Teresa Haun

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 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 customers, including whether it makes a material difference in whether they select Zendesk or a competitor. For market impact, we evaluate how the launch changes our position in the market. We consider if the launch is a unique offering that no other competitors have or are offering in this way and if it’s aligned to major industry trends that analysts and buyers are buzzing about. Launches that have the biggest business and market impact are designated as our Tier 1s. These are usually new products, new product plans, or key new features that customers will significantly benefit from or that really differentiate us from the competition. Tier 2s are the next tier and have a medium level of business and market impact. They are usually new feature releases or enhancements to existing ones. Tier 3s are our last tier with the lowest business and market impact. They usually are minor updates to existing functionality that fill a gap but aren’t big enough to really broadcast. In my first couple years at Zendesk, we would market all launches to at least some degree. Even Tier 3s would get a mention in our What’s New quarterly webinar and newsletter. As we’ve grown though, there are many more launches every quarter and so now we really focus marketing efforts on just the Tier 1s and Tier 2s. We’ve also become much more thoughtful about how we can group these launches together into a cohesive narrative with connected themes, so the intention and vision behind them is clearer for our customers. We also shifted towards timing them much more and pre COVID, that meant timing the big launches with our big in-person customer events. As for teams to incorporate into a launch, it definitely depends on the tier since certain activities are only needed for your biggest launches and also how your company is organized. At Zendesk, for our big Tier 1 launches, we use a few buckets for the work needed that I’m hoping can help you to then think about what teams make sense at your org. Some of our buckets are: * Launch education (think materials to help everyone at the company understand what this launch is about and why it matters, including the messaging and positioning PMM has created for the launch) * Customer acquisition * Customer expansion/retention * Sales enablement and resources * External communications (including to analysts/partners/other influencers) * Internal communications To measure a launch, we vary KPIs primarily based on what the launch is vs what tier it is. For example, is it something that will generate direct revenue or instead is more focused on adoption. Depending on what the launch is, we’ll have KPI goals across metrics like pipeline, bookings, web traffic, conversion rates, # of users, # of trialers, content and campaign engagement (open rates, click through rates, time spent viewing an asset, asset review scores), and sales satisfaction from enablement.

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 starts at the Group or Principal level and then expands each time you progress from there, sometimes it also happens at the Senior level. I haven’t seen a path in PMM to remain an individual contributor past the Principal level. In order to progress further once you do start managing, I think it’s all about showing you’re an effective manager that develops, supports and empowers your team (someone that people actually want to work for), delivers results and impact for the business, effectively navigates any politics that exist, and knows how to work best with and influence critical cross-functional teams. There are a lot of PMMs that also decide to go into other functions within marketing too, like campaigns/demand generation is common. The path forward usually has the same roles and levels still ending in ultimately working towards becoming a CMO. I’ve also seen a lot of PMMs move over to Product (I actually tried Product for a short bit myself) and the last role within that function instead of CMO is typically CPO (Chief Product Officer). All of those paths could also of course lead to CEO too if that’s your ultimate career ambition.

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 customers, including whether it makes a material difference in whether they select Zendesk or a competitor. For market impact, we evaluate how the launch changes our position in the market. We consider if the launch is a unique offering that no other competitors have or are offering in this way and if it’s aligned to major industry trends that analysts and buyers are buzzing about. Launches that have the biggest business and market impact are designated as our Tier 1s. These are usually new products, new product plans, or key new features that customers will significantly benefit from or that really differentiate us from the competition. Tier 2s are the next tier and have a medium level of business and market impact. They are usually new feature releases or enhancements to existing ones. Tier 3s are our last tier with the lowest business and market impact. They usually are minor updates to existing functionality that fill a gap but aren’t big enough to really broadcast. In my first couple years at Zendesk, we would market all launches to at least some degree. Even Tier 3s would get a mention in our What’s New quarterly webinar and newsletter. As we’ve grown though, there are many more launches every quarter and so now we really focus marketing efforts on just the Tier 1s and Tier 2s. We’ve also become much more thoughtful about how we can group these launches together into a cohesive narrative with connected themes, so the intention and vision behind them is clearer for our customers. We also shifted towards timing them much more and pre COVID, that meant timing the big launches with our big in-person customer events. As for teams to incorporate into a launch, it definitely depends on the tier since certain activities are only needed for your biggest launches and also how your company is organized. At Zendesk, for our big Tier 1 launches, we use a few buckets for the work needed that I’m hoping can help you to then think about what teams make sense at your org. Some of our buckets are: * Launch education (think materials to help everyone at the company understand what this launch is about and why it matters, including the messaging and positioning PMM has created for the launch) * Customer acquisition * Customer expansion/retention * Sales enablement and resources * External communications (including to analysts/partners/other influencers) * Internal communications To measure a launch, we vary KPIs primarily based on what the launch is vs what tier it is. For example, is it something that will generate direct revenue or instead is more focused on adoption. Depending on what the launch is, we’ll have KPI goals across metrics like pipeline, bookings, web traffic, conversion rates, # of users, # of trialers, content and campaign engagement (open rates, click through rates, time spent viewing an asset, asset review scores), and sales satisfaction from enablement.

