PMM Five-Phase Operating Model
The PMM Five-Phase Operating Model provides a cyclical structure for how product marketing teams operate. Rather than treating product marketing as a list of deliverables, this framework organises the function into five interconnected phases that repeat with every product cycle. Each phase has clear inputs, activities, and outputs that feed the next phase. Note: this is one effective operating model synthesised from best practice across leading tech companies — different organisations may adapt the phases to fit their context. You don't need to do everything listed here at once. Start by identifying which 1-2 phases need the most attention and build from there.
When to use this framework
- →Building a product marketing function from scratch
- →Onboarding new PMMs and explaining how the team operates
- →Planning quarterly or annual PMM priorities
- →Diagnosing where the PMM function is breaking down
- →Defining PMM roles and responsibilities with product and sales teams
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HubSpot (Marketing Hub)
1. Discover
What research and discovery activities are you running? Customer interviews, win/loss analysis, competitive intelligence, market sizing, usage data analysis. Star (*) your top 2-3 priority activities for the current quarter — not everything needs to happen at once.
What deliverables come out of your discovery phase?
2. Strategise
How do you turn discovery insights into strategy? Positioning work, segmentation decisions, pricing strategy, go-to-market planning. Star (*) your top 2-3 priority activities.
What strategic deliverables does this phase produce?
3. Define
How do you translate strategy into messaging and content? Messaging development, narrative design, content planning, creative briefing. Star (*) your top 2-3 priority activities.
What messaging and content deliverables does this phase produce?
4. Get Set
How do you prepare the organisation for launch? Sales enablement, training, channel preparation, launch planning, internal communications. Star (*) your top 2-3 priority activities.
What enablement deliverables does this phase produce?
5. Grow
How do you drive post-launch adoption and expansion? Campaign optimisation, customer advocacy, upsell/cross-sell programmes, performance measurement. Star (*) your top 2-3 priority activities.
What growth deliverables does this phase produce? What feeds back into the next Discover cycle?
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