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Teresa Haun

Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications, Zendesk

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How do you tier your launches, and what KPI's do you assign to each tier?

Teresa Haun

Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • December 2

This question is very similar to this other one https://sharebird.com/ama/zendesk-director-of-product-marketing-teresa-haun-on-product-launches?answer=DjEBP934m2 so I'm sharing my answer from there here too: At Zendesk, we use a launch template that includes key workstreams and teams to engage......Read More

10344 Views

What's a typical product marketing career path?

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

9903 Views

Do you have a product launch template that shows what teams (and when) to incorporate into the preparation of a strategy/plan?

Teresa Haun

Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • December 2

At Zendesk, we do use a launch template that includes key workstreams and teams to engage for different tiers of launches. We use two criteria to determine the tier of a launch: business impact and market impact. For business impact, we assess how much the launch benefits existing and new custome......Read More

7008 Views

What is your favorite product marketing interview question and the best answer you've heard?

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

5403 Views

When you look at the best launches that you have done, what did you get right that made them so successful?

Teresa Haun

Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • December 2

When I think about the most successful launches my team and I have done, they all included 1) a clear go-to-market strategy with leadership and stakeholders bought in, 2) strong communication and partnership across cross-functional teams, 3) effective sales enablement, and 4) success metrics and ......Read More

4761 Views

What are the biggest frustrations you have as a product marketing manager?

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

4479 Views

In your eyes, what's product marketing's role in the launch? What's key to ensure it's smooth?

Teresa Haun

Zendesk Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications • December 2

I’ve heard two terms used before to describe product marketing’s role in a launch that really resonate with me and I think accurately sum up what we do. The first is “launch captain” and the second is “momentum maker” (credit to @Marcus Andrews for that one). Product marketing is the “captain” th......Read More

4265 Views

What would you rec highlighting in prod mar portfolio and what would make a candidate stand out to you?

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

3292 Views

Should product marketing report into Product management or Marketing?

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

3178 Views

As a new product marketer I am struggling with messaging. What is the best way to develop this skill?

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

3110 Views

Credentials & Highlights

Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications at Zendesk