Ashley Faus

Director of Integrated Product Marketing, Atlassian

Marketer, writer, speaker by day... singer, actor, fitness fiend by night!

I've handled all aspects of marketing strategy and execution, from product marketing, to demand-gen, to content and events. I love telling the high-level stories that resonate with an audience and connecting the dots between types of assets and distribution channels.

My writing has been published on TIME, Forbes, The Journal of Brand Strategy, and The Muse, and I've spoken on various marketing topics for INBOUND, Harvard Business Review, and MarketingProfs.

Visit https://ashleyfaus.com/ for more information about my book, "Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI".

(Views are my own)

Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Portfolio

"A jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one."

Funny how we only ever hear the first part of that^^ quote, often said with a derisive tone.

Nobody wants the "master of none" 😬

And yet... I proudly claim the moniker of "marketing generalist"!

My superpower is connecting the dots, working across multiple teams, and integrating across channels.

If you need someone who sits at the intersection, I gotchu.

And this is why I'm always slightly surprised but delighted when I'm recognized in a specific marketing discipline.

My current title is "Lifecycle Marketing", but I contributed enough PMM-related content to earn a spot on the 2025 Product Marketing Influencer list.

And Alt Marketing School offers courses across allllll the marketing disciplines, including trendier topics, like the creator economy.

Personally, I think we're in a generalists' economy right now.

With teams running lean, leaders looking to bring in more AI and automation, and the rise of the fractional or solopreneur, generalists are making a comeback!

So cheers to all the folks who are making their mark in each (or every) discipline 🎉 

See the Alt Marketing School list: https://amschool.click/top

See the Product Marketing Alliance list: https://lnkd.in/dTmpNtJ5

Buy my book, "Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI": https://amzn.to/4jqaKDW

Head of Lifecycle Marketing, Portfolio at Atlassian

I almost ended up naked onstage 😳

I was playing a bride, wearing this ridiculous '80s-style dress (pictured below), with a dropped waist, heavy beading, and a ridiculous train.

And on opening night, the zipper down the back of the dress started coming undone...

Inching.
Down.
My. 
Back.

And no one could help me 😬

I felt the sleeves start to slide towards the edge of my shoulders.

I felt an unpleasant breeze on my lower back.

And I realized that I'm just hoping I don't end up naked in front of the audience.

So... when I tell you that I've had things go wrong onstage, I'm not talking about a momentary hiccup with the slides or stuttering over a few words or going blank on my next sentence 😅

What this means for you, as a professional sharing your knowledge at a conference or Town Hall or QBR: it's gonna be ok.

YOU CAN DO IT!

At minimum, you won't end up naked onstage.
And the audience probably won't even notice a flub!

I get a lot of questions about how to overcome the fear, swallow the nerves, and feel confident stepping onstage.

One of my counterintuitive exercises is to catastrophize.

What's the WORST thing that could happen?

How would you react (and recover) if it happens?

Thinking through the worst-case scenario takes the surprise and sting out of it, because usually, it's not that bad.

And now you know how to react 😎

I said I ALMOST ended up naked onstage... handily, I've had a lot of practice reacting to things going wrong.

I straightened my posture to widen my shoulders, put my hands on my hips and across my chest to keep the dress from slipping off completely, and angled my back away from the audience to maintain a little dignity.

And then I asked the costumer to secure the zipper before the next performance, 'cuz we're not trying to have things go wrong twice 💃

Wanna be on a podcast? 

Drop your name and topics in the comments 👇👇

What hosts want to know:

💡 What's your expertise and unique angle?
🎤 Can you speak in an engaging way?
📣 Will you help bring in listeners?

Don't have prior appearances? 

I gotchu:

--> Go live on LinkedIn or post a short clip to share your advice

--> Confirm that you'll share about your episode on LinkedIn (and any other channels where you are active, like a newsletter, website, etc.)

Let's connect some hosts and guests!

(Full disclosure: I'm trying to streamline my inbox a bit, so my goal is to make this an easy place for folks to connect without a middleman 😀)

AI can be the epitome of a productivity mirage.

