---
layout: handbook-page-toc
title: "Marketing"
description: "GitLab Marketing Handbook: Social Media, Corporate Marketing, Revenue Marketing, Sales Development, Community Relations and Strategic Marketing"
twitter_image: '/images/tweets/handbook-marketing.png'
---
## Welcome to the GitLab Marketing Handbook
{: .no_toc}
The GitLab Marketing team includes multiple functional groups: Revenue Marketing, Community Relations, Corporate Marketing, Marketing Operations and Strategic Marketing.
{: .note}
# On this page
{:.no_toc .hidden-md .hidden-lg}
- TOC
{:toc .toc-list-icons .hidden-md .hidden-lg}
## Marketing Handbooks
{: #marketing-handbooks}
- [Blog]
- [Website]
- [Brand And Digital Design](/handbook/marketing/brand-and-digital-design/)
- [Revenue Marketing]
- [Field Marketing]
- [Digital Marketing Programs]
- [Marketing Programs]
- [Sales Development Representative]
- [Campaigns]
- [Events]
- [Marketing Operations]
- [Emergency Response]
- [Corporate Marketing]
- [Content Marketing]
- [Social Marketing]
- [Team Member Social Media Guidelines]
- [Community Relations]
- [Community Advocacy]
- [Code Contributor Program]
- [Evangelist Program]
- [Strategic Marketing]
- [Marketing Career Development]
----
## GitLab Marketing Purpose
We GitLab
GitLab's vision is to become the complete platform for the entire DevOps lifecycle, delivered as a single application. To accomplish this, GitLab needs to be the most desired organization to work with for understanding and solving DevOps challenges.
The GitLab Marketing team aspires to:
- Collaborate to achieve our board approved company goals and KPIs
- Foster an inclusive and efficient open source community for contributors and users
- Market GitLab in an inspiring, authentic and helpful way
- Understand customers' DevOps challenges and share solutions
- Be the leader in transparent marketing
## Data informed decisions
At GitLab, we are committed to making data informed decisions. To that end, we publish our [monthly metrics reports on GitLab's public YouTube Unfiltered channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMtZ0sc1HHNtGGWZFDRTh5A/search?query=marketing+metrics).
Detailed explanation of reports & filters used in these reports can be found on the [Marketing Metrics page](/handbook/marketing/marketing-operations/marketing-metrics) under Marketing Operations.
## Go to market: value drivers and customer use cases
We are customer centered in our messaging and go to market approach. *Value Drivers* define the overarching business goals and objectives that customers are trying to achieve. Through the *value drivers* we are able to understand the reasons **why** a customer is transforming part of their software delivery toolchain. [*Customer Use Cases*](/handbook/use-cases/) define **what** specific activity or process they will be using GitLab to transform their delivery process. The *customer use cases* help us define and organize specific collateral and go to market efforts along the [buyer's journey](/handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/content/#content-stage--buyers-journey-definitions).
**Value drivers** = why they are changing
**Customer use cases** = what they are changing
We will develop collateral, content, and integrated campaigns leveraging the *Value drivers* and *customer use cases* based on strategic priorities and input from the field and product teams.
#### Key terminology:
* **Campaign - When you hear this term used alone, please clarify what type they are referring to (see below). Please speak in specific terms to communicate more clearly.**
* Integrated Campaign - Organized by marketing programs team, collaborating across marketing teams toward a launch date. It incorporates multiple offers and multiple channels (see integrated campaigns section below).
* Digital Marketing Campaign - Online marketing efforts organized by the digital marketing programs team to drive engagement, conversions, traffic, or revenue
* Brand Awareness Campaign - Higher-level print and digital marketing efforts organized by the corporate marketing team. These are focused on brand recognition.
* Salesforce Campaign - An object within Salesforce that represents different types of offers. These are less-so theoretical and more to capture touchpoints of prospects and customers.
## Integrated Campaigns
Marketing functional groups collaborate to produce Integrated Campaigns. An Integrated Campaign is a communication effort that includes several campaign tactics such as blog posts, emails, events, advertisements, content on about.gitlab.com, videos, case studies, whitepapers, surveys, social outreach, and webcasts. An Integrated Campaign will have a campaign theme that summarizes the message we are communicating to our market.
