5 Qualities to Look for When Hiring PMMs

By David Ronald

Hiring a great product marketing manager can dramatically accelerate your growth.

Hiring the wrong one can stall launches, muddle positioning, frustrate sales, and create disconnects between product and market.

In today’s environment, where markets move quickly, buyers are more informed, and competition is relentless, product marketing managers (PMMs) must operate at the intersection of strategy, storytelling, and execution.

PMMs are translators, orchestrators, and operators all at once. 

In this blog post I examine five high-impact qualities to prioritize when hiring a modern, growth-oriented PMM. 

1. Customer & Market Empathy

The foundation of great product marketing is empathy.

A strong PMM goes beyond surface-level personas. They understand customer pain points, buying triggers, internal politics, budget constraints, and the emotional drivers behind decisions. They know not only what customers say, but why they say it.

This depth of understanding allows them to craft positioning that resonates. It enables sharper messaging, stronger differentiation, and more effective sales conversations.

When interviewing PMMs, look for evidence that they have spent meaningful time with customers – conducting interviews, analyzing win/loss data, shadowing sales calls, or synthesizing research into actionable insights.  

Empathy should show up in how they speak about users and buyers, not just in slide decks. 

2. Strategic Storytelling

Great PMMs are strategic storytellers.

They take complex products, technical features, and evolving roadmaps and transform them into clear, compelling narratives.  

The best PMMs are able to articulate the following: 

• The problem.
• The stakes.
• The differentiated solution.
• The “why now”.

And they can do it for multiple audiences – buyers, users, executives, sales teams, partners, and analysts.

Strong storytelling is about clarity. It’s about making the value obvious and the decision easier.

When evaluating candidates for your PMM roles, ask them to walk through a launch they led.

Pay attention to how they frame the story. Is it feature-centric, or outcome-driven? Is the differentiation sharp? Do they understand competitive dynamics?

The best PMMs can shape perception, not just explain products. 

3. Data-Informed Judgment

Modern PMMs operate in a world of dashboards, attribution models, and constant experimentation.

But the goal is to use data wisely and not drown in it.

Effective PMMs balance qualitative insight with quantitative rigor. They validate assumptions with research. They track launch performance. They analyze pipeline impact. They test messaging and iterate based on results.

Importantly, they don’t hide behind data - they use it to inform judgment, not replace it.

Look for candidates who can discuss metrics comfortably: win rates, conversion rates, adoption curves, pipeline influence. Ask how they measure launch success and how they’ve adjusted strategy based on performance data.

The strongest PMMs are both analytical and decisive. 

4. Cross-Functional Influence

PMMs rarely have direct authority over the teams they rely on.

They must influence product managers, sales leaders, demand gen teams, and executives.

The best PMMs build alignment through credibility, clarity, and collaboration. They can facilitate tough conversations about priorities, positioning, and trade-offs. They align stakeholders around a shared go-to-market plan and keep everyone moving in the same direction.

In interviews, you should consider probing for examples of navigating conflict or aligning divergent teams.  

Strong PMMs aren’t simply participate in cross-functional work, but driving alignment in it. 

5. Execution Excellence

Strategy without execution is noise. 

Strong PMMs don’t just define positioning frameworks; they ship. They run launches. They deliver enablement. They produce assets. They maintain timelines. They ensure sales is ready. They close the loop post-launch. 

Execution excellence requires organization, discipline, and momentum. It also requires a bias toward action. 

When hiring, look for evidence of ownership. Did they simply contribute to launches, or did they lead them? Did they deliver measurable outcomes? Can they manage complexity without sacrificing quality?

The most impactful PMMs operate at both altitude and ground level - shaping strategy while driving execution. 

Conclusion

Hiring a high-caliber PMM means investing in someone who can connect product innovation to market demand. 

When you prioritize empathy, storytelling, data-informed judgment, influence, and execution, you dramatically increase your odds of hiring someone who will accelerate growth. 

Thanks for reading – I hope you found this blog post useful.

