Initial takeaways after reading through Julian Shapiro's Growth Marketing Guide
I just got finished reading/skimming through Julian Shapiro's Growth Marketing Guide for about the third time. It's pretty dense and I definitely don't claim to have remembered and understood everything, but despite that, I feel like it'd be cool to talk about the things that really stood out to me.
You're lucky if you get just one paid growth channel working
So like, if you are able to profitably acquire customers via Google Ads, but unable to do so via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Reddit, you're doing great!
That's sort of counterintuitive in a way. You're one for six. One success, and five failures. It seems like you aren't doing very good. Why don't the other channels work? Is your product bad? Your landing page? Ad copy? Aren't other companies juggling a bunch of profitable channels?
Most companies never even get one paid growth channel working. Think about it: if you did get a single growth channel working, you'd be pretty damn successful. It means that you're profitably acquiring customers. And if you're using something like Google or Facebook, you're fishing from a very, very large sea. So if you keep hiring fisherman, you'll reliably just keep catching a bunch of fish. There are some caveats to that, but the general idea is true.
Before reading this I wouldn't have thought that there would be such a big difference between the ad channels. I'd think that if you have a good product, ad copy, and landing page, then it wouldn't matter that much which ad network you use. You'd be successful with all of them. After reading the guide, I realize that that just isn't true. And in retrospect, it makes sense. Sort of. On LinkedIn you'll succeed with more B2B type stuff, and on Pinterest you'll succeed with more artsy stuff. I would have thought that you could still target pretty well on all of these platforms, and that the differences wouldn't be that large, but apparently they are.
Google, Facebook and Instagram are basically the only good options for ads
Speaking of large differences between ad networks, it seems that Google, Facebook and Instagram are head and shoulders above the rest. There are a variety of reasons for this.
One is cost per click. For example, LinkedIn is $12-30 CPC, whereas Google, Facebook and Instagram range from $1.25-$2.50 CPC. Huge difference! I would not have thought the difference would be that large before reading this.
Another is how well you can target. Before reading this I sort of just assumed that nowadays all of Silicon Valley is watching your every move and can offer ultra, ultra targeted advertising. And on top of that, that they all have super advanced artificial intelligences that can do an amazing job of predicting who is and isn't likely to click/convert. That stuff is all true to some extent, but much less than I had previously thought.
The reality is that some do a much better job than others. For example, "on reddit, you can only target by people's interests and device types". I would have thought that, as a big Silicon Valley company, Reddit would be tracking a ton stuff about you and using that to offer ultra-targeted ads, but again, apparently that isn't true.
Another is how well the audience tends to convert after they click. On Instagram, they tend to convert pretty well, whereas Snapchat users are the opposite. Julian explains this by saying:
Because users open IG for the purpose of having their attention grabbed by something new. They're open to discovery and distraction.
What a lovely time to shove an ad in someone's face.
(In contrast, on Facebook, users are expecting content from familiar friends. So, ads from companies they've never heard stand out like a sore thumb.)
That sort of makes sense to me, but not really. Isn't everyone going on social media for the purpose of having their attention grabbed by something new?
Forget I said that. Whether or not it makes sense to me is beside the point. The reality is that they do differ a lot in how well they convert.
Another thing is the size of the user base that each ad platform has. How many fish are in the sea. Before reading the guide I had this idea in my head that the user bases are all just so big that the differences don't even matter. But the guide makes a solid argument that they do matter. Think about it: you're only targeting a small fraction of the overall audience. So then maybe it does start to matter that Twitter "only" has 325M users whereas Facebook has 2.25B.
Content marketing is a long-term play
I previously saw it as a short-term thing, but Julian talks about it as a long-term thing.
I consider blog posts the long-term capital investment of growth marketing. You'd be careless not to have it your marketing portfolio.
I thought that it'd perhaps get people in the door right now. But I'm realizing more and more that it takes a lot of time to move up in SEO rankings and for your blog to get exposure.
I don't know where it came from, but I have/had this naive idea that good content will magically just get the exposure that it deserves. Whenever I actually articulate it I know it doesn't make sense, but it still swims around the back of my mind as this assumption that I unconsciously make sometimes.
Have a pre-written article for guest blogging
Instead of reaching out and saying, "Hey, can I do a guest blog post for you?", say, "Hey, can I do a guest blog post for you? I have it all written out here." The idea is that a) no one wants to give you a "yes" unless they know the content will be good, and b) bloggers are lazy and would prefer that you do the work for them.
This reminds me of the book Trust Me, I'm Lying, which made some similar points. So it wasn't a totally new idea to me, but it still popped out as a takeaway.
Social media rarely works
Should you actively post on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, etc.?
Broadly speaking, organic social media is typically the lowest-ROI customer acquisition channel. Only do it if you're a great fit for it, otherwise your marketing efforts are better spent on SEO-driven content marketing.
Specifically, unless you’re a lifestyle brand (e.g. fashion, beauty, sports), it'll likely be difficult to build an organic audience on any social network.
I've always suspected that this was true, but it's good to hear it from someone who knows what he's talking about. Nowadays people always talk about how you have to get on social media.
SEO is mostly about quality content, not tricks
Another thing that I've always suspected, but good to hear from someone who knows what he's talking about.
That's all that comes to mind for now. I'm sure more things will pop out as I dive in to this more in the future and apply it to Premium Poker Tools.
