Building With Buyers

Katie Perry (no, not the singer) is VP of Marketing at Public.com. I'm so pumped about this episode because Public has plowed through and grown SO much since launching in 2019. They've raised $310 million to date at a $1.2 billion valuation. 100 employees and based out of New York. No wonder they're so fast. Prior to Public, Katie held leadership roles at media and creative agencies including 360i and Comscore, and was Head of Brand Marketing at Suzy (a Series C tech startup). Public is an investing app on a mission to make the public markets work for all people. They're taking a different approach by focusing on features built directly for retail investors, like Town Halls with public company leaders, a community of 1 million members to discuss trades and trends, and a live audio feature called Public Live. They reached 1 million members in Feb 2021. Here's what we hit on: What are some of the big marketing/content trends you're seeing today that every startup needs to be on top of (HINT: start with why you exist and who you're for, then build customers and turn them into loyal fans); You joined Public in 2019 - what did your marketing efforts look like early stage (HINT: packing SWAG boxes while watching TV); What worked early stage that surprised you (HINT: partnering with micro-creators); We covered some really cool marketing campaigns including creative ads and limited-edition Airbnb IPOats cereal boxes...that CEO Brian Chesky tweeted about; Marketing and growth: what’s been working well for you; Who’s on the marketing team now; Marketing and growth: what are the challenges, what are you trying to figure out (HINT: we talked about strategies for creating more focus); There are others in the space. How do you differentiate? How has a failure / mistake set you up for later success (HINT: the story involves posting on the company's Twitter account instead of personal account). You can reach Katie on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/katherineperry Find out more about Public: https://public.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!

Allan Dib is Managing Dictator at Successwise.  Also: he's the bestselling author of The 1-Page Marketing Plan (Amazon’s #1 global marketing book). I have basically memorized how this 1-page plan looks because I look at it so much. I have used it for my own business and for every single client I work with. Because it’s simple AND powerful. Link to this book is at the end of the show notes. he's helped over 250,000 businesses around the world clarify their marketing strategy he's built several multi-million dollar businesses in the IT, telecommunications, and marketing fields Here's what we hit on: What does marketing mean to you; How much planning should you be doing with your marketing? (HINT: loose goals and tight systems); We dug deeper into the 1-Page Marketing Plan (e.g. why is it built this way, how are people using it really well); Top marketing trends every entrepreneur needs to be on top of; What marketing is working really well for you at Successwise; Some of the worst marketing recommendations; Allan talked about mistakes he made and how that led to his later success (HINT: marketing is NOT an event but rather a process); Cold outreach vs. Inbound (HINT: cold outreach is "hunting" and inbound is "farming"). You can reach Allan on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/allandib/ Find out more about Successwise: https://successwise.com/ Check out the 1-Page Marketing Plan book: https://www.amazon.com/1-Page-Marketing-Plan-Customers-Money-ebook/dp/B01B35M3SM   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!

Prepare for something different, fun and fast! This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Sergey Ross on the fastest ways to understand how marketing works. Because when your marketing is working, you'll know it. And this goes beyond attribution. Sergey is the host of the Media Camp podcast and now he's building out his Youtube channel (SRE. live) Sergey works on podcast and video production at Crowdlinker. Here's what we hit on: Don't forget to ask your customers "where did you find me?" WOM is still the biggest driver; Seeking out qualitative signals from the right people; We run through examples of shopping at Costco and some of the basic psychological principles at play that get you to buy. You can find Sergey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergeyrosslive/  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!

Eric and I go way back. Eric Rasmussen is Head of Consumer Insights at 23andMe. Prior to that, Eric led research at Groupon, Shutterfly, eBay, and Yahoo! We both worked at Groupon a few years ago. We used to meet 1:1 to talk insights - I would share what we were working on with the growth marketing team, and Eric would share his team's research. 23andMe was founded in 2006, has 700+ employees and is based out of CA. They raised Series F ($868.6M total) and recently went public. 23andMe is the leading consumer genetics and research company. The mission of the company is to help people access, understand, and benefit from the human genome. Here's what we hit on: Marketing vs. insights - what’s the difference? How does insights fuel marketing? What you're working on insights-related at 23andMe and how that has changed since your earlier days; How does the marketing team use the insights your team gathers? How do you make this handoff successful? How early stage startups should approach insights and research and customer-centricity; Where do companies get insights wrong, and what's a better way (HINT: they want to cut right to the chase and make it about the product); We talked about where Eric's insights/research impacted the various companies he's been at on a large scale; How has a failure set you up for later success? (HINT: half the job is to answer Qs and the other half the job is to give it to people so they can go do something with it) You can reach Eric on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ericrasmussen Find out more about 23andMe: www.23andme.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 this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!