#### [Active integrated campaigns](/handbook/marketing/campaigns/#active-marketing-campaigns)
##### Have a new campaign idea? [Make a suggestion](/handbook/marketing/campaigns#new-ideas-for-marketing-campaigns-or-events)
## Marketing Project Management Guidelines
Marketing uses GitLab for agile project management including [groups](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/group/), [projects](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/), [epics](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/group/epics/), [roadmaps](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/group/roadmap/), [issues](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issues/), [labels](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/labels.html), and [boards](https://docs.gitlab.com/ee/user/project/issue_board.html). Read through the documentation on each of these GitLab features if you are unfamiliar.
### Groups and projects
1. The Marketing Group houses all marketing projects.
1. Labels should be created at the **group** level so they can be used in all projects within Marketing group.
- Labels **should not** be duplicated in individual projects. It creates board/tracking conflicts.
1. The following are the approved marketing projects, CMO approval is needed to begin a new project.
- [Strategic Marketing](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/product-marketing) (includes PMM, AR, Customer Case studies, etc.)
- [Community Relations](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/community-relations)
- [Digital Marketing Programs](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/digital-marketing-programs)
- [Corporate Marketing](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/corporate-marketing) (includes content, website, corp events, brand, etc.)
- [Marketing Operations](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/marketing-operations)
- [Field Marketing](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/field-marketing)
- [Account Based Marketing](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/account-based-marketing)
- [SDR](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/sdr)
- [Digital Advertising](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/digital-advertising) - used for external advertising agency
- [Onboarding](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/onboarding)
- [Contribute](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/contribute) - this is a sub-group that contains all projects for each Contribute event
1. Issues should be logged in the team project ultimately responsible for completing requested work. (i.e. If SDR needs list uploaded -> issue created ([using template](/handbook/business-ops/resources/#list-imports)) in Marketing Operations project).
1. Don't create groups with subgroups (use labels to segment workstreams within a team's project issue tracker).
### Issues, Milestones, and Epics
1. Each issue represents a discrete unit of work with a deliverable. For example [1](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/product-marketing/issues/10) [2](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/online-growth/issues/8) [3](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/general/issues/2574)
1. Every MR should have an issue so that it can be tracked on issue boards.
1. Milestones represent units of work to be completed within a specific time frame, sometimes referred to as sprints. They are comprised of multiple issues that share a common due date, and help break large projects into more manageable parts.
1. Epics represent projects that comprise multiple issues. (Don't use "meta" issues for this purpose. If you have have existing meta issue you can promote them to epics using the `/promote` slack command.)
- Epics live at the group level (e.g. issue from multiple marketing projects can be added to an epic.)
- Epics are labeled with a group label of the team that owns the epic.
1. The top 3-5 strategic initiatives are tracked in epics using the `CMO` label. (Don't apply the CMO label to other epics.)
1. Roadmaps are used for time-based display of epics with a start and end date. (for example, events and time-based campaigns.)
### Boards and Labels
1. Each team has one or more boards to track ongoing workstreams.
1. Generally, create a board for each function. (For example PMM has boards for Sales Enablement, Analyst Relations, Customer Relations, etc.)
1. Each board uses a standard set of columns/labels so that folks can easily understand what is happening on another teams board.
1. The board labels use group *scoped* labels with `mktg-status::` and one of four statuses. Status labels should be used on all issues within the Marketing group:
- `mktg-status::plan` - work that is proposed, in an exploratory state.
- To exit the plan stage the work must be assigned to a DRI.
- DRI accepts responsibility for the task by changing the label from `mktg-status::plan` to `mktg-status::wip` and creating an merge request (MR), if appropriate. The plan status is optional, as issues that don't require formal planning can be opened and labeled `mktg-status::wip`.
- `mktg-status::wip` - work in progress that has been accepted and assigned to a DRI.
- Work in this stage should not be merged.
- Merge requests (MRs) should be prepended with `WIP:`. At GitLab we allow reviewers to start reviewing right away before work is complete.
- Use [MVCs](/handbook/values/#iteration): At any time, if the work is complete enough that merging would be better than what current exist the issue should be labeled with `mktg-status::review` and `WIP:` should be removed from the title.
- **Optional***: `mktg-status::review` - work has been completed enough that it is ready for formal review and approval.
