Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

Hi and welcome or welcome back! You're going to love this episode. I've known about Justin Welsh since I saw him in a video clip with Chris Walker about 2 years ago, and I've been following his journey ever since. Justin Welsh is the founder of Justin Welsh Media. He's an angel investor in B2B SaaS and an advisor for healthcare SaaS. He has built digital courses for how to get followers and customers from LinkedIn and Twitter. He would know. Justin has almost 200k followers on LI and almost 65k on Twitter AND tons of engagement. In the past, Justin helped to build two $50M+ ARR companies and raise over $300M in venture capital (SVP of Sales at PatientPop, a Series C SaaS where he still serves as strategic advisor, and Director of Strategic Sales at ZocDoc). Here's what we hit on: Writing can be harder and take longer versus (for example) talking on a podcast. How do you have so much content to write every single day? What are those systems you use to produce 10-15 pieces of high-quality written content every single day; Top books and creators Justin follows and recommends; Most people push content out and don’t analyze it...you do have to study it; What are the specific tools you use as part of your system; Justin's mission is to be a "diversified entrepreneur" and he's creating operating systems to do just that. Can you help explain what diversified entrepreneur means? What’s your WHY; Justin built The Content OS digital course, what are your top learnings to share for folks that want to be successful at productizing their knowledge (HINT: Justin has a 5-step process); How to build and execute from $0 to $50M+ ARR at your startup...thinking back to PatientPop and ZocDoc, what were the milestones for the different stages, e.g. hiring, running experiments, marketing + sales collaboration, etc. What matters at each stage; What are your top challenges, what are you trying to figure out; What are 1-2 big sales trends you're seeing today that startups should be aware of (HINT: there's a big missed opportunity to empower your team to create content where your buyers are hanging out online); What are some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2022. You can reach Justin on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/justinwelsh/ On Twitter: @JustinSaaS Find out more about Justin by visiting his website: https://www.justinwelsh.me/ For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

When I say "no fridge needed and 90 second convenience" what comes to mind? Well soon, my friend, you will be seeing Proper Good everywhere. I invited Christopher Jane, co-founder and CEO at Proper Good, to talk about his delicious company and what they're working on with their marketing efforts. Prior, Christopher was co-founder and CEO at Montana Mex (clean label seasonings, sauces and oils carried by Whole Foods, H-E-B, Albertsons and more). Proper Good was founded in 2020, is based out of Austin (TX) and has raised Seed funding ($1.5M). Proper Good is 90-second tasty meals with clean ingredients delivered direct to your door. Check out their keto, vegan & low-calorie options. I tried 'em and they're tasty! Here's what we hit on: Proper Good was on Shark Tank! How'd it go? (HINT: got a lot of interest from just the viewership but also a lot happened AFTER the show aired); How'd you come up with that name, what's the backstory; 2022 Marketing Plan - budget, channels, resources (HINT: reduced spend on Insta and FB, increased spend on sampling and top of funnel); How's TikTok working out for you; What types of content are you leaning into (HINT: simple and focused messaging, customer reviews and testimonials, and emotional messaging); Who's your competition (HINT: competition really "lifts all boats"); We grew 400-500% in 2021 with the same base team, who's on the team; What are your top marketing challenges; What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you’ve come up with (HINT: it involves food donations and creating an enormous flywheel effect); Some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2022; How new product innovation works at Proper Good (HINT: we have a private Slack channel for feedback and our Broccoli Cheddar has been revised 5X over 2 years! You can reach Christopher on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrisofthejane/ Find out more about Proper Good: https://eatpropergood.com/ For more content like this, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify or wherever you like to listen. You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

WOW these episodes are popular...so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. We'll dive into marketing channels, budget, resources and so much more. Rob Singer is CMO at Remitly. Prior, Rob was CMO at Ancestry.com, and at Smule, and at Habit. I've had Rob on before - check out Episode 17! Remitly was founded in 2011, has 1,264 people (WOAH) and is based out of Seattle. And guess what?! They IPO'd September 2021!! Remitly helps people send money across borders. There are millions of immigrants around the world that make the huge sacrifice of leaving their families behind to live and work in another country. Remitly makes international money transfers easy. Here's what we hit on: 2022 Marketing Plan (HINT: being public doesn’t matter, what’s gotten us here will enable us to keep moving forward); For new customer acquisition and revenue growth, we spend to a certain payback; Now we're focusing more on organic growth (creating demand in lower cost channels); Marketing channels we're leaning into (HINT: audio, TV); Marketing content we're leaning into (HINT: music and food); Rob's personal and professional goals. You can reach Rob on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/rob-singer-313131/ Find out more about Remitly: www.remitly.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