It FEELS productive to craft the perfect prompt, thinking of all the details that an LLM might need to tailor its response to your specific use case.

It FEELS like progress to refine and refine again and refine just once more for perfection.

It FEELS like insight to ask, "But what about _____?" over and over again.

And. Yet.

Blathering on with the chatbot is not, in fact, DOING anything.

Did you actually use all that research that it pumped out for you to take action?

Did you make the updates to the slide deck or blog post, based on the recommendations?

Did you go to the event and see for yourself whether your ICP actually attends?

I've been struggling with this mirage over the last few weeks 😳

In particular, I'm sparring with Claude to improve my talk track and slides, based on session scores and audience comments from my fall speaking engagements.

I feel like I've been so productive!
I spent so much time typing!
I considered so many angles!

My slide deck has not changed.
My speaker notes are not updated.

And as I go back through the chat history, I'm left feeling a bit overwhelmed, annoyed, and generally unmotivated to take the necessary action to ACTUALLY IMPROVE.

AI is only as good as the action it enables.

You can "doom scroll" and "water cooler chat" and "push pixels" around in an LLM just as easily as any other tool (maybe more so 😅).

Don't fall prey to the productivity mirage.

There are MANY smart marketers in the world.

They have great ideas, they've executed impactful programs, and they've written useful books.

The difference between what they share and what I share is literally THEM and ME.

It's not just about the idea.
It's about the person sharing the idea.

WHO says it is just as important as WHAT they say.

People trust people like themselves.
People resonate with different people.

So using your authentic voice, talking about your lived experience, and sharing your unique expertise is the reason someone trusts you, follows you, and listens to you.

If you're looking to be more visible, get more opportunities, and accelerate your success in 2026, you gotta listen to this episode 😀

Thanks for hosting a great conversation Wednesday Women!

Hear the full conversation: https://lnkd.in/e-BwQmxb

Join my Stanford class, starting on Jan. 26: https://lnkd.in/eCe697Zx

Buy "Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI": https://amzn.to/4jqaKDW

Got big goals in 2026? 

I joined Erica Anderson Rooney to talk about my career journey, and I gave some SPICY takes:

♟️Chess vs. Checkers promotion advice

☑️ Minimum Viable Action (MVA)

💡The trouble with "bright" girls

✨ The real pitfalls of perfection

This episode tackles a few more personal issues than my usual fare, so if you want a candid conversation to kick off the New Year, I gotchu 😎

Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/eMp-UCs5

Exercises to help you speak confidently: https://lnkd.in/e8wvrZpD

Grab my book, "Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI": https://amzn.to/3YjquAk

"But what if they build a personal brand and then leave!?!"

🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

This is common pushback on not only allowing employees to share their insights, speak on podcasts, build a following on LinkedIn, etc., but encouraging and enabling them to do this.

The ironic part is that these statements are usually sitting alongside a mandate to "get the employees sharing company content on social media"!

Here's the thing: NOBODY wants the soulless company content 😬

Not the employee you're nagging to share it.
Not the viewer scrolling the feed.
And frankly, not even most of your users.

People want to hear from people, which means helping your employees share in their unique voice is a much better approach, all the way around.

And yes, some employees will attract recruiters and brand collabs and advisor offers, such that they might just decide to leave your company.

But the valley is small, and careers are long!

These former employees might become customers, partners, investors, or brand champions... there's so many ways to exchange value 🙌

And in the age of AI?
HUMANS are even MORE important!

I covered several related topics in my conversation with Finn Thormeier on The Executive Brand podcast, tune in for more details on:

- Why and how to build internal influencers
- The 4 pillars of thought leadership
- Choosing the "best" B2B creator

Rant: Freakin' LinkedIn, you are BUGGY!! Pull yourself together!!

I've noticed that when I schedule posts, they often show up wonky.

It un-tags accounts that I at-mention.

It replaces images and videos with link previews.

The formatting in generally is just not what it looks like in the preview.

But apparently, now it's DOUBLE POSTING content?!?!

I schedule a post, went to "post now" and fixed the issues noted above, and then published... only to find that it apparently posted the same content, but with the mistakes, later in the day.