- Work that is approved can be either merged or scheduled.
- The review status is optional.
- Work that doesn't require review can simply be merged/closed.
- **Optional**: `mktg-status::scheduled` - work that is complete but should be scheduled for a future date.
- Scheduled status is optional as not all work will need to be scheduled.
- `closed` - when work is delivered the issue should be closed.
1. **Don't duplicate status labels at the project level.** Use group labels (at the Marketing Group level) as much as possible.
### Functional Team Labels
Each functional team within Marketing can have "additive" labels - meaning they are used to enhance the tracking and workflows for that respective team. These "additive" labels are used in conjunction with the broader [Marketing labels](#boards-and-labels). The functional team label usage is documented on each of the respective handbook pages:
- [Marketing Programs](/handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/digital-marketing-programs/marketing-programs/#marketing-programs-labels-in-gitlab)
- [Operations](/handbook/marketing/marketing-operations/#working-with-marketing-operations)
- [Sales Development Representative](/handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/xdr/#issue-boards--team-labels)
- [Field Marketing](/handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/field-marketing/#field-marketing-labels-in-gitlab)
### Default Issue Text
All of the projects within the [Marketing subgroup](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing) include **default issue text** to ensure the functional team labels are applied consistently and broader adoption of the [global Marketing labels](#boards-and-labels).
#### Using Default Issue Text
When a new issue is opened in *any* project, the issue description will contain a small snippet of text applying that teams' label & Marketing scoped `mktg-status::plan` label.
- If a template is chosen, a message will appear confirming you want to change the text w/in the issue description, click `Apply Template` and continue as normal
#### Updating Default Issue Text
The default text is minimal and generic. Any team can make the collective decision to update the text. Access to modify the text may be limited based on group/project permission level, if you do not have access to the `General` settings section, please reach out to `@mktg-ops` via slack.
*Please note* this is not an issue bot there is no dynamic functionality. The default issue text applies to all issues opened within that project and the text should be broad enough to encompass a roles within that functional group.
1. Navigate to project to be updated
1. Left side menu, hover over the wheel widget (last icon) -> Select `General`
1. Scroll down & select `Expand` next to **Default Issue Template**
1. In the text box you can add any markdown formatting & modify the text. The text that has been added included several lines above it, so it may *appear* to be a blank box. Scroll down &/or expand that text box to see complete text.
- **Please do not** delete the labels section.
- Label section can be updated to include more labels &/or switch the functional team label
- Important to *leave* the `mktg-status::plan` label in that section
1. Once edits have been made, click `Save changes`. The changes be applied immediately to **any new issue opened**.
- Does not affect already opened issues.
If you have any issues &/or questions, please reach out to the MktgOps team (`@mktg-ops`) via slack.
### Campaign Tags
GitLab makes use of campaign tags throughout our systems in order to better track associated costs. For consistency, we use the naming convention of ISODate_Campaign_ShortName. More details on the ISO Date:
> ISO 8601 provides a standard cross-national approach that says:
> - A general-to-specific approach, forming a date that is easier to process - thus, the year first, followed by month, then day
> - Numbers less than 10 preceded by a leading zero
> - Years expressed as "0" prior to year 1 and as "-1" for the year prior to year 0 (and so forth)
> - Thus, March 30, 1998 would be: 19980330.
Please see more about this process on the [Marketing Ops page.](/handbook/marketing/marketing-operations/#campaign-cost-tracking)
### How it all fits together
Figuring out how where and how to create a board, epic, label can be confusing. The following diagram is a very high level example of how it all fits together. If there are questions please ask in the [#mktgops slack channel](https://gitlab.slack.com/messages/CGL35F20G) (*must be GitLab team member for active link).
## Marketing Rapid Response Process
### Summary
There are times when a rapid response is needed to address M&A in the industry, competitive moves, news about the company, and other opportunities to [newsjack](https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/32983/the-inbound-marketer-s-complete-guide-to-newsjacking.aspx). In order to effectively respond, GitLab marketing needs to monitor, create and publish quickly. Additionally, GitLab marketing needs to support GitLab executives with content, data and soundbytes for interviews, blog-posts, etc.
