When Leela Srinivasan was CMO of SurveyMonkey, she ran a marketing org of 100. For most B2B marketing leaders, a team of 15-20 might feel robust, so it’s hard to imagine scaling beyond that without things getting messy.

How do you even take on structuring, let alone running, a marketing department of that size? Let alone make it high-performing?

Leela’s approach is both strategic and customer-centered, with each team playing a clear role in driving growth and aligning closely with the company’s hybrid business model.

From Growth Marketing and Product Marketing to Brand, Demand Gen, Communications, and CX & Advocacy, each function is designed to not just meet business goals but to thrive in collaboration with the rest of the organization.

What makes Leela’s leadership even more impressive is her ability to tie it all together with a deep understanding of how the customer journey evolves – from self-serve users to enterprise clients.

In this article, we’ll break down how each team operates, what they own, and why it works, offering valuable insights for any B2B leader looking to scale their own marketing org.

Growth Marketing

Growth Marketing at SurveyMonkey covers a lot of ground – everything from paid marketing to SEO, lifecycle marketing, and the website.

This team is primarily focused on driving customer acquisition and helping scale across the business. Leela set this team up to support growth across multiple channels, but what’s really smart is how they’re fueling enterprise sales through a self-serve model. The team isn’t just focused on short-term acquisition, but on nurturing long-term growth.

As Leela puts it, “Many of our enterprise customers start their journey with us through our self-serve model. Growth Marketing ensures that we nurture these customers effectively, introducing them to other products and services as their needs evolve”.​

What Growth Marketing Owns:

1. Paid Marketing: The team runs highly targeted campaigns to drive leads across digital channels. But it’s not about splurging on ads; it’s about getting the right balance between customer acquisition cost (CAC) and long-term value (LTV).
2. SEO: Growth Marketing ensures that SurveyMonkey dominates search rankings, capturing high-intent traffic by answering user pain points with valuable content and a sharp focus on technical SEO.
3. Lifecycle Marketing: Think email marketing on steroids. The goal? Keep users engaged and moving – whether that’s nudging them to activate, upgrade, or renew their subscription.
4. Web Marketing: The website isn’t just a storefront; it’s a conversion powerhouse. This team fine-tunes every click and pageview, optimizing the user experience to convert visitors into loyal customers.

Why It Works:
Growth Marketing doesn’t operate in isolation; it’s intricately tied to SurveyMonkey’s hybrid business model. Leela highlighted how this model enables the team to leverage data from self-serve users to fuel enterprise sales:‍
“We’re constantly analyzing how users engage with our self-serve platform and using those insights to inform both product development and sales outreach. It’s a symbiotic relationship”​.

The team’s ability to align paid, organic, and lifecycle strategies makes it a powerful growth engine. By focusing on scalable acquisition tactics and nurturing customer relationships over time, Growth Marketing not only drives short-term revenue but lays the groundwork for long-term business expansion.

Product Marketing

Leela divides her product marketing team into three distinct pillars: surveys, market research, and customer experience. Each pillar focuses on a distinct product area, allowing the team to develop deep expertise and tailor strategies for their specific audience.

For example, the Surveys pillar focuses on SurveyMonkey’s core product, ensuring it remains relevant and valuable to users. The Market Research team works on positioning tools that help businesses gather critical market insights, while the Customer Experience group supports products designed to improve customer interactions and satisfaction.

This structure enables the Product Marketing team to align closely with both Product and Sales teams, ensuring messaging and go-to-market strategies are finely tuned to each product’s unique strengths and the needs of its target customers​.

Each of the three pillars (Surveys, Market Research, and Customer Experience) owns:

1. Positioning and Messaging: It’s one thing to have a great product, but if customers don’t understand its value, you’ve already lost. Product Marketing defines how each product fits into the market, highlights its unique advantages, and ensures that all customer-facing messaging reinforces those key points.
2. Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy: Whether it’s a major product launch or a feature update, Product Marketing leads the GTM charge. They identify target segments, collaborate with demand generation teams, and provide a clear roadmap for introducing products to the market.
3. Sales Enablement: This team makes sure sales is armed to the teeth. Competitive battle cards, tailored pitch decks, and compelling product demos – all designed to help sales reps confidently navigate customer conversations and close deals.
4. Customer Insights: Product Marketing is a constant feedback loop. They gather data from customer surveys, market research, and competitor analysis, using those insights to refine product positioning and influence the roadmap.

Why It Works:

SurveyMonkey’s approach to Product Marketing works because it blends specialization with strategic alignment. By dividing the team into specific pillars, each group can “dive deep” into its product area, ensuring precise messaging and a clear go-to-market focus. This depth translates to stronger campaigns, better customer understanding, and more effective cross-functional collaboration.

‍Brand Marketing

The Brand Marketing team is the creative hub at SurveyMonkey, responsible for content, design, video, and consumer insights. This team ensures the brand resonates with its audience while supporting broader business goals. Importantly, they base creative decisions on data, integrating insights into their storytelling.

As Leela noted, “All of our folks in content and design and also video are part of this brand team, along with a small consumer insights team that are involved in the research that helps fuel some of our decisions.”

The integration of consumer insights into brand marketing makes this team more than just a “creative” department. Leela ensures that data drives the decisions behind the storytelling, making it both creative and strategic.

What Brand Marketing Owns:

• Content: Developing blog posts, case studies, and thought leadership pieces that build brand authority and engage the audience.
• Design: Creating visually cohesive assets that maintain consistency across all platforms.
• Video Production: Producing compelling videos that highlight customer stories and showcase product capabilities.
• Consumer Insights: Using research to guide creative decisions and ensure the brand connects with its audience.