Are you interested in discussing how to hire the very best PMMs? If so, let’s have a conversation. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you. 

The Emergence of Responsible AI in Marketing

By David Ronald  

Artificial intelligence has become an operational necessity for marketers.  

From predictive lead scoring and content generation to dynamic pricing and hyper-personalized customer journeys, AI now powers a significant portion of the marketing technology stack.  

But as adoption accelerates, so too do the risks.  

Biased algorithms, opaque decision-making, misuse of customer data, hallucinated content, and regulatory scrutiny have forced marketing leaders to confront a new imperative…  

AI must not only drive performance, it must do so responsibly.  

The rise of what’s becoming known as Responsible AI represents a fundamental shift.  

It’s about building trust, reducing risk, and ensuring AI creates sustainable growth rather than short-term gains with long-term consequences.  

In this blog post In this blog post, I explore what Responsible AI means for modern marketing organizations, and how leaders can embrace it without sacrificing speed, innovation, or competitive advantage.

Why Responsible AI Is No Longer Optional

Marketing sits at the intersection of data, persuasion, and customer relationships.  

This makes it one of the most sensitive domains for AI deployment.  

Consider what marketing AI systems now do:

• Decide which prospects receive offers.
• Personalize messaging based on behavioral and demographic signals.
• Generate brand content at scale.
• Optimize bids and budgets autonomously.
• Predict churn, lifetime value, and buying intent.

These systems influence revenue, reputation, and customer experience simultaneously – when they go wrong, the impact is immediate and public.  

A biased targeting model can exclude protected groups. A generative AI tool can produce inaccurate claims or off-brand messaging. An over-aggressive personalization engine can cross the line from helpful to invasive.  

And regulators are paying attention, with AI governance frameworks emerging globally.

The Core Pillars of Responsible AI

While definitions vary, most Responsible AI frameworks converge around five core principles and, when applied to marketing, they translate into practical guardrails. 

1. Transparency

Customers increasingly want to know when they are interacting with AI-generated content.

Clear disclosure builds credibility. Internally, marketing teams need visibility into how models make decisions. Ater all, “black box” systems may drive performance temporarily, but they undermine accountability.  

Here are some of the things marketing teams should consider documenting: 

• Data sources used for training.
• Model assumptions and limitations.
• Clear explanations of automated decision logic where feasible.

Transparency reduces reputational risk and strengthens cross-functional trust with legal, security, and executive stakeholders. 

2. Fairness and Bias Mitigation

AI systems often rely on historical data and if that data contains bias, the models will amplify it.

For example, lookalike targeting may inadvertently exclude certain demographic groups. Predictive scoring models may prioritize customers based on proxies that correlate with sensitive attributes.

Responsible AI programs should include the following: 

• Regular bias audits.
• Diverse training datasets.
• Human oversight in high-impact decision workflows.

Fairness is commercially smart, not just ethical.

Expanding equitable access to products and messaging often uncovers underserved market segments. 

3. Privacy and Data Stewardship

AI thrives on data, but marketing must respect boundaries around consent and usage.  

Responsible marketers should do the following: 

• Collect only necessary data.
• Honor opt-outs and consent signals.
• void combining datasets in ways customers would not reasonably expect.
• Build privacy-by-design into AI workflows.

Trust is a long-term asset and shortcuts with data risk significant brand damage. 

4. Accountability and Human Oversight

AI shouldn’t replace human judgment, especially in areas like brand voice, pricing decisions, and compliance-sensitive messaging, human review remains critical.  

High-performing marketing teams need to define: 

• Clear ownership of AI systems.
• Escalation paths for errors.
• Approval processes for AI-generated content in regulated industries.

Responsible AI is about clarifying where humans remain accountable. 

5. Reliability and Performance Monitoring

AI models degrade over time. Customer behavior shifts. Market conditions change. What worked last quarter may fail next quarter.

Responsible AI programs should feature the following: 

• Ongoing model monitoring.
• Performance drift detection.
• Structured testing frameworks.
• Clear rollback procedures.