### Process
If a rapid response opportunity arises, please alert the head of corporate marketing (or CMO if head of corporate marketing is unavailable) via slack or text message. Rapid response collaboration will happen in either the [#competition channel](https://gitlab.slack.com/messages/C1BBL1V3K) (if it is competitive) or in the [#external-comms channel](https://gitlab.slack.com/messages/CB274TZRR) (if it is about other news). The head of corporate marketing will propose a recommendation on how to best proceed with an external company message and recruit the resources to accomplish the plan (this becomes the #1 priority for each resource, unless physically impossible or their manager provides a replacement). A template for a rapid response can be found [here](https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Kc-GZ5B7V_zOA46zF1SXoD5qfavqmCAnXFJKS7P3sI/edit).
The head of corporate marketing will assess the rapid response request within 1 HOUR (9amEST-6pmPST). Urgency will be assessed and will be determined to be 3 HOURS (ASAP) or 24 HOURS turnaround, and the action plan will be scoped accordingly - with a bias towards releasing an MVC as soon as possible, and iterating as more news becomes available. Any disagreements on urgency or action will be escalated immediately to the CMO for a final decision.
While each response will be a custom plan, the rapid response team will leverage appropriate resources to execute on the agreed upon plan:
* PMM/TMMs responsible for technical and product content and industry expertise and context
* Content/Social responsible for writing and publishing
* Web team responsible for any non-blog web page changes needed
* Community responsible for monitoring and responding in public channels
**Please have the author of the statement/blog post comment with their approval on the MR before merging, even if you have received approval in other, non-public channels.**
## Marketing Team Functional Groups
{: #groups}
### Sales Development (SDR)
Sales Development Representatives (SDRs) focus on serving the needs of prospective customers' during the beginning of their buying process. When prospective customers have questions about GitLab, the SDRs assist them or connect them to a technical team member as needed. During the initial exploration if the prospective customer is interested in continuing their exploration of GitLab, SDRs will connect them to an Account Executive (AE) or Strategic Account Leader (SAL).
SDRs also contact people who work at large organizations to uncover or create early stage sales opportunities for GitLab SALs. SDRs team will plan with their paired Sales counterpart to target interesting accounts and develop plan for prospecting including contact discovery, understanding enterprise-wide initiatives that GitLab could assist with, and ensuring accurate data quality of accounts and contact in salesforce.com.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/sales-development-representative/){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Sales Development Representative]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Field Marketing
{: .no_toc}
Field marketers focus on understanding the specific needs of the geographic regions where GitLab operates. They manage marketing activities, such as events and sponsorships, tailored to the needs of the region where the activity takes place.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/field-marketing-manager){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Field Marketing]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Marketing Operations
{: .no_toc}
Marketing operations focuses on enabling the GitLab marketing organization with marketing technology, process, enablement and insights. They are responsible for evaluating, deploying and administering marketing systems, documenting and improving administrative processes, and analyzing our marketing data to ensure marketers are held accountable to continuously improving their work. Marketing Operations owns the tech stack used by Marketing.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/marketing-operations-manager/){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Marketing Operations]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Corporate Marketing
Corporate Marketing is responsible for PR/communications, the stewardship of the GitLab brand, corporate events and the company-level messaging/positioning. The team is the owner of about.gitlab.com and oversees the website strategy. Corporate Marketing creates global marketing materials and communications and supports the field marketing teams so they can execute regionally while staying true to the GitLab brand.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/corporate-events-manager/){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Corporate Marketing]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Content Marketing
{: .no_toc}
Content marketers focus on understanding our audience of developers, IT ops practitioners, and IT leadership. They create useful content for GitLab's audiences, and ensure that the content is delivered to the right audience, at the right time, and in the right way.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/content-editor/){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Content Marketing]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Digital Marketing Programs
{: .no_toc}
Digital Marketing Programs focuses on executing integrated campaigns, with a digital-first mindset. They are responsible for executing, deploying, and tracking emails and supporting both sales and marketing in outbound mass communications.
Digital Marketing Programs includes online marketing, focused on managing online advertising, website experiments, and search engine optimization (SEO). Online advertising is aimed at increasing the volume of relevant traffic to GitLab's marketing site, website experiments are focused on improving web traffic-to-form submission conversion, and SEO is aimed at ensuring our marketing site ranks for the search engine keywords our audiences care about.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/digital-marketing-programs-manager/){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Digital Marketing Programs]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Marketing Program Management
{: .no_toc}
Marketing Program Managers are responsible for creating and managing business to business marketing programs, supporting Field events, driving TOFU/MOFU traffic and continued engagement with both prospects and customers.
