Growth Strategy

1 out of 5 CRO agencies I've worked with actually focused on website design/experience. The rest relied on tactics like: - Creating urgency - Adding key product USPs - Making social proof more prominent While these strategies do give results, many practitioners tend to overlook a key aspect. That's UX/UI design. It's likely the least talked about topic at a CRO agency. Despite its significant potential to increase conversion rates. In this example, using Crafts Mill India Technologies Pvt. Ltd. PDP, I've implemented UX/UI and other changes that can increase conversion rates. Below are the 6 changes I recommend a/b testing - 1. Maintain your logo, hamburger menu icon, and cart icons on top at all times. Logo emphasis it's a credible brand. The hamburger menu helps in product discovery. And cart icon informs them it's an e-commerce store. 2. Highlight 1-2 key features in the product image. This creates value and justifies the price point. 3. If your brand sells fashion, cosmetics, or home-decor–consider showing product thumbnails. More so if they have some important information like features, celeb images. 4. Show the color swatch along with the color name. Make sure your images also mention the color name to eliminate any confusion on this important aspect. 5. Add an option for the user to check the delivery date. A closer delivery date can motivate a user to complete their purchase. 6. Highlight key USPs of your product or brand. Make sure they're easy to find and simple to understand. A few other changes I made: - Replaced the Pinterest share option on the image with an 'On Sale' badge. - Optimized the area around the add-to-cart by mentioning the warranty, free shipping information. - Made it easier for the visitor to contact the business by showing the icons and removing the copy clutter. Success lies in attention to detail. Don't forget to keep things intuitive and simple. Found this useful? Let me know in the comments! P.S. The learning curve for UX/UI design is quite different from that of CRO. If you want to get started with CRO, a book I'd recommend reading is Making Websites Win by the founders of Conversion Rate Experts. #conversionrateoptimization #uxdesign

Brand is your best sales startegy. Here's why. Most B2B companies fall into the same trap. They pour money into lead gen, paid ads, and short-term promotions. Why? Because it’s easy to track. Feels like progress. Makes the board happy. But this is not growth. This is buying attention...and it's addictive. And the second you stop spending, the attention stops too. So what happens next? - They spend more. - And more. - And more... Until they’re stuck in an expensive loop they can’t escape. What’s the way out? Brand. Not colours. Not logos. But real brand-building. The kind that makes customers come to you. Care about you. Talk about you. The type of brand that lowers acquisition costs, makes hiring easier, and builds trust before the first call. The type of brand that stays top-of-mind when your customer is finally ready to buy (remember the 95-5% rule?). But here’s the catch… - Brand takes time. - It’s harder to track. - And that’s where most CEOs and CFO lose patience. They cut too soon. Before the brand flywheel kicks in. Because when that brand flywheel kicks in, magic happens: - You stop chasing leads. They find you. - Marketing costs drop. Trust kicks in. - Sales convert faster. Buyers already believe. It’s not a this or that game. Brand VS Sales... Brand and sales must run in parallel. Sales = attention now. Brand = attention forever. According to Binet & Field, the ideal ratio is 60% brand, 40% sales. But let's be clear: that 60/40 is a starting point, not a strict rule. It varies across industries, business models, and growth stages. What matters is knowing where you are and adjusting accordingly. Start building brand today to make the sales of tomorrow easier. Because if you wait until you need it… it’s already too late.

Old content marketing: - Find high-volume keywords in your industry - Write articles starting with the lowest DA - Make sure your Yoast light turns green - Post a link to the article on all socials New content marketing: - Understand your audience and their pain points - Find product- and pain point-focused keywords - Take time to learn the searcher's true intent - Write great content with distribution in mind - Embed a content upgrade to capture emails - Turn the article into your next email newsletter - Create videos to promote on TikTok/YouTube/Instagram - Write a Twitter thread and promote the blog at the end - Screenshot the Twitter thread for a LinkedIn carousel - Extract and write 5+ LinkedIn posts from the article - Extract and write 10+ Twitter posts from the article - Repurpose and redistribute every 3+ months Do new content marketing in 2025. 1 long-form → 20+ short-form 1 channel → Multi-channel distribution Publish → Promote and repurpose forever

