3 product marketing archetypes every hiring manager should know
And why "there are no good PMMs in Europe" isn't acceptable.
👋 Hey! It’s Alicia. Welcome to Customer Focus - a newsletter to help you accelerate growth by putting your customers at the heart of your business.
I've just concluded several months of hiring for a product marketing manager role at Ravio. After speaking with 30+ PMM candidates across Europe, I wanted to share some reflections that might change how you think about product marketing talent.
The problem with PMM hiring
Something that's irked me over the years is hearing "there are no good PMMs in Europe."
I'm an SF Bay Area native. I started my PMM career in 2012 in San Francisco and I've seen countless PMMs from Silicon Valley to London and all across Europe.
This assumption is just wrong.
Is product marketing a bit more mature and saturated in the US? Sure, on a macro level. But there has been an explosion of understanding around the strategic value of the PMM function in Europe over the past 5 years alone. The difference is night and day.
But here's what I think the real issue is: if you think "there's no one good out there," you probably don't know what – or who – you're looking for.
The three PMM archetypes
Through my recent hiring process, I noticed something fascinating. There are distinct profiles of product marketers. I want to call them archetypes, and understanding them changes everything about how you hire.
The sales-led PMM
Some PMMs absolutely thrive in sales-driven environments. These are your narrative architects and positioning powerhouses.
What they own:
Holistic storytelling and strategic positioning
Competitive battle cards and intelligence
Sales enablement programs (often shared ownership)
Crafting the voice of the company
Where they excel: Early-stage startups nailing their niche ICP and competitive positioning to build 0-1 traction.
Key metrics: Accelerating sales cycles and improving demo-to-conversion rates.
This was my focus at an early-stage climate startup, where we were rapidly experimenting with validating our niche ICP – finding that sweet spot between real urgent pain, willingness to pay, and sales cycles that weren't plagued with red tape.
The PLG product marketer
Then there's the growth-focused PMM, built for high-scale environments where data drives everything.
What they own:
User sentiment tracking and customer insight feedback loops
Product adoption campaigns
Cross-functional alignment across dozens of teams
Launch strategy and execution
Where they excel: Established startups to global scaleups with mature product-led growth motions.
Key metrics: Incremental revenue and growth tied to product launches (I prefer shared goals here).
At Deliveroo, I shared a goal of driving an incremental supply of restaurant offers for our ad platform product. After stabilizing global offer supply over 12 months, I layered on consumer GTM strategy. We were underperforming with "young families" as a segment, so I used our newly-created supply to build 'group offer' campaigns with creative assets targeting families across 12 local marketing teams in EMEA and APAC.
The product influence PMM
Years ago when I was building my team at Deliveroo, I learned how Meta organized their PMM function (at least in 2019 – please correct me if this has changed).
Meta onboards PMMs into three specialist buckets:
Product launches - Your GTM execution masters
Sales enablement - Your revenue acceleration experts
Product influence - Your strategy and roadmap collaborators
The third bucket fascinated me. These PMMs don't just market products – they help shape them. They're embedded with product teams, using market insights to influence what gets built and how.
What they own:
Product roadmap influence through market intelligence
Cross-functional strategy alignment
Long-term positioning and market education
Voice of customer integration into product decisions
As you can imagine, positioning and messaging work sits beautifully on top of all these areas. But if you expect one person to strategize and execute across everything I've shared above, you're setting them up to fail.
Why this framework matters
For hiring managers: Be crystal clear on who and what you're looking for. What specific metrics do you aim to move? Do this work upfront to set your org and your new hire up for success.
For product marketers: Reflect on which archetype resonates with you. Are you a sales-led PMM focused on narrative design and accelerated sales cycles? A PLG PMM driving incremental growth through scaled adoption programs? Or a ‘product influence’ PMM shaping what gets built?
There's no "best" archetype – just the right fit for your stage, strategy, and goals.
The bottom line
Europe has incredible PMM talent. The challenge isn't finding good people. It's knowing exactly what kind of PMM you need and being honest about where your organization is in its journey.
Stop saying there are no good PMMs in Europe. Start asking: "What type of PMM do we actually need to succeed?"
What's your experience with these archetypes? Have you seen other patterns in PMM profiles? My DMs are always open for a chat about product marketing!
Let’s connect:
For more strategies, frameworks, and lessons from the trenches, add me on LinkedIn. I share actionable insights to help founders and PMMs grow faster by keeping customers at the heart of their business.
Brilliant insights! I love your three archetypes.