Why I'm Joining Zoom

I've got some big news. After 3+ years at LinkedIn I'm starting a new adventure at Zoom. I made a video to explain why I'm excited about Zoom.

A Product Marketer's Guide to Creating a Demo Video

The first of December last year my boss’s boss came up to me and said, “hey, I’d like a new demo video for our sales kick off in a few weeks, can you make one?.” I was very excited for the challenge and also terrified since the timeline was tight and included the Christmas holiday. Long story short is that I was able to pull it off and make a video that has been received well and I’m proud of. There were a few things I learned along the way that I thought I’d share.  

1. Get crystal clear goals and constraints. Know the exact timeline, exact budget and what you’re trying to accomplish. Don’t get started until it’s all mapped out. Reiterate the goals and constraints to everyone you talk to internally and externally, especially when the timelines are tight you need to reiterate over and over again to be able to move fast. Misunderstandings just slow you down.
2. Find inspiration. Look at as many example as possible. Decide which ones you like and which ones you don’t. Make stakeholders pick or rank their favorite ones out of a list you send them. An agency making your video will work best when you can give them a mashup and say something like “I want the style of this video, but the storyline of this one.”
3. Decide who gives feedback. One of the most challenging parts of the process can be managing everyone’s opinion. Decide who has the final word, then the other role people will play in the decision. Don’t have too many cooks in the kitchen.
4. Keep it short. No one watches long videos anymore. Don’t make it long, <90 seconds.
5. Let creative people be creative. If you’re using an agency, you are probably the domain expert, but lean on your agency when you need to. You don’t always have to tell them “how” to do something, but sometimes if you give them the “what”, they’ll figure out the how.
6. Show it to fresh eyes. Especially when you have your first version, show it to someone who is not involved in the process to get their reaction. If you’re too close to it, there will be so much you’ll miss. If you want your video to have broad appeal, show it to someone who is not in your industry or profession to really see if it’s simple.

Ok, let me tell you a bit about how this process went for me recently in the context of these tips.

1. The time was the big constraint, so when my executive wanted to do live action, after talking to the agency I just had to say NO. We just did not have enough time. Also, he made it clear the goal was for this to be exciting and pump up our sales team, but also to be used as a marketing asset throughout the year. He did not want a boring video. Those guidelines were our north star.

2. There were so many types of videos that I send him a few examples of the different varieties. This is the email I sent. It anchored the conversation in real world examples.

3. At LinkedIn we follow the RAPID framework and I had that mapped out and documented ahead of time. Not only that but there were some people we would usually get feedback from that we cut out of the process since they would slow it down.

4. This was hard for us. My executive kept wanted to include more and more pieces. We cut a lot and found a few creative ways to simplify the video. For example, instead of showing the Email, CRM and Mobile integrations, like he originally wanted, we just quickly mentioned they exist, which is what most people care about anyways. It saved us a ton of time.

5. There were some parts of the first draft that just did not work, but I did not have any idea, I went to the agency and they figured it out.

6. We were pretty happy with the video then we showed it to a bunch of fresh eyes and they said it was way too fast and they could not keep up. I also showed it to my wife and she said the same thing. We cut a bunch more, slowed it down until my executive’s kids got what we were trying to do.

So here it is....

Bottom line, it was a fun project and I learned a lot. A big thanks to Alchemy for helping me make the video.

Common Product Marketing Interview Questions

A few days ago someone asked me on Quora to answer the following question.

What are the typical case interview questions you get asked for a product marketing role at tech companies?

It got me thinking about some common Product Marketing Interview questions. I've interviewed a good number of product marketers during my time at LinkedIn. Here are a few common ones. 

1. Questions to see where your skill set really is within product marketing. It's hard to really understand what kind of product marketing someone has done until you start asking them questions. 

2. Questions to test your product and industry expertise. 

3. Questions to test your communication skills. I've said it often that your ability to communicate internally and externally is what makes or breaks a PMM.

4. Questions to test your strategic thinking. It's a very strategic position. If you click on the Quora link above I share one of my favorite case questions. 

Here are a few other good resources.

Product Marketing Interview Questions: 6 Questions You Need To Ask

Product Marketing Manager Interview Questions

Enjoy!

The Ultimate Way to Say Thank You at Work

"Nice work on this one." That was the five word email that made not just the day, but the week of a friend of mine. He's a young patent attorney who writes patents for major tech companies in Silicon Valley. His client was not known for lavish praise or lengthy emails and he sent that five word email to him just after finishing up a patent application. That email alone would have probably been enough to put a smile on his face that day, but what really made the difference was that when he got that email his boss was also copied on it.

Not only did he feel the gratification knowing that his client was happy with his work, he looked good in front of his boss, the person who arguably has the most impact on his ability to grow and advance in his career at his firm.

In the United States we are about to celebrate Thanksgiving. This holiday creates many reminders to say thanks. In my family on Thanksgiving day, we all go around the table before we eat and say what we are grateful for. While I’ll admit that most of the things discussed at the table are on a personal level, this holiday can be an opportunity for you to express appreciation to those in your professional life as well.

In the professional world one of the most impactful and underrated ways you can say thank you at work is to not just direct it at the person to whom you are grateful, but to send it to their direct manager. Here are three tips on how to do this.

• Be specific. Don’t just say “thanks for a great year.” Highlight a specific project or a moment where you were particularly grateful for their help.
• Thank the boss as well. While you might be primarily grateful for the work or help from a specific employee their boss can take at least a little bit of credit. You can say something like. “I wanted to thank you for all the hard work your team put in on this project, I’d like to specifically call out the work on the part of the project that Sue did, she really knocked it out of the park.” 
• Say thanks for the little things too. Don’t wait for some massive milestone to be hit. At that point they’ll probably be getting thank you’s and praise from all over the organization. Look for the quiet, unsung tasks that can be so critical but often go unnoticed.