[Position Description](/job-families/marketing/marketing-program-manager/){:.btn .btn-purple-inv}
[Handbook][Marketing Programs]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Community Relations
Community Relations includes community advocacy, code contributor program and evangelist program functions. The team is focused on answering the following questions:
- What are scalable developer education tools?
- How do we turn in person feedback at events into actionable product requests?
- What are the best and most engaging talks we can give to help educate developers?
- How do we support the community?
- How do we make the documentation even better?
- How do we make it even more fun and easy to get started?
- What is engaging developer content for blog, video, social media?
- How do we build our global meetup plan + make it easy to love GitLab?
- What is the developer GitLab experience?
- How do we use social media to support the community?
- How do field marketing and developer relations work together to support the community?
[Handbook][Community Relations]{:.btn .btn-purple}
### Strategic Marketing
Strategic marketing is GitLab's interface to the market. The market is made up of customers, analysts, press, thought leaders, competitors, etc. Strategic marketing enables other GitLab groups such as Sales, Marketing, and Channel with narrative, positioning, messaging, and go-to-market strategy to go outbound to the market. Strategic marketing does market research to gather customer knowledge, analyst views, market landscapes, and competitor intelligence providing marketing insights inbound to the rest of GitLab.
[Handbook][Strategic Marketing]{:.btn .btn-purple}
## Marketing Production
{: #marketing-products}
## Meetings and structure
{: #meetings}
These are just the required meetings for team members and managers. Of course, meetings are encouraged when it expedites a project or problem solving among members, so the team and company. Don't be afraid to say "Hey, can we hangout?" if you need help with something.
### Weekly Marketing Strategy and Tactics Call (All Marketing team members)
{: .no_toc}
**Meeting goal: This is the main meeting where marketing strategy and tactics are discussed. Everyone in marketing is invited, but attendance is optional.**
**Run time: 50 minutes**
The Marketing team meets weekly to review announcements, strategy developments, company updates, OKRs, and KPIs. This is the primary meeting for discussing strategy and tactics, resolving conflicts and communicating information.
The meeting should run as follows:
- Prior to the meeting, any marketer adds agenda items to the agenda doc, linked to the invitation.
- The CMO prioritizes the agenda and kicks off the meeting with announcements and updates on strategy, company and org.
- The remaining time is used for open discussion and Q&A.
- Interruption is encouraged! Team members are encouraged to interrupt and ask questions throughout.
- All team members are also encouraged to bring forward discussion topics that they want to share with the team or to have covered during the call.
- Action items are recorded and owners assigned. Owners are responsible to report back with the outcome of the action item.
#### Stuff that useful meeting (All Marketing team members invited but completely optional)
**Meeting goal: this is an informal meeting that directly follows the Weekly Marketing Strategy and Tactics call (but meets monthly instead) to share tips, tricks, and best practices. Everyone is invited but it certainly isn't required.**
**Run time: 25 minutes**
- Prior to the meeting, any marketer adds something to share or something they need an answer to to the agenda doc, linked to the invitation.
- meeting will follow agenda doc, and then open for additional questions, which can include life hacks not necessarily specific to our jobs, because we can all be better at life.
### Weekly Direct Reports Meetings (Each manager with their direct reports)
{: .no_toc}
**Meeting goal: For managers to work with direct reports on personnel issues, PeopleOps requirements, performance reviews and hiring.**
**Run time: 25 minutes**
Strategy and tactics should be discussed in the weekly Marketing Strategy and Tactics meeting. Weekly direct reports meetings should be held to discuss tactical people management issues. These meetings should be short and tactical - save strategy discussions for the all-marketing weekly call.
The meeting should run as follows:
- Populate the agenda (linked to the meeting invite) prior to the meeting.
- Manager guides the team through the agenda.
- People Ops Specialists informs team of any upcoming requirements.