WHHHHYYYY!?!?

I didn't catch it in time to delete the rogue post, so I figured I'd ask if anyone else is seeing this janky behavior.

It's VERY frustrating.

I'm using native features and trying to follow whatever stupid rules the algorithm randomly enforces.

But good grief.

FIX THE BUGS.

/rant

"All effective marketing is human-centered. While we're busy being distracted with shortcuts, Faus helps us refocus on what matters." ― Seth Godin, Author “This is Marketing”

"Trust is under siege from nearly every angle. Yet marketers like you and me want (need!) to build trust with our audiences. The question is... How? Ashley draws you a map." ― Ann Handley, best-selling author and Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs

"Most of the go-to playbooks are outdated, but it's hard to find a replacement for stale marketing practices. Ashley constructed a powerful new set of frameworks, along with practical advice and real-world examples. "Human-Centered Marketing" brings us back to what actually matters: the people behind the screen." ― Nancy Duarte, best-selling author and CEO of Duarte, Inc.

If you've been on the fence about grabbing a copy of my award-winning book, "Human-Centered Marketing: How to Connect with Audiences in the Age of AI", this is the perfect time to buy 😀

On Wednesdays, we keynote 💃

Honored to present keynote session at B2B Marketing Exchange with ADWEEK, talking about human-centered marketing!

Grab your tickets with special pricing through Feb. 16, and yes, you CAN sit with us 😎

"Don't panic, bring a towel."

We're going on an adventure!

Join me on January 14 to talk about the B2B creators you need in your galaxy this year.

I'm talking with Nadia Davis, MBA from CaliberMind about how to:

👩‍🚀 Find the RIGHT voices for your marketing mix

🚀 Build a thought leadership program that delivers the RIGHT outcomes

💫 Measure the RIGHT metrics across B2B creators

Register for free: https://lnkd.in/eYsKtvYN

B2B marketer with a content DNA | Sr. Marketing manager @Adnovum | Content creator at 💖

I’ve spent the last decade building and scaling B2B marketing engines across sales-led and SaaS companies in cybersecurity, IT, MarTech, and venture building, blending organic growth, product marketing, positioning, and GTM strategy to drive actual pipeline, not just impressions. 

Along the way, I grew a community of 52,000+ business professionals who follow my practical takes on strategic marketing, AI workflows, and organic growth. 

My superpowers:
- Turning complex products into clear, compelling narratives.
- Building integrated campaigns that grow and engage audiences. 
- Thinking in systems, not silos. Picking up new skills with a ton of curiosity. 
- Mentoring and motivating teams. 

Today, I split my time writing and growing The Workflow (my newsletter on AI-powered marketing systems), partnering with MarTech and AI companies, and advising B2B teams on organic growth, product marketing, positioning, and GTM strategy. 

Open to contract work (consulting, advisory & content creation) and full-time opportunities where my skill set can make an impact.

If you want to discuss a collaboration: 📩 lattanzio.sara@gmail.com

Sara Stella Lattanzio

💰How I’d spend my marketing budget in 2026💰
(probably not the way most people expect)

1/ Community

Not (only) to chase LLM recommendations, but to finally get closer to real users and stop letting opinions drive content and product decisions.

2/ AI training for the marketing team

Not to replace people or turn marketers into engineers, but to make good teams operate better: less Frankenstein DYI-tooling, clearer processes, shared knowledge.

3/ A content repurposing engine

Not to be everywhere, but to consistently show up where the audience pays attention. One strong long-form pillar, a few smart seed channels, and an email list you actually own.

4/ A subject-matter expert on the team (part-time)

Not to complicate org charts, but to kill content bottlenecks, bring fresh insights straight from the source, and finally retire “don’t we have a marketing team for that?”

5/ Partnerships

Not just to 10x distribution, but to build an ecosystem where the traditional roles of creators, customers, partners, and resellers start to merge.

TL;DR
All in on relationships, original content, and solid processes, with AI helping us move faster and (occasionally) better.