This discipline transforms AI from a “set and forget” tool into a managed asset. 

Responsible AI as a Growth Strategy

Some executives fear that Responsible AI slows down experimentation.

In reality, however, it does the opposite – it enables sustainable scale.  

And here’s why. 

1. Brand Trust Becomes a Competitive Advantage

As AI-generated content floods digital channels, authenticity and credibility will differentiate brands. Companies that demonstrate thoughtful AI use will earn customer loyalty. 

2. Reduced Regulatory Risk

Proactive governance minimizes legal exposure. Waiting for enforcement actions is costly, both financially and reputationally. 

3. Stronger Cross-Functional Alignment

When marketing proactively addresses AI governance, it builds credibility with legal, IT, security, and executive leadership. This accelerates adoption rather than creating friction. 

4. Higher-Quality Outputs

Bias audits, performance monitoring, and human oversight often improve model accuracy and content quality. Responsible AI produces better marketing, not just safer marketing.  

From Experimentation to Operational Discipline

We are entering a new phase in AI maturity.

The early wave of generative AI in marketing focused on speed and scale: more content, faster campaigns, broader personalization.

Now, the conversation is shifting toward operational discipline.  

Forward-looking marketing leaders are building internal AI governance playbooks that include the following: 

• Approved use-case libraries.
• Vendor risk assessments for AI tools.
• Clear content review standards.
• Employee training on ethical AI use.
• Cross-functional AI councils.

This institutionalization of AI governance mirrors what happened in cybersecurity a decade ago.

What was once optional became mission-critical infrastructure. 

The Role of Marketing Leadership

Adoption of Responsible AI is a leadership issue.

CMOs need to take ownership of defining the following: 

• Where AI creates strategic advantage.
• Where guardrails are non-negotiable.
• How AI aligns with brand values.
• How to communicate AI usage transparently to customers.

The marketing organization often sets the tone for customer trust.

If marketing embraces Responsible AI as a core value, rather than a constraint, it sends a powerful signal to the entire enterprise. 

Conclusion

AI will become embedded in nearly every marketing function.

Consequently, Responsible AI will likely stop being a separate initiative and become the default expectation.

AI can scale creativity, insight, and efficiency – and Responsible AI ensures that scale strengthens relationships rather than eroding them.

Vendors will be evaluated on governance capabilities. Customers will expect disclosure. Regulators will require compliance.

The brands that thrive will be those that treat Responsible AI as a foundation for durable, trust-driven growth.

Thanks for reading – I hope you found this blog post useful.

Are you interested in discussing how to apply AI responsibly? If so, let’s have a conversation. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you.

Designing a Buyer Journey Beyond the Funnel

By David Ronald

We marketers have traditionally relied on the funnel as the dominant metaphor for understanding buying behavior.

Awareness leads to consideration, which leads to conversion, which leads to loyalty.

It’s linear, clean, and comforting.

And increasingly wrong.  

These days, buyer journeys no longer resemble funnels – they look more like dynamic ecosystems: nonlinear, self-directed, and heavily influenced by forces outside a brand’s direct control. 

Why the Funnel Broke

The funnel assumes marketers guide buyers step by step.  

In reality, however, buyers assemble their own journeys – they jump between channels, seek peer validation, ignore carefully orchestrated campaigns, and often arrive at decisions before sales or marketing even know they exist.  

Several forces have accelerated this shift in my opinion:

• Information abundance – buyers educate themselves through communities, review sites, social media, and private networks.
• Trust decentralization – brand messaging competes with influencers, employees, customers, and even AI-generated summaries.
• Asynchronous engagement – buyers interact on their own timelines, not marketing’s campaign calendars.

As a result, linear models have collapsed under the weight of real buyer behavior. 

The Journey as an Ecosystem

A more accurate way to think about your buyers’ journeys is as living ecosystems.  

