After finishing her first year at the University of Rochester Simon School of Business, Gabriela (Gabi) Pacheco (Simon, ‘21) spent her summer as a Product Marketing MBA Intern at Microsoft. In this interview, Gabi spoke about what she worked on during her internship, what skills she used (and learned) to navigate life as a Product Marketer, and shared her advice for MBA students interested in pursuing product marketing internships.
MBASchooled: What did you do before business school, and what attracted you to Product Marketing?
I have over 5 years of experience in marketing with global scope for Latin American markets, starting with the largest European privately held telecommunications company in El Salvador, Millicom International Cellular, where I gained the expertise to grasp consumer insights to enhance the client experience. Then, I transitioned my career into Brand Management at Starbucks Central America, where I developed a solid marketing strategy, leadership, and communication skills by leading several projects working with cross-functional teams from El Salvador, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Panama, and US headquarters.
During my professional journey, I found my passion for creating meaningful connections with customers through products and services committed to innovation, sustainability, and the desire for improving people’s lives. Thus, I wanted to leverage my customer orientation and marketing skills to the next level and I when I came here to the US to study my MBA I discovered how my expectations and future goals were so aligned to the Tech industry, hence I decided to make a little pivot in my path and transition into the Product Marketing world.
MBASchooled: What did you do for your summer internship and what projects did you work on?
This Summer I had the amazing opportunity to intern at Microsoft as a Product Marketing Manager Intern at Cloud Marketing – Global Demand Center & Integrated Marketing. My project was about Connecting the Go-to-Market strategies for the Analytics and AI Marketing Play, where our hero product was Azure Synapse Analytics. My main objective was to strengthen the current GTM strategy by assessing the digital end-to-end customer experience in comparison to main competitors by addressing gaps/opportunities in existing channels to improve customer engagement and increase down-stream conversions.
Furthermore, I was also involved in many diversity, equity, and inclusion activities. From contributing to my team’s presentation about Women in Tech, attending book discussion sessions and several activities regarding social justice, being involved in HOLA (Hispanic & Latinx Organization of Leaders in Action) mentoring program, and being part of the Microsoft Hackathon 2020 working on an amazing project with a non-profit that pioneered remote learning for children undergoing cancer treatment. It was such a holistic experience where I could sharpen and develop not only my skills as a PMM, but also hone myself as a well-rounded business leader.
MBASchooled: What were the important skills you had to use to be an effective PMM Intern?
Three main skills that really helped me to be successful during last summer:
- Fast learning and adaptability: Having a flexible mindset and being curious about the new world I was getting to know really helped me to transition into the Tech industry and to successfully adapt and thrive with my project. Collaborating with my teammates, gaining different perspectives, and willingness to engage and to learn something new were also key elements for this.
- Strong organizational and strategic skills: Starting with a clear objective and purpose in mind on the approach to the project really helped me to shape my whole project’s overview in the right way from the beginning. Investing time in understanding the context, problem statement and competitors was definitely worthy before starting with the project itself.
- Framing theoretical approaches by including real customer experience examples: Doing detailed research and leveraging models and frameworks really helped me to find all the insights I needed to support my analysis and deliver a strong recommendation plan. Moreover, “putting in the shoes of the customer” was one of the most crucial parts I did in order to build successful and practical recommendations for our target segment.
MBASchooled: What was it like to be a product marketer this summer, and what did you enjoy most about the PMM role?
It was such a great experience for me since I could learn a lot in a short 12-week window. As a PMM at Cloud Marketing, I was responsible to understand and evaluate a specific Go-to-market strategy for a product, and for that, I needed to explore many areas around it, such as integrated marketing, digital marketing, marketing research, business planning, etc. Also, I was responsible to monitor competitors and build a competitive positioning and response plan based on my assessment.
What I enjoy the most was having the opportunity to do cross-functional teamwork with many areas and get to know many people in the organization.
MBASchooled: What aspects from your previous work experience, or skills you had were relevant in your PMM internship? What were some new skills you had to build or use?
Some of the aspects I gained from my previous international marketing experience that were very relevant during my PMM internship were collaborative thinking; having an open mind, willingness to hear different perspectives from other teammates and experts, and being proactive in asking questions.
New skills I developed were how to be succinct and engaging when doing virtual presentations. Since my project was related to many business units, I needed to present to different areas to gain their perspectives, hence I had to be clear and concise. At the same time, I learned how to interact and connect with my audience even behind a screen. Huge thanks to my mentor and my manager for taking quality time to train me with my presentation skills!
MBASchooled: What was it like to build relationships virtually? What helped? What was hard?
In the beginning, I felt nervous about the new virtual setting, however since Day 1 Microsoft did a really good job by making us feel connected even, we were thousands of miles apart. What really helped was the whole company’s culture and its support system for us. The internship program was very well structured and they made sure to prepare great virtual events for everyone and provide also the spaces for us to engage and participate (I even had the opportunity to host my first virtual coffee tasting with my intern’s cohort!).
It was hard for me in the beginning, because I am someone who really enjoys connecting with people in person. But after some weeks, I smoothly transitioned into the virtual setting and started enjoying a new way to connect thanks to all the events and opportunities to network that the company facilitated to all of us.
MBASchooled: What people (ex: teams, roles, etc) did you work most within your internship?
I had the opportunity to work with diverse teams and people around Cloud Marketing. First, I worked very closely with my mentor, my manager, and my buddy. Secondly, I had a close relationship with the product managers of my hero product. Thirdly, I also interacted with Digital Marketing, Integrated Marketing, Business Planning, Data scientists, and many other Product Managers and leaders across my team and Cloud Marketing areas.
MBASchooled: Knowing what you know now, what would you do to prepare in order to be even more successful in your internship?
Practice more on how to use strategic frameworks and how to adapt them from the theory into practice – Invest time reading and practicing strategy as much as you can. Take all your MBA classes and school projects as a canvas to exercise these muscles.
Read about the main differences between B2B and B2C customers and the ways to connect with them – This is because my prior job experiences mostly focused on B2C marketing.
Study as much content (podcasts, blogs, websites, conferences, social media channels) related to main competitors as much as I did for Microsoft – Having a complete competitive landscape in mind is key.
MBASchooled: What advice do you have for MBA students considering internships in Product Marketing?
Take time to learn from the experience and advice of people who are already working in the company(s) in your target list. Invest time to network with them to understand how the life of a PMM in their organizations and areas is since the role can vary from company to company and even within an organization.
Then, identify the areas you need to start working on to improve or the ones you need to strengthen. In the end, they would become like teachers to you and once you get into the role, pay it forward and try to help more students into their PMM journey as well.
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