The Psychology of building influence in your product marketing role
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Something I’ve struggled with in my career as a Product Marketer is getting, holding, and wielding influence at the workplace consistently. I’ve succeeded at times and in spurts, but the time always comes where my influence is lost, forgotten, or ignored. In the interest of growing and improving as a Product Marketer, I wanted to take a more scientific look at influence and how it works for humans psychologically. So, in this blog post, we’re going to take a look at how to gain, hold, and wield influence as a Product Marketer through the lens of a few of its “real-life” psychological elements.
And as a fun exercise, I paired each type of influence with a house from Game of Thrones. Lots of influence to go around in that story and definitely some fun debates about which type of influence was best suited for each house. Enjoy and tell me which GoT house I got wrong.
Authority
Game of Thrones House: Lannister. Whether we like it or not they were in charge for most of the series.
The psychology: People tend to follow people of authority (the power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience) automatically
How it plays in real life: We are taught early on to listen to figures of authority and people with titles like policemen, firemen, doctors, teachers, parents, etc. We are also taught that obedience is right while disobedience is wrong.
How it plays at work: Superiors and managers hold authority over us automatically based on the organizational structure. We follow their directions to get good reviews, get promoted, avoid getting fired, etc.
For Product Marketing: Too often Product Marketers don’t have the luxury of this type of influence - especially when working outside of Product Marketing. Even when we have a senior title, the Sales and/or Product teams usually have more authority when it comes to decision-making and direction.
When you have it: If you ever come across it, cherish it, and use it (nicely)😀
Real-life Product Marketing example: It’s rare a Product Marketer has influence through a true sense of authority, so they have to earn it in other ways. Often, product marketers have to earn their authority-like influence through credibility. Take it from Sheena Vega, Director of Product Marketing at Olivine, “When I started in a new Product Marketing role, I made it a point to work directly with leaders of key functional areas to earn their trust and demonstrate credibility for future work. “
Reciprocation
Game of Thrones House: Stark. All the way up in the North no one really cares about you unless you do something for them.
The psychology: People will try to repay, in kind, what another person has provided to them
How it plays in real life: The old adage ‘do unto others as is done to you.’ When someone does something nice for you, your inclination is to reciprocate that kindness.
How it plays at work: Help someone with their big project or go above and beyond on a project you’re working together on and they’re more likely to help you out on a future project. Nowadays, shoutouts in Slack or over Zoom calls work as a method of reciprocation to publicly give credit where credit is due.
For Product Marketing: As we know, product marketing is a very cross-functional role. A great way to gain influence is to identify projects on other teams and find ways to help by bringing knowledge, extra work, and expertise. When we help make that project successful, we’re more likely to receive support for that next product launch.
When you have it: Spend it wisely. Make sure if/when they reciprocate it happens on a higher profile launch that helps you gain more visibility and influence when it goes well. Also, don’t forget to keep earning influence through reciprocation with other areas of the business.
Real-life Product Marketing example: Arielle Shnaidman, Director of Product Marketing at Olivine, was responsible for a 300+ person sales team back in the day, which meant lots and lots of enablement. Her strategy from the get-go was to work really hard to give them everything they needed - sales decks, one-pagers, competitive intel, etc. In return, the entire sales team was generous with their time, explaining technical details, customer needs, what closes deals, and more. This gave Arielle a wealth of information that made her a better Product Marketer.
Social Proof
Game of Thrones House: Arryn. Look at us at the top of the Vale doing our thing. You should be like us.
The psychology: People tend to follow the masses. If everyone else is doing it, I’ll do it too.
How it plays in real life: This is probably the most powerful in our teenage years. Think about all the things kids did (maybe even you did) just because the “cool kids” were doing it.
How it plays at work: There’s a culture element at play with this one. The company culture usually dictates how employees act. Workers will follow the processes that other people follow and potentially skirt the rules when they see others do that.
For Product Marketing: I think the best way to use this method of influence is to show social proof up the chain to get things done. For example, show your VP, CEO, etc. examples of how other companies built and used: messaging frameworks, personas, launches, competitive intelligence etc. Showing how other companies or influencers do things successfully may influence leaders to allow you to follow their example.
When you have it: Make sure you follow through. If you use social proof to start a key project, make sure you demonstrate the success and value of the work externally and internally. Proven success can snowball into future projects. However, on the other side, if you don’t show value you’ll likely lose access to this kind of influence in the future.
Real-life Product Marketing example: When I joined Klaviyo as their first Product Marketer, there was a lot to establish. There was no messaging framework, no extensive launch planning, no competitive intelligence program, etc. It was helpful for me to use examples from other companies that our leadership respected to build out these foundational product marketing elements. I used examples to get buy-in and was able to build up from there.
Liking
Game of Thrones House: Tyrell. Come be our friends! Drink our wine!
The psychology: Deep down people want to say yes to the people they both know and like
How it plays in real life: ‘Liking’ happens most naturally when we find someone who is similar to our lifestyle, background, personality, etc. A great example of this is how cliques form in high school - the nerds, the jocks, etc.
How it plays at work: There’s an element of just being a good person to everyone you work with. But, we also look for camaraderie at work to increase fun levels. We may laugh at more jokes or even pick up a new hobby with the hopes of connecting with someone. In the remote work world, how much more likely do you think it is that someone will respond to your email asking for a favor if they “like” you vs. if they don’t? Or how much faster will they reply?
For Product Marketing: Product Marketer’s lives are made easier when they have strong working relationships. To me, the ‘liking’ method of influence is the fastest path (outside of Authority) and probably the first thing you should invest in when you start a Product Marketing role. Find the people you’re going to work with most and establish that relationship.
When you have it: It definitely makes work more fun. You build great relationships and can more easily enjoy the work you are doing. I find it’s also a great way to extend influence. For example, if you can influence a Product Manager to include you in their roadmapping sessions because they like you, then you can potentially influence the Head of Sales who has a great relationship with the Product Manager.
Real-life Product Marketing example: When I joined Attentive, I was in charge of the Data and Analytics part of the product. From the interview process, I knew there was an opportunity to improve how launches work from the beta program all the way through to GA. I quickly learned a large part of GTM success went through the CSM organization. With that, I spent more time getting to know CSMs and CSM organization leaders. When it came time to pitch a new approach to improve feature launches and GTM results, I had partners in the key part of the organization to make it work.
Gaining, using, and holding influence is tricky - especially for product marketing. Learning about the different types of influence and the psychological elements of each was a helpful exercise for me to understand where I’ve personally failed and succeeded and how to potentially improve in the future. I hope you learned something from this overview and would love to hear about your personal stories of influence.