These ecosystems include:

• Owned touchpoints – website, product experience, email, events.
• Earned influence – reviews, analyst opinions, word-of-mouth, community discussions.
• Shared environments – partner content, marketplaces, platforms, and integrations.
• Invisible moments – silent research, internal conversations, AI-mediated discovery.

Buyers move fluidly across this ecosystem, often revisiting stages, skipping others entirely, or making decisions in parallel rather than sequence.

What This Means for Marketers

Shifting from funnels to ecosystems requires more than new language – it demands new operating models.

• First, stop forcing alignment to stages. Instead of asking, “What stage is this buyer in?”, ask, “What problem are they trying to solve right now?” Context matters more than position.
• Second, map influence, not just touchpoints. The most impactful moments may never appear in your CRM. Understanding which voices, communities, and content shape decisions is more valuable than tracking clicks alone.
• Third, design for adaptability. Journeys should respond dynamically to buyer signals, not lock prospects into predefined paths. This is where AI-driven orchestration can help—but only if guided by human strategy and guardrails.
• Finally, measure momentum, not milestones. Progress is no longer about advancing stages; it’s about reducing friction, increasing confidence, and sustaining engagement over time.

Ultimately, success comes from building systems that adapt to real buyer behavior rather than forcing buyers to adapt to our models.

Conclusion

Organizations that embrace ecosystem thinking gain a critical advantage…  

Relevance.  

They meet buyers where they actually are, not where models say they should be.  

The most effective marketers will be ecosystem designers, architects of trust, relevance, and momentum across an ever-expanding landscape of influence.  

The funnel had a good run, but the future belongs to those who understand journeys as they truly are: dynamic, decentralized, and deeply human.  

Thanks for reading – I hope you found this blog post useful.  

Are you interested in discussing how to design your buyers’ journeys? If so, let’s have a conversation. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you

How to Stop Writing Uninspiring Marketing Content

By David Ronald 

Marketing has never been short on data, features, or claims. 

What it has often lacked, however, is meaning.

In a world where buyers are overwhelmed by information and increasingly skeptical of hype, storytelling has become one of the most effective ways to create clarity, trust, and emotional connection.

The most memorable brands don’t just explain what they do - they tell stories that help audiences recognize their own challenges and imagine a better way forward. 

In this blog post I explore why storytelling matters in modern marketing, how to determine the right narratives, and how to incorporate storytelling into content in a way that strengthens credibility rather than diluting it.

Why Storytelling Works in Marketing

We humans are wired for stories. 

Long before dashboards and data models, stories were how people made sense of change, shared knowledge, and built alignment. 

Neuroscience reinforces this reality – stories activate more areas of the brain than facts alone, making information easier to remember and more emotionally resonant.

In marketing, storytelling works because it creates emotional engagement, builds trust through authenticity, simplifies complex ideas, and differentiates brands in crowded markets.

Although Buyers may justify decisions with logic, but they are motivated by emotion and reinforced by belief. 

Storytelling bridges that gap by making value feel real. 

Reframing Storytelling: It’s Not Fiction

One of the most persistent misconceptions about storytelling is that it requires embellishment or creative invention. In effective marketing, storytelling is grounded in truth.

It is about selection, emphasis, and framing, not fiction.

Every organization already has stories embedded in its work - customers navigating change, teams learning through failure, or founders responding to overlooked problems.

The marketer’s role is to surface those stories, give them structure, and connect them to the audience’s lived reality.

That work begins with identifying the right narrative – the consistent throughline that gives individual stories meaning. 

How to Determine the Right Narrative

Strong storytelling starts long before content creation. 

A narrative is not a campaign tagline or a clever hook – it’s a point of view about the world your audience operates in and the change your company enables.

The most effective narratives begin with deep understanding of the customer’s reality.

Patterns emerge when you listen closely to customer interviews, sales conversations, onboarding feedback, win‑loss reviews, and so on.

These patterns often reveal tensions customers struggle to articulate directly – outdated assumptions, invisible costs, or accepted tradeoffs that no longer make sense. 

Every compelling narrative challenges a status quo.