I'm intrigued by the blend of sales and marketing in business, and that's one of the reasons I had Scott on the show. He's also just an all-around great person. Scott Leese is sales consultant and strategic advisor to startups around the world. He's got deep experience building and scaling sales orgs at SaaS companies. Scott founded Scott Leese Consulting in 2016 with a focus on companies scaling from $0 - $25m ARR. He also wrote a book - Addicted to the Process (2017) - that’s rated 4.7/5 stars on Amazon. Oh, and he's co-founder of Thursday Night Sales (with Amy Volas, I had her on the show as well). Here's what we hit on: Where you’ve scaled startups, what does marketing look like? (HINT: brand and community) What does the partnership with sales look like? What does sales mean to you? What does marketing mean to you? Why can’t marketing take customers through the entire buyer journey, especially now that we’ve gone remote and more digital? How’d you grow your LinkedIn followers? (Scott has 70k+ now) (HINT: it took years); How do you monetize your audience? What are the big problems you're seeing that your customers have, on repeat? What's your advice? (HINT: you don't need big brands on your website for social proof); What kind of sales leader (or team) do you need for Seed/Series A (earlier stage) vs. Series B+? (HINT: don't hire the VP of Spreadsheets); What’s your methodology for scaling startups from $0-25M? Walk me through your process; How has an apparent failure set you up for later success? You can reach Scott on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/scottleese/ Find out more about Scott Leese Consulting: scottleeseconsulting.com/ Check out TNS: www.thursdaynightsales.com/ Get the book Addicted to the Process: www.amazon.com/Addicted-Process-Transactional-Confidence-Consistency-ebook/dp/B071SB4FZN 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!

This is one of those episodes where I definitely clicked with the guest. I think the feeling is mutual because if you listen to the very end, Kate says "love you." Kate Bradley Chernis is Founder & CEO of Lately. As a former marketing agency owner, Kate created the idea for Lately out of spreadsheets for then-client Walmart, and got them a 130% ROI, year-over-year for three years. Now at Lately, they're getting 98% sales conversion using organic marketing. Lately was founded in 2014, has ~17 people, and is based out of New York. They've raised seed funding ($3.23M). Lately uses AI (e.g. what does my audience want to hear?) to turn blogs, videos, podcasts and more into dozens of social media posts. Customers include SAP, VaynerMedia, DHL, and PWC. Gary Vee is an advisor. Here's what we hit on: Prior to Lately and the marketing agency, Kate served 20 million listeners as Music Director and on-air host at Sirius/XM. I ask what she loved and hated about that experience; What were your marketing efforts early stage at Lately (HINT: the best product doesn't win); Who's on the marketing team; We talk about AI and that humans are good at the pull, robots are good at the push; Recently hit $1M ARR - how? What matters most? What marketing channels are working really well; Creating marketing content with an "underdog" tilt; What are your biggest marketing challenges right now (HINT: stress of COVID is part of it). You can reach Kate on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/katebradley/ Find out more about Lately: www.lately.ai/ Check out Gary V’s Twitter channel to see Lately in action: @GaryVeeTV View a 60 second sneak peek here: https://youtu.be/RlbRiAwwBiQ 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!

