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Here's what most people won't tell you about the reality of marketing channels.
You should:
- Nail down ONE repeatable marketing channel
- Double down
- Keep doubling down
- Slowly layer on one more channel
- Repeat steps 2 - 4
Let's look at a few examples of this.
Snappa
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This is a graph of organic search traffic over time for a company called Snappa.
In 2016 they made the strategic decision to double down on content and SEO, and as it's probably evident by the image, it's really paid off for them.
Cofounder and CEO Christopher Gimmer said that they focused all their efforts on just a few key pieces of content rather than publishing a bunch of blog posts and hoping for the best.
It's much better to have 1 piece of content that ranks at the top of Google than it is to have a whole bunch of blog posts that bring in no traffic whatsoever.
Not only did they focus on just a few pieces of pillar content, they were also very picky about what kind of content they produced. There was a really specific criteria:
- It had to be "bottom of funnel", i.e. closely related to the product
- Relatively high search volume
- Low competition
- Easy to create much higher quality content than what's already ranking
After that, their domain authority grew and they began to create more broadly appealing content.
4 years later, it's the main growth lever for the business.
MasterClass
MasterClass is a masterclass in advertising.
Each of their advertisements is entertaining in its own right. They leverage the recognition and fame of celebrities. Ads are produced just as well as the actual classes themselves. In fact, the ads are essentially mini-classes in and of themselves.
This is important for two reasons.
First is that it actually lowers paid acquisition costs because the Facebook Ads algorithm rewards engaging advertisements with lower CPMs and lots of distribution. Facebook does this because engaging advertisements are just like engaging posts: they keep people on Facebook.
Secondly, organic marketing is usually cheaper than paid marketing. MasterClass obviously used these videos for paid advertising, but they are so good that they also generated a lot of views on their own.
The Neil deGrasse Tyson advertisement alone has almost 23 million views.
Now that is how you do advertising.
ConvertKit
In January of 2016, two friends on an annual ski trip had an unexpected conversation.
You might recognize their names: Darrell Vesterfelt and Nathan Barry.
At the time, Darrell was helping other bloggers monetize their digital platforms. And Nathan was the founder of ConvertKit, an email marketing platform built specifically for professional bloggers.
"Nathan and I had this epic 4 or 5-mile walk outside of Breckenridge, brainstorming what it might look like to work together. At the end of the walk, we just kept circling the block, talking about our ideas" Darrell recalled.
ConvertKit was three years old and was generating around $80k in MRR. It had grown pretty much organically — promoted by word of mouth, especially by influential bloggers.
No one at ConvertKit had solely focused on growth, which is what, on that cold walk in January, the two friends decided Darrell would do.
Darrell's goal after taking the job?
Finding one thing he could focus on to grow ConvertKit's user base and monthly revenue.
That one thing — as it turned out — was webinars presented in partnership with ConvertKit affiliates.
Following this strategy, ConvertKit grew MRR from $98k to $625k in just 12 months by placing the majority of his focus on webinars with influential affiliates.
You don't need 9 marketing channels. You can get pretty dang far with just one.
—Corey
p.s. ready to take your marketing skills to the next level? Invest in a Swipe Files membership to get 4 courses on SaaS Marketing.
Swipe Files does not have sponsors. We have partners.
We partner with trusted top-tier service providers. In fact, I reached out to them — each one has been carefully selected and vetted so I have 100% confidence in recommending them to you. Doing business with them supports this newsletter. 😊
See how these services can help you grow and mention "Swipe Files" or "Corey" for special treatment:
- Conversion Factory — My product marketing agency on a subscription to help you turn traffic into revenue.
- ReactSquad — The only developer matchmaking service for SaaS startups focused on vetted engineers who focus on React & Node.js.
- xFusion — Get trained, reliable, and affordable customer support reps ready to go for your business.
- Sales.co — Cold email from idea generation to A/B testing, all you have to do is show up for the sales call.
- Videodeck — Done-for-you video production with an expert team at an affordable price.
- Dofollow — My go-to service for sourcing high-quality backlinks in ethical ways to help you rank higher in Google.
- Embarque — Level up your content and SEO at an affordable price, from keyword research to content production to promotion.
- MarketerHire — Get matched with a top-tier freelance marketer within 48 hours.
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