Building With Buyers: Startup Marketing and Growth Fueled By Customers

Happy New Year to all my fantastic listeners!!  I hope everyone enjoyed some time off with family and friends while staying safe and healthy. Cheers to 2022! I spoke with Zineb Layachi on the topic of ATTENTION. How little time we focus on the attention part of our marketing efforts. People have to NOTICE the content, ad, video, email, etc. that you're sharing with them. How do we get the right people to notice? Zineb works heavily with startups. She's the founder and chief marketer of Raise The Runway and she's co-host of PitchSLAP (private pitch mentoring for startups to nail their pitch). Here's what we covered: Let's take a step back...how do people actually notice something; What's the real challenge for startups (HINT: not enough of the being different in all the RIGHT ways); What are the best ways to get attention with your marketing (HINT: start with understanding your customer, know what thought leadership matters to them, take a stance, fire people up, create content that resonates, and be consistent). You can find Zineb on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/zineblayachi 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. Anna's monthly newsletter: subscribe by going here. Thanks for listening!

I knew I had to get them on as soon as I stumbled onto their website (check it out if you haven't heard of them yet). Aleksandr Volodarsky is CEO and Founder (and now Chief Twitter Officer, almost 12k followers) of Lemon.io. Prior to Lemon, Aleks held sales roles at various companies. Lemon.io was founded in 2015, has 39 people, and is based out of Ukraine. They've raised an angel round ($60k). Lemon.io connects early-stage startups with vetted offshore engineers. In 48 hours or less, they can help find the (remote) developer of your dreams. And I can see how this offering is only getting more popular now as more people are looking for devs and more devs are looking for good companies to work for. Here's what we cover in this episode: The website is killer, it still makes me chuckle. I’m a huge fan. Who made it? What does it take to create something so different that it stands out from everything else? What kind of mindset do you need to have; How do you ensure that this voice carries through other parts of the company e.g. sales, customer experience, marketing; How did you get your first customers? What has been your approach to building the brand and community; What channels are working the best for you right now (HINT: Twitter and influencers); What are your biggest challenges (HINT: finding that balance between supply and demand); You grew Lemon from $2.7M to $7M in 2021 - awesome - we talk about building in public and why/how you do it; What Aleks asked 500 people on Twitter and used that as insights for growth. You can reach Aleksandr on Twitter: https://twitter.com/volodarik Find out more about Lemon.io: https://lemon.io/ Follow Aleksandr’s growing the company in public - subscribe by going here: https://volodarik.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!

Evan Davies is Head of Marketing, Partnerships, and Solutions at Coda (almost 5 years!). Prior to Coda, Evan was at Box, and prior to that he was a product manager at Accenture. Coda was founded in 2014, has nearly 200 people, and is based out of SF. They've raised Series D ($240M total). The problem: for years, our teams have been split across documents, spreadsheets, and apps. Time to bring us back together!  The solution: Coda is a new doc that brings words, data and teams together. It's making a doc as powerful as an app. Here's what we hit on: “Document collaboration platform” vs. “project management tool” - how are you thinking about the market category you play in; Evan shared a couple of big marketing/content trends that startup founders and marketing leaders need to be aware of (HINT: the maker generation is one topic we explored, and we also discussed the resurgence of OOH ad buys); I asked Evan to tell me more about the Gallery content on the website, what's the goal; We talked about how Arianna Huffington used Coda to build the Power Of Reset doc; Marketing and creator growth: what’s working well for Coda right now? What channels? (HINT: user generated content, SEO/SEM, paid); Marketing challenges? (HINT: how to build strategy full funnel, how to build a good product led motion) Evan has been through multiple funding rounds. How has the team and focus areas shifted over the past 5 years; What worked the best for Coda early-stage; What's Evan's favorite startup stage and why; People that have worked for Evan say he's a super strong leader, so I asked Evan what's his leadership formula and he said 3 things: 1) knowing enough to be dangerous 2) create autonomy while driving alignment 3) build empathy on teams with "yes and" approach. You can reach Evan on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/evanpdavies/ Find out more about Coda: www.coda.io 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 have so much respect for Camille Trent, make sure you follow her on LinkedIn to get a taste of her content. Camille Trent is Head of Content at Dooly. She’s also an advisor for Swpely. Prior to Dooly, Camille was Managing Editor at MarketerHire and prior to that she was founder and lead copywriter of her own company, Camille Trent Consulting. Dooly was founded in 2016, has 87 people, is based out of Vancouver, and has raised Series B ($102.3M total). So here's the problem that Dooly solves for: only one third (!) of sellers are actually hitting quota. Imagine you had the best instincts from every person across the revenue team (including marketing) to help you close deals so you could hit your number. That's what Dooly helps with. Also they're not really into that "hustle and grind" sales culture, so that's kinda cool too.  Here's what we hit on in the episode: What does marketing mean to you? What about content; Big marketing/content trends that startups need to start/keep exploring (HINT: community, conversations, and don't forget to just ask your target buyer questions that matter e.g. what they like to read, who they follow, podcasts they listen to, etc.); What content does Dooly's target audience (salespeople) like; How do you balance the qualitative data vs. quantitative data when you look at content's impact on the business;  Dooly's "Fire Talks" - what happened to them, are they coming back (I added a link to that below if you're interested); Marketing content - what has worked well for Dooly? What content across what channels? (HINT: double down on LinkedIn, memes, teardowns, webinars, analyze existing content to find what's working); How big is your marketing team and how'd you create a content system; Marketing content - what are the challenges, what are you trying to figure out (HINT: scaling, building a repeatable system, finding the right writers and designers); How did you find your top writers? Camille shares her tips; How Camille thinks about good copywriting that "works"; Camille's son Teddy said hello at the end of the show! What a treat! You can reach Camille on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/camillehansentrent/ Find out more about Dooly: https://www.dooly.ai/ Check out Dooly's: Fire Talks 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!