If you do this, these emails will be cherished by those that receive them. Don’t be surprised if they even end up in their performance evaluations as well.

While you're craving turkey and feeling the holiday spirit, take a few minutes, write an email and make someone’s day, week or even month by saying thank you.

This post originally appeared on LinkedIn. 

Meet My New Assistant, Calendly

I've always told myself that once I have a personal assistant, I'll know I've made it career wise. I despise scheduling meetings, it takes up way too much time. Since I started working, I've been looking forward to the day someone else schedules my meetings.

I'm happy to announce that I now have a personal assistant, it's Calendly. Ok, so it's not a human, but it's software that has taken the pain out of scheduling meetings.

I schedule a lot of meetings. To schedule a meeting with a co-worker is pretty straightforward and easy with our internal systems, but try to set up a meeting with someone not at your company and it's a lot more work. I'm meeting with people every week outside of my company, people in the industry, students or even catching up with different professional contacts. The time is takes to set up these meetings adds up.

Calendly makes this really easy and is saving me at least 30 minutes a week. This is how it works.

Step 1. Sign up for Calendly
Step 2. Sync it with your calendar
Step 3. Set up different types of meetings that you have, filling in each one with important details like, what time of day you prefer, call-in information and a ton more. See examples of all my meetings.

Step 4. When someone wants to meet with you send them a link and it will show them when you are available to meet by automatically checking your calendar and seamlessly creating an invite with all the right details you pre-populated like where meet or what number to call.

If you get a lot of people requesting to meet with you, this is a must have tool. It's not often a piece of software comes along and has such a quick impact on my work, but Calendly really has saved me time.

There is been so much talk of AI lately, that this is a good reminder that great software can be better than AI.

Key Skills for Successful Product Marketers

What are the key skills someone needs to be good a Product Marketer? I first asked that question when I was about 18 months into my first job out of college and was ready to figure out what my next role should be. I had started in a web analyst role, but figured out it was not for me. I was drawn to Product Marketing for a variety of reasons and started trying to figure out what it would take. I had the chance to sit down with a dozen or so Product Marketers I had worked with at my company and ask them that question. Fast forward a few years and I've now spent a number of years in Product Marketing and at a few different reputable tech companies. This is my personal take on....what it takes.

1. Strong communicator. This means you must be able to easily communicate in varied situations. You can easily switch your communication style to handle diverse groups like executives, engineers, marketers, designers etc. This includes the ability to be very diplomatic and very persuasive if the situation requires it.

2. Very collaborative. Product Marketers are often the liaison between product and the sales team, support team and maybe other groups. It's your job to make sure everyone is up to speed and the right people are involved. A collaborative mindset is a must!

3. Quick learner. One quarter you may be doing a in-depth research study, the next you might be training the sales team. Few product marketers do the same thing each quarter you must evolve as the business evolves. It's impossible to be a deep expert on all you will be asked to do, so you must learn fast.

4. See what others don't see. This could apply to seeing a feature that needs to be built, that others will need some convincing to make it happen. It might be a gap in the industry you can get your product to fill. It could be an emerging trend that you can use in your marketing. No matter what it is, you must always be looking and willing to make some bets. This includes having decent analytical chops for a marketer.

5. Presentation skills. When I first tried to get into Product Marketing through an internal transfer, I got rejected. The feedback I got was to boost my presentation skills. Product Marketers needs to be able to present in a compelling way. They are master storytellers that can get their ideas across to an executive, on stage in a keynote or to the sales team. If you dread or are a terrible presenter, it might no be the job for you.

I hope this helps, this is very slanted towards B2B software companies in the bay area, but hopefully you've found this helpful.

How to Get a Entry Level Marketing Job

In 2009, I got my first job out of college in marketing for a great tech company in the bay area. Up until the day I started, I thought it could all be some cruel joke. That's how lucky I felt to get a job in a field I was interested in, in that economy. I remember my future manager saying to me, "You'll have to do some menial excel work for the first six months, but I'll teach you a lot." That sounded great to me.

In hindsight, there was some luck involved that got me there, but I also was prepared. Now that I'm further along in the marketing profession, I've seen some patterns in the kinds of candidates who get entry level marketing jobs.

How To Get a Marketing Job from Derek Pando

1. They brand yourself for success. If you want to be a marketer, but you are not representing yourself well online, no one is going to trust you to do it for their company. That means a great LinkedIn profile (of course), privacy settings locked down on your social media accounts and when someone googles your name there is relevant professional content ready.

2. They are more than entry level. Do you know what's better than training someone from scratch....training someone with a head start. Get Google adwords certified, read some books on marketing, learn how to use key marketing software or manage a friend's small business social media account for free. If you're still in school, get a marketing internship. Any relevant experience will make you a more attractive entry level marketing candidate. Make it sure it's on your resume.

3. They focus on specific types of marketing jobs. Can you answer the question, "What kind of marketing jobs are you interested in?". If not, get to work. Research the kind of entry level marketing jobs that are out there. Tailor your resume to the jobs you like the best.

4. They are willing to start from the bottom. Your first marketing job may not be your dream job, but if it's a step in the right direction, that's progress. Lower you expectations and be willing to do a job even if some of it may seem menial, as long as it's pointing you in the right direction.

Best of luck in your job search! If you have any other questions about how to get an entry level marketing job, please feel free to reach out, or comment below!