notion

Background:

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A productivity software platform. Launched in 2016, it quickly began to gain traction among a core group of enthusiasts, but it only really started taking flight when in 2018 they relaunched the platform in its current sleeker, simpler form. By 2019 they had c. 1M users. 

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Solution:

 

“In the early days, we saw people on Twitter and Reddit sharing tips and providing support to other users. With a small marketing team, it was clear that this would be a way for us to amplify Notion.”

Camille Ricketts, Head of Marketing.* 

 

Camille focused on harnessing this enthusiasm and advocacy,  and talent-spotted one early-adopting high user of Notion,  Ben Lang,  to join the in-house team and lead the community. Camille and Ben quickly introduced  a number of superfan channels. These encouraged users to become any one of “Ambassadors” (for individual users and smaller teams), “Champions” (for their corporate clients to embed usage within companies),  “Campus Leaders” (for their student populace) or individually accredited Notion “Consultants”.  In other words, they didn’t just attract an audience - they segmented them in a way which maximised the focus, effectiveness and growth potential.

 

Notion still to this day keeps their in-house team pretty lean and let the people on the ground (meaning their users) spread the word for them. 

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Users don’t have to be ambassadors or champions to get involved, either. Anyone can host an event centred on some element of Notion - hundreds of these events are taking place around the world at any given time. 

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Worldwide, there are now over thirty community-led groups addressing the differing interests of “Notioners” (as they like to be called.) From geographic location, to language, to need (student, marketing, business, family etc). We estimate about one million people around the world are now actively engaged in one or more of these customer-led communities. And their communities can be found on vast numbers of platforms, including Reddit, LinkedIn, Facebook, Discord, Twitter and ClubHouse.

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Results:

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In 2022 (just 3 years after their "relaunch") it had an estimated user pool of close to 30M. In addition to individuals, they have an impressive, and rapidly-growing, corporate client base – from the likes of Typeform to Pixar and Headspace. Their last raise valued them at $10Bn. This was all without spending very much on marketing. 

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*quote taken from an article written by Decibel VC.