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 what really motivates a candidate and what type of worker they are. The best answer I’ve heard to that question was a candidate who talked about overcoming some very challenging obstacles for a new product launch and the launch actually turning out to not be nearly as successful as they or the company hoped; however, the candidate walked through how the team had really given it their all and worked very collaboratively across the org, learning a tremendous amount along the way that they were actively applying to the next launch. That answer was a great example to me of someone who didn’t just associate success with hitting metrics or getting praise, but instead taking on an incredible challenge and delivering their best work. I also like to ask, “In your last performance review, what were your opportunities to improve and how have you worked to address them?” because it tells me how open a candidate is to improving in their work and whether they take feedback seriously. I sometimes find candidates give very surface-level answers with the classic weaknesses that are actually strengths like we’ve all heard about (e.g. “I work too hard”), which I usually interpret as a candidate not being comfortable enough to admit their true opportunities. Obviously in an interview, candidates want to impress their interviewers so I definitely don’t write someone off if they can’t discuss a true weakness, but it is something I’m mindful of. For me to be an effective manager and help my team members grow, I want to be able to openly discuss opportunities for improvement, knowing that we all have skills we’re working on and should be able to get help on. The best answer I’ve heard to this question was a candidate honestly talking about how they lacked direct experience with certain elements of a product launch. Given the role I was hiring for involved a huge immediate product launch, I could tell they were hesitant to admit this, but it was exactly what I wanted to hear. Throughout the interview they had proven they had enough other experience and general product marketing chops, that I wasn’t at all concerned about that weakness and instead was just very excited to work closely with them on those launch elements to help them improve.

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 estimates for what we expected to deliver set in advance. Having a clear go-to-market strategy that includes all the key considerations and all stakeholders aligned sets the stage for a successful launch. It’s so much easier when all the critical teams for the launch have had a chance to weigh in and feel confident in the determined approach. As part of this, it’s especially important that leadership across these teams is in agreement early in the launch process. Without leadership buy-in early on, I’ve seen launches have a last minute shift in direction that then significantly impacts the launch, as it’s hard to change course so late in the game. It definitely adds more work upfront to get stakeholders bought in early, but in my experience, it’s well worth it. Strong communication and partnership across cross-functional teams also leads to a great launch. If there is a change suddenly to the approach, everyone that’s impacted is quickly informed and can work collaboratively to figure out how to adapt. When teams are also acting as true partners, it’s so much smoother to get each step done. When there’s a gap in what’s needed from one team, another is willing to jump in and help, viewing the entire launch as a shared effort vs a piece from this team and another from that team. Effective sales enablement is another hallmark of a successful launch. Your sales team has to adequately understand what is launching, why it matters, and how to sell it. One of the ways we ensured enablement was effective for a big launch of a new product plan was through a completely separate session than the way the sales team was usually enabled, so they knew it was especially important. We did a ton of vetting in advance with sales leaders to ensure what we presented would work for their teams and we also made it fun and engaging. We had 10 different speakers from across the company, including the President of Sales, and lots activities and learning checks to ensure the team was truly absorbing everything from the session. Lastly, I would say establishing success metrics and estimates for what you expect to deliver in advance of a launch also sets you up for an effective launch. Beyond how well the team worked together and how smooth of a launch it was, ultimately what determines if a launch was successful or not is if it actually delivered impact for your customers and business. Deciding how you’re going to measure that impact and what you predict you will deliver is key to aligning on in advance of the launch, so you can fairly evaluate if the launch performed and exceeded expectations. By creating estimates for what you expect to deliver in advance, you’re forced to evaluate if all of the planned activities in the launch are actually enough. Using past performance for similar tactics, you can create a bottom-up forecast for how much pipeline, bookings, etc the launch should deliver and evaluate if it meets what the business needs top-down. If it doesn’t, it’s an opportunity in advance of the launch to then reevaluate the planned tactics to ensure they have a fighting chance at delivering what’s actually needed to be deemed successful.

