Stop Reinventing the Wheel: Human-to-Human Marketing in the Atlassian Ecosystem

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When I shifted from B2C and agency work into the Atlassian Marketplace, my brain flashed an ERROR 404: NEW IDEA NOT FOUND.🤯

Apps are different—surely I need a moon-shot campaign, I thought. But after a few “let’s get crazy!” brainstorms, something felt off:

• I was chasing novelty for novelty’s sake.

• I was forgetting the fundamentals that worked everywhere else.

• I was labeling myself “marketer” first and “human” second.

That label became the only real box I had to escape.

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Back to Basics: Marketing = H2H

Whether you’re promoting an app, a service, or your local bake sale, one question cuts through the noise:

“Do I need to persuade a human?”

If the answer is yes (spoiler: it always is), then humanize everything—tone, visuals, follow-up, even release notes. The tech stack may change, but human psychology hasn’t had a version update in 200,000 years.

Three Micro-Shifts That Keep Me Grounded ✨

Old Reflex	Human-First Swap
Persona-speak: “Target segment: Mid-market Jira Admins, 35–44.”	Name a real user you spoke to this week. Write for them.
Feature dump: “Now with OAuth 2.0 & SSO!”	Tell the story of a 3-click setup that saved Lisa two hours on ticket triage.
Automated blast: “Nurture Email #7.”	One-to-one gesture: a quick Loom video or LinkedIn voice note saying “Thanks for the bug report—fixed!”

None of these require an ad budget or a VR headset—just curiosity and empathy.

Why It Matters in the Atlassian Community

Atlassian’s ethos is “Teamwork starts with people.”
Our marketing should echo that:

1. Marketplace ≠ Mall. Apps live or die on peer reviews and word-of-mouth. People smell hype a sprint away.

2. Admins are humans under pressure. They want reliability, not razzle-dazzle.

3. Community first, pipeline second. Give genuine help in forums, and qualified leads appear as a by-product.

A Challenge for Fellow Marketers

Before your next “out-of-the-box” brainstorm, ask:

1. Have we fully explored the basics inside?

2. Are we talking with humans or at personas?

3. Are we hiding behind our “marketer” label?

If any answer makes you squirm, congratulations—you’ve found the real innovation opportunity.

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👋🏻Join the Conversation

How do you keep your campaigns human inside a highly technical space? Share your wins (and face-plants) in the comments—let’s unpack the box together.

— Salome, Marketing Manager @ Twinit

[Halyna Kudlak _SaaSJet_]

@Salome Ivaniadze Twinit , thanks for this article! It’s such a timely reminder that behind every product and campaign, there are real people on both sides. 💛

[Celina]

Love this!  Sometimes I catch myself slipping into that classic “marketing-ese” tone—buzzwords everywhere, polished to the point of being unreadable. That’s when I turn to one of my favorite prompts: “Make it more human, less sales pitch.”

It’s a reset button. Strips away the fluff and brings back the human voice.

Another go-to of mine is “Make it understandable for a 3rd grader.”
Because when I do that, all the “streamlines,” “boosts,” and “optimize this-and-that” disappear—and what’s left is actual communication.
Simple. Natural. Human.

We’re talking to people, not corporate personas. Let’s also write like it.

[Aleksander Szymczak]

I agree! On the Marketplace people are looking for solutions to real problems they are facing, not a new fancy car from a dealership. 
Focus on building trust and relations with the people you are providing the services to - if they like working with you, natural leads will come from it. It also helps in creating a trusted brand :D