Embarking on a new role as a product marketing manager (PMM)? Congratulations! Whether stepping into your first PMM position or gearing up to lead a product marketing team, having a solid game plan is key to starting off on the right foot. Now, you might wonder, “What exactly should I be doing in my first three months?” Don’t worry; you’re not alone in pondering this — it’s a universal question for newcomers in any role, though since this is a Product Marketing blog, we’ll be zeroing in on product marketing. Shocker, I know.

Over the years, every time I’ve started a new position, I’ve approached it with a refined strategy — a mindset not born overnight but sculpted through continuous refinement across various roles. And now, I’m here to pass on this blueprint, tailored specifically for the ebbs and flows of product marketing.

In this post, we’ll dive into a structured 30/60/90-day plan I’ve curated and used when onboarding new PMMs or transitioning into new roles myself. This plan is segmented to cater to different levels: Junior PMM, Senior PMM, and PMM Leadership, acknowledging that responsibilities vary widely across these stages.

Remember that while this template provides a solid foundation for a good start, it’s flexible. Each company has its unique culture and expectations, so it’s wise to tailor this plan to fit your specific situation. Before you hit the ground running, share this plan with your supervisor. A quick review and tweaks here and there can ensure it aligns perfectly with their vision for the role and for you as a key new player to the team.

Let’s set you up to hit those early milestones and make a lasting impression!

Junior Product Marketing Manager

First 30 Days: Learning & Integration

• Objectives:
  • Drink from the firehose. You’ll spend most of your time understanding your company, products, services, and customer profiles.
  • Familiarize oneself with the go-to-market team, tools, processes, and existing marketing materials.
  • Begin basic training on company systems and marketing platforms.
• Key Activities:
  • Meet with product teams to understand the current product lines and upcoming releases.
  • Meet with cross-functional go-to-market teams to understand their roles in the GTM process. This includes marketing, sales, customer success, project managers, legal, and potentially executive team members.
  • Set up follow-up meetings with each new team member you’ve met with and develop questions to ask each to understand your role and their role better.
  • Attend training sessions on market research tools and internal CRM software.
  • Review past marketing campaigns and their outcomes.

Next 30 Days (60 Days): Contribution & Collaboration

• Objectives:
  • Start contributing to ongoing marketing projects under supervision. You won’t be expected to complete any key assignments early, but this is a good time to identify areas where you can help your new team. Determine some low-hanging fruit wins, such as updating a product wiki that may be outdated from the new information that you’ve reviewed or attained from your interviewing your team.
  • Talk to customers. Now that you’re more familiar with your product and organization, set up time to talk to customers. This is a daunting task, but don’t go in with the mindset that you’re trying to sell them anything or that you can torpedo a deal. Come in with the mindset that you are trying to understand their problem. People love talking about their problems. 
  • Assist in the preparation and execution of upcoming product launches. If your team has any smaller-scale product launches, observe them. You’re not expected to play a big role in launches early on, but understanding the process and assisting when possible goes a long way in earning your new team’s trust.
  • Begin to manage small projects or components of larger campaigns. If your organization has a big launch coming up, figure out where you can help out. Use the skills you already have and figure out what you can do. It can be something small as monitoring the completion of a few sales or marketing assets. Don’t worry about messing up, just get out there and do it. Luckily, no one will blame the newbie for a go-to-market launch fail.
• Key Activities:
  • Contribute to developing content for marketing collateral, such as blog posts, datasheets, and email campaigns.
  • Participate in cross-functional meetings with sales, product, and marketing teams.
  • Collect and analyze customer feedback on recent product launches.
  • Analyze customer, product, sales, and marketing reports. Get the best understanding you can from these reports. As a new PMM, most of these reports may be foreign to you, so you might not know what you’re looking at. Use this time to set up time with your team to ask what you’re looking at and why it matters to your product or organization. 

