Product Marketing Engineer

Would you buy a product if you didn’t know what it was, how it worked, or what it did? If you asked most consumers, the answer would be a loud and emphatic, “No.”

For that reason, companies that make and manufacture highly technical products — for example, software, machines, or chemicals — often hire Product Marketing Engineers.

If you’re a Product Marketing Engineer, you’re the love child of “marketing” and “engineering,” as it’s your job to use your knowledge of both disciplines to develop and execute strategies for marketing and selling highly engineered products.

Like most Marketing Coordinators, Product Marketing Engineers research, assess, and analyze market needs, so they can better understand the needs of the consumer; consult with Engineers on product design, so they can include features that appeal to customers; and develop marketing messages and materials, so that the company can effectively explain — and ultimately, sell — product benefits to buyers.

To that end, common duties include: conducting market research via customer focus groups and needs analyses; creating product branding, positioning, and messaging; developing marketing collateral, including press releases, whitepapers, product profiles, advertisements, websites, and brochures; performing product demonstrations at trade shows and sales meetings; consulting on product design and pricing; training Salespeople on product features and benefits; and measuring return on investment.

If you know marketing, all that should sound familiar. What separates you from a run-of-the-mill Marketing Coordinator, therefore, isn’t what you do. It’s what you know: Because you have an engineering background, you’re uniquely qualified to understand and explain the engineering benefits of the products you’re selling.