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The Atlassian ecosystem is vibrant, unique, and competitive–and growing in such an ecosystem is challenging. Needless to say, insights from those who have succeeded in overcoming such a challenge are invaluable to your growth marketing strategies.
During Brighttail’s Ignite: The Marketplace Growth Conference last year, Adaptivist Head of Marketing Chirag Harendra and Kolekti Product Marketing Lead Tim Sadler shared advice and several tips integral to any vendor serious about building the right marketplace growth strategies.
Here is the summary of the conference:
1. Initial Growth Marketing Challenges
During the conference, Harendra and Salder highlighted what to expect and how the Atlassian ecosystem presents obstacles that may not be present in other environments.
“The Atlassian Marketplace is unique in that the power of the community – both online and in person – can dictate the success of your product. While the people you meet in Atlassian events maintain professionalism, there’s an informal side to it which was different to the world that I came from. I have never experienced this kind of close network field within the community,” Harendra said during the conference.
Meanwhile, Sadler pointed out how the Atlassian ecosystem is divided into two layers. On the surface, you will find a highly engaged community but right underneath, you begin to realize just how competitive the Marketplace is.
“Everyone is looking to grow not only their current products but also future products. You have to look at where you’re best positioned, not only to grow your products but also to invest your marketing resources. You have to drive differentiation,” he said.
2. The Importance of Valuable Content Creation
Content creation can become a powerful weapon for your growth marketing strategies. Not only does it build trust for your brand, but good content also has the power of being memorable – provided it is helpful. Harendra said this is especially the case in the tech industry.
“If your content helps people with a particular task, they will remember you, hopefully, your product, and even more importantly they will remember your brand.,” he said.
For content ideas, Sadler recommends thinking about adjacency and where you can drive conversations that aren’t necessarily related to your products.
Kolekti’s recent campaign called Save The Knowledge Worker took a look at its customers and the pains that they experience on a day-to-day basis such as remote working and the current push for people to return to the office.
“Having that adjacent conversation allows us to develop in a way where we’re not bound by a specific product pain point, so we can talk about bigger topics and we can build content that is more engaging to more people,” Sadler said.
3. Focus on Hypothesis-Driven Testing & Validation
When creating your marketplace growth strategies, Harendra believes it is a good idea to have in place a mini-hypothesis. Think about what you want to happen and what you expect to happen with your Atlassian marketing strategy. Then go and test that hypothesis.
Note, however, that coming up with a hypothesis is not done blindly but based on a calculated guess of the best and worst outcomes for your products. Do this by taking a careful look at the data you have.
With an evolving ecosystem and its complexities, you can’t take the risk of assuming everything is going to work. You have to keep measuring your marketing efforts all the time through tests, and this is why a hypothesis helps when trying to overcome growth marketing challenges, but data is key. If the data shows that there are problem areas based on your testing, then adapt your tactics accordingly to ensure that you’re getting the best possible outcome from your campaign.
4. Balancing Creativity & Data
Make no mistake, data is crucial for your growth marketing strategies!
However, you cannot tell a complete story with data alone. Moreover, with the many tools used to collect data, sometimes analytics can give conflicting information. Any marketer worth their salt needs to know how to balance trusting the data and taking a risk.
Harendra points out that behind every screen is a human being and advises us to make use of the community as part of our Atlassian marketing strategy by attending events and networking.
“There are a lot of people who are very interested in helping people solve their problems. Make that connection with them, don’t be obsessed with the data all the time,” he said.
Going to events allows you the opportunity to truly connect not only with the community but the audience as well who could be potential prospects. This connection builds trust for you and your brand. As long as you’re able to maintain that trust, customers will continue engaging with you which increases the possibility of them seeking you out for any other issues they might have in the future.
5. Project Prioritization and Flexibility
Creating the best marketplace growth strategies in the world would be easy if you had an unlimited amount of funds for marketing. Budgeting, however, is always a concern regardless of what company you’re working at and is one of the most common growth marketing challenges. You are not alone!
However, through proper prioritization and maintaining flexibility to adapt to new opportunities, having a tight budget doesn’t have to spell doom for your growth marketing strategies.
Sadler advises marketers to prioritize by thinking about how to make the most impact for the lowest cost. Focus on the returns.
“As a marketer, you can easily lose focus on the output. Focus on the outcome,” he said.
Even on a limited budget, the opportunities are boundless as long as you’re flexible enough to spot those opportunities when they present themselves. One such opportunity is, again, leveraging the community. Look at where you can use relationships and emotional engagement to help drive your marketing message forward.
Important Lessons Learned
By including valuable content creation, data-backed hypotheses, a balance between creativity and data, and budget prioritization in your growth marketing strategies, you place your company in the best position to overcome the challenges present within the Atlassian ecosystem.
To learn more about what Harendra and Sadler had to say about the matter, check out the full clip of this session on our On-Demand Session and schedule a consultation with us!
This year, Brighttail will be hosting another video conference with many more experts who will share more valuable marketing tips, strategies, and lessons. Make sure you’re not left out by paying attention to our announcement for Ignite 2025 soon!