## Marketing team SLAs (Service Level Agreements)
{: #sla}
When working remotely in a fast-paced organization, it is important for a team to agree on a few basic service level agreements on how we would like to work together. With any of these, things can come up that make it not possible to meet the SLAs, but we all agree to use best effort when possible.
- Respond to your emails by end of next business day.
- Respond when you are cc'd with an action item on issues by end of next business day.
- Be on time to meetings. We start at on time.
- Acknowledge receipt of emails (community@, FYIs) by BCC'ing the list.
- Try not to email co-workers on weekends. Time off is important. We all have stressful weeks so please unplug on the weekends where possible.
## Marketing Handbook Updates
{: #handbook}
Anything that is a process in marketing should be documented in the Marketing Handbook.
- Format of all pages should be as follows:
- Welcome to the Handbook.
- Functional group overview if handbook for entire functional group or organization.
- "On this page" index of all top level headers on the current page ([create a ToC]).
- Links to other handbooks included on this page.
- Rather than create many nested pages, include everything on one page of your role's handbook with an index at the top.
- Each role should have a handbook page.
- If more than one person are performing a role, the task should be shared to update the handbook with all processes or guidelines.
- Follow the [Markdown Style Guide] for about.GitLab.com.
## How to contact marketing
{: #contact-marketing}
- [**GitLab Marketing public issue tracker**](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing); please use confidential issues for topics that should only be visible to team members at GitLab
- You can also send an email to the Marketing team (see the "Email, Slack, and GitLab Groups and Aliases" Google doc for the alias).
- [**Slack channel**](https://gitlab.slack.com/archives/marketing); please use the `#marketing` Slack channel for questions that don't seem appropriate to use the issue tracker or the internal email address for.
### Requests from other teams
#### Social Requests
All teams are responsible for requesting social posts themselves. If you are not the DRI on a specific category or campaign and want to request a social post, please reach out to the teams’ point person identified below as a first step. Team Members in these roles reserve the right to say no to your request. If they say yes, coordinate with them to [create a new social request issue](/handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/social-marketing/#open-a-new-issue-to-request-social-coverage) so that the social team can process the request and schedule the post(s). The point person on the team or a member of the marketing or social teams may adjust copy to ensure consistency in brand voice.
- Events: Jr. Content Editor
- Release & technical posts/product updates: Technical writer
- User questions/comments on Twitter: Community Advocates
- Leadgen campaigns: Content team
- UX Design: UX Lead
- People Ops: Jr. Content Editor
- Press/media coverage: Post in `#external-comms` for assistance
- Social media, RTs of mentions, CEO Statements/posts: Post in `#social_media` for assistance
#### Public relations (PR)
Speaking to media or on a podcast as a GitLab team member is a significant responsibility. Please see [PR review and media guidelines](/handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/#pr-public-relations).
#### Blog post editing
- Product release posts: Product team
- Technical community posts/tutorials: Incoming technical editor
- CEO statements/updates: CMO
- Plan on some delay when you pitch, so think about whether your post will still be relevant in one month or more.
- If you want a blog post to be published, you should be prepared to write it and format it independently before expecting a review. An easy way to do this is to copy the latest blog post file and edit it, filling in all the fields with your information and post text. Be sure to add a public domain/creative commons cover image, and [attribute properly](/handbook/marketing/blog/#cover-image) at the bottom of the post.
#### Newsletter
**Marketing Newsletter**
Marketing sends out a bi-weekly newsletter to our [newsletter subscribers](/handbook/marketing/marketing-operations/#email-segments) on the 10th and 25th of each month.
To add a content suggestion please find the Newsletter issue in the Marketing project and add your suggestion(s) as comment(s) to the issue in the format outlined on the issue description ( [See example](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/content-marketing/issues/142) ). The title of the Newsletter issue will be formatted as follows: `Newsletter MM/DD`.
Content suggestions can be submitted up to 5 business days before the send date to ensure there is enough time for Content and Marketing Programs Manager's (MPM) review and set up workflow.
Anyone in the company can add suggestions, but the Marketing Program Manager in charge of the newsletter program ([see division of MPM duties](/handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/digital-marketing-programs/marketing-programs/#responsibilities)) will determine the final content of the newsletter. As a rule, we try to have a good balance of content, with a variety of blog posts, webcast landing pages, and product/company updates. The newsletter on the 25th will always lead with the release post for that month.
