Here's how you can establish trust and rapport with your team in product marketing.

- Offer assistance and co-present product updates to internal groups - Share insights into the buying journey and marketing and sales funnel - Ask thoughtful questions about the product and provide valuable outside perspective - Understand the jobs to be done, scope, success metrics, and problem statement for the product - Have empathy towards teammates and offer support - Form a team or multifactor with cross-functional co-champions - Take the time to get to know your team and build relationships - Give credit and share recognition generously - Consistently show value and hit goals to earn trust and respect.

- Present a strategic outlook first, tactical later - Fight the urge to sugarcoat; if you want a seat at the table, cultivate a strong voice - Indulge in constructive banter and don't be afraid to counter-question in the spirit of healthy debate

Be the leader you would like to follow. If you would not want to work for you, don't behave in that way. And listen. Acknowledge what is said ... You don't have to agree, but paying attention is important. If you have experience, share. Don't lecture. Never be someone that throws team members under the bus. Give credit when it's due.

Build a strong product marketing team by becoming their teammate! Make yourself approachable (office hours, lunches). Know them personally (interests, goals). Be honest and transparent (share info, challenges). Value their expertise (ideas, perspectives). Celebrate wins (big or small). Listen actively (hear their concerns). Give credit freely. Show you're open to learning from them. This builds trust, fosters collaboration, and drives success.

Empower your team members to take ownership of their projects, make decisions autonomously, and pursue their professional growth and development. Provide opportunities for skill-building, learning, and advancement, supporting your team members' career aspirations and goals. When team members feel empowered and supported, they're more likely to trust in their abilities, take initiative, and contribute meaningfully to the team's success.

Have a learning mindset and set aside your titles for a bit. By welcoming ideas, discussing them, probing into someone’s thought process and helping each other in the team is a great way to build rapport and work smart along the way.

Trust and rapport is built when you park your ego. ❌ The wrong way of working with your PMM team is to dictate what you think should be done, without consulting others or taking the wider business goals into account. ✅ The right way is to have a consultative mindset, bringing in varied opinions and feedback whilst narrowing down priority tasks if they align to business goals. Listen. Be curious. Consult teammates before executing. And soon enough you’ll realise you’ve built strong internal trust and rapport.

🎯Create a supportive atmosphere within your team that encourages open communication, trust, and mutual respect. Foster an environment where team members feel comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and feedback without fear of judgment or reprisal. Show empathy and understanding towards team members' challenges and struggles, offering support and encouragement when needed.

A big part of clear communication is real active listening. Responding to direct feedback and ideas shows you are engaged with the team and helps create a culture of team accountability.

In my experience, you want to foster a culture of transparency by regularly sharing successes and challenges with your team. Use tools to keep everyone informed in real time and create an open forum for questions and suggestions. You want to keep everyone on the same page and build a sense of shared purpose.

Encouraging feedback is vital in product marketing. One effective approach is implementing regular "feedback loops" during project milestones. For instance, during a product launch, schedule weekly check-ins where team members can openly share insights and concerns. This not only addresses immediate issues but also fosters a culture of continuous improvement. Additionally, consider using anonymous surveys to capture honest feedback that might not surface in open forums.

Co-create a feedback model with your team to focus on the work not on the person. Create standards of integrity for your team's deliverables and hold each other accountable to these standards.

Don’t skimp on your effort in the OKR process. It’s a great tool and process to set priorities and by definition, what is not a priority. Set no more than four objectives in a year that are juicy but critically only PMM are best served to deliver. Set no more than four deliverables for each. Communicate, communicate, communicate. Even though at some point you’ll say no to people, they will have to trust and respect your focus and rigour on delivering what is important. Trust comes from delivery and consistency.

To establish trust and rapport with your team in product marketing, focus on clear communication, active listening, and transparency. Encourage collaboration, provide constructive feedback, and lead by example. Show genuine interest in team members' growth and well-being, fostering a positive and inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and supported.

Alignment around quarterly OKRs is huge. Set realistic and achievable metrics for the team AND individuals. Make sure that each goal for individual contributors has a clear ladder to the overall team goals.

Feedback should be seen as a gift and when you lead by example in how you seek, accept and act on feedback with your team and peers, it creates an infectious and positive cycle of change that levels up not only your team, but how your team's brand strengthens with cross-functional teams. If you as a leader, or your team has received constructive feedback, take individual time to understand it, identify the catalyst or scenario, and what could have been done differently, and then set up a dedicated group time to share and discuss how the individual or team will act on the feedback. Within a couple of conversations and calls, your team has levelled up their development, demonstrated integrity and will have practiced resilience.

One of the best pieces of advice I got from a mentor was that the best people managers do very little "managing." If you are focused on the work, the team will pick up on that energy and want to contribute to the overall success of the PMM group.

Encourage your team to participate in outside professional growth activities and bring their learnings back to the rest of the team. Giving your team time to engage in learning and professional growth activities cultivates trust and foster a sense of investment in their career development. Not only will this benefit the individuals on your team, but it will also bring fresh ideas and perspectives to the table.

Build in public - as simple as that. As PMMs, you sit at the intersection of almost every major function in the organisation. Sometimes that puts you at a crossroads when it comes to maintaining accountability or just adds to too much documentation overload for the sake of transparency. The simplest thing to do in this case is build in public. That way you are demonstrating your credibility and showcasing your transparency without having too many overheads.