- Name: Toby Roger
- Age: 23
- Current location: San Francisco, United States
- Home town: London, England
- Education: Business Administration BSc, University of Bath, UK
- Current position: Product Marketing Manager
- Organization description: Zendesk is a customer service software company, that focuses on helping businesses improve their customer engagement. They currently employ over 1500 people, and have offices worldwide, from London to Tokyo, Sao Paolo, Singapore, Copenhagen, and Berlin. They serve over 87,000 customers around the globe.
- Bio: Toby was a ZenDesk customer before he was an employee. When it came time to apply for internships as part of his university program, he decided to chase after his dream company, instead of applying to positions that were offered through his school. His gamble paid off; what started as a 6-month unpaid placement as a technical consultant, turned into a full-time job as a Product Marketing Manager in San Francisco a few years later. He’s watched the company grow from 200 employees to over 1500, and has no plans to leave.
- Countries I've worked in: UK, Denmark, United States
- Sector / subsectors: Business, Marketing
- Areas of expertise: product marketing, technology, software, marketing
- Country: United States
- Region: North America
- Sector: Business
- Degree subject: Business & commerce
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What does a Product Marketing Manager do exactly?
Meet Toby Roger.
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What’s your average day like?
In order to market a product well, you’ve got to understand what it does.
Tags: marketing digital marketing -
How did you get to where you are now? Tell us about your career trajectory.
Toby explains how he was able to grow within his company, the benefits of a free hot lunch, and why you should take the time off to travel while you can.
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Pump the brakes here for a second. You started business at the age of 13!? Tell us more about that.
Toby tell us how growing up on a raspberry farm in the UK, led to his fascination with business. When other 13-year-old boys were texting girls, he was replying to his customers.
Tags: online shopping commerce -
You just emailed the CEO of the company you wanted to work for, and sort of created your own job opportunity. How did that work?
Toby tells us what he wrote in the email that got him his job, and gives other ideas of how to get the attention of the right person at your dream company.
Tags: emailing cold emails -
So you moved from the UK to San Francisco. What was that like? Any tips?
Toby tells us what he did to make the transition as seamless as possible.
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You mentioned developing a new social life when you move. Do you have any tips on how best to go about that?
Toby shares what he did to build his new social circle after he moved to a new country.
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You mentioned working with people from the various nationalities at Zendesk. Are there challenges to working in cross culturally?
Toby tells us how he learned what phrases did and did not, translate into an American office culture.
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What abilities do you need to be successful in this field?
From dealing with people to convincing others why your product matters, and continually finding ways to grow, Toby breaks down the abilities that will help you succeed in product marketing.
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You’re a product marketer. What else is out there in the marketing fields? What are the various streams?
Toby breaks down the various streams within the field of marketing.
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What is the most common mistake you see new hires making in your field?
Toby talks about the common mistakes - an admits to being guilty of a few of them himself.
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So you work in marketing, but went to school for business administration. Can you talk about the role of education or specific skills, in this field?
Toby says he’s not sure if anything on his marketing team actually went to school for marketing - but talks about things you can do to impress companies and get your foot in the door.
Tags: google analytics courses -
Any last words?
Toby says ZenDesk is always hiring, and what he looks for when he’s looking for someone new and says you should send him an email!