Ah, newsletters. You either love ‘em or you hate ‘em. Either way, they’re important if you’re a marketer (an email subscriber is like getting an invite to someone’s backyard during COVID!) so you gotta know how to do them well. It seems like everyone plus their mother is coming out with newsletters. How do you make yours shine? Ashley and I met on Chris Walker’s weekly Tuesday night Demand Gen Live! Ashley is the Director of Marketing at Simple Focus Software (portfolio of SaaS tools). She gets to work with newsletter creators via the Curated brand. She's got 15+ years of experience in marketing and journalism, and she also manages her newsletter Opt In Weekly. Here's what we hit on: How to handle newsletter subject lines and how to think about them over time (HINT: over time people will open your emails not because of your SL but because they TRUST you); What are some of my top subject lines over the past 2 years and what I think that means; Newsletter content should include consistent buckets so your readers get used to that outline, I share the buckets I use; Content strategy - play into your strengths, humanize yourself, make it feel like a letter; Ask "does this serve my target audience?" when you're thinking to add content; Create a moat - we are the top source for this type of content; Think about your newsletter similarly to a blog, create content categories and track those category metrics to see what is most engaging your readers. You can find Ashley on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashleyguttuso/ Ashley's Opt In Weekly Newsletter: https://optinweekly.com/ Anna's monthly newsletter: subscribe by going here and you'll get to see this episode content in action!  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 Devin Bramhall, CEO of Animalz, join me for this episode to talk about content marketing - the good, the bad, and the ugly. Devin is CEO of Animalz, a content marketing agency based out of NYC. Customers include enterprise companies, startups, and VC firms. Before Animalz, Devin was Director of Content at Help Scout (Series B SaaS startup). She's also the former Executive Director of Boston Content, the largest community group and career development resource for content marketers in Boston. Here's what we hit on: How has the concept of content marketing changed (or not) over time; Devin's journey from VP to CEO of the agency; Companies are trying to lead with their thought leadership, to create new and unique content - but how do you do this successfully? To create really good content, you need to analyze what's happening in your arena and write deeply about it; Do you need to hire a writer with domain expertise? What does "founder brand" mean and how can it work as a strategy; How should startups structure their content marketing for success; Hire a marketing leader first, and outsource your marketing execution (if you hire a team that reports to the founder, they'll suck up a lot of time); About Animalz - who you help and what you help with; Focus on consistency vs. stunts even though it seems less sexy; Produce content with a "limited series" mindset vs. the volume play and see how much better your content will be; How do you stay creative? You can reach Devin on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/devinbramhall Find out more about Animalz: www.animalz.co 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 recently spoke with Nadia Masri, founder and CEO at Perksy (for 6+ years). Prior to that, she was co-founder and CMO at foursixty (a digital marketing platform for e-commerce retailers). She's Forbes 30 Under 30. She's CNBC's Top 100. She's also a TEDx Speaker. And now, she's building the next gen of consumer insights. Perksy was founded in 2015, has 24 people, and is based out of NYC. It's a next-gen market intelligence platform that leverages the power of mobile to drive real-time insights from hyper targeted, hyperlocal audiences of Millennials & Gen-Z. With their mobile-first surveys, your company can drive research with younger audiences at unprecedented scale. Customers include Airbnb, Pepsi, and Ogilvy. Here's what we hit on: There are other players. How do you successfully differentiate your company + solution in your space; Your customers NOW believe you're high-quality (because they became your customers), but how do you actually use that knowledge as part of your marketing efforts for new prospects that "won't believe it until they see it"; What are some big and important marketing/content trends you're seeing today (HINT: trends are not as important as knowing who your customer is and where they spend their time); Tell me more about Perksy's "COVID 19 Pulse" (HINT: internal data that tripled their business during COVID); What marketing channels are working the best for Perksy right now (HINT: the focus is on organic, and we take a very human approach to marketing, so being on podcasts and speaking on stage is a big part of it, content also plays a big part); What are some bad recommendations you've heard floating around that relate to startups and marketing? You can reach Nadia on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nadiagenevievemasri Find out more about Perksy: www.getperksy.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!

