Sharebird
Sign Up / Sign In

What is the career path from sales development to product marketing? Is it a direct path?

Answer
3 Answers
Product Marketing Career Path
  1. Mike Flouton
    Mike Flouton

    Boxford Capital Managing Partner | Formerly Barracuda, SilverSky, Digital Guardian, OpenPages, Cybertrust • 8y

    No, it's definitely not a direct path. SDR is the classic entry level tech job. It's good to get your feet wet. The good ones will get promoted to SDR team lead or inside rep. Many wash out and move into other industries.      It's rare that someone would jump from SDR straight to PMM. I did pull one on to my PMM team once a few years ago, but it was almost coincidence more than anything that he was an SDR. He happened to have really good design skills from his pre-SDR life, so we made him a jun ...Read More

    776 Views
  2. Abner Germanow
    Abner Germanow

    Stealth Founder | Formerly Oracle, Lacework, Stackery, New Relic, Juniper Networks, IDC, @stake • 7y

    I came really close to hiring an SDR into marketing not too long ago. He was known within the SDR group as "most able to get a response" and one of his key roles was going to be ensuring the messaging we used in campaigns and events was properly translated through to sales.  In theory, there should be a strong feedback loop between product marketing, campaigns, and SDRs, but in practice it can be hard. My advice to any SDR is to insert yourself in the feedback cycle, offer to help, and weasel yo ...Read More

    892 Views
  3. Teresa Haun
    Teresa Haun

    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 product marketing hiring managers would be open to it if you displayed you had the right skill set and potential. Here’s what my answer to that other question ("What is your advice to someone with a background in software sales who wants to move into Product Marketing?") was with advice for how and what to try to demonstrate to ...Read More

    2,517 Views

Upcoming Event

Mastering AI as a Product Marketer

Mastering AI as a Product Marketer

Salesforce, Twilio, ActiveCampaign

Start in …

Register

Related Ask Me Anything Sessions

Jackie Palmer

ActiveCampaign VP Product Marketing, Jackie Palmer on Product Marketing Career Path

May 27 @ 10:00AM PT

View Answers
Lauren Hakim

Zendesk Director of Product Marketing | AI, Lauren Hakim on Product Marketing Career Path

February 12 @ 10:00AM PT

View Answers
Nicole Smayling

Salesforce Director, Product Marketing (Brand | Portfolio), Nicole Smayling on Product Marketing Career Path

February 3 @ 9:00AM PT

View Answers
See All Upcoming AMA's

Top Product Marketing Mentors