Product Marketing's Commercial Edge: Overcoming Business Blocks
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From physicist to product marketing leader—Chris Wade's journey is anything but ordinary. But can marketing really solve problems that businesses didn't even know were marketing problems?
In this episode of Spotlight on B2B Tech Marketing, host Karen Lloyd welcomes Chris Wade, Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Gamma Communications, to explore how marketing can unlock commercial solutions beyond traditional boundaries. With a unique background spanning physics, strategy consulting, and nearly 15 years in product marketing across companies like Sage and Aptitude Software, Chris offers a masterclass in applying analytical thinking to marketing challenges.
From building product marketing functions from scratch to using marketing principles to solve HR recruitment challenges, Chris shares practical insights that demonstrate marketing's power to drive business transformation.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✔️ The critical differences between product management and product marketing strategy and execution
✔️ Why businesses struggle to embed product marketing functions and how to overcome organisational resistance
✔️ The three essential pillars for building successful product marketing teams and capabilities from the ground up
✔️ How to use data to create hyper-focused product marketing messaging for different personas and market segments
✔️ Why product marketing principles can solve unexpected business problems
✔️ The importance of stakeholder buy-in and creating clear roadmaps for product marketing function evolution
✔️ How to demonstrate product marketing value and ROI when businesses question the need for change
EPISODE OUTLINE AND HIGHLIGHTS
[02:04] Introducing Chris Wade - CMO and Product Officer at Gamma Communications
[02:17] Chris's unique journey from physicist at Oxford to product marketing
[04:05] Defining the difference between product management and product marketing
[08:03] Chris's decision to move into marketing and business performance roles
[10:10] Evolution of product marketing as a discipline over the past 15 years
[10:51] Challenges of embedding product marketing at Gamma - three iterations
[12:31] Learning from failed attempts and building stakeholder buy-in
[14:39] Key lessons for implementing product marketing successfully
[16:07] The importance of frameworks and structure in product marketing
[19:15] Building a product marketing team - key characteristics to look for
[22:49] Using data to drive hyper-focused messaging and persona targeting
[25:40] Common data challenges and where to start with data improvement
[28:08] Marketing solving unusual business problems beyond it’s traditional scope
[31:29] Aligning brand values, purpose, and mission across marketing and HR
[32:53] Closing thoughts and thanks
THE THREE PILLARS OF SUCCESSFUL PRODUCT MARKETING IMPLMENTATION
Chris outlines the essential elements for successfully embedding product marketing strategy into any organisation, drawn from his considerable experience building the product marketing functions.
The first pillar is demonstrating clear product marketing foundations and processes. "Being able to demonstrate the path you're going to go through, what you're going to support with, how it's going to work. Where are the roles and responsibilities? What are the artefacts you're going to deliver it for? The purpose is really important."
The second pillar focuses on stakeholder engagement and problem identification for product marketing success. "Talking to people and understanding their problems or getting them to articulate what the problem is. So you've got a shared understanding of that and then you can illustrate how product marketing or marketing more generally can help solve those problems."
The third pillar involves building evolutionary product marketing roadmaps. "Build a roadmap that takes you from wherever you are to wherever you think the end point is going to be. So that people are clear where they are on that journey and they're not necessarily anchored in the past, but they're not necessarily expecting the future now."
This systematic approach transforms product marketing capabilities from an abstract concept into a tangible business function that delivers measurable value while managing expectations throughout the implementation process.
PRODUCT MARKETING AS A BUSINESS PROBLEM SOLVER: BEYOND TRADITIONAL BOUNDARIES
Chris demonstrates how product marketing principles can solve unexpected business challenges, exemplified by Gamma's developer recruitment challenges in Poland.
"We were struggling to recruit developers in Poland, because no one knew who we were. When you're competing with IBM and Google and Facebook, everyone knows who they are." The solution wasn't traditional HR tactics but product marketing strategy.
The product marketing team created an identity for their Polish Innovation Centre, focusing not on customer problems but on technological advancement: "How we're using technology and how we're using that to be new and interesting and where we're progressing and the cutting edge of adopting new techniques, new technologies, new processes."
They supported the HR team with product marketing battle cards, giveaways, and presentation materials for career fairs, essentially applying product marketing frameworks to employer branding. "It's using what marketing is good at and then understanding the problem and being able to put those pieces together."
This approach demonstrates product marketing's core strength: changing minds and influencing perceptions. As Chris notes, "Marketing has a role to touch every part of the organisation" because fundamentally, "everything ends up being about people."
PRODUCT MARKETING TAKEAWAYS
This episode offers actionable insights for product marketing professionals at any stage:
For New Product Marketing Leaders:
Start with stakeholder interviews to understand existing problems before proposing solutions
Create clear documentation of processes, responsibilities, and expected deliverables
Build evolutionary roadmaps that show progression rather than expecting immediate transformation
For Established Product Marketing Teams:
Use data to drive hyper-focused messaging strategies for different personas and market segments
Consider how product marketing frameworks can solve non-traditional business challenges
Collaborate cross-functionally with HR, sales, and other departments to extend product marketing impact
For Business Leaders Considering Product Marketing:
Understand that product marketing differs fundamentally from product management—focus on market problems vs. technical solutions
Expect a learning curve when implementing product marketing capabilities for the first time
Look for candidates with curiosity, persistence, and storytelling abilities over just marketing experience
TODAY’S GUEST
Chris Wade brings a unique perspective to B2B tech marketing, combining his physics background from Oxford University with over 20 years of strategic product marketing leadership across high-growth technology companies.
Driven by curiosity and an unwavering need to deliver results, Chris thrives on finding new, interesting and compelling strategic opportunities that drive businesses forward. As Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Gamma Communications, he shapes the future of business communications across Europe, while his previous roles at Sage and Aptitude Software demonstrate his expertise in scaling product marketing functions from the ground up.
Known for his quick thinking, creative and innovative approach, Chris has been instrumental in solving unconventional business challenges, from developing employer branding strategies that successfully recruited top tech talent in competitive markets to creating integrated go-to-market frameworks that drive commercial success. His bold, direct leadership style is matched by high integrity and a passion for building teams and developing people.
You can connect with Chris on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter @chriswadehome.
OUR HOST
Karen Lloyd is a passionate marketing head-hunter and recruitment expert specialising in marketing and C-suite in the technology sector. With over 25 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Karen brings a unique depth of expertise that sets her apart from most recruiters.
Over her career, Karen has accumulated a wealth of experience that includes serving as a Board Director and being actively involved in growing a business for 13 years. Karen has been a part of five start-ups, giving her first-hand knowledge of the critical importance of hiring the right people.
Currently, Karen is the founder and Director of Armstrong Lloyd. She leads a very special team that partners with businesses and empowers them to build industry-leading marketing teams for some of the most exciting B2B technology brands - from small agile and disruptive start-ups to global giants providing a wealth of product and service offerings.
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