We talk about how important storytelling and emotional connection is for really great marketing. But can banking be emotional?  You betcha.  I brought on a creative leader to talk about how and why it's important to nail this. Matthieu Silberstein is VP of Creative Marketing at Lili. Matt works on commercials, PR, influencers, podcasts, social, content, media partnerships, OOH, and creative writing including voice and storytelling. Matt also owns his own business, creating video content for companies like FOX STUDIOS, HEARST DIGITAL, CONDE NAST, FUSE, THE NEW YORK POST, POPSUGAR, and more. Prior to Lili, Matt served as video content director for Spoon U, a media-tech startup (acquired by Scripps Networks for $11M, and then Scripps was acquired by Discovery for $14.6B) and video director and marketing producer for Popsugar. Lili was founded in 2018, is based out of NYC, and has 84 people. They've raised Series B ($80M total). Lili is the all-in-one banking app designed for freelancers. Your checking/savings account, taxes, invoices, expense reports – all in one app. Here's what we hit on: You joined Lili in 2019 as a contractor, what were you focused on then as Head of Content; What is the stigma around the term "freelancer" (HINT: it's not a job title, it's a status); 2022 Marketing Goals (HINT: I'm inspired by seeing real people, not by looking at my phone); What content marketing are you leaning into this year (HINT: trying to make taxes sexy); What marketing channels are you prioritizing (HINT: we created a cool TV ad, link in the show notes below); What is Lili’s unique Voice and how do you use Storytelling as part of your creative efforts (HINT: Lili’s voice is my voice because it’s so organic to me); What are your top creative challenges; What does “creative'' mean to you and which brands are most creative; Some goals Matt wants to accomplish in 2022 (HINT: go back out into the world and rekindle inspiration, find that fire). You can reach Matt on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/matthieusilberstein/ See Matt's creative work: www.matthieusilberstein.com Find out more about Lili: https://lili.co/ Here's the "I Need This" commercial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nGuDgvx0EWo For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

Welcome back!  As you may have heard, I'm intrigued by category design. I've had both Christopher Lochhead and Andy Raskin on the show to chat more on the topic, and those are actually some of the more popular episodes on the podcast.  Josh Lowman helps startups (like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo, and Clari) create and own their category. I wanted to bring Josh onto the show and dig into exactly HOW he helps startups design categories and learn about some specific examples. Josh is Founder and CCO at Gold Front, a category design studio based in San Francisco and LA. He's also the host of the Category First podcast. Here's what we hit on: What does category creation mean to you (HINT: it's a whole company strategy); Exactly how you’ve helped different brands like Robinhood, Newsela, Uber, Bizzabo and Clari with category design. Where do you start? What does that process look like (HINT: everyone has a different context, but in common is to disrupt the old way of doing things); Why the CEO collaboration is key; What are the pitfalls or watch-outs if you’re a startup planning to create and own a category; How does timing play into successful category creation? What needs to click out there in the world for this to work; Can everyone be a category creator (HINT: we're just keeping people honest. As a startup you're not telling your investors that you have something incrementally better); How did you bring category creation into Gold Front’s business strategy; What are some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2022. You can reach Josh on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshlowman/ Find out more about Gold Front: https://www.goldfront.com/ Check out the Category First podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/category-first/id1601824968 For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

