Hey everyone, welcome back to The HiveMind Signal. I’m Madison Wade, and I’m here with Shane Hermans. Today, we’re diving into a topic that, honestly, I think gets way less airtime than it deserves—Product Marketing. Shane, you ready to stir the pot a bit?Always, Madison. And you know, it’s funny—when people hear “product marketing,” they usually think, what, launch decks? Maybe a few sales slides? But in reality, PMM is like the Grand Central Station of go-to-market. It’s where product, sales, and customer success all intersect. If you don’t have a strong PMM function, your GTM is basically running on separate train lines with no central schedule. Total chaos.Exactly. And I’ve seen that play out firsthand. Back when I was in Singapore, I worked with this startup—super smart founders, great tech, but they were just... stuck. Sales was blaming product, product was blaming sales, and nobody was talking to customers in a way that actually landed. It wasn’t until they brought in a product marketer who redefined their segment strategy—like, really dug into who their actual buyers were, not just users—that things started to click. Within a few quarters, they’d found their groove and started growing again.That’s such a classic story. And it lines up with what we’ve seen at HiveMind, too. We worked with a fintech startup—where PMM was the missing link. Once we embedded product marketing into their GTM, aligning product, sales, and customer success, they saw a 40% revenue jump in a year. Not because they changed the product, but because they finally had that connective tissue. PMM translated market feedback into product, crafted enablement that sales actually used, and kept everyone rowing in the same direction.And it’s not just about messaging, right? It’s about owning the “why now” narrative, translating ICPs into real sales plays, and making sure the feedback loop isn’t just a suggestion box. It’s a strategic seat at the table, not just a support function.Yeah, and I mean, as we talked about in our last episode on AI in sales, you can have the best tech in the world, but if your teams aren’t aligned—if there’s no one connecting the dots between what you’re building and what the market actually wants—you’re just spinning your wheels.So here’s the wild part—only 36% of B2B companies say their product marketing is tightly aligned with revenue leadership. That’s, like, two out of five. Which means most companies are missing out on this whole layer of strategic value.Yeah, and a lot of that comes down to where PMM sits in the org. Too often, it’s reporting into brand or creative, instead of strategy or product. So you end up with this split personality—on one hand, “make a deck,” and on the other, “shape the strategy.” But if PMM doesn’t have a seat at the GTM table, you get these classic disconnects. Sales doesn’t get the product value, product builds for users instead of buyers, and brand is out there promising things ops can’t deliver. It’s a mess.And the impact is real. There’s this SaaS company—CloudSolutions—who redefined PMM’s role as a true GTM strategist. They didn’t just move boxes on the org chart; they gave PMM ownership of messaging, positioning, and the feedback loop. Result? Deal cycles got 33% faster. That’s not a rounding error, that’s a game-changer.Totally. And it raises a big question—how much does PMM’s reporting structure impact the actual messaging that gets to market? If PMM is buried under brand, you get pretty slides but no substance. If it’s embedded with product and revenue, you get messaging that actually moves pipeline. And, I mean, there’s a risk if you’re only building for users, not buyers. You end up with features nobody pays for, and sales teams left holding the bag.Yeah, and I think a lot of companies don’t realize how much money they’re leaving on the table by not giving PMM that strategic seat. It’s not just about faster deals—it’s about making sure you’re building the right thing, for the right people, and telling the right story. Otherwise, you’re just hoping for the best.So let’s talk about what actually moves the needle. The best PMMs aren’t just tracking vanity metrics—they’re looking at cycle length, asset utilization, win/loss ratios, ARR growth. Those are the KPIs that show if PMM is really driving impact.And the numbers back it up. Companies with strong PMM functions close deals 31% faster, and customer retention jumps by 23%. That’s huge. Plus, when PMM leads enablement, customer spend can go up by 31%, and churn drops—which, if you look at the math, even a 5% reduction in churn can boost profits by up to 95%. It’s wild.Yeah, and I’ll share a quick story from my time in the Pacific. We were working with a team that was, honestly, all over the place—sales, product, ops, everyone had their own agenda. But when we brought in a PMM to orchestrate the feedback loop and align messaging, it was like flipping a switch. Suddenly, everyone was speaking the same language, and the chaos turned into clarity. That’s the real power of PMM—it’s not just about what you say, it’s about how you get everyone moving together.And that’s the thing—PMM isn’t optional anymore. If you want to build a sustainable GTM engine, you need someone owning the narrative, the feedback, and the alignment. Otherwise, you’re just leaking value at every stage.Couldn’t agree more. And, you know, as we keep decoding the future of systems and strategy here, I think we’ll see more companies waking up to the real impact of product marketing. But for now, that’s a wrap for today’s episode.Thanks for tuning in, everyone. Shane, always a pleasure. We’ll catch you next time on The HiveMind Signal.Thanks Madison. Take care, everyone.

Episodes

The Undervalued Power of Product Marketing