Last 30 Days (90 Days): Ownership & Optimization

• Objectives:
  • Take full ownership of at least one small-scale project. This doesn’t mean a full go-to-market launch, but rather a piece like an email campaign or a newsletter release. Something smaller that will take tasks off the plate of your team members or supervisor but is simple enough that you are not constantly asking if you’re doing it right. You’ll still want their final approval before committing to anything, but this is where you build trust for your work.
  • Suggest improvements based on the analysis of marketing data. Don’t be afraid to provide your opinion. Your team may already know and have a plan for improvements you suggest, but this is the time to let your voice be heard. Your team will let you know if your ideas are valid or not and you can correct your feedback and assumptions from here.
  • Build and present a case study of a recently completed marketing campaign.
• Key Activities:
  • Independently manage a product launch or a promotional campaign. For smaller-scale launches, attempt to take the reigns and run your own product launch. This is a core responsibility of a PMM, so the sooner you take the training wheels off, the better it will be for your experience and your product. Manage a project and learn from it. You’re still considered new at the 90-day mark, so ask questions, present your ideas, listen to the feedback you’re getting, and use that to develop your process.
  • Analyze the effectiveness of marketing strategies and present findings to the team. You may not be the one who came up with the marketing strategies, but you can still look at their effectiveness by looking at past data and comparing them to the current data. Did the numbers go up or down? Either way, why did it go up or down? Was it a seasonal thing? Was it because of an event? Was it because of an added marketing push? Determine the reason and present that information. You’ll learn a lot from that experience, and it opens up different avenues for your team to explore. 
  • Develop and track key performance indicators (KPIs) for assigned projects. How do you know if what you’re working on is important if you’re not tracking? You don’t. Part of the accomplishment is completing the project, the other side is ensuring that what you’ve just spent so much time on isn’t going to waste. What KPIs should you be monitoring? For example, if your project was to build a landing page for a new product feature. Is your job done once the landing page has been published? No, you need to monitor the conversion rate. If people are going to your landing page and not completing the desired action, what do you need to do to improve these numbers?

Senior Product Marketing Manager

First 30 Days: Assessment & Alignment

• Objectives:
  • Conduct a thorough assessment of the current marketing strategies and their alignment with business goals.
  • Identify key challenges and opportunities in the market.
  • Establish relationships with key stakeholders in product, sales, and marketing departments.
  • Develop an understanding of the Go-To-Market Framework.
• Key Activities:
  • Review and evaluate the existing marketing materials and campaign results.
  • Meet with product and sales leaders to understand their expectations and ongoing projects.
  • Meet with key stakeholders from your go-to-market team to understand their role and the current GTM process.
  • Attend strategic planning sessions and begin to contribute insights.

Next 30 Days (60 Days): Strategy Development & Implementation

• Objectives:
  • Develop comprehensive marketing strategies for key products.
  • Implement enhancements to existing marketing campaigns based on data-driven insights.
  • Implement up
• Key Activities:
  • Launch a pilot marketing campaign based on new strategies.
  • Lead A/B testing initiatives for different marketing channels.
  • Provide training and guidance to junior team members on best practices in product marketing.

Last 30 Days (90 Days): Evaluation & Expansion

• Objectives:
  • Measure the impact of newly implemented strategies on product performance and brand positioning.
  • Plan for scaling successful initiatives and explore new market opportunities.
  • Prepare and deliver a detailed report on the past quarter’s marketing outcomes.
• Key Activities:
  • Analyze the results of recent marketing tests and refine strategies accordingly.
  • Explore partnerships with other brands or marketing platforms to enhance product reach.
  • Conduct a quarterly review presentation to leadership detailing achievements and future plans.

Product Marketing Leader

First 30 Days: Strategic Review & Vision Setting

• Objectives:
  • Evaluate the overall effectiveness of the current product marketing efforts.
  • Set a clear vision and strategic direction for the product marketing team.
  • Establish credibility and trust with key executives and team members.
• Key Activities:
  • Conduct one-on-one meetings with all team members to understand their current projects, challenges, and insights.
  • Review market trends, competitor analysis, and customer needs to refine the strategic focus.
  • Present initial findings and strategic visions in executive meetings.

Next 30 Days (60 Days): Systems Optimization & Team Building

• Objectives:
  • Streamline operations and improve the integration of tools and processes.
  • Strengthen the product marketing team through strategic hires or restructuring.
  • Foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.
• Key Activities:
  • Implement new tools or systems to enhance data analytics and campaign management.
  • Initiate recruitment or training programs to close skill gaps within the team.
  • Host team-building events to enhance collaboration and morale.

Last 30 Days (90 Days): Long-Term Planning & Impact Analysis

• Objectives:
  • Lay the groundwork for long-term growth initiatives, including entering new markets or launching new product lines.
  • Evaluate the short-term impact of recent changes