I’m passionate about growth and working with startups.
My journey working with funded and bootstrapped startups through to living off my portfolio of websites over the last 10 years, has been an amazing learning experience. I am challenged on a daily basis and, it’s allowed me to work with really smart people (ideal for me as an INTJ).
I’m particularly fascinated by customer acquisition which is where I like to focus but, I also really enjoy working with product people.
I believe the key to growth is your mindset
I often meet people who believe growth is all about finding the latest hack, I disagree.
Working with startups, having the right mindset means focusing on your customer; developing the product inline with their needs/ desires then, utilising the channels they are engaged in to get users & sales.
While mastering a hack or Facebook Ads feels empowering and you no doubt will have a valuable skill, it’s also limiting. This is because the opportunity to drive growth is a moving target. One year organic growth on Twitter works, the following year Twitter is saturated by bots. The only way to constantly be effective is to master the fundamentals and, to have the ability to apply the fundamentals to the ever-growing list of channels. But I would say that because that’s what I’ve done…
How I work
I have spent my years in marketing both off and online, trying to learn as much as possible to be adaptable to my clients’ and the market’s needs.
My approach
While the most common questions I get are about what “hacks”, tools and channels I use are, I think it’s more important to know about my thought process that drives my approach.
When working on a new challenge or project, at a high level I focus on executing a simple process…
Process
- Identify the most important challenge
- Research Customer & Market
- Brainstorm & Research Solutions
- Test
- Analyse Results
- Repeat
Mindset
I recognise the importance of a plan and how important it is to know what you are trying to achieve but I maintain a bias towards action:
- Keep things simple
- Done, is better than perfect
- There is always room for improvement
- Constantly seeking new information/ ideas
- Impact-driven
- Regular reviews
What I work with
Framework
I like to simplify things as much as possible so, I normally go with the legendary AARRR framework developed by Dave McClure.
The framework allows you to get a high-level view of the business by looking at; Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral & Revenue. I think it’s great because it forces you to address both Promotion and Product, which I believe is essential.
Having these Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) allows you to understand what is working and, what preventing the growth of your business. This level of clarity is often game-changing for Startups and small businesses. (I will be talking about this in detail on my blog.)
Toolkit
There are millions of tools out there, some are great but many can be a huge drain on time. I always try to keep things simple and, only look for something new if it’s not possible to go on. Here are the ones I use on a regular basis…
Notion (probably my favourite tool) Facebook Ads, Google AdWords, UTM Builder, Google Analytics, MailChimp, WordPress, Photoshop, Sketch, Slack, Grammarly, Gmail, Sublime Text 3, Sim Cards (like more than 30), Balsamiq Mockups, Quicktime, Transmit, MAMP, MacBook Pro, Google Docs, Dropbox, WooCommerce, LearnDash, Stripe, Paypal, Shopify, Google Calendar, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google Docs (don’t underestimate the power of a well-designed spreadsheet!) and more…
Channel Experience
Firm understand fundamentals
SEO, Marketplaces, Design & UX, Positioning & Storytelling, Customer Experience, Viral
Executed Successfully
Email Newsletters, Video, B2B Sales, Business Development, Retargeting
Executed multiple times successfully
Branding, Data & Analytics, Behavioural Psychology, A/B Testing, CRO Research & Persona Building, Layouts & Wireframing, Excel Modeling, Copywriting, Funnel Marketing, Search Ads, Interest Targeting Ads (Display & Facebook), Creating & Optimising Landing Pages, Events Management, Networking, Automation, Partnerships & Influencer Marketing, Content Marketing, HTML & CSS, Webinars, B2C Sales, eMail Automation, Social Media Automation, Tracking Campaigns
I will be writing about how I use these Tools and Channels soon. To make sure you don’t miss out on my hacks and detailed breakdowns, click here. Alternatively, you can read a little about how I got here by reading about my journey, or if you’ve read enough and need help with anything you can contact me here.