**Other Newsletter**
To request a newsletter to be sent to an audience outside the [newsletter subscribers](/handbook/marketing/marketing-operations/#email-segments) , please create an issue in the [Digital Marketing Programs project](https://gitlab.com/gitlab-com/marketing/digital-marketing-programs/issues), using the `Newsletter` issue template.
Newsletter requests should be submitted no less than 5 business days before the intended send date to ensure there is enough time for Content and Marketing Programs Manager's (MPM) review and set up workflow.
#### Sponsorship
We are happy to sponsor events and meet-ups where a marketing benefit exists, subject to approval by Field Marketing Managers. These sponsorships may be in cash or in kind, depending on individual circumstances.
Organizational or project sponsorships may also be considered where a marketing benefit exists. Typically, these sponsorships will be in kind - e.g., developer time commitments, or [subsidized / free GitLab licenses](/blog/2018/06/05/gitlab-ultimate-and-gold-free-for-education-and-open-source/).
Cash sponsorship of projects or organizations may be considered only in exceptional cases - for example, if a project or organization that GitLab depends on is struggling to survive financially.
### Marketing Slack Channels
{: #slack}
We use Slack internally as a communication tool. The Marketing channels are as follows:
- `#marketing`: General marketing channel. Don't know where to ask a question? Start here.
- `#community-advocates`: Community Advocate channel when other people are covering
- `#cfp`: All call for speakers will be posted here.
- `#content`: Questions about blog posts, webcasts, the newsletter or other marketing content? This is the place to ask.
- `#community-relations`: A channel for the developer relations team to collaborate.
- `#digital-marketing`: Channel for all advertising, website analytic and general digital programs.
- `#docs`: Technical writing and documentation questions? This is your room.
- `#events`: Everything you want to know about events.
- `external-comms`: To collaborate with our external PR (public relations) agency, discuss GitLab media mentions, and evaluate speaking/podcasting/commentary opportunities.
- `#fieldmarketing`: Discuss, ask questions, stay up-to-date on events that are being organized by Field Marketing
- `#gitlab-pages`: Where we discuss everything related to GitLab Pages.
- `#lead-questions`: If there is a question regarding lead routing, scoring, etc.
- `#marketing-design`: Discuss, feedback, and share ideas on Marketing Design here.
- `#marketing_programs`: Discuss, ask questions, stay up-to-date on campaigns and events that are being organized by the Marketing Program Managers
- `#mktgops`: Marketing Ops communication channel for questions and project updates
- `#outreach`: Having issues with Outreach? Ask here first.
- `#product-marketing`: Discuss, feedback related to product news, features and vision
- `#sdr_amer`: Americas team (North, Latin and South) all segnents
- `#sdr_amer_commercial`: Americas team (North, Latin and South) Commercial segment only
- `#sdr_apac`: Asia Pacific SDR channel - all segments
- `#sdr_emea`: Europe, Middle East and Africa all segments
- `#sdr_emea_commercial`: Europe, Middle East and Africa Commercial segment only
- `#sdr_global`: Worldwide SDR team channel
- `#sdr_global_commercial`: Worldwide SDR Commercial team channel
- `#sdr_enablement`: Training channel for Enablement managers to post updates and discuss best practices
- `#sdr_amer_east`: Enterprise SDRs for Americas East (formerly NORAM - US East)
- `#sdr_amer_central`: Enterprise SDRs for Americas Central (formerly NORAM - US Central)
- `#sdr_amer_west`: Enterprise SDRs for Americas West (formerly NORAM - US West)
- `#sdr-conversations`: place for SDR team brainstorm & sharing of ideas
- `#support`: Ask any and all technical questions here for a quick response.
- `#sfdc-users`: Having issues with SFDC? Ask here first.
- `#swag`: Request or question regarding swag.
- `#social_media`: Use this channel to communicate and coordinate with the Social Media team.
