At Babbel, our endgame is getting people to have conversations with other people, in a new language. There are fantastic folks here making that possible. In our “Behind The Scenes” series, we sit down with them to provide a glimpse into who makes it all work, what they do, and where their heads are at.
What’s your role at Babbel? What do you do on a typical day?
I’m the Director of Product Marketing. On a typical day, I’ll sync with the team on their current projects, checking progress and what’s needed to continue. Whether they are preparing a marketing campaign or developing a feature with our Product teams, we always lean on each other to bounce ideas, challenge each others’ recommendations, and see where we can bring a stronger storytelling angle.
This is a pretty international workplace. How does that influence your work?
It makes my work way more interesting! From the easy part of learning how to joke in other languages, to the more challenging aspect of learning how to adapt your communication to different cultures and backgrounds, and of course, creating a space for everyone to be heard.
Are there tools you’ve brought with you that you find surprisingly useful?
Early last year, I helped create an internal mentoring program, based on similar programs I had been involved with in other companies. Since Babbel is a learning company inside and out, this mentorship program was well received from the get-go. Babbelonians reported it was very helpful for providing additional guidance to our teams, and for helping them connect with more leaders inside the organization that they wouldn’t have had a chance to meet otherwise.
What challenges are you most animated by?
Making learning a language fun and really enjoyable! Babbel is a product with very high efficacy and we know that you will learn with us… so the interesting challenge for me is to make it a journey that is enjoyable and makes you come back for more.
What learning/growth opportunities have impacted you most?
Establishing the Product Marketing function within Babbel has been a fantastic opportunity to develop and learn, especially as Babbel’s leadership had a clear view of the importance of customer-centricity and product-market fit as elements to guide our product innovation.
How does working on a purpose-driven product affect your workday?
It helps tremendously to link our actions to an important user benefit – we help our users express themselves, be understood and connect with the real world around them. On the easy days, you feel that you are solving a real human problem, and on the trickier days, it’s a bigger motivation to invest your time on a difficult task or challenge to solve.
Tell us about the Product Marketing team? How does Babbel do things differently in this field?
We team up with Product Management, Product Design and Engineering to create the best product innovations. We help by generating customer and market insights that tell us what to focus on, and challenging potential product ideas to ensure market-fit and differentiation. Once new features are ready to go live, we define the naming, messaging and marketing campaign that brings it in front of our users.
Want to join Belen and her team? We’re currently looking for a Product Marketing Team Lead – apply here!