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AMA: Zendesk Sr Director of Technology Marketing and Communications, Teresa Haun on Developing Your Product Marketing Career
February 4 @ 10:00AM PST
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Zendesk Sr Director of Technology Marketing and Communications, Teresa Haun on Developing Your Product Marketing Career
Top Questions
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I personally think Product Marketing should report into Marketing with the head of the whole product marketing function reporting directly to the CMO. This is exactly how we’re organized at Zendesk and I’ve found this reporting structure seems to work well for our team. I believe it’s because eve......Read More
3321 Views
2 requests
What metrics do you use to justify a pay raise?
I’m the only product marketer in our company and I’m definitely overworked.
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I think this blog post https://www.thebalancecareers.com/how-to-succeed-at-asking-for-a-pay-raise-2071868 does a nice job walking through key considerations and things to do when generally asking for a raise, including specifically in the “Research” section highlighting some of the classic source......Read More
1978 Views
2 requests
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
The classic product marketing career path for those who want to stay in product marketing that I usually see in terms of roles and titles is PMM → Senior PMM → Group or Principal PMM → Director → Senior Director → VP → SVP → CMO. From my experience, I’ve seen managing a report or a team typically......Read More
10666 Views
4 requests
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
In my experience, I’ve never seen Sales → Product Marketing as a direct path, but like someone else asked about here, it’s definitely one you can pursue and I think many product marketing hiring managers would be open to it if you displayed you had the right skill set and potential. Here’s what m......Read More
1853 Views
3 requests
What is your advice to someone with a background in software sales who wants to move into Product Marketing?
Have you hired someone with a sales background for a product marketing role?
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
This is a great question, but unfortunately not one I have much personal experience with as I haven’t made that particular transition and also haven’t hired anyone with a Sales background so far. I would absolutely be open to hiring someone from Sales though if they showed they had the potential ......Read More
2631 Views
2 requests
What are the biggest frustrations you have as a product marketing manager?
The role of product marketing has become more strategic. How is it affecting you?
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I’m going to split my answer here because the additional question details suggest you may be feeling frustrated that PMM has become more strategic, but for me, the strategic work in product marketing is a large part of why I love the function so much :). I’m hoping I can still be helpful to you i......Read More
4758 Views
2 requests
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I often like to ask, “What accomplishment are you most proud of?” as well as, “In your last performance review, what were your opportunities to improve and how have you worked to address them?” I like the question “What accomplishment are you most proud of?” because it often helps me understand w......Read More
6212 Views
6 requests
What would you rec highlighting in prod mar portfolio and what would make a candidate stand out to you?
Writing samples? Case studies?
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I would try to highlight anything that shows you have the key skills to be an effective product marketer. That definitely includes strong writing samples and case studies like you suggested, but also: * Presentations that show you can create a compelling narrative and convince an audience ......Read More
3349 Views
3 requests
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
You are definitely not alone! I think a lot of new and experienced PMMs struggle with messaging and I absolutely did and still think I have plenty of room to improve. Since I’m unfortunately running out of time in this AMA, I wanted to at least suggest this similar question and thread that has a ......Read More
3382 Views
3 requests
How to approach the conversation with my manager regarding promotion after working in b2b product marketing for several years and not been promoted
I started a new role recently at the PMM level, and already have several years of PMM experience. both roles were in enterprise software, but the industries / products are very different so there is a big learning curve in the new role
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
If you haven’t already, I would start by making sure your manager actually knows that you aspire to become a Senior PMM and would like to work towards getting promoted. It’s often implied as most people want to continuously work towards the next level, but that’s definitely not always the case an......Read More
2381 Views
3 requests
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
There’s an awesome blog post that I’d highly recommend written by Dave Gerhardt (super impressive marketer who produces a lot of solid, thoughtful content) for your question what does product marketing do and what are we responsible for: https://www.drift.com/blog/what-is-product-marketing/. For ......Read More
2049 Views
2 requests
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
I think it’s all about making it clear that you have relevant skills and experience that will apply. Also, that you have tremendous potential and are so eager to learn! If you really don’t have a lot of experience that you can make clear is very relevant for product marketing (although I bet you ......Read More
1695 Views
1 request
Teresa Haun
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • February 5
This question is very similar to this one someone else asked https://sharebird.com/how-can-a-junior-digital-marketing-generalist-stand-out-as-a-pmm-candidate-in-a-role-that-requires-3-years-of-product-marketing-experience?answer=nOrEYkp4B7 so going to share my answer from there here too: I think......Read More
2773 Views
2 requests
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