#StartupLife: Scaling Fast With a Micro Team | Growth Festival 2021
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How do you ramp up fast with a conservative budget and small team? How do you balance expectations of fast ROI and attracting, reaching, and selling to the right audience? Joelle Irvine, the Head of Growth and Marketing at Billdr, shares her experiences and learnings from her first year at the home renovation marketplace, where they have grown from one to three cities – and two countries – in six months. Key takeaways: • How to prioritize short vs. long-term goals • How to balance brand awareness and conversion efforts • How to make data-driven decisions and when to experiment Presented at the Growth Festival, hosted by Digital Ethos on October 1, 2021.
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#StartupLife: Scaling Fast With a Micro Team | Growth Festival 2021
- 1. #StartupLife: Scaling Fast With a Micro Team Joelle Irvine Head of Growth & Marketing, Billdr billdr.co | @billdrHQ | @joelleirvine October 1, 2021
- 2. 5 things to know about Joelle 1) Head of Growth & Marketing at Billdr 🚀 2) Previously Director of Marketing & Growth at Bookmark (WPP) 📈 3) Spent 2020 updating different rooms in my home 🤩 4) Excited that it’s October - Love fall fashion! 👢 5) I love pop-culture 🍿 #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 3. Billdr is reinventing the home renovation industry Market Network #growthfestival @joelleirvine Homeowners Permit offices General Contractors Architects Structural Engineers Interior Designers
- 4. Why should you listen to me? I’ve been there and I can prove it. #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 5. 20 Billdr by the numbers #growthfestival @joelleirvine Full-time employees vs. four founders a year ago. 4 months until my first marketing hire.
- 6. 10x Billdr by the numbers #growthfestival @joelleirvine more users/day than in December 2020. 2 new cities across two countries in 2021! LAUNCHED
- 7. 10x Billdr by the numbers #growthfestival @joelleirvine more projects posted/week than in December 2020. +86% average project posted growth MoM
- 8. What we will cover today 1) What’s expected of a marketer working at a Startup 2) Biggest challenges in year one 3) How to prioritize short vs. long term goals 4) How to balance brand awareness vs. acquisition goals 5) When to experiment with new tactics vs. sticking to what works Photo credit: Netflix Girlboss
- 9. What’s expected of you As a marketer in Startupland #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 10. What I realized very quickly working at a Startup What you need to do ● Build brand awareness ● Engage audiences ● Generate leads ● Acquire clients ● Grow at scale Photo credit: Mindy Project
- 11. What I realized very quickly working at a Startup What’s expected of you ● Generate leads ● More leads! ● Even more leads!! ● And do it fast(er)! Photo credit: Glengarry Glen Ross
- 12. Challenges That are amplified by #startuplife #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 13. BUDGET
- 15. TIME
- 16. EXTERNAL FORCES
- 17. What can you control? Budget • Small • How to use it? People • Team size • Support from other teams • Challenges hiring Time • Not enough of it • Need to move fast • Understanding seasonality shifts & trends External forces • Algorithms • Competition • Economic/political • Global pandemics!! #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 18. How to prioritize goals Short- vs. long-term #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 19. #growthfestival @joelleirvine Startup growth trajectory is not linear. #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 20. Marketing goals Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 21. Dive into each goal Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 22. Dive into each goal Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 23. Dive into each goal Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 24. Dive into each goal Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? How do you make money and make customers happy? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 25. Dive into each goal Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? How do you make money and make customers happy? #growthfestival @joelleirvine How do you drive advocacy and growth?
- 26. How do you decide what is a short vs. long term goal? Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? How do you make money and make customers happy? How do you drive advocacy and growth? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 27. What is critical to achieve fast growth? Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? How do you make money and make customers happy? How do you drive advocacy and growth? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 28. What is critical to achieve fast growth? Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? How do you make money and make customers happy? How do you drive advocacy and growth? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 29. What is critical to achieve fast growth? Build awareness Engage audiences Generate leads Acquire clients Scale How will people discover you? How will they know how your product/service can help them? How do you drive interest? How will people interact with your brand? How can people sign-up? Or get started? How do you make money and make customers happy? How do you drive advocacy and growth? #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 30. How do we prioritize what to focus on with limited resources? TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media & Partnerships # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM Social Media Email # Subscriptions Open rate/CTR Engagement Guides Case studies # Inquiries Time on page Source/Medium Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI Reviews UGC & Referrals Backlinks # Leads /referral channels GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness Engage audiences Lead gen Acquire clients Scale #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 31. How to balance goals Awareness vs. acquisition in a new market #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 32. First thing, remove all the longer term goals TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media & Partnerships # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM Social Media Email # Subscriptions Open rate/CTR Engagement Guides Case studies # Inquiries Time on page Source/Medium Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI Reviews UGC & Referrals Backlinks # Leads /referral channels GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness Engage audiences Lead gen Acquire clients Scale #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 33. Now, how do we balance awareness vs. acquisition? TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness Lead gen Acquire clients #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 34. Now, how do we balance