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Josh Bean

AMA: Zendesk Senior Director Product Marketing, Josh Bean on Developing Your Product Marketing Career

January 27, 2022 @ 10:00AM PT

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  1. As head of PMM at a startup, how did your PMM team grow over time, e.g. what positions did you hire, when, why? How did divide scope of responsibilities? What were the most strategic hires you made, including non-PMM titles if any?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    I've had a bit of a unique journey including leading a small marketing team responsible for everything, as well as focused PMM teams. I don't believe in general blueprints like "your first hire should be competitive and second should be core product" since every business is different. More complex or technical products likely need more "product" PMMs as a early hire and a simpler product in a competitive market may need more PMM muscle around messaging to stand out and competitive marketing.  In ...Read More

    7,454 Views
    3 requests

  2. How do you prepare yourself to become a Product Marketing Director and manage a team, without any experience managing anyone previously?

    I'm on my 5th year of product marketing in my career, with another 5 years before that in general demand gen at very small companies. I've had management experience in the past, but not in a Product Marketing role. Often times in smaller companies, there will be 1 or 2 PMMs, usually in a very flat hierarchy, or a single boss, with no room to really move up a proverbial ladder and into management experience. So what are ways that I can prepare myself now, so that if the time comes to apply for a Director position (either internally or at another company) that I can be considered even without recent people management experience? Are there any courses for this that are highly regarded in the management arena?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    In my experience, being a people manager doesn't change much across disciplines. The priorities should always be to help your team grow and develop their career (the output is great work and team success). If you've demonstrated you're a strong people leader that should be enough. I know formal people mangement opportunities can be hard to come by in a small company. Try to informally mentor some of the less experienced PMMs on the team. Also recognize that management skills is just one part of ...Read More

    2,296 Views
    8 requests

  3. How can PMMs show that they are adding value within the business to the leadership team? Are there any quick / day-to-day tactics that can help to get buy-in from senior leaders?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    In order to add value, you need to first consider the priorities of the business and the leadership team. You could be doing some pretty great work, but if it doesn't advance the business's priorities it will likely get wasted. Once you're doing work which aligns to the business goals, its a good idea to set goals on a quarterly basis.  At the end of each quarter or project, put together a summary of the improvements you made, and review it with business leadership. If you have a team be sure yo ...Read More

    10,806 Views
    11 requests

  4. The job of a PMM can vary greatly from company to company, industry to industry, and even based on where they report to (Product vs Marketing). What have you found to be successful in defining your career as a PMM?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    I always think of PMM as the glue that connects the various functions of a business (product/sales/rest of marketing/etc). A PMM's responsibility is to understand the needs of prospects and customers and communicate that internally. Additinoally, it's PMMs job to take all the innovation and programs a company is creating and wrap that in an easy to consume message/narrative for prospects/customers/employees/analysts.  Hoever, if you're in product marketing and find yourself reporting to Product, ...Read More

    2,267 Views
    10 requests

  5. When considering a candidate, how much weight do former titles hold?

    For example, a senior manager PMM title at a small company may hold the same responsibilities of a manager or lead PMM title at a large enterprise. I've heard many in my network worried to take a "dip in title" when moving in fear that it will hurt their resume progression. I'm interested to hear your take on it!

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    If you're chasing titles, you might want to be concerned. I prefer to think about the long term plan and look for opportunities that further my career ambitions. Its ok to take a short term hit on title if you're going to be on a team where you earn lots of experience, credibility and get to work with some strong PMMs. In the long run this will set you up for the rest of your career. From a hiring managers perspective, if there's a recruiter screening resumes, you might get filtered out by title ...Read More

    2,822 Views
    6 requests

  6. How can a junior digital marketing generalist stand out as a PMM candidate in a role that requires 3+ years of product marketing experience?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    Try to find an introduction to the hiring manager. If you can't find an intro, reach out to the hiring manager directly. Someone who reaches out saying "I saw you're job, I'm very interested, here's why I'm a good fit" will definitely get some extra attention when it comes time to review resumes. Also find a way to highlight PMM work on your resume.

    1,526 Views
    5 requests

  7. What is your advice for PMM to work well with Product and Sales?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    Communicate communicate communicate. PMM/GTM/PRODUCT need to be constantly communicating. Here's a sample cadence to get you started: PMM <> Product PMMs and Product managers catch up weekly/bi-weekly on upcoming releases, roadmap changes, voice of customer PMM and Prod leadership meet monthly to review roadmap, strategic messaging and key product/product marketing topics PMM <> GTM PMMs and sales leaders should be meeting on a weekly or bi-weekly basis to review high level performan ...Read More

    2,020 Views
    3 requests

  8. What would be the best roadmap to become a successful PMM?

    I had been managing a large organisation with over 4500 ppl, and nowadays I would like to shift my career to product marketing, and without owning the title previously i don't have courage to even apply a pm position. What road should i take to feel that i am ready?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    Nobody is ever fully prepared to take that next leap. The fact that you're here on Sharebird learning is a good first step. In regards to building courage, the worst thing that happens is you apply and don't hear back from the employeer, there's only opportunity. If you've managed 4.5k employees you probably have some relevant experience that will get you a call back.

    873 Views
    8 requests

  9. What should I do when I don't think that the feedback from my boss is correct and how do I approach it?

    I get a lot of critical feedback from my boss and I don't always know what to do with it or how to improve. Sometimes I don't even agree with the feedback.

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    Its important to have a maanger who believes in you and supports your career. I'd break the meetings apart into weekly tactical conversations about what needs to be done, blockers, etc. Monthly convos around areas for improvement and then quarterly convos regarding career development. If you have a manager who's not willing to support you, there's plenty of others out there who are actively hiring and will help you develop your career. Hang in there!

    1,324 Views
    3 requests

  10. How can I effectively answer "tell me a time when you launched a new product/feature" if you are new to PMM and have never actually done that?

    Josh Bean
    Josh Bean

    webAI Head of Marketing • 4y

    Find a way to get the experience. For example, launch a personal blog or Medium. Put together a plan to socialize it to your network. Alternatively you could hit up folks on product hunt who would definitely be open to someone who's willing to assist on a launch in exchange for experience. 

    If that's not an option, switch the question around. "I haven't had an opportunity to do this yet, but I've thought a lot about my approach. Here's what a launch would look like."

    810 Views
    4 requests