The Mobile Telco Model Is Broken....And That Might Not Be a Bad Thing I had a good conversation with a senior Telco CEO yesterday. We both agreed: the mobile telecom model isn’t just under pressure... it’s broken. And not recently. It’s been structurally broken for over 15 years. Revenues? Growing at 2% a year globally, below inflation. ROIC? Still under the cost of capital for most operators. NPS? Telcos hover around 20–30 while tech companies push 60+. Opex? In many markets, it eats up 80% of revenue. And price erosion? We’ve normalized losing 30–40% of GB value per year. And what are we still selling? Buckets of data. Now, when something is broken, you need to go to foundational aspects of our business. First, telcos must become digital-first. Customers don’t compare you to other telcos, they compare you to Uber, Amazon, and Apple. That’s the bar. If it takes 12 clicks to activate a line or change a plan, you’ve already lost. Second, you need deep personalization at scale. Spotify knows your mood. Telcos still offer “Youth Plan 3.0.” Microsegments aren’t enough. You need individual-level context. Every offer, touchpoint, and upsell should feel tailor-made. Third, get out of the legacy trap. The OSS/BSS model is dead. Nobody has three years to rebuild a CRM or billing engine. Those projects fail. The only path is cloud-native, agile execution, rapid deployment, fail-fast loops, and zero patience for waterfall digital transformation roadmaps. Amazon Changes 2.5 million prices every day and I can assure you they don't have a group of consultants running a 3 year transformation project to make it happen. Fourth, adopt customer obsession as a core value, not a slide. Amazon isn’t customer-centric because it says so; it’s because the product, support, and incentives are aligned with the user every step of the way. Telcos need to unlearn product-first thinking. Finally, stop thinking of your network as a commodity. It’s not a GB plan. It’s a programmable platform. One that can offer privacy, identity, location, QoS, and trust. If you can expose that as a service, you stop being a utility and start being essential infrastructure again. The model is broken. But that might be the best thing that’s happened to this industry in years.

Shake Shack, with CEO Rob Lynch coming up on a year at the helm, plans to open more stores in 2025 than it ever has (40–50 on the company side and 35–40 licensed). It's doing this while bringing down costs 10 percent, shortening timelines, and working on a menu calendar that feels a lot like some of Lynch's past efforts with Taco Bell, Arby's, and Papa Johns. Namely, consistent and constant LTOs and planning, and a balance of premium and affordability that satisfy both sides of the consumer set. Shake Shack, however, might be more uniquely equipped to go after that than any brand he's worked for to date. Namely with premium value, like the recent Dubai Chocolate Pistachio Shake, which had customers lining up around the block and stores selling out by noon. A lot to unpack here, including combos and drive-thru improvements, at one of quick-service's most-compelling growth stories. More here: https://lnkd.in/gQP2SZdz

Using Meta Ads to Drive eCommerce Sales Understanding Your Audience: Begin by analyzing your target audience's demographics, interests, and behavior to create personalized ad campaigns on Meta platforms that resonate with potential customers and drive sales. Compelling Visuals & Copy: Utilize high-quality images or videos along with engaging ad copy that highlights your products' unique selling points, benefits, and offers to capture users' attention and encourage them to make a purchase. Retargeting Strategies: Implement dynamic product ads to retarget users who have previously visited your eCommerce website or shown interest in your products, reminding them of their potential purchase and increasing conversion rates. Leveraging Carousel Ads: Showcase a variety of products, styles, or features through carousel ads to provide a more interactive and engaging experience for users, ultimately leading to higher click-through rates and conversions. Utilizing Lookalike Audiences: Expand your reach by targeting users who share similarities with your existing customer base through lookalike audience targeting, increasing the likelihood of driving sales from a new pool of potential customers. Optimizing for Mobile: Ensure that your Meta ads are optimized for mobile devices, considering the increasing trend of mobile shopping, and providing a seamless user experience that encourages quick and convenient purchases. Implementing A/B Testing: Continuously test different ad creatives, formats, and targeting options to identify the most effective strategies that drive eCommerce sales on Meta platforms and maximize your return on investment. Monitoring & Analyzing Performance: Regularly monitor key metrics such as click-through rates, conversion rates, and return on ad spend to assess the effectiveness of your Meta ad campaigns and make data-driven adjustments for improved results. Scaling Successful Campaigns: Identify top-performing ad campaigns and scale them by increasing budgets, expanding targeting, or exploring new ad formats to further boost eCommerce sales through Meta ads. Summary: By understanding your audience, creating compelling visuals and copy, utilizing retargeting strategies, carousel ads, lookalike audiences, mobile optimization, A/B testing, performance monitoring, and scaling successful campaigns, eCommerce brands can effectively drive sales through Meta ads and achieve significant growth in their online sales performance. #MetaAds, #eCommerceMarketing, #OnlineSales, #SocialMediaAds, #DigitalAdvertising, #AdCampaigns, #SalesBoost, #CustomerEngagement, #AdTargeting, #MarketingStrategy

