Inside a 100 person marketing org (Exit Five Newsletter #120)

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👎The Worst Thing You Can Do After Someone Submits a Form

You know what annoys me way more than it should?

Getting this message after requesting information from Sales for something I’m in the market to buy:

“Thanks! Someone from our Sales team will be in touch soon!”

I mean, it’s horrible! I’m practically begging you to take my money, volunteering myself as red hot pipeline, and that’s what I get?

That’s when I usually research their competitors, because who knows what “soon” means.

But as a marketer, I’ve also done that on some of my own forms – and cost my sales teams leads because of it. I just didn’t know what else to do, and relied on them to reach out and set up a meeting.

Instead, we should be capitalizing on that moment and getting those leads booked on a calendar – as soon as they fill out the form.

I know you’ve heard of Calendly, and probably used it 100000x by now for your personal scheduling needs – but did you know you can also integrate it directly to your website to help your sales hand off?

Now you do 😉

So go audit your forms – and if there isn’t a Calendly link there, do your Sales team a favor and get that set up ASAP.

👀 What does a 100 person marketing org look like?

I think the biggest marketing team I’ve ever worked on was like, 15 people tops.

So when I listened to this interview Dave did with Leela Srinivasan when she was CMO at SurveyMonkey and heard the marketing team she led was A HUNDRED PEOPLE, I was hooked.

Leela is an absolute legend and I learned a ton from how she explained her team’s breakdown.

Here’s a quick summary of how she organized her department and what each of them own:

Growth Marketing

Growth Marketing at SurveyMonkey covers a lot of ground—everything from paid marketing to SEO, lifecycle marketing, and web marketing.

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. 

Takeaway: Make sure your growth marketing team is built to support the entire funnel, not just the top. Invest in a mix of paid and organic channels, and keep a close eye on how those efforts can scale into larger enterprise deals.

Product Marketing

Leela divides her product marketing team into three distinct pillars: surveys, market research, and customer experience. This specialization allows the team to dive deep into each product area, building expertise that informs go-to-market strategies and messaging.

Product marketing isn’t a “one-size-fits-all” function. Leela’s team is split by product type to ensure each segment gets the focus it needs. This ensures better messaging, positioning, and a stronger connection with the sales team.

Takeaway: Don’t lump product marketing into one big bucket. Split the team by product areas or customer segments so they can become true experts. This will help them create more effective campaigns, support sales, and drive product adoption.

Demand Gen

Demand Gen at SurveyMonkey is all about driving pipeline. Leela’s team handles campaigns that align with their various product pillars and works closely with sales to ensure marketing contributes to revenue. They’ve moved beyond just filling the top of the funnel to actively supporting account-based marketing (ABM) and outbound efforts.

Leela’s team is designed to work hand-in-hand with sales. By ensuring that demand gen isn’t siloed, they can focus on the quality of leads and how they support the overall revenue goals—not just lead volume.

Takeaway: Align your demand gen team with sales to ensure you're driving meaningful pipeline, not just chasing leads. Focus on ABM and pipeline acceleration, and work across teams to deliver real results.

Brand Marketing

Her brand marketing team includes content, design, video, and consumer insights.

They handle the storytelling that shapes how SurveyMonkey is perceived, but they’re also involved in research that fuels decision-making across the company.

Integrating 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.

Takeaway: Don’t let your brand marketing be disconnected from the rest of the organization. Incorporate data and insights into your brand strategy to ensure it’s aligned with business goals. This is how you build a brand that resonates—and drives results.

Communications

Leela’s communications team covers internal and external messaging, including social media. They work closely with HR to manage internal communications, ensuring the company’s values and messages are consistent inside and outside.

Having communications tied to both internal and external messaging helps maintain a unified brand voice. This tight integration means there’s no disconnect between what’s being said externally and what’s happening internally.

Takeaway: Ensure your communications team is fully integrated into the company’s strategic messaging. Internal comms are just as important as external, so make sure your team works closely with HR to align the entire organization.

CX & Advocacy

This team focuses on building community and customer advocacy, and they’re responsible for customer storytelling. They ensure that customer feedback and success stories are central to SurveyMonkey’s marketing narrative.

Leela structured this team to keep the customer voice front and center in their marketing. By having a dedicated CX and advocacy team, they’re able to nurture long-term relationships and create powerful marketing assets from real customer experiences.

Takeaway: Your customer experience team can be one of your most valuable marketing assets. Don’t just focus on acquisition—build a team that can turn customers into advocates and use their stories to fuel your brand’s growth.

P.S. Here’s the link to the full interview.

Normally I like sending it to you individually so we can chat a bit, but ICYMI, today’s the first ever Exit Five virtual event – The Ultimate Roast of B2B Websites.

I’ll be all tied up in making sure it goes smoothly, and want to make sure you can listen to this episode asap.

Hope to see you there!

📺UPCOMING EVENTS

The Ultimate Roast of B2B Websites

One thing we’ve learned this year: the Exit Five community LOVES teardowns.

And it makes sense…you’re a bunch of smart marketers who want examples of what’s working, what’s not, and how you can improve.

That’s why we’re hosting a whole day of live teardowns at The Ultimate Roast of B2B Websites on October 15th.

Over five sessions, 15 experts with perform live teardowns of real examples of each part of a B2B Website:

• SEO
• Homepage
• Product Pages
• Landing Pages
• Pricing Pages

It’s free, it’s going to be a blast, and you’re probably going to have fomo if you aren’t there so go to exitfive.com/theroast right now and sign up.

P.S. Oh – and did I mention there’s prizes? Yes – prizes worth over $80k in value. We don’t just want to provide feedback—we want to equip you with the resources to make those improvements.

Register for The Roast

🏢 OPEN ROLES

Who's Hiring Right Now?

HOT JOB OF THE WEEK: Peak Support is hiring a Head of Marketing ($140k-$185k). They're looking for someone with B2B experience who can lead a team of 5 to predictable revenue growth. 100% remote.

Interested? Apply here.

Other open roles on the Exit Five job board this week:

• PDQ is hiring a Senior Customer Marketing Specialist
• Clara is hiring a Marketing Operations Specialist
• Circle is hiring a Head of Marketing
• CourseStorm is hiring a Growth Marketing Manager
• Freshpaint is hiring a Product Marketing Manager
• Close is hiring a Marketing Operations Manager. USA Only, 100% Remote. 
• Brainlabs is hiring a Global CMO/EVP of Social.
• Culture Partners is hiring a Business Illustrator and an Instructional Designer & Map Developer

See All Open Roles >>

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