I'm SO excited to bring you this episode on the MSM podcast. Many marketers are struggling to prove the ROI/value from their audio/video content but deep down we KNOW it's the good stuff. It's why we became marketers in the first place! The gems dropped throughout this episode are so valuable. Holly Pels is VP of Marketing at Casted. Prior, Holly was Director of Marketing at Emarsys (Series B SaaS acquired by SAP). Casted was founded in 2019, already has 58 people, and they've raised Series A ($9.5M). Based out of Indianapolis (IN). Casted is the first Amplified Marketing Platform and the only audio and video podcast solution designed for enterprise marketers. With Casted, marketers can unlock the power of audio and video by getting access to use your most valuable content across every channel, AND prove the ROI of your audio and video content. Customers include PayPal, OpenView, Salesforce, Hubspot, Auth0, ZoomInfo, Drift, and more. Here's what we hit on: What in the world is amplified marketing; Audio and video and being a media powerhouse - that’s table stakes for startup marketing these days. We know it’s important, but it can be 1) hard to do especially as you get bigger and 2) hard to prove the ROI of content like podcasts (downloads vs. how’s it actually impacting sales??) so that you can build in more budget and resources for it. What’s your recommendation for how to get this going and prove ROI; Why content marketers are undervalued and overworked and what can we do instead; Content is created for different purposes (e.g. get people engaged, excited, educated) and not necessarily linear to the sale. Still, you can prove the impact; Who's on Casted's marketing team; 2022 Marketing Plan - budget, channels, content; How are we building predictable pipeline; What are your top marketing challenges (HINT: educating people on the new category “Amplified Marketing” takes time and effort); You went from Director of Marketing to VP, what were those most important things you did that led to a promotion (HINT: making use of what was created before, not necessarily focused on net new); What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team has come up with (HINT: our new Marketing Therapy show); Holly's personal/professional goals for 2022. You can reach Holly on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollypels/ Find out more about Casted: www.casted.us For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

WOW these episodes are popular...which tells me that folks are lovin' the series...so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. We'll dive into marketing channels, budget, resources and so much more. Alvaro De La Rocha is CMO at Bespoke Post. Previously he held roles at Ogilvy and Microsoft on the product/marketing side. We also went to business school together. I've had Alvaro on before - check out Episode 30! Bespoke Post was founded in 2011, has 80 people now, and is based out of NYC. They've raised Series B! ($48.9M total) Bespoke Post is goods and guidance, delivered monthly. Upgrade your day-to-day life through themed boxes full of gear – shaving sets, shoe shine kits, home bar essentials - for men. Here's what we hit on: 2022 Marketing Plan - how are you organizing your budget (HINT: it's been a challenging year from paid ads perspective, so getting more creative); How and why we've changed our attribution model (HINT: our new model includes relevant inputs like "how did you hear about us" survey); What did we put in our TV ad (HINT: it's a kind of testimonial spot which performs really well) What marketing channels are you leaning into (HINT: includes TV and radio); What content are you leaning into (HINT: we're reinforcing the lifestyle to build the brand); Some goals that Alvaro wants to accomplish this year, personal and professional. You can reach Alvaro on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/alvaro-de-la-rocha-2549b3/ Find out more about Bespoke Post: www.bespokepost.com For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit my website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

Hello and welcome back! On this episode of MSM not only do we talk startup marketing, but Dean also throws in some great life advice. We talk money. We talk kids. We chat about how parents traditionally handle money with their kids and why it's time to revamp that approach. Dean Brauer is co-founder and president at GoHenry (US). Prior, Dean held senior roles at leading advertising and digital agencies for PlayStation, Unilever and O2 (a large European telco). GoHenry was founded in 2012, is based out of London and New York, and has 200+ people. Funding: $66.2M total. GoHenry is the kids’ debit card and financial learning app that helps you nurture money confidence in your kids. Meant for kids ages 6-18 years old. Here's what we hit on: Chase has a banking service for kids (I just got a mailer recently and my friend mentioned she’s using Chase with her kids). How do you think about GoHenry (startup) vs. the big banks offering something similar? How do you step up as the challenger brand? (HINT: the biggest competition is cash, not banks); 2022 marketing planning - what marketing channels are you leaning into this year? Where have you seen the most success (HINT: organic growth is always happening and if you can deliver delight then people will tell other people); What content (marketing) are you leaning into (HINT: our content efforts drive storytelling and inspires people); How do you think about ROI from content marketing (HINT: give yourself 6 months of discovery with resources, figuring out KPIs, and to see how your hypotheses turn out); How are you planning to build out resources this year; How do you successfully change the status quo (HINT: build on the frictions); What are your top marketing challenges; What have you learned about the UK vs. US consumer and how does that help inform your marketing efforts; What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team has come up with (HINT: the Money Missions concept was a really creative approach to tackling financial literacy, we had product + marketing working very closely together); What are some goals you want to accomplish (personal, professional) in 2022. You can reach Dean on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-brauer-a3a2126/ Find out more about GoHenry: www.gohenry.com This episode is exclusively sponsored by Manifest Commerce, helping merchants with earth friendly e-commerce fulfillment. You can check them out here: www.manifestcommerce.io For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