Prepare for something different, fun and fast! This is a BONUS 10-min. episode with Sergey Ross on what you need to know and do when you're hired to head up marketing at an early stage startup. I met Sergey on LinkedIn! Sergey is the host of the Media Camp podcast and now he's building out his Youtube channel (SRE. live) Sergey works on podcast and video production at Crowdlinker. He's been makin' podcast video clips for me for months...he's my go-to for video. Here's what we hit on: Do not assume anything; What questions does the head of marketing need to ask; Who else needs to be on the team and why; Building out a marketing foundation is key (yes, I feel like a broken record but I don't care); Create "beautiful rooms" for where you live online (using your marketing foundation info); Then tell people about your "beautiful house"; What goals and metrics are you responsible for? Agree with your boss and make sure you align on timeline; Ask some people in your target audience if the messaging on your website resonates. You can find Sergey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergeyrosslive/  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 started recording the episode with Christopher Lochhead, I immediately felt like I was in the (virtual) room with a legend. Christopher is a retired entrepreneur and 3X Silicon Valley public company CMO. He makes content (podcasts, books, newsletters, links to all those at the end of the show notes) for entrepreneurs and marketers with a different mind. I found out about Christopher from LinkedIn, left a comment on a post, and he invited me to read the Category Pirates newsletter. This is when I began diving more deeply into category design. I'm currently reading his book Play Bigger. Here's what we hit on: Explain category design like you're speaking to a 7-year-old; Most companies compete for existing demand vs. create new demand and this is a trap; Why most marketers waste their time in their career; Companies that are great examples of category design leaders and what are they doing right; What makes a legendary entrepreneur? (HINT: they force choice between past vs. future); Companies that lead with category design are valued at 5x more; Companies that lead with category design get 76% of market share (Source: HBR); What are the most important steps to build category design and create a legendary company; What are some bad recommendations about category design (HINT: people don't like change); Why you need problem/category fit vs. product/market fit; Why this is such an amazing time to be an entrepreneur. You can reach Christopher on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/christopherlochhead Find out more about Category Pirates: www.categorypirates.com Also check out these podcasts: Follow Your Different and Lochhead on Marketing And these books: Play Bigger (on category design) and Niche Down (become legendary by being different) 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!

You can and should do voice of the customer research at your startup, ongoing.   Ongoing, because things change pretty quickly in the world, and you want to have a good pulse on what's happening in the world of your target audience.   In this episode I spoke with Nicholas Scalice, host of the top-rated Growth Marketing Toolbox podcast, on the topic.  Nicholas and I talked about the process to use to better understand your target audience including:  What is voice of the customer research; How to collect feedback (I created a resource for you that's linked below); What questions matter; How the process works for B2B and B2C; Tools for conducting better customer interviews; Where companies go wrong. Here's a link to the playbook I wrote for you to use, including the questions google doc: https://furmanovmarketing.com/playbooks/use-these-6-steps-to-build-personas-like-a-boss Here's a link to where you can find more info: https://growthmarketingtoolbox.com/anna-furmanov-customer-research/ 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!

Ramli John is the Managing Director at ProductLed (community for PLG professionals) and host of Growth Marketing Today (top 5% podcast). ProductLed has a Slack community of 6,500+ product-led growth enthusiasts and world-class PLG practitioners. If you're trying to get both a high-level understanding plus dig deeper into PLG, this is the episode for you to listen to. Some more fun facts about Ramli: - he's the author of Product-Led Growth and Product-Led Onboarding - he's got an array of skills including marketing, design, and software development - he's in Canada Here's what we hit on: What is product-led growth (PLG) and how does it fit into the context of marketing/sales? How do each of these teams work together; Why is PLG so important for SaaS companies? What’s been happening in the market? (e.g. selling to the modern buyer);  What are the benefits of PLG; What’s the right price point for PLG; How Ramli got into PLG and marketing and growth (from software development); PLG is not for every SaaS startup. Which startups NEED to embrace PLG if they want to grow; When is the right time to build in PLG into your SaaS startup; What are the top 3 things companies get wrong with PLG? (1. They think PLG is the Product team’s job and 2. They offer FREEMIUM and think they’re product-led, when users don’t even experience the value of the product) How does Ramli help SaaS companies analyze their whole customer's journey and funnel to identify growth opportunities to 2-3X their MRR; You can reach Ramli on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/ramlijohn Find out more about ProductLed: https://productled.com/ OpenView Partners was mentioned on the show: www.openviewpartners.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 this website: www.furmanovmarketing.com Thanks for listening!