Thoughts on Growth - October

I hope Q4 is ticking along nicely for you! We've now got our new quarterly OKRs in place, and we're putting a big effort into referrals this Q with a few new initiatives launching in October.

We've also been busy collecting data for a research project we are doing that will feed into the next developments for our Growth Experiment Tool (GrowthEX) and a new whitepaper I am working on. We're still looking for inputs from Heads of Growth and Heads of Marketing, if you're open to leaving feedback (5 mins) you will get early access to our tool.

If you are a senior marketer, please do give?your feedback here .

?? Growth Division's North Start Metric = 157 Live Channels Under Management

?? Growth Channel Insight -??Community Building?

With so much competition in digital channels, standing out is a real challenge! Simply sharing generic content won't cut it anymore. Instead, we recommend focusing on building a vibrant community around your brand! ?? Here’s why community-building is crucial: ?? Cut Through the Noise: Apparently the average person sees around 4000 marketing messages per day!!! Building a community around the problem you are solving is one way to build loyalty and ensure your brand is not overlooked.

?? Build Trust: Did you know that only 34% of consumers trust the brands they engage with? A community can make people feel part of something bigger than themselves, a movement that is dedicated to solving the problem your brand solves.

?? Boost Loyalty: It's pretty well documented that it costs 5x more to acquire a new customer than to retain one. Engaged communities have proven to keep customers coming back—75% of EU consumers feel more loyal to brands that promote meaningful interactions.

Pro Tip: Optimise all your social media profiles to attract the right audience! Ensure it has a clear tone and engaging content. Always respond to comments and share team success stories to keep the conversation going! ??

?? Growth Resource -?Prioritising Growth Experiments

As part of our research interviews for the growth tool we're building (GrowthEX) we've been stumbled across an issue many startup marketers face, growth initiative prioritisation. How do you ensure your team are working on the ideas that are most likely to move the needle of growth?

If you run 5 experiments before hitting the winner, you likely wasted ￡1,000's and weeks of time, when you should have ran experiment #6 first all along. If you do this repeatedly over the course of a year you waste so much time and resources it could cause your cash to wither up and your startup to die. Let's forget about "experiment velocity" as the biggest determining factor in growth, let's look at "velocity of high-impact experiments" as the lever you need to pull.

I like?this article ?detailing Hubspot's growth process, notice the detailed time spend researching the growth ideas before setting them live.

Some of my ideas on how to prioritise the best ideas:

1. Use a framework such as ICE (Impact, Confidence, Ease) or BRASS (Blink, Relevance, Availability, Scale, Score)

2. Before setting an experiment live do a significant amount or internal research and ensure you have data to back up your hypothesis

3. Do external research to find successful case studies and benchmarks

4. Consult channel-experts (their experience can give you quick shortcuts to things that work)

?? Growth Experiment?- Test LinkedIn Spotlight Ads to boost impressions

There is one week left to sign-up to our 6-week Growth Programme, Growth Squared.

See the programme here >>>?https://maven.com/growth-division/growth-marketing-strategy-for-startups ?

Catch you next month!

Tristan