👀 Google APMM: Application to Offer – iykyk

A Product Marketer at Google Search

Hi there 👋 — Who are you and what’s your background?

Hi, I’m Lin Chen! I’m an APMM working on Google Search– and prior to this role I was working on Google Pixel, so I got to work on the recent Pixel 7 launch and Pixel 6 before that. Before I joined Google I studied Marketing and Business Analytics at Penn (Wharton).

I grew up in an immigrant family (both of my parents are immigrants) so I learned a lot about being a self-starter and being independent from my family upbringing. In my free time I'm a huge fan of board games and I recently picked up tennis! I've also been learning a lot about plants lately and how to propagate them.

Being an advocate for Google's products

In 3 words, can you summarize what you do as an APMM at Google?

• Writing - As an APMM I write a lot:

  • Internal documents to help teach team members understand a product and make sure we have the same vision for the need that it's solving.

  • Research briefs; these are about what we should be doing research and insights on, and what action we should take after getting that data. For example, every product has a Value Proposition which is like the guiding mission statement of the product that all the teams will align to. It's what you want people to take away about the purpose of the product. It's the PMM's job to come up with the value prop which involves coming up with 4-5 value prop hypotheses, doing research about the target audience (maybe a series of interviews and surveys), and landing on one based on that research.

• Reviewing - Reviewing marketing copy and messaging about products and features, and reviewing creatives like billboards or IG posts.

• Influence - PMM is a supporting function to the core product team, so you have to influence teams like UX, Product Management, etc to advocate for user needs without having direct authority. So you have to influence them by sharing your point-of-view and meeting them where they are.

The 4 types of Product Marketing

How is the program structured, for those that are unfamiliar?

The APMM program is meant for for new grads up to 3 years of experience. There are 3 common entry points: APMM Intern conversions (more of these), Direct hire from college (less common than intern), and Experienced hire (the company is shifting toward this more. Start dates for these candidates can happen throughout the year).

Timeline: APMM usually recruits during February and sends offers in May, but they often recruit in fall as well, for new grads (which syncs w/ other industry recruiting like consulting and IB). Keep in mind that applications can also open/close based on business needs.

Rotations: The entire program is 2 to 2.5 years long– you enter as an L3, and leave the program as L4 (drop the word Associate and become PMM). Your first rotation will be 1-1.5 years depending on what time of year you joined, and your second rotation lasts until promotion which is typically 6 months. Then, a lot of people stay on their second rotation team after getting promoted.

Team Matching Process: In the first rotation you don't get much choice about where you end up except maybe location, but for the second rotation you have more say. After I did my first rotation on Pixel, I wanted to rotate to Search since I'd get to experience Hardware → Software, and GTM (launches, big moments) → Core PMM (why do we build the products we build). You get much more influence over where you end up for your second rotation– it's also possible to network to get to know different managers.

Product Areas to Choose From: Google has a lot of products– Search, Youtube, Cloud, Pixel, Ads, to name a few. As long as a product has a marketing team, you could work on it as an APMM!

Types of APMMs:

• Core PMM: This role works most closely with PM, and answers the question "Why do we build, and how do we scale it?".

• Brand: Brand marketers drive top-of-funnel awareness, manage big marketing moments, and work with marketing agencies. This is what a lot of people think of as traditional marketing. This role is good for creative people!

• Growth: This role is more technical. Growth marketers are comfortable w/ numbers, distill insights and trends, and sometimes develop marketing tools. For example, a growth person might work with emails and in-app notifications to grow a new feature.

• GTM (Go-to-market): GTM marketers manage launches– you could calculate ROI on campaigns, run retail campaigns (how does Google show up in places like Amazon.com), and sometimes plan marketing budgets if the role is in Strategy & Operations.

New Grad recommendation: Do a rotational program

As a senior in college (or new grad), what attracted you to the program initially?

As a new grad I knew I wanted to do marketing, but I didn't want to be tied to a role. I think the idea of being trapped in a role, especially as a new grad who might not know exactly what you want to do in the future, is kinda scary. So I wanted something that would give me exposure to different teams and products.

I also really love the products at Google; I feel like they've been with me along the way from watching YouTube when I was younger, to using Google Docs in high school and college, and Google Search, etc. I thought the idea of being able to work on these products was pretty powerful. It's also such a global company so the work you do has a big scale. Those are some of the factors that made me like the APMM program.

But if you like the APMM program, I'd also recommend looking into other rotational programs at tech companies. This role is unique if you want to do marketing in tech but there’s also other rotational programs for PM, business, etc.