I had the pleasure of welcoming Nairi Hourdajian (VP of Communications, Content and Community Marketing at Figma) to the show. Nairi is also the founding member of All Raise (programs to accelerate the success of female founders and funders to build a more prosperous, equitable future). She has held marketing leadership roles at Canaan (early stage VC firm) and Uber. Figma was founded in 2012, has 550 people, and is based out of San Francisco, CA. They've raised Series E funding ($332.9M total). Figma is a design platform for teams who build products together. Customers include Slack, Twitter, DropBox, Square, AirBnB, Netflix, Zoom, Uber, and more. Here's what we hit on: Figma’s Marketing team, what are the different groups, who and how many people on your team; How does your team integrate campaigns together across other teams within Marketing? Internal communications - how do you make sure the whole company knows and is excited about what you’re working on? What processes are in place (HINT: preview those BIG initiatives internally first, this gets people excited and talking which is more leverage for your company); Your 2022 Marketing Plan. How are you thinking about and splitting your budget for content and community; To build your content/community, what marketing channels are you leaning into; What specific content are you leaning into; What have you learned from your expert designers so far; You're an expert in PR. Tell me about your experience with PR, what has changed, what has stayed the same? What are startups doing wrong with their PR efforts (HINT: if you’re the PR head at your startup, tell it straight to your founder "here’s what’s possible, here’s what’s not"); What are your thoughts on building a brand successfully for early stage vs. for later stage startups? What tends to happen and what should be done instead (HINT: your website is a channel and it's worth taking a beat to really think about your positioning, where you fit in the competitive landscape, what kind of response from customers are you looking for, that foundational brand work, what is the core narrative, what is the brand promise); What are your top marketing challenges? (HINT: make sure there's philosophical alignment at your company around ROI from brand marketing efforts); What are the last 1-2 really good, creative marketing ideas you/your team has come up with. You can reach Nairi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nairi-tashjian-hourdajian-37601411/ Find out more about Figma: https://www.figma.com/ Check out the Figma store: https://store.figma.com/ This episode is exclusively sponsored by Manifest Commerce, helping merchants with earth friendly e-commerce fulfillment. You can check them out here: www.manifestcommerce.io For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

These episodes are pretty popular, which tells me that folks are lovin' the series, so let's keep this going! Sprinkling in another episode for the "Marketing Planning Series" where I invite back top startup founders and marketing leaders to talk about their marketing plans going into 2022. I get questions from startups about this a lot (especially as the marketing landscape has changed so much throughout the pandemic). We'll dive into marketing channels, budget, resources and so much more. Kristi Annes is VP Marketing Strategy at IMO (Intelligent Medical Objects). Prior to that she was a marketing leader at IBM Watson. I’ve had IMO on before - Michael Klozotsky, CMO at IMO, came on for Episode 4 back in November 2020! We talked about how IMO’s marketing plan shifted after the pandemic hit (instead of scrambling to get their in-person even over to virtual, IMO ran a really creative marketing campaign around how it’s so great we don’t have to travel called “No Travel Required.” We talk about that and so much more. IMO is based out of Chicago, has ~270 employees, and received significant investment from Warburg Pincus (IMO's PE firm) and leading U.S. health systems in 2016. IMO has developed the most widely-accepted medical terminology solution for the management of medical vocabularies and software applications at healthcare organizations worldwide. IMO's solution is used by more than 3,500 hospitals and 450,000 physicians daily. Here's what we cover: IMO's 2022 Marketing Plan - what's your budget split; What marketing channels are you leaning into (HINT: we talk about the importance of in-person events and some other channels they're testing); What content are you leaning into; Who's on the marketing team to help put the plan into action; Anything else that's unique about your plan; Some goals that Kristi wants to accomplish this year, both personal and professional. You can reach Kristi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristiannes/ Find out more about IMO: https://www.imohealth.com/ This episode is exclusively sponsored by Manifest Commerce, helping merchants with earth friendly e-commerce fulfillment. You can check them out here: www.manifestcommerce.io For more content, subscribe to Modern Startup Marketing on Apple or Spotify (or wherever you like to listen). You can find Anna on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/annafurmanov or visit this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!