Andy Raskin is the master of strategic narrative. Andy helps CEOs align their teams around a strategic narrative — to power success in sales, marketing, fundraising, product and recruiting. Clients include VC-backed companies funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Accel, Google Ventures, First Round Capital, and other top investors. He has also led strategic narrative training at Salesforce, Uber, Square, Yelp, VMware, Intel, General Assembly and more. Here's what we cover: Why Andy decided to invite his mom to co-create LinkedIn video clips; What does "strategic narrative" mean exactly, and how is it different from our traditional approach to "positioning"; What questions you should be asking customers to help craft your strategic narrative (HINT: they're not about your product); What's the difference between "creating a category" and "creating a movement"; Why is your startup’s “origin story” not the same as your “strategic narrative”; So you want to create your strategic narrative - where do you start? What are the most important steps? Not every business is there to "help you play a new game". For more established companies that want to re-invent themselves, what do they need to do? What led Andy to be master of strategic narratives; What are some strategic narrative pitfalls to avoid? You can reach Andy on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/andyraskin Find out more about Andy and his work: www.andyraskin.com  The Bigger Narrative podcast: https://andyraskin.com/podcast Why Great Pitches Come From Customers (referenced during the episode): https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-great-pitches-come-from-customers-andy-raskin 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!

Alright, folks. People that know me know that I'm a super, duper positive person. But sometimes? It's OK to vent a little! So, if you want to come join me (and Sergey) vent on some marketing topics, we'd love to have you. Take a little break, grab a cup of coffee. Sergey works on podcast and video production at Crowdlinker. He's also the host of the Media Camp podcast plus he's building out his Youtube channel (SRE Live). Here's what we're venting about in this short episode: People telling you to get on ALL the social media (pshhhhhhhh); People that are not marketers by trade telling you what to do; CEOs that don’t get marketing (they typically get sales…so what’s the difference?); Just because you like it or understand it, doesn’t mean your target buyer does; Having to work under someone that doesn’t get marketing. You can find Sergey on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergeyrosslive/  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'm excited to bring Workvivo onto the show because...SO many reasons. They're doing some very cool things with their marketing with a very nimble team (5 people!), plus they've got the right marketing mindset, plus it's perfect timing because of all these trends coming together - the great resignation, the great awakening, remote work, workplace disconnect, etc. Their growth is through the roof. Gidi Pridor is CMO at Workvivo. He's also on the advisory board for Zowie (customer service seed funded startup). Prior to Workvivo he was VP of Marketing at TravelPerk and Perfecto Mobile. He's also angel investing in various early stage startups like Lance and Storydoc. Workvivo has raised Series A ($16.6M). Founded in 2017 and currently with 69 employees, Workvivo brings your people together, wherever they are. It’s your intranet, internal comms tool, employee app, all merged into one familiar social experience at the very heart of your digital workplace. With annual growth of over 200% YoY, 1M+ users across more than 90 countries, and customers ranging from Fortune 500 companies to tech startups, Workvivo is on a mission to elevate everyone’s workplace experience. Here's what we discuss: There’s a very real need to connect at work...how is Workvivo perfectly positioned to help with that; How'd you get users across 90 countries; Why are stories so important, and especially for SaaS startups (HINT: telling your story is NOT about your tool, but rather about your belief system, how you think about your ecosystem, how that helps to build the space that you want to excel in); Marketing and content - what's working really well for Workvivo (HINT: we're bullish on thought leadership, we're building our own internal media company); Some good examples of paid social ads; The good ole' MadMen days, the art of marketing, and how it's so unfortunate that SaaS companies are missing the human aspect and power of using emotional connection in their marketing; What are some bad recommendations you're hearing in marketing (HINT: leading with SEO is not a good idea, also don't hire a "growth hacker"); Gidi generously shared a mistake he made while at TravelPerk and what he's learned from it; Who's on Workvivo's marketing team and how does Gidi lead them (HINT: team meetings are usually just 15 minutes because he hired extreme owners). You can reach Gidi on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/gpridor/ Find out more about Workvivo: www.workvivo.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!