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 in my response if I just separate those pieces. In my experience, I’ve actually always seen the role of PMM to be quite strategic and I think that’s really driven by the function sitting at such a critical place within a company, in the middle of Marketing, Product and Sales. We’re usually taking a strategic leadership role when we’re driving initiatives that involve those groups, and ultimately, if anything can’t get done or a team needs help, I think product marketing is often the one that should step in to make it happen. If you do not like the strategic work within product marketing though, purely from my personal experience, I found when I was on a PMM team that reported into Product, our direct work was a bit less strategic. It felt like we were more of a support function and often were executing on strategy driven more by Product. Take this with a huge grain of salt though because that’s literally just one data point and I’ve definitely heard the counter perspective too. We also had a very small PMM team there so the ratio of PMM:PM was very skewed from what I typically see, so that likely was a factor too. Going back to your question about what frustrates me about product marketing, I would say the primary thing for me is just how challenging it is to truly measure the impact of our work. There are of course a lot of metrics that we use, but they’re often very high-level and shared across so many different teams. This makes it very difficult to actually measure the efficacy of our direct PMM impact. Having personally started my career in much more analytical roles where my and my team’s performance was directly tied to certain targets, I’m always trying to find a way to better quantify PMM’s impact. If anyone has any ideas on clearer PMM metrics to use, I would love to hear them!

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” that brings all of the other cross-functional teams together to bring a launch to life. We sit in the middle of Product, Marketing and Sales and are the bridge between them to determine how we can best market a launch across all of the many workstreams and activities that go into it. I think the second term “momentum maker” is also a perfect way to describe this work as product marketing does so much to explain and convince other teams why each launch matters, building that momentum and excitement across the company. As for how to ensure a launch is smooth, I think the most important elements are clear communication, strong collaboration, and solid organization. Especially in a big launch, there are so many different teams involved and tons of different workstreams, that it’s incredibly important that everyone impacted is quickly informed when there’s a change, teams are working cohesively together, and everything is tracked well to understand progress and potential risks. As a launch gets started, some of the biggest deliverables from PMM are an overview of what is launching and the messaging and positioning for why it matters. At Zendesk, we usually do this through a couple docs. The first is much more concise and an overview of what is launching, how it works and who it’s available to/will appeal to, screenshots or demos, why it matters, and value props. The second is much more meaty and what we call a messaging source document. The messaging source doc dives into those same elements in the overview but in much more detail and is usually only used by teams like campaigns or content that need to know much more detail around areas like messaging, positioning, and target audiences. For the majority of teams though, the overview is the level of detail they need. We also separately pull together other resources like customer testimonials and validation for example for PR, content, and sales enablement. In terms of what gets handed off to other teams, product marketing is pretty involved in every step of the launch, even if other teams are the main drivers of certain parts. We use those docs mentioned above to educate other teams on the launch and give them a go-to resource, but then PMM stays involved in the strategy and reviews of almost all of the workstreams as they’re developed and executed.

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 ton of great responses from highly-respected PMMs sharing the resources that help them create strong messaging: https://sharebird.com/what-are-good-messaging-framework-resources-that-you-use. There are also some courses you could look into, as well as many more resources at some of the reputable marketing programs, like at the Pragmatic Institute (here’s a sample blog post from them with a lot of messaging suggestions https://www.pragmaticinstitute.com/resources/articles/the-art-of-product-messaging) or SiriusDecisions (here’s a sample resource they produced called SiriusDecisions Messaging Nautilus for their messaging framework https://intelligentgrowth.siriusdecisions.com/model-overviews/messaging-nautilus-buyers-journey). Across the resources, I think you’ll see the key things people usually say to strive for in creating great messaging are to keep it clear, concise and compelling.

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 of your point * Detailed GTM launch plans with how you will or did measure success * Clear, convincing and well-supported messaging and positioning, like through a messaging source document (something we use at Zendesk for all of our major products and launches) or a presentation * Thorough competitive analyses that highlight where the opportunity is for that company and what value props they should use to differentiate Also, depending on what PMM role you’re interviewing for, like if it’s a Retail Solutions PMM let’s say, I’d suggest adding more to show you have knowledge or experience particularly relevant to Retail and that role if you have it. Lastly, just in case the above feels overwhelming and you don’t have a lot of great materials to put a portfolio together, don’t worry, I rarely see PMM portfolios and usually we just evaluate strong PMMs through the interviews, homework assignments, and recommendations.

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 even though our work sits in the middle of Marketing, Product and Sales, our greatest number of direct stakeholders and partner teams are in Marketing. At least in my experience, I find there are so many other functions in Marketing as well, like Campaigns, Performance, Content, Events, Web, Engagement, PR, Analyst Relations, etc., that being in the same direct org really helps to more easily establish alignment in our priorities and shared workstreams. I have also worked on a Product Marketing team though where we did report into Product. I absolutely thought this created an even closer relationship with Product, than I have currently while reporting into Marketing, but in that previous role, I didn’t think we were as connected to Marketing and Sales. This also sometimes meant our work felt a bit more like a supporting role than getting to lead as much as I find we do reporting into Marketing. There’s actually an awesome LinkedIn thread that Andy Raskin started on this exact topic that I’d highly recommend for many additional perspectives too: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/andyraskin_product-marketing-should-report-to-choose-activity-6618192771243220992-y13w/.