B2B Marketing Leader & Advisor | Content marketing & GTM | Writing & building @The Workflow | Top 20 🇨🇭 LinkedIn creators

It’s 2026 and you want your organic traffic and clicks back the same way you want your old LinkedIn reach back.

I get it. I miss both too. Unfortunately, neither is coming back.

And that’s fine, because traffic was never the end goal. 
It was just the easiest thing to measure.

What actually changed isn’t “SEO performance”.
It’s search behavior.

👵 The old way (RIP):
Google → blue links → blog → nurture → conversion

👶 The new way:
ChatGPT / Google AI / Reddit / LinkedIn → brand mentioned → brand remembered → direct or branded search → pricing / comparison → conversion

Notice what’s missing?
The clicks you’re still reporting on.

📚 Here’s what content teams are seeing, now confirmed by a Semrush study (1000% worth checking out): https://bit.ly/4jpU9RK

→ Google still drives traffic for 93%, but its monopoly is fading
→ LinkedIn, email, and direct are growing as brand-led channels
→ 57% report declining organic traffic. Only 26% see any revenue impact
→ AI-driven visitors are 4.4× more likely to convert than classic organic traffic

So this isn’t a traffic collapse.
It’s a click collapse.

How to measure content marketing in 2026:
→ Growth in branded search
→ Online visibility BEYOND Google
→ Brand mentions and citations in AI answers
→ Assisted conversions from AI, social, and communities
→ Performance of homepage, pricing, and comparison pages

If your board still asks for traffic, your job this year is to teach them what actually drives revenue.

-
#AIsearch #SEO #SemrushPartner

Brand partnership • B2B Marketing Leader & Advisor | Content marketing & GTM | Writing & building @The Workflow | Top 20 🇨🇭 LinkedIn creators

❓Why are you still measuring your content with clicks❓

I don’t think people realize how often you have to repeat the same thing [over and over and over] to grow...anything really.

We’ve grown The Workflow to 1,100+ subscribers with 6 issues live, and no, it didn’t happen because of one viral post. It happened because we kept repeating ourselves constantly.

⇒ I post about it 1–2 times a week.
⇒ Guests post about it on their accounts.
⇒ Diandra posts about it 1–2 times a week.
⇒ We post 4× a week on our LinkedIn company page.
⇒ I shamelessly plug it in interviews, articles, and websites.
⇒ I pitched it at Christmas dinner to my parents and my cousin.
⇒ The link to subscribe is in our bios, headers, featured sections.

Every post brings a few familiar names from our 85K+ LinkedIn followers onto the list. And not because they didn't get the memo before.

First time? Ignored.
Second? “Already subscribed to enough stuff.”
Third? “Looks good, but I already follow them on LinkedIn.”
Fourth? Clicked. Subscribed. BAM.

Another example:
Only ~20% of readers click on newsletter links.
Which is a sin, considering we drop custom templates and prompts in every issue.

Last week, we repackaged 3 months of prompts into our first Prompt Vault [proof: https://lnkd.in/d3wxEFZQ].
Same content. New format. CTR? 40% (!)

It’s not black magic. It’s saying the same thing 50 times without sounding like a sleazy car saleswoman.

If it’s worth hearing, it’s worth repeating.
...but make it worth hearing first!

Are you still talking about demand generation? Soooo 2021.
2026 is about demand MANIFESTATION 

Here’s how it works:

🕯️  Light some incense
🧘‍♀️ Grab your yoga mat
💎 Wodo-wodo your crystals
💰 and simply manifest the pipeline you want to close this quarter.

Repeat “I’m a lead magnet” three times, and your chances of achieving that will go up by 90%. 

I tested this ritual to manifest being in the same video with some of my favorites [Diandra, Rolf, Nike, Tycho, and Steven].

Here's the proof it REALLY works.

B2B Marketing Leader & Advisor | Organic growth & GTM | Writing & building @The Workflow

taplio

The Battle

Ashley Faus

Sara Stella Lattanzio

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreAshley Faus's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSara Stella Lattanzio's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Ashley Faus

Sara Stella Lattanzio

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Ashley Faus's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreSara Stella Lattanzio's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreAshley Faus's LinkedIn Performance