Why it works:

The Brand Marketing team strikes the perfect balance between creativity and strategy. By grounding their storytelling in consumer insights, they ensure every campaign resonates with the audience while reinforcing SurveyMonkey’s value. With design, video, and content all working in sync, the brand stays consistent across channels, building trust and driving real business results. It’s not just about looking good – it’s about making an impact.

Demand Generation

Demand Gen at SurveyMonkey doesn’t just focus on filling the top of the funnel – they’re laser-focused on driving pipeline and collaborating closely with Sales to ensure every lead counts. They leverage a mix of account-based marketing (ABM), targeted campaigns, and pipeline acceleration strategies to generate demand and move leads through the funnel efficiently.

One of the standout aspects of SurveyMonkey’s Demand Gen team is their tight alignment with the sales organization. As Leela Srinivasan explained, “We partner super closely with our SDR counterparts to make sure we understand conversion rates and that we’re holding one another accountable for quality and conversion.”

 This ensures that marketing isn’t just measured by lead volume but by how those leads convert into opportunities and, ultimately, revenue​.

The team also supports outbound efforts, partnering with business development representatives (BDRs) and account executives (AEs) to enhance sales motions. “We’re often supporting the outbound motions of our BDR team and AE team,” Leela noted, highlighting the importance of collaboration between marketing and sales to maximize impact​.

What Demand Generation Owns:

• Campaigns: Creating and running targeted campaigns to drive top-of-funnel activity and generate leads that align with product and sales goals.
• Account-Based Marketing (ABM): Developing highly personalized marketing initiatives aimed at engaging and converting high-value accounts.
• Pipeline Acceleration: Supporting leads already in the funnel with tailored content and touchpoints to move deals forward faster.

Why It Works:

Demand Generation works because it’s not siloed. By aligning with Sales and prioritizing the quality of leads over quantity, the team ensures that every marketing effort is driving real business outcomes. The strategic use of ABM and pipeline acceleration tactics enables them to focus on high-impact opportunities, fostering collaboration across teams and delivering measurable revenue growth.

Communications

The Communications team at SurveyMonkey keeps the company’s voice consistent and aligned across internal and external channels. They handle everything from public relations and social media to internal messaging, ensuring the company’s story resonates with employees, customers, and stakeholders alike.

Leela Srinivasan pointed out, “Comms are a very strong conduit into our HR and people team because internal comms is part of that mix”​. This close connection ensures that internal messaging aligns with company values while reinforcing the same narrative externally.

Externally, the team manages media relations, crafting stories that build credibility and secure positive coverage. On social media, they create content that sparks conversation and amplifies the brand. Internally, they keep employees in the loop with clear, engaging updates, building alignment and maintaining a strong company culture.

What Communications Owns:

• Public Relations (PR): Securing media coverage and driving thought leadership to boost SurveyMonkey’s reputation.
• Social Media: Creating engaging, shareable content to connect with audiences and amplify the brand’s voice.
• Internal Communications: Keeping employees informed and aligned with company goals while fostering a sense of connection and purpose.

Why It Works:

The Communications team bridges the gap between internal and external audiences, ensuring a unified brand voice. By partnering closely with HR and leadership, they deliver consistent messaging that builds trust and engagement. Strong internal alignment enhances external credibility, creating a ripple effect where employees, customers, and stakeholders all stay connected to the company’s mission and values.

CX & Advocacy

The CX & Advocacy team at SurveyMonkey keeps the customer voice front and center in everything the company does. They’re the driving force behind customer storytelling, community building, and advocacy programs that turn loyal users into powerful brand champions.

By shining a spotlight on customer successes and nurturing long-term relationships, this team ensures that customers don’t just use SurveyMonkey – they become its biggest advocates.

As Leela explained, “I have a VP of customer experience and advocacy that sits on my team. She does a lot of great work to help us build community among the CX folks and also has, under her wing, the storytelling arm of our business on the customer story side”​. This structure allows the team to capture authentic customer experiences and use them to fuel marketing and sales efforts.

CX & Advocacy isn’t just about collecting testimonials – it’s about creating meaningful connections and fostering trust. By building strong relationships with customers, the team amplifies SurveyMonkey’s credibility and drives growth through authentic, customer-led marketing.

What CX & Advocacy Owns:

• Community Building: Creating opportunities for customers to connect and engage, from online forums to in-person events, fostering a sense of belonging and shared purpose.
• Customer Storytelling: Capturing real-life success stories that showcase how customers use SurveyMonkey to solve problems and achieve their goals.
• Advocacy Programs: Identifying and nurturing customers who actively promote the brand, turning them into enthusiastic advocates.

Why It Works:

The CX & Advocacy team turns customers into the heart of SurveyMonkey’s marketing. By showcasing real stories and building a strong sense of community, they create trust and authenticity that traditional marketing can’t replicate. These customer advocates don’t just promote the brand – they validate its value. And when customers feel heard and celebrated, they’re more likely to stay loyal, fueling both long-term relationships and growth. It’s a win-win.

The Bottom Line

SurveyMonkey’s 100-person marketing team is a masterclass in how to scale without losing focus. Under Leela Srinivasan’s leadership, every team -Growth, Product, Brand, Demand Gen, Communications, and CX & Advocacy - has a clear role and works together seamlessly to drive growth. The secret? A structure that prioritizes collaboration, aligns with business goals, and keeps the customer at the heart of it all. Whether you’re running a team of 10 or 100, the takeaway is simple: build with purpose, focus on what matters, and let the results follow.

More Resources from Exit Five

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