Just Another Growth Marketing Story named Zoom In/Out

TL;DR version here:

How to dig deep into the curiosity about what works and what doesn't when scaling business growth through marketing. Data, and the lack of it, are clues!

If you strike a message that perfectly resonates, your ideal segment responds. More on that here . Once you do, amplify!

The right message will resonate as you scale, and also when you try it on other platforms. Use the momentum to perfect your message-finding method, repeat, and create a ripple!

Images below are added to illustrate a real business story where this was applied.

But not this one, you get some short video to illustrate the point

We begin here:

Through years of Growth Marketing, I've been curious about finding a shiny thing I came across a couple of times.

Warning: sentimentalism ahead

When you have looked at thousands of graphs, you might start perceiving the story behind them in a flash. I love looking at paintings because of the ability to imagine the music or mental state the artist experienced while creating, clues come from things like linework, feathering, and pressure shown at each point.

Mind you, a while ago I stopped measuring the value of my work in growth in terms of commercial metrics, and started measuring how many people helped. How to maximize that number, and the significance of help. The journey to achieving that became entertaining to me. Might as well appreciate the landmarks and look at the art wherever it is.

That art can be found when looking at how growth happens in nature, even in plants. Did you know that plant leaves have small pores that open and close like our lungs inhale & exhale to breathe? The sounds of birds singing/chirping help those pores (stomata) open and close. Breathe more, grow more. Plants even have 'favorite' genres of music too!

Wow.

I find it really annoying.

Still, it's good to know the trees are having a good time. But I got curious about how to simulate that in my work or to check if it even happens. Not the chirping in the office although it crossed my mind.

I mean finding the growth 'connection' that works so seamlessly.

My first documented step was during this post here , and if you think it's just another case study full of commercial metrics and conceited pride, that'd be actually right. However, that work did help tens of thousands of small, micro, and even nano businesses sustain and persevere in tough conditions, and prosper.

Zooming In: the quest to find what ticks in the gear. What moves the needle? I find it tricky albeit fun after crunching a lot of generated data from calculated growth sprints. This is a fancy way of saying: "We play 'Hot & Cold' with our customers, and communicate through what shows on the screen after each move."

On a bit of a larger scale, this story picks up from where we left off.

Here is a sneak peek if your gratification preference leans towards instant.

After a lot of work, this impact looked shiny to me. But if it's truly shiny, it should withstand a stress test!

The shiny object here is

A note (Marketing Message) that would always resonate with your ideal listener. (Customer) Every time it's played. Even if, and especially, when you try it on other instruments. (Platforms) Zooming-in is when you try to find that note, while Zooming-out is when you are able to distinguish it whether played by this instrument or another.

In other words, the marketing message that clicks perfectly with your ideal customer segment makes it clear why it worked, and why it worked with this group of people. That's when you really know that group of people, the right message reaches them no matter the medium or platform!

For several obvious reasons, the first direction would be purchases. This graph shows a visual story of how horrible the results were at first (left side) as spending didn't get purchases or conversions.

Ever heard of the fisherman who opened the magic fish but found no ring? This here is similar. It's the lack of data at first. The middle part is curiosity, why did it NOT work?

I don't get frustrated about these things, it's normal to start the game 'Hot & Cold' with cold being first.

Similarity and contrast are both clues!

The middle part of the following image is navigating the landscape to get closer to what rings and to whom. The right part is when we understand exactly how to play a note that resonates. Purchases skyrocket while Cost per Purchase remains semi-flatlined.

But purchases hardly mean you're growing your market share or building an audience or community. It's just sales without a guarantee you'll still reach them tomorrow.

This led us to look for the note that impeccably delivers why people should sign up with us, but that's another story you may tell from the graph.

Early in the right section, you will find that playing a note at first got 'some' response, then a small attempt (first small spike in both graphs) to zoom it out and scale (how arrogant right?)

Followed by a great success in something that worked (yay) but we don't know why it worked. So we had to try a lot of things that DID NOT work, hoping to find what we found again, intentionally.

Until the spikes in the lower graph settled down, we had gained more wisdom about the lack of data. We were getting 'colder' in the game before we got 'warmer' and pulled the thread of what impeccably clicks and maximized its scaling.

At this point, the journey was not about finding the quintessential element that drives growth. Focusing on learning from everything you see is more fun (and enduring) There is no good and bad anymore, there are only clues!

With time, repetition, and learnings; when we ventured into a new territory with the confidence to persevere not reiterate. We found our note and now it's time to learn how other instruments play it. In orchestras, this is called tuning, AKA concert pitch.

It's when musicians -literally- set the tone together.

Before we look at the next chapter, back to the previous image, notice how the cost per purchase on the left side (green graph) was frightening at first. If you compare the dot expanded in the right corner and notice the height of that hill on the left; it's just that. Frightening.

Every plan is 100% in the future, and this growth vocation gets uncertainty for breakfast.

But.

Sometimes you have been through enough looking for something to know it. No matter what form it takes. That's what happened to form the right side of these graphs all the way from that point!

The story continues but this article doesn't

Thanks for reading!

Karim Wanny

Someone who wholeheartedly helps people grow, sometimes through marketing.

Basically

Growth: objective

Marketing: means

Consultant & Mentor: form & perspective