Marketing

GitLab Marketing Handbook: Brand Experience, Corporate Communications, Product and Technical Marketing, and Growth Marketing

GitLab helps teams ship faster, with trust. Marketing supports this promise by shaping GitLab’s brand and market narrative, connecting with customers and communities, creating demand, and managing our external reputation.

How we work

Marketing follows GitLab’s operating principles, built on a culture of excellence.

Customer Outcomes

We market what customers can do and the value they receive, not what we shipped. We bring customer voices into what we publish.

Speed with Quality

We avoid process for process’s sake. Agents take on toil to create space for great first drafts. We ship two-way-door decisions using owner judgment; one-way-door decisions receive rigorous review.

Ownership Mindset

One owner works with a focused input group, sets a deadline, and makes the decision. We own our messaging everywhere it appears and optimize for outcomes.

Our teams

Use this overview to understand each team’s responsibilities and find its handbook pages and Slack channels.

Brand Experience

Brand Experience is GitLab’s creative engine and design center of excellence. The team develops the primary creative approaches, brand narratives, visual systems, and standards for how GitLab looks, feels, and lands with users. UX Research brings customer insight into this work, while Product Design continues to serve the Product organization. The other Marketing teams scale and activate what this team creates.

Team	Handbook	Slack
Brand Creative	Brand Creative handbook	`#brand_video`, `#marketing-design`
Brand Strategy	Brand Strategy handbook	`#brand`, `#swag`

Corporate Communications

Corporate Communications owns GitLab’s corporate narrative and external reputation, executive thought leadership, public relations, crisis communications, social media, and industry analyst relations. The team partners with Growth Marketing on shared go-to-market priorities, including social media, ongoing analyst and public relations programs, and amplification.

Team	Handbook	Slack
Analyst Relations	Analyst Relations handbook	`#analyst-relations`
Corporate Communications	Corporate Communications handbook	`#external-comms`
Social Media	Social Media handbook	`#social_media_action`

Product and Technical Marketing

Product and Technical Marketing owns strategy and narrative: positioning, messaging, product marketing, content, technical documentation, and developer relations. The team defines what we say, to whom, and why. It translates what Product and Engineering ship into what the market hears. Developer Advocacy brings the developer-facing voice into the narrative, while technical documentation, content strategy, and product marketing build technical truth and strategic narrative together.

Team	Handbook	Slack
Content Ops & Strategy	Content Ops & Strategy handbook	`#content`, `#content-updates`
Developer Advocacy	Developer Advocacy handbook	`#developer-advocacy`, `#cfp`, `#community-pulse`
Product & Solutions Marketing	Product & Solutions Marketing handbook	`#ask-product-and-technical-marketing`
Tech Writing & Globalization	Tech Writing handbook, Globalization handbook	`#tech-writing-and-globalization`, `#docs`

Growth Marketing

Growth Marketing owns programs that drive pipeline, revenue, adoption, and expansion. The team turns go-to-market strategy and customer signals into programs, owning each one from the brief to the measured result.

Team	Handbook	Slack
Co-Create & Community Engineering	Co-Create & Community Engineering handbook	`#co-create-and-community-engineering`
Corporate Events	Corporate Events handbook	`#marketing-campaigns`
Digital Agency	Digital Agency handbook	`#digital-marketing`
Growth Community Programs	Growth Community Programs handbook	`#ask-community-programs`
Lifecycle Marketing	Lifecycle Marketing handbook	`#lifecycle-marketing`
Marketing Engineering & Ops	Marketing Engineering & Ops handbook, Digital Experience handbook	`#mktgops`, `#sfdc-users`, `#digital-experience-team`, `#website`
Partner & Industry Marketing	Partner & Industry Marketing handbook	`#regional-partner-marketing`
Regional Marketing	Regional Marketing handbook	`#regional-partner-marketing`

Marketing team READMEs

Get to know the people who work in GitLab’s Marketing team by visiting our READMEs.

General

Use these channels for Marketing-wide questions and updates that do not belong to a specific team channel.

Channel	Purpose
`#marketing`	General Marketing questions and discussion. Start here when you do not know which team to contact.
`#cpmo`	CPMO review requests and updates.
`cmo-staff`	Private discussion channel for CMO staff.
`marketing-team-internal`	Private, read-only channel for Marketing team members. To propose a post, contact the Marketing EBA with the text and, where possible, an issue or merge request with more details.

