmap prioritization
§ Estimate market opportunity size and financial attractiveness to inform product financial goals
§ Propose the marketing budget required to reach target customers and achieve financial goals
§ Conduct pricing research (e.g. geographic elasticity) to inform product price point decisions
§ Manage the product commercial dashboard
Own the Go-to-Market Strategies and Product Marketing Plan
The Product Marketing Manager will define the go-to-market strategy and marketing plan necessary to meet product revenue goals. Specifically, the Product Marketing Manager will:
§ Develop product marketing budget and marketing financial targets to support overall financial goals
§ Agree New Registered User mix and other targets with Corporate Marketing
§ Provide positioning and marketing messaging (not specific campaign messages)
§ Work with partners where appropriate throughout the lifecycle of the relationship from deal initiation through contract, GTM, launch and in life management
§ Work with the sales team where appropriate to manage the sales targets for the product
§ Plan new feature launches
§ Identify potential strategic partner relationships and support cultivating these relationships
§ Plan promotions and work with corporate marketing to implement campaigns on both a global and regional level
The Product Marketing Manager will ensure that these strategies are implemented by working jointly with corporate marketing, outside partners, sales, 3rd party agencies, and other BU’s. The Product Marketing Manager will:
§ Define target customers and provide consultative support to acquisition campaign (marcomms) development
§ Develop appropriate training materials as needed
§ Support partner affiliate relationship management
§ Support PR and awareness activities including webinars, trade shows, events, direct marketing, collateral and customer case studies (when applicable)
§ Develop and manage product specific campaigns (e.g. events management) including campaign briefs, collateral, targets, and analysis
Manage New and Existing Customer Relationships
The Product Marketing Manager is expected to maximize the lifetime value of customers including developing CRM campaigns in managing implementation in conjunction with the CRM team. Product Marketing Managers are expected to drive key metrics such as: awareness of paid products, conversion / trial of paid products, use, engagement, ARPU, customer lifetime value, satisfaction, cross-selling, and retention / churn. Specific responsibilities include:
§ Developing CRM campaign briefs with targets, messages, collateral, goals, metrics, and tracking methodology
§ Working with centralized CRM team to implement, optimize, and analyze CRM campaigns
§ Working with customer service and business operations to enhance retention and utilize customer service as a sales mechanism
§ Supporting cross-sell initiatives identified by other Product Teams and CRM
Maintain Customer and Market Intelligence
The Product Marketing Manager is expected to be the expert on customer segments (both existing and potential future) including needs, user / market trends, and the competitive landscape. To do so, s/he will:
§ Maintain and drive regular research into existing customer engagement, usage, lifetime value / profitability, satisfaction (e.g. Net Promoter Scores), segmentation, face-to-face user groups, and feature priorities to identify high value customer segments
§ Conduct primary qualitative (e.g. focus groups and interviews) and quantitative (e.g. surveys) research as needed
§ Monitor secondary research sources regarding market shifts, sizing, regulatory changes, etc.
§ Determine and track lead KPIs for BU product marketing performance
§ Maintain competitive analyses and benchmarking database
Product Marketing Managers are responsible for coordinating their research across products to prevent duplication, leverage insights, and minimize costs and customer touches.
Support New Product Development / “White Space” Research for BU
In addition to product-specific responsibilities, Product Marketing Managers will support BU and Product Portfolio initiatives to identify and validate new product opportunities that are not adjacent to a current product’s market. Responsibilities in this area include:
§ Identifying and validating market trends that are creating new market opportunities
§ In conjunction with senior managers, designing strategies to capitalize on these opportunities
§ Sizing initial opportunities and supporting proposals to create a new product / RV team including coordinating across engineering and product teams to create a high level engineering investment decision
Managing and Developing the Team
Product Marketing Managers may have Associate Product Marketing Managers reporting to them and should have experience (or the ability) to manage a small team of 1-3 individuals including:
§ Identifying, managing, and hiring talent
§ Establishing goals, metrics, and incentives
§ Conducting performance assessments and creating development plans where needed
Candidate Profile
Pre-requisite Knowledge, Skills and Experience
Expertise/Experience
§ For large (external only) products, 6+ years experience technical / internet product marketing experience or management consulting with a focus on developing business cases and product plans including a minimum of 2 years in a post-MBA position
§ For small to medium (external only) products, 4+ years experience technical / internet product marketing experience or management consulting with a focus on developing business cases and product plans
§ Appropriate experience in B2C or B2B context depending on product(s)/BU’s to support
§ Appropriate content specific knowledge of Mobile marketing
§ Ability to build and execute marketing plans (e.g. channels, reach, lifetime value, cost per acquisition, etc.)
