What do you do if you want to bridge skill gaps in your product marketing career through learning new skills?

> determine which skills are crucial for the desired career trajectory or next level of product marketing > set realistic goals for the most critical skills > work with cross-functional teams on projects that allow you to practice and refine skills such as market research, product positioning, and content creation > join online communities, forums, and professional networks to learn from experts, share insights, and stay current on industry trends > attend relevant product marketing conferences, workshops, and networking events

You can identify gaps through either self-assessment and reflection or seeking feedback. You can also look at job listings, professional standards, or competency frameworks relevant to product marketing. One tip I have is that you can look at the LinkedIn profiles of successful product marketers. That can also serve as an excellent benchmark.

Identificar lacunas: Inicie com uma autoavaliação detalhada para entender suas habilidades atuais e onde há espaço para melhorias. Isso pode envolver análise de feedback, desempenho passado e comparação com requisitos da indústria.

One of the most helpful things for me in identifying skill gaps has been to connect with succesful product marketers (and managers) on LinkedIn. I started following a number of great PMMs on LinkedIn based on their follower count and number of posts. Then I frequently tapped into their posts and matched their skills with my own skills matrix.

The method of which you identify a skill Gap may be flawed. Skills are sometimes made to look larger than they are, or more necessary to master, when not really. For example " reputation management " as I once did, When I was building websites and brands, I was approached, and asked if I could REMOVE top links in Google. Never having done this, I saw only a large skill gap between me and businesses or individuals that had already done this. As it turns out, every single one of the skills needed was already in my skill book. It just appeared to me to be different when it wasn't. Not only was I successful, What I was superior, and excelled. Correct identification through maybe practice or seeking similar cases may be necessary first.

Definir metas: Estabeleça metas SMART para direcionar seu desenvolvimento. Essas metas devem ser específicas, mensuráveis, alcançáveis, relevantes e com prazo determinado, garantindo um foco claro e um plano tangível.

Another thing to consider when setting your goals is to decide on your learning methods. Do you prefer text-based learning, video or podcasts/audio books? Or a combination? Finding out makes it easier to choose the source material you need for your progress. Bonus: Try to use several senses when you study – if you read or watch something, take notes at the same time using pen and paper. This will help you to make new information ’stick’ in your brain.

The most important factors when it comes to setting goals are attainability and timeline. Goals that are unrealistic can act as a big hurdle to overcome. - if your overall goal seems unrealistic, set sub-goals that are easier to achieve. By breaking the overall goal down into smaller pieces it helps not losing motivation along the way. The wrong timeline can make goals unattainable. - setting a realistic timeline that considers other workload and personal time takes the pressure off of attaining a new skill in a very limited time.

Always set a very specific single overarching and at the highest degree level goal. And then determine how far you are from that specific distance, And how many steps you think you would take. Breakdown this very large almost unobtainable goal into five smaller pieces. And then further from this, break each one of those down into three smaller pieces and attack them in random order, But only after visualizing them on paper or digitally in a document. The ultimate goal may be " become a doctor" But one of the most broken down versions of the final layer of three, would be something like " Read a medical book" Then determine how each one connects on the way up. This is your action plan.

Set goals and communicate them to the whole team. Having a benchmark for success is key to know if you're actually going in the right direction. Do you want growth? Profitability? Both? How does that look like? Once you have the answers there's no way you'll miss a breakthrough moment for the company.

Encontrar recursos: Busque uma variedade de recursos de aprendizagem, como cursos online, livros e mentoria. Escolha aqueles que se alinhem com seu estilo de aprendizagem e ofereçam conhecimento prático aplicável à sua função de marketing de produtos.

I think one of the most underestimated resource is the knowledge that is already within the company. Finding a mentor is not only a great way to expand one‘s network within the company but also to gain great insight into how they bridged their own gaps, find out which resources were crucial to to them in their own career, and also to help navigate through the plethora of information and different resources out there. One doesn’t always have to achieve everything on one’s own. Profit from the people before you that paved the way and excel from there!

