This week I attended the Product Marketing Summit in Austin, and a few things really stuck with me. The pace of tech keeps accelerating, but keeping customers aligned is harder than ever. And when it comes to AI, it turns out even models need an expiration date. Here are some of the biggest insights that got me thinking:
- Tech moves faster, but customer alignment is more fragile – Innovation should be intentional, not just for the sake of it.- Saifuddin Gunja
- We overemphasize sales over customer success- knowing why you WIN is just as important as why you LOSE. -Cam Turnbow
- Loss aversion drives decisions more than potential gains.- Rachel R.
- It's important to maintain AI hygiene – set a “use by” date to retrain models. - Scott Baker
I'm still processing through countless pages of notes, AI tools, and tips/tricks - such an amazing conference Product Marketing Alliance!
Product Marketing Summit London: What an incredible event it has been!
Two days of sessions and workshops with top product marketing experts (including but not limited to April Dunford, Emma Stratton and Tamara Grominsky), learning about value propositions, positioning, messaging, storytelling… you name it.
Tons of slides on my phone, loads of practical frameworks to use in my daily work and inspiration to keep on rocking it 💪
Great summit, Product Marketing Alliance!
Hope to be back next year 🤞
hashtag#pmalondon hashtag#productmarketing hashtag#learning
A definite 'pinch me' moment was speaking at the Product Marketing Alliance Summit last month.
I enjoy presenting, but a year ago I would have only dreamed of speaking in front of a couple hundred intelligent and inspiring people in my own profession!
I was fortunate to attend my first PMA Summit in New York last March. It sparked an idea I couldn't shake, and four months later I emailed the organizer the day I finished work for a summer sabbatical. Luckily for me, they accepted my session submission and the rest is history.
I loved the whole experience (one I hope to repeat this year) and it was a privilege to share the stage with Product Marketing's finest. Two takeaways:
1. Attend conferences. You meet really cool people and get dangerously inspired! 💡
2. Feel the fear and do it anyway. What's the worst that could happen?! 💪
PS: I couldn't not share the final photo. I've no idea what I was saying, but it makes me smile every time I see it 😄
hashtag#pmalondon
hashtag#productmarketingsummit
🚀 𝗖𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗿-𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗗𝗮𝘆 𝟭 𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲
Product Marketing Alliance 𝗦𝘂𝗺𝗺𝗶𝘁
Day 1 at the Product Marketing Summit has been packed with incredible insights! From bridging the gap between product, marketing, and technical teams to aligning messaging with real customer needs, every session reinforced the 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀-𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗯𝗼𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
🔹 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘴—𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘪𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯?
🔹 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘗𝘔𝘔𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵 𝘢𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘦𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘴, 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘳 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺?
🔹 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘸𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘤𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦 𝘬𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘢𝘵𝘢 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴?
Some standout takeaways so far:
✔️ 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗮𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗡𝗼𝗿𝘁𝗵 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗿 – Every decision should be rooted in real customer data and insights.
✔️ 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 – The best teams test, iterate, and refine, rather than waiting for the “perfect” launch.
✔️ 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝗮𝘁𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝗻 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 – Buyers remember stories, not slides. The best PMMs craft narratives that resonate.
✔️ 𝗔𝗜 𝗮𝘀 𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗿 – AI isn’t replacing us; it’s helping us work smarter and make better strategic decisions.
✔️ 𝗠𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗺𝗶𝘂𝗺 – Learning about applying the “Middle Way” philosophy to freemium products—offering real value for free while naturally guiding users toward an upgrade. The challenge? Avoiding the “art of falling in freemium”—from disengagement to conversion to entitlement.
A huge thank you to today’s speakers from leading companies such as Katie Nafius with Visa, Scott Crawford with Lenovo, Nicole Watson with Salesforce, Richa Taldar with Walmart, Frank Boosman with Amazon Web Services (AWS), Casey Moujaes (Comeau) and Sarah Milbrath with The Knot Worldwide, Sierra Hack, MBA with Expedia Group, Aria Jelinek with Prelude @ Circuit , James Harper with Virtana Corp. Daniella Latham with Atlassian and more...
Excited for 𝗮𝗻𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗳𝘂𝗹𝗹 𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗿𝗼𝘄! If you’re attending, let’s connect and exchange insights.
hashtag#ProductMarketing hashtag#PMM hashtag#GoToMarket hashtag#CustomerFirst hashtag#Collinson hashtag#PriorityPass hashtag#PMASummit hashtag
PMM Summit in Austin was jam-packed with insights, strategies, and innovative ideas. I can’t recap the whole day, but here’s some highlights!
🔥 AI in Product Marketing:
Scott Baker from IBM delivered a powerful message on how to thoughtfully integrate AI into our work.
His advice? Don’t be afraid to set a date to flush the training data and retrain your AI tools.
Data-Driven Storytelling:
Chris Apaliski from JPMorgan Payments laid out a masterclass on transforming numbers into narratives.
The bottom line: Context > Content.
❤️ Empathy as a Superpower:
Candace Collins reminded us that empathy elevates every part of our work.
Her tip? Imagine your persona is a close friend or family member.
🚀 Thought Leadership in B2B Marketing:
Priyanka Tiwari from AWS nailed what it takes to lead with thought leadership content.
Jayson Gehri from Delinea emphasized the importance of aligning product, sales, and marketing.
His advice? Use forrester and interview your customers!
Final Thoughts: Today reminded us that product marketing is equal parts art and science. What a great event.
Spent last week with a host of smart, talented product people at Product Marketing Alliance NY and three weird things happened.
The very first person I met might be my sister and/or alternate dimension alter ego. Allie Wilson - loved your talk about capturing attention. Need to schedule that joint tattoo appt soon.
I wasn't surrounded by keyboard clacking in every session. Did y'all know you can attend large speaking events and have people ~gasp~ fully engage?! Kudos Calum Harris for the great programming.
I learned a new language. PMMs & CMOs aren't always using the same dictionary. Came back with a whole new set of vocab that hopefully helps us play a more unifying role with brands. Thanks to Paula Griffin Erin Dorshorst Hannah Connolly Sackett Jeffrey Hanrahan Lauren Nolan Claudia Masseo and more for the helpful dialogue.
Good week, great company, even better running weather.
