👂 Listen first, market second

The Progress Report | February 11, 2025

What do Snoop Dogg and a two-person marketing team have in common? They made LinkedIn history. 

Here’s how Notion’s social team pulled off the platform’s biggest campaign and how you can apply the lessons to your own marketing.

WEEKLY INSIGHT

Notion’s “Faces” campaign became the biggest marketing stunt in LinkedIn history by doing something incredibly simple: listening.

For months, users had been requesting the ability to create Notion-style avatars. They loved personalizing their workspaces and wanted to see themselves in the Notion aesthetic. Instead of treating this as a low-priority feature request, Notion’s social team saw a bigger opportunity—a way to make their community feel seen and engaged.

Their approach was surgical:

• Create exactly what users had been asking for: a Notion avatar generator.

• Partner with 50 influencers.

• Have each one create a Notion-style avatar.

• Get them to post about it on the same day.

The result? Beyond just going viral (even though Snoop Dogg did join in), the campaign achieved something deeper: users felt heard. 

Rather than pushing new product features, Notion turned their community’s desires into an organic, shareable (& profitable) moment. 

INTENT TO ACTION

Notion’s campaign teaches us a crucial lesson: The best marketing is just a natural extension of what people already care about.

Here’s how to apply this thinking to your own campaigns, without relying on massive budgets or celebrity endorsements:

1. Listen to your customers

Your next marketing breakthrough might already be in front of you:

• Review sales calls and customer support conversations. What do customers ask for the most? Gong and Chorus are two good options for recording these.

• Track online conversations—what are people already saying about your brand? Google Alerts is a great place to start.

• Pay attention to small, recurring feature requests—they might be bigger than you think.

2. Build on what works

Don’t just sell—tell stories that connect with your audience.

• Turn case studies into human stories: “I finally took a vacation” hits harder than “increased efficiency by 25%.”

• Write emails like a conversation—ditch the corporate tone, keep it personal.

• Show, don’t tell. Use real customer examples instead of generic product pitches.

3. Test and measure

The best campaigns are iterative. Small experiments can lead to big wins.

• A/B test different tones in your sales emails. What gets the most engagement?

• Track both engagement metrics and conversion rates. Likes are great, but do they lead to sales?

• Scale what works. Drop what doesn't.

Great marketing feels like a conversation, not a campaign. While we can’t all create viral avatar generators, we can listen better, build smarter and measure carefully.

Next week, we’re diving into a topic every marketer needs to master—budgets. Because no matter how creative your campaigns are, you need the numbers to back them up.

See you then.

PS: Your Weekly Challenge is to…

Gather one marketing insight your customers have already given you. Email us to let us know—we’ll include the best takeaways in next week’s issue.