• Product development
• Market research
• Sales
• Advertising
• Public relations
The product management staff reports to the marketing manager or marketing director. Almost every industry has a product manager including publishing, retail, data processing, computer services, and manufacturing.
The responsibility of the product marketing manager is to help in the development and maintenance of a particular item through all the stages of its production. As a part of the product management team, the product manager nurtures the product through the stages to ensure that it is effectively positioned on the open market and look into the manufacturing process. Some of the functions of this role include planning, marketing, resource management, public relations, and engineering. The importance of product servicing in selling goods and services has made the role of the product management tantamount to the needs of the corporation. Other than identifying the potential customers, they also estimate the demand of the product that they manage, develop pricing strategies, and oversee product development.
A degree in business, preferably an MBA is a must for the product manager jobs in large companies. Get it done once you complete the requisite education for becoming a part of the product management. The minimum product managers can have is a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. Enhance your degree by going for a certification course from the Association of International Product Marketing and Management AIPMM which offers various programs for aspiring product managers with materials, seminars and conferences. Recommended courses include:
• Marketing
• Communications
• Technical writing
• Economics
• Statistics
• Business law
The product marketing manager should work with the public relations and advertising staff for promoting the goods and services of the company. Product manager jobs require the candidate to be skilled for supervising large groups of workers, having a creative line of thought and interacting with other areas of the corporate infrastructure. Business complexities need to be handled with increasing versatility and staying ahead of the latest developments in technology. The candidate must be skilled in business software like Microsoft Excel.
Focus on the kinds of products that are of interest to you and you can get into training as a product marketing manager with a company which manufactures and sells those products. A natural interest for a specific line of products gives you a creative edge for marketing and nurturing it through its production cycle. Internship in product development is recommended while you are at school.
It is important to gain prior experience in the relevant field by being a member of a product management team before you move on to a managerial role. In fact, it is important to gain experience as a product planner, sales engineer, product marketer, and marketing communications manager before moving on to become a product marketing manager.
The career prospects of the product managers are expected to grow fast according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. In the coming years, the products and services competing for USD is likely to increase and thus the need for the product managers will increase too.
The salaries of the product managers vary depending on the education, level of responsibility, education, experience and the size, industry and location of the employer. The median salary of the product marketing manager is $95,900 per year, along with additional benefits and bonuses.
The job of a product marketing manager is to work more than 44 hours a week along with evening as well as weekend shifts. The product manager jobs require handling of a lot of pressure owing to the following factors:
• Multiple deadlines
• Changes in schedule
• Meetings and conferences with other managers
The staff of the product management sector also needs to travel frequently throughout the United States and abroad for meeting clients.
