AMA: Zendesk Sr Director of Technology Marketing and Communications, Teresa Haun on Developing Your Product Marketing Career
February 4 @ 10:00AM PT
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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?
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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...
3165 Views
2 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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 P...
12424 Views
4 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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...
3663 Views
2 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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 w...
7981 Views
6 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?
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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 strate...
5482 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.
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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...
2790 Views
2 requests
What would you rec highlighting in prod mar portfolio and what would make a candidate stand out to you?
Writing samples? Case studies?
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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...
3892 Views
3 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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 ...
2514 Views
3 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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. Sin...
4046 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
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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. I...
2935 Views
3 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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 quest...
2525 Views
2 requests
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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! I...
2174 Views
1 request
Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • 6y
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-th...
3283 Views
2 requests