How Product Marketing Truly Differs from Traditional Marketing

A Fireside Chat with Evelyn Watts, Senior Product Marketing Executive at Tempo Software

Our fireside chat opened with the question that continues to confuse teams and leaders alike: What is the actual difference between Product Marketing and Traditional Marketing?

Evelyn Watts grounded the conversation by explaining that Product Marketing is centred on understanding the market, defining positioning, enabling sales, and driving product adoption.

Traditional Marketing, by contrast, is focused on awareness, demand generation, and brand amplification. Both functions matter, but they serve different purposes. Evelyn emphasized that organizations unlock far greater impact when they stop treating these roles as interchangeable and instead recognize how each contributes to the customer journey.

What Good Collaboration Really Looks Like

Evelyn described effective collaboration between Product Marketing, Marketing, and Sales as a rhythm built on clarity and shared intent. When teams understand each other’s roles, the work becomes smoother and more aligned. Product Marketing brings the market insight and positioning that anchor the story, while Marketing amplifies that story and Sales carries it into the field. When this partnership is healthy, each team reinforces the other. When it isn’t, misalignment shows up quickly, in messaging, in execution, and in the customer experience.

Explaining the Difference to Leaders Who Think They’re the Same Job

One of the most persistent challenges Product Marketers face is helping leaders understand that their work is not simply another version of marketing. Evelyn noted that when leaders assume the roles are interchangeable, the organization risks losing the strategic clarity that Product Marketing provides. Without a dedicated focus on positioning and market understanding, teams can drift into reactive execution, and the product’s value becomes harder to articulate. She stressed that the distinction is about ensuring the product has the strategic foundation it needs to succeed.

How Product Marketing Measures Success

Because Product Marketing isn’t always tied to big campaign numbers, the question of measurement often comes up. Evelyn explained that success in Product Marketing shows up in different ways: in how clearly the market understands the product, in how effectively Sales uses the positioning, and in how well adoption grows over time. These indicators may not always look like traditional marketing metrics, but they are essential to understanding whether the product’s story is resonating and whether teams are aligned around it.

Where Product Marketing and Traditional Marketing Overlap

Although the roles are distinct, Evelyn acknowledged that there is natural overlap between Product Marketing and Traditional Marketing. Both care deeply about the audience and both contribute to shaping the narrative around the product. The difference lies in focus. Product Marketing defines the core story, the positioning, the value, the market fit, while Traditional Marketing amplifies that story through campaigns and brand channels. When teams understand this relationship, they avoid stepping on each other’s toes and instead create a more cohesive experience for customers.

Skills and Traits That Set Someone Up for Success

For those considering a move into Product Marketing, Evelyn highlighted the importance of skills and traits that help someone thrive in the role. Curiosity, the ability to connect insights, and a talent for translating complexity into clarity all play a central part. Product Marketing attracts people who enjoy understanding the market, shaping the narrative, and working across teams to ensure the product’s value is communicated effectively.

How Product Marketing Should Work with Sales

Evelyn pointed out that positioning only matters if Sales can use it. Product Marketing must work closely with Sales to ensure the messaging is practical, relevant, and grounded in real customer conversations. This relationship is ongoing, not a one‑time handoff. When Product Marketing and Sales are aligned, the positioning becomes more than words. It becomes a tool that supports the entire revenue engine.

Balancing Long‑Term Brand Building with Short‑Term Adoption Goals

Another theme that surfaced was the tension between long‑term brand building and the short‑term adoption goals Product Marketing is often responsible for. Evelyn explained that the key is staying anchored in the customer. When the messaging is rooted in real customer needs and market understanding, it naturally supports both immediate adoption and long‑term brand strength.

What Product Marketing Owns During a Launch — and After

During a product launch, Product Marketing plays a central role in shaping the positioning, preparing the messaging, and ensuring internal teams are aligned. But the work doesn’t end once the launch goes live. Evelyn noted that Product Marketing continues to gather feedback, refine the story, and support adoption long after the initial announcement. A launch is a moment; Product Marketing is responsible for sustaining the momentum that follows.

The Biggest Misconceptions About Product Marketing

Evelyn closed the conversation by addressing some of the biggest misconceptions about Product Marketing. Many people still believe it is simply content creation or that it only matters during launches. Others assume it is indistinguishable from demand generation. In reality, Product Marketing is a strategic discipline that shapes how the product is understood, adopted, and valued, both inside the organization and in the market.

Book Recommendations 

And as we closed the chat, Evelyn shared some interesting book recommendations from her personal library, not just for product marketers, but also for anyone in marketing and communications.

• Sales Pitch (How to Craft a Story to Stand out and Win) by April Dunford.
• Nobody Wants to Read Your Sh*t (And Other Tough-Love Truths to Make You A Better Writer) by Steven Pressfield. 
• Good Strategy / Bad Strategy (The Difference and Why It Matters) by Richard Rumelt. 
• Product Marketing Debunked by Yasmeen Turayhi. (Evelyn was quoted in this one!)   

Great reads!