Community-Led Growth: Camille Ricketts on marketing at Notion
Sep 18, 2023
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Former Head of Marketing at Notion, Camille Ricketts, shares insights on positioning Notion as a broad product, building an engaged community, partnering with influencers, infusing emotion into marketing strategy, and advice for community-led growth.
Embracing community-led growth as a marketing strategy to make the product ubiquitous and amplify reach through advocates, influencers, and word-of-mouth.
Fostering a sense of community within the company to facilitate creativity and innovation by valuing cross-functional collaboration and recognizing diverse contributions.
Positioning the product for diverse use cases by targeting both B2C and B2B markets, tailoring website and messaging, and catering to specific user groups.
Deep dives
Community-led growth as a marketing strategy
Notion embraced the concept of community-led growth as a marketing strategy, aiming to make the product as ubiquitous as possible. They focused on building a community of advocates and engaged with ambassadors and influencers to amplify the Notion experience. The goal was to hear about Notion from all sides, including billboards, social media, and word-of-mouth. The community played a vital role in generating user stories, providing feedback, and spreading awareness through their own networks.
Notion's early days and the importance of community
In the early days, Notion fostered a sense of community within the company, with a close-knit team and a strong focus on collaboration and creativity. They valued cross-functional collaboration and recognized the contributions of employees from different backgrounds and skills. The company created a warm and inclusive work environment that facilitated creativity and innovation.
The role of ambassadors and influencers
Notion leveraged ambassadors and influencers to amplify their reach and drive growth. They sought out individuals already passionate about the product and nurtured relationships with them, providing early access to features and involving them in the feedback process. These ambassadors became advocates who organically promoted Notion, hosting meetups, creating content, and showcasing the product's value. The use of influencers, especially on platforms like YouTube and TikTok, further expanded Notion's presence and contributed to its ubiquity.
Positioning Notion for diverse use cases
Notion faced the challenge of positioning their product for diverse use cases and personas. They targeted both B2C and B2B markets, catering to individual users and teams alike. By identifying the needs and use cases of different customer segments, Notion tailored its website and messaging to attract and serve these audiences effectively. Engineers, designers, and product marketers emerged as key user groups, and Notion created storytelling and content aligned with their specific needs and interests.
The international and enterprise expansion of Notion
Notion experienced significant international growth, with 80% of its users being outside the US. Early on, Notion prioritized internationalization, investing in community-led growth and engaging with ambassadors in different regions. They established partnerships with VC firms and prominent tech companies to drive adoption among startups. Notion also focused on enterprise expansion, supporting the needs of bigger teams and organizations. The marketing and sales teams collaborated closely, ensuring a unified approach to drive MQLs and convert free users into paying customers.