awareness vs. acquisition? TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness Lead gen Acquire clients #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 35. Now, how do we balance awareness vs. acquisition? TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness Lead gen Acquire clients #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 36. How we approach awareness TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness New product/service/market = needs awareness! In-house • Focus on strategy & planning • Set up analytics/tracking for data accuracy • Create & optimize awareness content • Distribute through organic channels • Track, monitor, report • Ideate, test, adapt Outsource • Paid media • PR • Writing/Design to support content creation Budget will mostly go toward staff and paid media awareness & search campaigns #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 37. How about lead generation? TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS GOALS PRIORITY Fast growth = Lead generation is a must! In-house • Focus on strategy & planning • Set up analytics/tracking for data accuracy • Create & optimize lead flows, landing pages, forms • Distribute through organic channels • Track, monitor, report • Ideate, test, adapt Outsource • Paid media • Writing/Design to support content creation Budget will mostly go toward staff and paid media conversion & search campaigns Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI Lead gen Acquire clients #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 38. Did you notice the overlap? TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS GOALS PRIORITY Fast growth = Lead generation is a must! In-house • Focus on strategy & planning • Set up analytics/tracking for data accuracy • Create & optimize lead flows, landing pages, forms • Distribute through organic channels • Track, monitor, report • Ideate, test, adapt Outsource • Paid media • Writing/Design to support content creation • PR (but PR can also drive leads!) Budget will mostly go toward staff and paid media conversion & search campaigns Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI Lead gen Acquire clients #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 39. What does this mean? Think about resource and budget allocation Team hours • Spend time understanding your customer • Plan, create & optimize content that supports conversion first • Set up goals and events in Analytics Platform early on • Then split time between everything else (all goals) • Report results, share learnings Budget • Paid media budget should be split by goal • Invest in PR when you have a solid story to tell! • Get help from freelancers for execution #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 40. As you grow, layer in the other goals & tactics TACTICS/ CONTENT KPIS SEO, Social, Digital PR New users Rank Position Time on Page Backlinks Paid media & Partnerships # Users Conversion rate CPC/CPM Social Media Email # Subscriptions Open rate/CTR Engagement Guides Case studies # Inquiries Time on page Source/Medium Paid media Forms # Conversions Conversion rate Cost/Lead P2P Contracts signed Cost/Acquisition # New Projects ROI Reviews UGC & Referrals Backlinks # Leads /referral channels GOALS PRIORITY Build brand awareness Engage audiences Lead gen Acquire clients Scale #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 41. How to make data-driven decisions? And when to experiment! #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 42. Trick question? Kind of... #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 43. Set up data tracking early on... Having accurate data is key to making smart and strategic decisions. ● Set up goals & events in Google Analytics with Google Tag Manager (or whatever Analytics platform you use) ● Set up server-side tracking if you run social media ad campaigns ● Create dashboards with Google Data Studio (or your platform of choice) Photo credit: Hidden Figures #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 44. When to experiment? Make sure your idea is worth testing ● Is something underperforming? ● Has something been performing but stagnant/not improving for a while? ● Are you entering a new market? You may not have 1st party data. ● Are you seeing a shift in your user demographic or behavioural data? These are all great times to test! Photo credit: Glengarry Glen Ross #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 45. Photo credit: marketoonist.com #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 46. Test 1: Post your project form Problem: Post your project form too long Solution: Shorten it. But where? Behaviour was no longer being tracked. Added tracking and waited 4 weeks. Result: Success! ● From 11 to 5 pages ● +10% form completions What we learned: ● Tracking user behaviour will help you make data driven decisions AND generate more leads! #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 47. Test 1: We also took the opportunity to update the look & feel 🔥 #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 48. Test 2: Webinar events for homeowners Problem: Hard to get traction in a new market Solution: Invite industry professionals to speak about a relevant topic. Result: Fail ● 10 attendees ● No immediate inquiries ● People still sign up to watch the replay! What we learned: ● The event was well planned and executed - amazing guests, excellent content! ● We needed to spend more time and budget promoting it. It was too early. We were spreading ourselves too thin. #BilldrLive #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 49. Test 3: Chinese WeChat Community Problem: Hard to get traction in a new market Solution: Reach an existing community with a need for our service Result: Fail ● 22 unique website visitors ● No inquiries What we learned: ● If your positioning & messaging are not aligned, you are not setting yourself up for success ● After my colleague interviewed local Chinese homeowners, we realized that this WeChat community was not a good fit #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 50. Test 4: Local Tech newsletter Problem: Hard to get traction in a new market Solution: Reach an existing community with similar values, interests, and demographics Result: Success! 1st Campaign: ● Avg. CTR: 1.3% ● SQLs: 13 ● Clients: 4 What we learned: ● When there’s a high level of TRUST in the community, and your VALUES are very aligned, this strategy works. #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 51. Key takeaways 1) Prioritise based on budget, people, and time – the things you can control 2) Balance your awareness and acquisition efforts so that you are not just focusing on quick conversions – that may not be the best leads/clients 3) Set up tracking early on to make smart and strategic decisions 4) Experiment - Test lots, fail fast, learn, share, and adapt Photo credit: Netflix Girlboss #growthfestival @joelleirvine
- 52. Thank you! Joelle Irvine Head of Growth & Marketing, Billdr billdr.co | @billdrHQ | @joelleirvine