Admitting that you don't know something is always difficult, especially for people with a lot of experience in the field. Fortunately, there are hundreds of resources that can help fill in the gaps while strengthening other skills at the same time. In addition to online courses (some of which are truly excellent), it's good to read case studies and speak to other product marketing managers (those you know and those you haven't yet met). Hearing stories of success and failure can help you decide whether a strategy has merit.

Remember that with LLMs and Google and forums and the fact that it many people are willing to share information, It's not as difficult as you may think to obtain the resources needed to get to the final goal. The most trustworthy resource is going to be someone who is already at the level you are trying to get to be, And asking directly how they would start if they didn't know what they knew. And don't be afraid of books, Remember that you can scan entire books and have the content cliff noted for you by an AI llm. Resources is the easiest part as procrastination is the general consensus of destruction.

Praticar habilidades: A teoria é importante, mas a prática é crucial. Aplique suas novas habilidades em projetos reais para ganhar experiência e confiança. Isso pode incluir voluntariado para novos projetos, criar suas próprias campanhas ou simular estratégias de marketing.

The simplest way to do this is to look for opportunities within your current role to apply what you’re learning! If you’ve taken a course on digital analytics, for instance, volunteer to manage or contribute to the analytics part of your next marketing campaign. If you're not working anymore, take up freelance projects or do your own.

Depending on what skills you are to practice remember, failure is a guarantee for someone who is doing the right thing. If you spent everyday with a mechanic, It's not going to be very long before your replacing the spark plugs in any vehicle. Surround yourself with the Data and the goals that you've already figured out you need to use. Remember to allocate time to magnify what you're doing to make sure you're not swaying from the primary objective. Before long you actually realized you almost halfway there or even there without knowing. Remember procrastination kills more spirit than anything else.

Regular trade visits. When you visit the trade regularly, you will understand from trade partners and intermediaries what the market is saying about your product offerings in comparison to that of your competitor’s.

Failure is good! We don’t learn without getting out of our comfort zone, this only leads gridlock and no personal development. If we are open to fail and go wrong sometimes, a good feedback culture will lead to growth and continuous development. Be open to criticism, don’t see it as a personal attack but for what it is, an evaluation of your work, not your person.

You wouldn't know you were crazy unless somebody told you from the outside. You wouldn't know something was wrong if you had never done it before. You wouldn't know if the job had been done right unless the customer told you it wasn't or was. And you'll never know if you're actually reaching levels of success, unless you gather information from an outside source that provides truth in seeing your growth. This is necessary to again ensure that you're not straying from the path.

To stay informed, I'll get a relevant audio book from Audible and learn about a new area in my business that I need to become more familiar with, for example, managing a call center.

Ficar atualizado: Mantenha-se atualizado com as últimas tendências e desenvolvimentos na indústria de marketing de produtos. Assine publicações relevantes, participe de eventos e redes profissionais para garantir que você esteja sempre à frente das mudanças no campo.

To stay sharp, I initiated 'Marketing Hackathons' within our team, where we dissect successful campaigns from various industries. It's a creative forge, shaping our skills in real-time. It once sparked an idea that led to a 20% uptick in our campaign performance! 📈🎨 Another habit? 'Reverse Mentoring'. I pair up with new hires, exchanging my industry insights for their fresh perspectives and digital fluency. It's like a mental gym, keeping me agile and informed about burgeoning tech and trends. It's not just mentoring; it's symbiotic professional evolution! 🔄💡

In my opinion, there are two ways of keeping up to date. On the one hand, it's about being informed about what the competition is currently pursuing. On the other hand, it's about showing your own initiative and developing research into innovations and novelties in your own sector.

Stay updated with how the consumers are digesting content nowadays. Focus on the platforms that are testing new ways of attract users, and put your content there. It will be pushed organically and you'll get much more exposure than on the already mainstream ones. Example: Youtube Shorts vs Tik Tok

Educate your client on the importance of having a whole ecosystem. Not just the paid ads with a full funnel, but also an organic source of content that will make your customers feel heard and part of your brand.