- `#website`: Discuss topics related to website redesign project
### Marketing email alias list
{: #email}
- Analysts@ company domain: external email address for contacting Analyst Relations at GitLab. Replies are forwarded to Analyst Relations manager and Strategic Marketing Director
- Community@ company domain: external email address for sending confirmation emails related to GitLab products. Replies are forwarded to Zen Desk support
- Content@ company domain: external email address associated with management of our SlideShare account. Replies are forwarded to Content Marketing team and Marketing OPS Manager
- Events@ company domain: external email address for sending live, VIP & in-person training related emails. Replies go to Field Marketing Managers and Marketing OPS Manager
- Fieldmarketing@ company domain: external email address for requests to the worldwide Field Marketing team
- Giveaways@ company domain: external email address for receiving content & social media related promotional giveaways. Replies go to Content Marketing Team and Marketing OPS Manager
- Leads@ company domain: external email address for internal Lead alerts. Replies go to Marketing OPS Manager
- News@ company domain: external email address used to send newsletter. Replies go to Marketing OPS Manager and Manager, Content Marketing
- MPM@ company domain: external email address used to send direct generic requests to the Marketing Program Managers
- MarketingOPS@ company domain: external email address used to direct generic operational requests to Marketing OPS Manager
- MarketingSFDC@ company domain: external email address associated with management of Salesforce. Replies forward to Manager, Digital Marketing Programs; Field Marketing Manager; Product Marketing Manager; and Manager, Content Marketing
- SecurityAlerts@ company domain: external email address used to send security alerts. Replies go to Marketing OPS Manager
- Sponsorships@ company domain: external email address used to manage sponsor requests from community. Replies forward to Community Advocate Team
- Support@ company domain: external email address for sending Breaking Change and/or support related customer communications. Replies go to Zen Desk support
- Surveys@ company domain: external email address for sending the Developer Survey and/or related surveys. Replies go to Content Team and Product Marketing Manager
- Webcasts@ company domain: external email address for sending webcast related emails. Replies go to Marketing OPS Manager and Marketing Program Managers
## Marketing Team READMEs
{: #readme}
Get to know the people who work in GitLab's marketing team by visiting our [READMEs](/handbook/marketing/readmes/).
[cmo]: /job-families/chief-marketing-officer/
[create a ToC]: /handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/markdown-guide/#table-of-contents-toc
[Markdown Style Guide]: /handbook/engineering/ux/technical-writing/markdown-guide/
[Blog]: /handbook/marketing/blog/
[Website]: /handbook/marketing/website/
[Campaigns]: /handbook/marketing/campaigns/
[Content Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/content/
[Community Relations]: /handbook/marketing/community-relations/
[Community Advocacy]: /handbook/marketing/community-relations/community-advocacy/
[Code Contributor Program]: /handbook/marketing/community-relations/code-contributor-program/
[Evangelist Program]: /handbook/marketing/community-relations/evangelist-program/
[Corporate Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing
[Design]: /handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/#design
[Field Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/field-marketing/
[Revenue Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/
[Marketing Programs]: /handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/digital-marketing-programs/marketing-programs/
[Marketing Operations]: /handbook/marketing/marketing-operations/
[Digital Marketing Programs]: /handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/digital-marketing-programs/
[Partner Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/product-marketing/partner-marketing/
[Strategic Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/product-marketing/
[Business Operations]: /handbook/business-ops/
[Sales Development Representative]: /handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/sdr/
[Outbound SDR]: /handbook/marketing/revenue-marketing/sdr/#how-to-sdr
[Social Marketing]: /handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/social-marketing/
[Team Member Social Media Guidelines]: /handbook/marketing/social-media-guidelines/
[Swag]: /handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing#swag
[Corporate Marketing Events]: /handbook/marketing/corporate-marketing/#corporate-events
[Events]: /handbook/marketing/events/
[Marketing Career Development]: /handbook/marketing/career-development
[Emergency Response]: /handbook/marketing/emergency-response
[emily]: https://gitlab.com/emily
[erica]: https://gitlab.com/erica
[jjcordz]: https://gitlab.com/jjcordz
[lukebabb]: https://gitlab.com/lukebabb
[rebecca]: https://gitlab.com/rebecca
[elsje]: https://gitlab.com/elsje
[jburton]: https://gitlab.com/jburton
[jbroussard]: https://gitlab.com/jbroussard
[williamchia]: https://gitlab.com/williamchia
[LaniceSims]: https://gitlab.com/LaniceSims
[hschuler]: https://gitlab.com/hschuler
[mhamilton]: https://gitlab.com/mhamilton