Product Marketing is only the beginning

Is there anything the landing page doesn't tell us about the APMM program?

1. "APMM" is a misnomer because there are actually a lot of different marketing roles you can do. Most people end up in different types of marketing since for each team there's usually a dedicated growth person, brand person, etc. Core PMM isn’t even half of all APMM roles.

2. You don’t get complete say in where you end up in your first rotation, so you have to be open to doing anything. But your second rotation you do get a say, and most people are pretty happy with where they land!

3. There are people who leave marketing to go to PM, Strategy, and other roles, but some people also stay in marketing too. It might seem like everyone who does APMM will be a lifelong marketer, but you have many career options after APMM. There are lots of APMM alumni who work in pretty different areas.

How to land the APMM offer

What do you think made you stand out as an applicant and is there a recruitment strategy that nobody is doing right now, but should be?

1. Pre-interview:

   1. It's important to show on your resume that you have some sort of tech experience, and some sort of marketing experience. Google wants to see demonstrated interest in both of those things. You should also be clear about why you're interested in Product Marketing, not just Product or just Marketing.

   2. Most people skew one way or another– so for example if you need more exposure to tech: you can try working at a startup. But it can also just be making your club more tech-enabled or innovation-focused. Bonus points if you can speak to how you have worked with people within research or engineering. One simple way to do this is to work with someone at your college who's majoring in computer science and maybe build an app together, so you can say on your resume that you've had that experience with tech.

   3. For your resume, you should always scan job description for keywords to add to your resume. Saying things like "analyzing the competitive landscape", "consumer trends", and mentioning popular marketing tools like Adobe CC. Adding these keywords can help you stand out to a recruiter who's looking at your resume really quickly.

   4. Always get a referral. People in tech are generally really willing to give you one (even if you just cold message the on LinkedIn) because if you get hired, they get a bonus!

2. Interview:

   1. You should definitely understand how Google makes money. What's their monetization strategy; what org brings in the money, how do they do that, and what are the bottlenecks to making more money? One common question is something about Ads. For example, "how can we grow our ads market share?", "how will xyz factor impact ad revenue?", or "how can we get SMBs to invest more in Google ads?”

   2. Come into the interview knowing a Google product you want to talk about. There are a ton of Google products; you definitely don't need to know all of them. But there should be 1 that you’re so familiar with that you can talk about what you like it, what would you do to improve it, and how would you grow it.

      1. Interviewers will often ask something like "what's your favorite Google product?" And you shouldn't just say “YouTube, because I spend an hour watching every day”– that doesn't show that you did your research. You should be able to answer thoughtfully– maybe talk about the target segment, what’s the need it addresses from a marketing standpoint, etc.

      2. A common follow-up question is, “how would you grow this product in, say, Spain”, or "how would you grow this product among people who are Gen Z". Be ready for this follow-up.

      3. Another question you should be able to answer is, "what is your favorite and least favorite marketing campaign?" and be ready to answer "how would you make it better?" And I think as a marketer you should always stay on top of the news in this field. There are a ton of newsletters and sources on this, like Adweek.

Not sure what kind of marketing to do? APMM is for you.

After being in this program, who do you think would benefit the most from this program and who wouldn’t?

• Who'd benefit most: This program is really good for people who want to work in marketing, but maybe they don't know what kind of marketing they want to do. Like brand (more creative) vs. growth (more analytical). Since you work in 2 roles for your 2 rotations, it'll also expand your network across different marketing functions. It's also a really large cohort of APMMs- so you'll learn about different products and roles from your peers' experiences.

• Who wouldn't benefit as much: If you're the kind of person who wants to see immediate results and feel quick fulfillment from the work you do, this role might not be for you. It can feel slow since there are long lead times in all of big tech, the work touches a lot of people, and you have to get alignment from a lot of people to move things forward.

A future CMO

What’s your next play after graduating from this program and how has this program impacted your 5-10 year career plan?

I'm not 100% sure! Until I've exhausted learnings from my current role, I don't think I'll change. I'll probably either stay as a PMM, or maybe do a 20% project (short term) on a PM role maybe to try it out but tbd. Right now, I'm focusing on ramping up to my new role because I recently rotated.

At some point in my life, maybe like 20 years from now, I would love to lead marketing for a product I really love. So a CMO of some sort.

Another goal I have is... Google has these big press moments like Made by Google and Google IO, so maybe in 10-20 years I'd love to be someone who can stand on stage and tell the world about a product we've been working on.