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

Tim Herbig

Product Management Coach & Consultant | I help Product Teams connect the Dots of Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery through better practices.

As a Product Management Coach and Consultant, I enable product teams to make real progress by connecting the dots of Product Strategy, Product OKRs, and Product Discovery.

I have helped companies like StepStone, Chrono24, Deutsche Telekom, and Specsavers turn product theory into pragmatic and practical application. Before going independent, I held multiple Product roles at companies like Gruner+Jahr and XING and multiple b2c and b2b startups for 10 years.

I now help product teams develop and implement better practices that help them progress in their context instead of chasing artificially created "best practices." I achieve that through hands-on training, coaching offerings, in-depth courses, and intriguing content.

Product Management Coach & Consultant, Speaker

As a Product Management Coach, I work with product managers and teams around the globe to connect the dots through empathy and structure.

By introducting confidence and skills to their way of working, I ensure that they can and want to own their Product Strategy, Goals, and Product Discovery.

Thereby, they don’t pick techniques and techniques for the sake of it, but to actually make progress. And they don‘t just progress for the sake of it, but in order to achieve meaningful goals through self-determined learning.

How do Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery reinforce each other.

Strategy without customer evidence becomes abstract and theoretical. Teams struggle to prioritize, creating vague statements like "Make customers happy through a better UI" that justify almost any action. 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 provides necessary context to ground strategic choices in reality, while 𝗢𝗞𝗥𝘀 transform these choices into measurable actions, ensuring Strategy is both evidence-based and executable.

𝗢𝗞𝗥𝘀 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝗧𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀:
Useful OKRs turn strategic directions into measurable, actionable priorities for teams. They translate broad strategic choices into specific changes in customer behavior and business impacts.
𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: Your strategy may focus on “𝘉𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘦-𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘮𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘻𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯,” but OKRs specify exactly what measurable change (e.g., increasing weekly active usage of collaboration features from specific types of customers) will demonstrate tangible progress.

OKRs without strategic boundaries become generic, ineffective, and misaligned. Product Strategy provides the specific choices you want to measure, while Product Discovery ensures your OKRs are grounded in reliable evidence about customer problems.

𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗙𝘂𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗳𝘂𝗹 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀:
Discovery identifies user needs and customer behaviors worth targeting through OKRs. When Discovery reveals specific user pains, OKRs can turn the solving of them into measurable user Outcomes.
𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: If Discovery highlights onboarding friction reducing customer retention, OKRs can aim at measuring improvements in onboarding flow adoption rates, dramatically enhancing the contribution to business goals.

Discovery without direction leads to endless exploration. Teams can feel overwhelmed, believing they must investigate every problem. 𝗢𝗞𝗥𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 provide necessary structure, narrowing Discovery’s focus.

𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗴𝘆 𝗦𝗲𝘁𝘀 𝗕𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆:
Product Strategy clarifies relevant market opportunities, preventing Discovery from drifting into misaligned or superficial areas.
𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲: If Strategy emphasizes expanding existing enterprise accounts, Discovery clearly prioritizes problems current customers face instead of exploring new market segments.

To learn practical ways to make that connection happen, check out my book 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗣𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀:
https://lnkd.in/eBS-ggjS

Visualization by the fabulous Julia Steier!

Product Management Coach, Author, and Speaker | I help Product Teams connect the Dots of Strategy, OKRs, and Discovery.

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