§ Where appropriate, experience managing and developing teams of direct reports
§ Solid knowledge of both quantitative and qualitative research methodologies through scholastic course work or hands on research experience
§ A proven ability to design cross-channel, multi-media integrated campaigns
§ Experience in viral growth environment a significant plus
§ Knowledge of pricing and promotional research a significant plus
§ Product launch experience a plus
Behaviours
Analytic & Data Driven
§ Highly data-driven, having worked with products with 1M+ users/customers showing ability to generate and clearly articulate insight from raw data
§ Excellent analytic / quantitative reasoning and strategic skills
§ Proven ability to build fact-driven business cases and secure buy-in from management
§ Microsoft Excel guru
§ Experience with Microsoft Access, SQL and/or statistical modeling tools ideal
Communication
§ Ability to translate insight and complex technical capabilities into customer benefits. Frequently developed from marketing new / start-up products where customers have limited understanding of benefits (e.g. Twitter)
§ Creativity in media and form of communication (e.g. viral video experience)
§ Experience communicating internationally from working with a global product or internationally
§ Ability to effectively interface and collaborate with Senior Management, Product Management, Marketing Operations such as having delivered multiple presentations to Senior Management
Organisation & Interpersonal Skills
§ A progressive, creative thinker, with analytical and problem solving skills, and the ability to integrate best practices
§ Strong organisational abilities to manage multiple research efforts simultaneously
§ Excellent people and management skills to interact with staff, colleagues and cross-functional teams, and third parties
§ Team player with the ability to collaborate with and influence others
§ A strong initiative and capability to take ownership and drive projects to completion
§ Attention to detail and an eye for quality
Qualifications
§ Bachelor’s in business / marketing or equivalent experience
§ MBA preferred
Values
§ User Focused & Humble
§ Disruptive & Fun
§ Respectful & Honest
§ Collaborative & Creative
Search Universe
§ Technology growth products either at late stage start-up (e.g. LinkedIn, Yelp, Salesforce, etc.) or a new product within an established technology player such as Apple, MSFT, Cisco, Google, Yahoo!, Facebook, Twitter, or major Telco / mobile operator
§ A similarly innovative, convergent digital environment where communications and internet technology connect
§ Management Consulting firms with a vertical focus in technology
Timescales
§ Candidate is expected to begin no later than three months from the posting of this role.
Internal Use Only:
Below are the non-negotiables for this role and are strictly for internal use only. The information will support the staffing team in the pre screening process to in the first stages to ensure a higher calibre of candidate for stage one.
These will include areas that your candidate must have, if they do not have this particular skill/experience you do not want to interview them. This will help the recruiter in the screening process to pre-select candidates for the role. Think about the non-negotiable requirements but also what we are not looking for. Below are example categories and samples to think about while drafting your role non-negotiables.
For example, candidates who cannot display significant international experience, or are not able willing to show agility adaptability
Example 1: Industry
§ Experience in analytic, direct response technical marketing (B2C or B2B depending on BU)
§ We do not want a brand-based marketer from Cadillac
Example 2: Role specific
§ Multiple years of international Product Marketing Management experience or
§ McKinsey-esque consultant with experience in strategy development and/or market/customer research in technology
Example 3: Personal attributes
§ Strong analytic background having generated customer and usage insight
§ Excellent written, oral and graphic communication and presentation skills
§ Highly capable individual still willing to do the work of writing marketing materials and doing analysis
Example 4: Leadership
§ Relative to PMs, the PMM could be relatively younger, and thus, s/he must be comfortable presenting to senior management and using data to support arguments
§ References to demonstrate these skills/competencies directly are essential
Example 5: Location & Travel
§ Must be prepared to travel regularly, up to and in excess of 30% time working in offices away from ‘home base’ as well as travel required for commercial, partnering and public speaking.
§ Location: as appropriate for the role
For internal use only. 2010 © Skype. Commercially Confidential.