Most content teams treat marketing like a guessing game. I used to do the same: Post what felt right. Hope it worked. Move on. Then I saw this framework… And it changed how I think about content strategy completely. It’s called the Content Marketing Matrix: Map content based on two things: - How ready the buyer is - What kind of mindset they’re in (Emotional or Rational) That gives you 4 clear content roles: 🎭 ENTERTAIN (Emotional + Awareness) “How do we spark attention?” - Product teasers - UGC giveaways - Interactive reels - Launch hype Use when people are just discovering you. No hard sell yet. ✨ INSPIRE (Emotional + Purchase) “How do we build belief?” - Creator endorsements - Customer reviews - Community stories - Social proof Use when people are interested but need trust to take the leap. 📚 EDUCATE (Rational + Awareness) “How do we answer early questions?” - Blog articles - Trend reports - Ingredient breakdowns - Founder insights Use when people are curious, comparing, or searching. ✅ CONVINCE (Rational + Purchase) “How do we help them decide?” - Size guides - Price comparisons - Case studies - Product FAQs Use when they’re close to buying, but still hesitating. The best part? You don’t need to guess what to post anymore. You just need to know where your audience is and what they need to hear. Because content doesn’t work when it’s random. It works when it’s mapped to intent. Save this. Share with your team. And use it to build a strategy, not just a calendar. Try Glowtify for free: https://glowtify.com/ Helping D2C brands grow with smarter marketing systems Was this helpful? Repost and share it ♻️ Follow me, Marc Allard, if you're scaling a DTC brand without burning out.

Top takeaways from my chat with Grant Lee (CEO of Gamma): 1. The first 30 seconds of using your product should be so good it earns the next 30 seconds. When Gamma wasn’t growing, they stopped everything and spent three months perfecting just the first 30 seconds of using their product. They made it so compelling that new users would immediately tell their friends. This single change transformed their growth trajectory. 2. Focus on one simple promise, not many features. Think of it like throwing eggs to someone: they can catch one, but if you throw five at once, they’ll drop them all. Your users are selfish, vain, and lazy—you have 30 seconds to show value before they leave. Gamma focused on “create a slide in seconds” rather than listing 10 features. 3. Don’t spend on ads until over half your growth comes from word of mouth. If you try to buy growth before your product spreads organically, you’re wasting money filling a leaky bucket. 4. Work with hundreds of small creators instead of a few big influencers. Rather than blowing your budget on five or six well-known influencers who treat it like just another ad read, find thousands of micro-influencers whose audiences genuinely care about tools like yours. Teachers sharing with teachers, consultants with consultants—these tight communities create authentic word of mouth that spreads fast. 5. Spend time personally onboarding each early creator like they’re joining your team. Don’t just send influencers a script. Jump on calls, walk them through the product, help them understand what makes it special, and let them tell your story in their own voice. This investment turns them into genuine advocates who post about you repeatedly instead of treating it like any other sponsorship. 6. Hire painfully slowly and only exceptional people. Gamma serves 50 million users with just 50 people and makes a profit. All 10 original employees are still there five years later. They never set headcount goals because that makes you hire to hit a number instead of hiring only when you find someone exceptional. When someone is exceptional, give them more responsibility, not less—top performers want harder challenges. 7. Test prototypes with 20 people on UserTesting before investing in a big project. Use platforms like Voicepanel or UserTesting to watch real people try your prototype. They’ll show you problems you never see because you’re too close to your product. Gamma goes from idea to results in a single day—morning idea, afternoon testing, evening results. This saves months of building things nobody wants. 8. Choose problems you’ll care about for 10 years. Before worrying about technology or tactics, ask if this problem matters enough to you personally that you’d dedicate a decade to solving it. Founders who are missionaries rather than mercenaries build better products because their authentic commitment shows through to customers and attracts people who want to build alongside you for the long term.