Public resources

Visit GitLab to learn about the company and platform.
Read the GitLab blog for product, company, customer, and community stories.
Explore GitLab resources for guides, reports, webcasts, and other material.

Getting help

Common topics

Topic	Where to reach out	Sub-Team
Blog posts, webcasts, the newsletter or other marketing content	`#content`	Content
Swag	`#swag`	Brand
Design requests, logo usage questions	`#marketing-design`	Brand
External PR (public relations) agency, discuss GitLab media mentions, and evaluate speaking/podcasting/commentary opportunities	`#external-comms`	Corporate Communications
Anything regarding the marketing website and website development	`#digital-experience-team`	Digital experience
Questions about tools in the marketing tech stack, evaluating new marketing tools, marketing system process improvement	`#mktgops`	Marketing Operations
Rules on legally compliant language for marketing communications (internal only)	`#mktgops`	Marketing Ops
Salesforce	`#sfdc-users`	Sales Operations (not marketing)

Find Marketing team Slack channels in Our teams.

General Questions and Feedback

GitLab Marketing project management; please use confidential issues for topics that should only be visible to team members at GitLab
Slack channel; please use the #marketing Slack channel for questions that require fast feedback

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 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 writing
User questions/comments on Twitter/X: Social Marketing or Developer Relations team
Leadgen campaigns: Content team
UX Design: UX Lead
Press/media coverage: Post in #external-comms for assistance from the Corporate Communications team
Social media, reshares of mentions, CEO Statements/posts: Post in #social_media_action for assistance

Company Spokesperson

Speaking on behalf of GitLab at a conference, to media or on a podcast as a GitLab team member is a significant responsibility. Please see the Corporate Communications Handbook Page for guidelines and trainings.

Blog post editing

Technical community posts/tutorials: Developer Advocacy and Blog editorial team
All other blog posts: Blog editorial team

Guidelines for how to pitch and submit a blog, including templates and formatting, can be found in the Blog Handbook.

Marketing Newsletter

Marketing and the Editorial team send out a monthly newsletter to our newsletter subscribers. The newsletter always includes information about the latest release post, links to our latest blogs, plus additional content for DevSecOps teams. The goal for this newsletter is thought leadership and awareness.

To add a content suggestion, please create an issue with “DevSecOps Download Content: [subject]” in the title (no template necessary) and tag @sgittlen (Sandra Gittlen, Blog Managing Editor). Anyone in the company can add suggestions, but the Blog Managing Editor will determine the final content.

Other Newsletter

To request a newsletter to be sent to an audience outside the newsletter subscribers, please create an issue in the Campaigns project, using the request_email_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 Regional 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.

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.

Product & Technical Marketing (PTM) User Groups

These groups are intended to make it easier to tag the right team quickly in Slack, while the matching Google Groups help with meetings and org hygiene.

Slack group	When to use it
`@ptm-leadership`	Tag for org-wide questions, leadership alignment, and cross-functional escalations within PTM.
`@ptm-content-ops-strategy`	Tag for content planning, editorial operations, and strategic content program support.
`@ptm-dev-advocacy`	Tag for developer relations, community engagement, and technical advocacy programs.
`@ptm-product-solutions-marketing`	Tag for product positioning, go-to-market strategy, and solutions marketing support.
`@ptm-tech-writing-globalization`	Tag for technical documentation, content localization, and globalization program support.

Marketing email alias list

Analysts@ company domain: external email address for contacting Analyst Relations at GitLab. Replies are forwarded to Analyst Relations manager and VP Product and Product Marketing
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 Regional Marketing Managers and Marketing OPS Manager
Rregionalmarketing@ company domain: external email address for requests to the worldwide Regional 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; Regonal 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 Developer Relations 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
on24questions@ company domain: external email address used for collecting privately asked questions in On24 webinars

Marketing Team Processes

This front page of the Marketing Handbook is intended to serve as the external face of the marketing team. We’ve created a dedicated Team Processes page that is intended to house our internal processes, workflows, and guidances relevant internally to the marketing team.

Visit the Page

View page source - Edit this page - please contribute.