The question is not simply what problem you solve, but what way of thinking or operating you are asking customers to leave behind.

When marketing names the limitations of the old approach with precision and empathy, audiences feel understood rather than sold to.

From there, the narrative must clearly articulate the change you enable – this change is rarely about a single feature; it is about a shift in outcomes, confidence, or capability.

The narrative arc should consistently move from the constraints of the past, through a moment of realization, toward a more effective and credible future. 

Finally, narratives must hold up internally.

The strongest ones resonate in sales conversations, product priorities, and customer outcomes. 

Core Elements of a Strong Marketing Story

Once the narrative is clear, individual stories become easier to shape.

Most effective marketing stories share a common structure. They begin with a clear protagonist, usually the customer or buyer, rather than the product itself – and the audience should be able to recognize their own situation in this character’s experience.

They introduce a meaningful problem that creates tension and stakes.

Specificity matters here because, while concrete challenges feel credible, vague pain points feel manufactured.

They include a moment of change or insight, when continuing the old way becomes untenable and a new approach emerges – this is where your product or perspective enters naturally, as an enabler rather than a hero.  

They conclude with a resolution that shows improvement without pretending perfection. Honest outcomes build more trust than flawless endings. 

Applying Storytelling Across Marketing Content

Storytelling is not limited to brand campaigns or keynote presentations.

It can, and should, inform nearly every type of marketing content.

On your website, storytelling helps orient visitors quickly.

Rather than leading with features, effective pages begin with the customer’s world: the challenges they face, what is at risk if nothing changes, and what a better future looks like.

Proof points, examples, and product details then reinforce that narrative.

In thought leadership and blog content, storytelling provides context and direction.

Stories explain why a topic matters, illustrate abstract ideas, and show how perspectives evolve over time. When appropriate, sharing lessons learned or mistakes made humanizes the brand and signals credibility. 

Case studies benefit enormously from a narrative approach.

Instead of functioning as technical summaries, the strongest case studies trace a journey – the customer’s starting point, the constraints they faced, the decisions they made, and the outcomes they achieved.

Metrics become more powerful when they are tied to that journey.

Product marketing and launches also gain clarity through storytelling. Framing a release around a real customer problem or a broken workflow helps audiences understand not just what changed, but why it matters now.  

In sales enablement, stories turn messaging into conversation. Short, relevant customer narratives help sales teams address objections, demonstrate empathy, and guide buyers toward insight rather than pressure. 

Balancing Story and Substance

While storytelling is emotional, it must remain disciplined.

The most effective marketing balances narrative with evidence. Data, benchmarks, and third‑party validation reinforce credibility, while customer voices keep stories grounded.

Overly polished or exaggerated stories may attract attention in the short term, but they erode trust over time.

Real stories acknowledge complexity, tradeoffs, and learning curves. 

Building a Storytelling Capability

Storytelling should not depend on individual talent alone. 

Marketing leaders can institutionalize it by creating systems to capture customer stories, encouraging cross‑functional sharing, and developing repeatable narrative frameworks.

When storytelling becomes part of how teams think – not just how they write – content becomes more consistent, authentic, and effective. 

Measuring the Impact of Storytelling

Although stories appeal to emotion, their impact is measurable.

Narrative‑driven content often leads to stronger engagement, higher completion rates, improved conversion, and better sales feedback.

Over time, storytelling compounds brand equity, making future marketing efforts more efficient. 

Conclusion

Incorporating storytelling into marketing content is not about adding flair.

It is about adding meaning. In competitive markets, the brands that win are those that help customers make sense of change, risk, and opportunity.

When your marketing consistently tells honest, human stories grounded in real problems and outcomes, you do more than inform. You earn attention, trust, and long‑term loyalty.

Storytelling is strategy, expressed in a way people remember.

Thanks for reading – I hope you found this blog post useful.

Are you interested in discussing how to improve your storytelling? If so, let’s have a conversation. My email address is david@alphabetworks.com – I look forward to hearing from you.