We grew Gamma to $50M ARR in under 2 years, profitably. Cost us over $5M to learn these tactics. Here's what actually worked: influencer marketing, performance marketing, user testing, and dogfooding: 1. Go broad with influencer marketing, then double down on what works Most startups get three things wrong: too small a budget, overly selective on creators, and giving up too early. Start with $10-20k/month and commit to 6 months minimum. - List every creator persona with audiences that care about your product - Offer base + viral bonus. For TikTok, have creators start new accounts - Once you have 20-30 winning formats, hire your top creators as consultants to train others Never write scripts. They become ads no one watches. 2. Invest in brand before performance marketing Most startups aren't prepared to scale spend because their brand and creative sucks. We went through an expensive rebrand, but skipping it would have been more expensive. Test creatives relentlessly. Whatever number you're thinking of testing, 10x it. Once you see a use case resonating, build a whole funnel around it with symmetric messaging. Don't confuse visitors by showing them an ad with one value prop and dropping them on a landing page with a different message. 3. Get users to test prototypes before you ship This saves you from the worst startup mistake: misdirected product development. We ran user testing on voicepanel and usertesting: - Recruited random people who make slide decks for work - Showed them prototypes with minimal instructions - Asked them to think out loud. The words they use, where they get confused, is gold Did this for landing pages, onboarding, new features, and moonshot concepts. Ship once you have proof that ordinary people find it easy and useful. 4. Dogfood the hell out of your product Either you build something 100x better than alternatives, or you build something else. Dogfooding makes it painfully obvious if your product isn't 100x better. Use your product daily for real work, not demos. Force yourself to choose it over the alternative. If you keep reaching for the competitor, you don't have PMF yet. When we started Gamma, we had two competing ideas: a virtual office and reimagining PowerPoint. After 6 months of dogfooding both, we had a clear winner. With the virtual office, we kept wanting to just meet in person. With the reimagined PowerPoint, we never wanted to go back. That's the test. If you're not viscerally feeling the 100x difference, your customers won't either. — $0-$10M was nearly 100% word of mouth. $10M-$50M was still over 50% word of mouth, but influencer and referral made up the rest. That foundation let us blaze past $50M. Most startups skip the experimentation. They guess, ship, and hope for the best. We spent $5M learning what works. Now, you don't have to.

𝗘𝘂𝗿𝗼𝗽𝗲’𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗱𝘂𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥&𝗗: 𝗠𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸 𝗰𝗮𝗽𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗻𝗲𝗲𝗱𝗲𝗱 ‼️ Last week the International Monetary Fund published a very interesting and comprehensive paper about the need for more venture capital in Europe to tackle our continents challenges. To name a few: ✔️productivity per hour worked is app 30% lower in 🇪🇺compared to the 🇺🇸 ✔️R&D investments are still way below the target of 3% per annum ✔️Within the top 100 tech companies worldwide merely a handful are European Is it all about 💶 I here you say? No it is about keeping up our welfare for future generations. And about a liveable planet. And increasing our innovation and competitiveness are crucial to do so. Which is also the key message of Mr. Draghi’s report I hope. The IMF report takes a deeper dive into the underlying issues: ✔️ VC investments are only 0,4% of GDP. In the US it is 3x as much ✔️Europeans park their savings in bank accounts. And banks are very risk aversie when it comes to financing hightech startups. ✔️Long term savings go primarily via pension funds, who hardly invest in VC in Europe (despite some positive signs recently) ✔️The EU has fewer and smaller VC funds leading to smaller rounds, less opportunities for scale-up financing and limited exit options ✔️ European scale-ups end up listing in the US instead of Europe itself ✔️ National fragmentation within the EU leads to a lot of barriers for scaling What has to be done? ✅ Increase efforts on a real single European market, for example by consolidating stock market exchanges and diminishing cross border red tape ✅ Make it more attractive for pension funds and insurers to step into VC ✅ Enhance the capacity of European Investment Bank (EIB), European Investment Fund (EIF) and national promotional institutes, like Invest-NL ✅ Implement preferential tax treatments for equity investments in startups and VC funds ✅ Encourage more funds-of-funds And I would like to ad to the findings in the report two things: 1️⃣ We need a cultural mind shift, more urgency and embracing true entrepreneurship 2️⃣ We have to step up our game when it comes to tech transfer. Transforming our high quality academic knowledge into economic and societal impact via startups.