Books › Product Marketing Manager roadmap
Best books for Product Marketing Managers (PMMs)
Positioning first, then messaging, then go-to-market. The opening books teach how a product is placed in a buyer's mind, how to gather customer evidence fast and how to make an idea stick. The build set turns that into narrative, jobs-to-be-done research, sales enablement and the product team's process. The lead set covers market adoption, category design and strategy that survives scrutiny.
12 books in 3 stages, about 3,000 pages (at least 75 hours of reading). The notes are ours, with no ratings or sales claims.
How to choose your books
A short method, so you read the right book for where you are instead of the longest list.
Find your stage
Getting started · 4 books
Positioning and evidence: find where you stand against alternatives, research customers quickly, and write messages that stick.
Jump to this stage ↓Doing the job · 5 books
Turning positioning into pages, launches and sales tools, and understanding how the product team discovers and builds.
Jump to this stage ↓Senior and leading · 3 books
Go-to-market strategy: crossing from early adopters to the mainstream, defining a category and writing a plan that withstands challenge.
Jump to this stage ↓
If you are unsure, start one stage lower than you think. Books in a later stage assume the working knowledge the earlier ones give you.
Begin with one book
Our starting pick
Obviously Awesome
by April Dunford · 2019
A step-by-step positioning method you can run on your own product this month. Everything else in marketing gets easier once positioning is clear.
See the book ↓Then pick by your situation
Choose the next book by the problem in front of you, not by its place in the list.
If you have to gather customer evidence without a research team
read Just Enough Research (getting started)
If reps are ignoring your battlecards and talk tracks
read The Challenger Sale (doing the job)
If you are setting go-to-market strategy for a technology product
read Crossing the Chasm (senior and leading)
Set a time budget
| Stage | Books | Pages | Reading | At 3 hrs a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Getting started | 4 | ≥ 710 | ≥ 18 hrs | ≥ 6 wks |
| Doing the job | 5 | 1,440 | 36 hrs | 12 wks |
| Senior and leading | 3 | 850 | 21 hrs | 7 wks |
| All 3 stages | 12 | ≥ 3,000 | ≥ 75 hrs | ≥ 25 wks |
Treat this as a ceiling, not a target. Read one book at a time, apply it, then move on; read reference-style books in sections. Totals are approximate.
Judge any book before you buy it
Age
This list runs from 1981 (Positioning) to 2022 (Loved). Older books earn their place by teaching principles that do not change. For tools and platforms, buy the latest edition.
Level
Check the stage before the title. A book from a later stage will make sense only once you have faced the problems it solves.
Format
Some books suit reading start to finish; others work as references. Read the reference-style ones in sections, when a problem calls for them.
Fit
Ask what you will do differently the week after you finish. If you cannot answer, the book is for a different moment. Come back to it when the situation arrives.
Getting started
Positioning and evidence: find where you stand against alternatives, research customers quickly, and write messages that stick.
Start hereObviously Awesome
by April Dunford · 2019
~200 pages~5 hrs to read
A step-by-step method for positioning a product: pick competitive alternatives, isolate unique attributes, and tie them to value for a target customer. The first book to read when you own positioning.
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Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind
by Al Ries, Jack Trout · 1981
~210 pages~5 hrs to read
A short book on how a product is placed in a buyer's mind relative to rivals. Useful grounding for new PMMs before a first messaging or competitive-framing project.
View book →Just Enough Research
by Erika Hall · 2013
A compact guide to running interviews, surveys and competitive audits without a research team. Handy for PMMs who must gather customer and market evidence fast and defend it to stakeholders.
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Made to Stick
by Chip Heath, Dan Heath · 2007
~300 pages~8 hrs to read
Explains why some ideas are remembered and acted on, and gives a framework for sharpening them. Good for PMMs rewriting launch messages and sales talk tracks that fail to land.
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Doing the job
Turning positioning into pages, launches and sales tools, and understanding how the product team discovers and builds.
Building a StoryBrand
by Donald Miller · 2017
~240 pages~6 hrs to read
Lays out a seven-part narrative framework that puts the customer at the center of website and campaign copy. Useful when turning positioning into clear messaging for pages, decks and launches.
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Competing Against Luck
by Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, David S. Duncan · 2016
~290 pages~7 hrs to read
Applies the jobs-to-be-done lens to explain why customers hire products. Helps PMMs structure customer research and write segments and messages around the progress buyers are trying to make.
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The Challenger Sale
by Matthew Dixon, Brent Adamson · 2011
~220 pages~6 hrs to read
Draws on a large study of sales reps to argue for teaching customers something new and tailoring the pitch. Worth reading when building sales enablement, battlecards and talk tracks that reps will actually use.
View book →Loved: How to Rethink Marketing for Tech Products
by Martina Lauchengco · 2022
~320 pages~8 hrs to read
A product marketing playbook from a long-time practitioner covering positioning, messaging, launches and working with product teams. Read it when you run day-to-day PMM work or define the function.
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Inspired: How to Create Tech Products Customers Love
by Marty Cagan · 2008
~370 pages~9 hrs to read
Describes how strong product teams discover and deliver products. PMMs benefit from learning the product manager's process so they can join discovery early and shape launches.
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Senior and leading
Go-to-market strategy: crossing from early adopters to the mainstream, defining a category and writing a plan that withstands challenge.
Crossing the Chasm
by Geoffrey A. Moore · 1991
~270 pages~7 hrs to read
Covers taking a technology product from early adopters to the mainstream market, including beachhead segments and whole-product thinking. Core reading for PMMs setting go-to-market strategy.
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Play Bigger
by Al Ramadan, Dave Peterson, Christopher Lochhead, Kevin Maney · 2016
~260 pages~7 hrs to read
Argues for defining a new market category rather than competing inside an existing one. Useful for senior PMMs and heads of marketing shaping category narrative and launch strategy.
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Good Strategy Bad Strategy
by Richard P. Rumelt · 2011
~320 pages~8 hrs to read
Separates real strategy, with a diagnosis, guiding policy and coherent actions, from goal-setting and slogans. A strong check for PMM leaders writing go-to-market plans that must withstand scrutiny.
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Frequently asked questions
Which book should a Product Marketing Manager read first?
Obviously Awesome by April Dunford. A step-by-step positioning method you can run on your own product this month. Everything else in marketing gets easier once positioning is clear.
Do I need to read all 12 books?
No. The list is a menu, not a syllabus. Find your stage (getting started: 4, doing the job: 5, senior and leading: 3), begin with one book (we suggest Obviously Awesome), then pick the next book by the problem you are facing at work. Come back to the others when the situation they cover arrives.
How long does it take to read these books?
The 11 books with a known page count add up to about 3,000 pages, roughly 75 hours at 1.5 minutes a page. At three hours a week that is about 25 weeks; at six hours a week, about 13. The list is meant to be read over time, one book at a time, not in one run.
Are these books up to date?
They range from 1981 (Positioning) to 2022 (Loved). Older titles are included because they teach principles that have not changed; for tools and platforms, we favour recent editions. Check the edition before you buy.
Related reading
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