How Sumo Logic’s Melissa Beck Turns One Piece of Content Into 10

In a world where marketing moves fast and companies move faster, Sumo Logic VP of Corporate Marketing Melissa Beck has seen—and shaped—it all. Over the last decade, she’s helped the company scale from scrappy startup to IPO and back to private ownership. Through it all, she’s led with flexibility, storytelling, and a willingness to experiment.

We sat down with Melissa to talk about what it means to keep momentum going through every stage of growth, and how she’s using customer advocacy, digital PR, and AI-powered tools to build more with less.

Q: You’ve been at Sumo Logic for 10 years—through an IPO and now back to private. How has your approach to marketing changed in that time?

Melissa Beck

I joined Sumo Logic in 2015 to build the foundation of the communications program. In those early days, we were scrappy—punching above our weight and we taking on any opportunity to build awareness and category creation. As we approached IPO, honing the story and driving interesting storytelling became everything. You only get so many chances to shape your narrative before you’re accountable to shareholders, and that pressure makes you sharper. When we returned to private ownership in 2023, it felt like a reset in the best way. It was startup mode again, but this time with the experience and perspective of everything I’d learned along the way.

Marketing today feels like it’s on the front lines of a lot of change—especially with the rise of AI. While every industry is figuring out how to adapt, the opportunities in marketing are particularly exciting. We’re using AI to rethink everything from video to brand design to copywriting. The guardrails will come eventually, but right now, it’s an open window for experimentation. I’m a builder at heart, so being in this moment of reinvention, with new tools, has made the work feel new all over again.

Q: You’ve made customer validation like G2 and Gartner Peer Insights a key part of your marketing engine. What does that look like in practice?

Melissa Beck

When I formally took on customer advocacy, we had great reviews coming in—but we weren’t doing anything with them. G2 was running in the background, but it was kind of set-it-and-forget-it. Once I got my arms around it, I realized we had a goldmine of customer validation just sitting there but we needed ways to create always-on initiatives to drive volume. So we started by launching targeted, incentivized campaigns—pushing to specific segments like our security users one month, then other product users the next. That helped us build volume fast.

The real value came from using those reviews as marketing fuel. We embedded a G2 widget on our website for instant third-party validation and started turning review quotes into snackable social content. We’ve stitched them into short-form videos, strung them together into social reels, and even dropped them into blog posts where they make sense. We’re also feeding them back to sales. If someone’s talking to a healthcare prospect, we can arm them with a handful of reviews from peers in that exact space. It’s low-lift, high-trust content that’s finally pulling its weight across the funnel.

Q: You mentioned it’s a great time for AI experimentation. What AI tools are you testing right now?

Melissa Beck

One of the most game-changing tools we’ve brought into our stack is LuciHub. It’s an AI-powered video platform designed for small comms and marketing teams. You can shoot video on your phone or pull from Zoom, upload it with a few notes, and within 48 hours you have a professionally edited, fully branded video—ready for social, internal comms, or whatever channel you need.

We’ve used it for everything from product teasers and customer reels to internal highlight videos for company and sales kickoffs. It’s allowed us to create high-quality video content without big vendor contracts or long timelines. We’ve even enabled other teams across the company to use it—partner marketing, education, and GTM. And we’re just scratching the surface of what it can do, from AI storyboarding to auto-generating blog copy and audiograms.

Q: You’re also experimenting with digital PR to amplify AI content. What’s the strategy there?

Melissa Beck

It started with a conversation with our digital and demand gen leader who told me, “We need to partner more.” And he was right. The way people find and consume content is changing fast, especially with the rise of AI. It’s not just about SEO anymore—it’s about spreading content across as many digital “real estate” spaces as possible so AI can find and surface it.

Now we think more broadly about distribution. A blog post isn’t just a blog. It’s also a social clip, a podcast segment, a video reel. We’re testing influencer-driven social content, repackaging thought leadership, and exploring platforms like Reddit, BlueSky, and more. It’s still early, but we’re in full experimentation mode.

Final Thought

From IPO prep to AI-powered content generation, Melissa Beck’s approach is a masterclass in adapting with intention. Her advice? Don’t let content sit idle. Whether it’s customer praise or a five-second booth video, everything has value if you’re willing to get creative.

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