This is a presentation I did for the 2017 StartEd EdTech Accelerator class. It's the third version of my original presentation to Techstars (updated with the latest marketing tools), and covers three main areas of building a growth engine for startups: 1) marketing fundamentals (target audience exploration, messaging, moments + places) 2) testing + data (growth hypotheses, marketing funnel, data strategy) 3) marketing channels (paid ads, message automation, lead gen, referral program). For each section, I provide relevant frameworks, bring them to life with examples and recommend my favorite tools and platforms.

1. BUILDING A GROWTH ENGINE
FOR STARTUPS (V3)
CEZARY PIETRZAK
Presented to StartedEd Accelerator
October 3, 2017
@ckp

2. MY BACKGROUND
2000 - 2004
2005 - 2008
CEZARY & CO
2008 - 2012
2012
2013
2014

3. GROWTH TOPICS I WILL COVER TODAY
PART 1
Fundamentals
PART 2
Testing + Data
PART 3
Marketing Channels

4. WRITE IT DOWN…OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN

5. PART 1: FUNDAMENTALS
Marketing fundamentals canvas
Target audience exploration
Messaging architecture
Moments + places

6. MARKETING FUNDAMENTALS CANVAS
Mission
Vision
Brand
Target Audience
Market Niche
Key Message

7. TARGET AUDIENCE EXPLORATION
Market Size
Demographics
Mindset
Tools
Behavior Frequency

8. MESSAGING
Key Message
Key Descriptor
Mission
Vision
Audience
Mindset
Industry Realities
Functional Benefit
Emotional Benefits
Tone
Boilerplate

9. MOMENTS & PLACES
Moment
Settings & People
Audience Mindset
Brands
Company Role
Marketing Channels
Key Findings

10. PART 2: TESTING + DATA
Develop hypotheses
Prioritize channels
Map out marketing + sales funnel
Set up data + tracking strategy

11. DEVELOP GROWTH HYPOTHESES
Sources
Behavioral insights
Background research
Industry benchmarks
Company stage
Growth goals
Investor requirements
Previous hypotheses
Data
Experiment
Type
Key Metric
Prediction
Outcome
Resources

12. PRIORITIZE CHANNELS

13. MAP OUT YOUR MARKETING + SALES FUNNEL
B2C
Acquisition
Onboarding
Engagement
Retention
Revenue
Referral
B2B
1 New
2 Contacted
3 Phone Call
4 MQL
5 SQL
6 Opportunity
7 Nurture
Mobile
Web/Mobile Web > App Store > Install > Open > Signup

14. SETUP YOUR DATA + TRACKING STRATEGY
CRM
Data Layer
BI / Data Warehouse
Attribution
Task Automation
Analytics

15. PART 3: MARKETING CHANNELS
Paid Ads
Message Automation
Lead Gen + List Building
Cold Outreach
Referral Program
Other Channels

16. PAID ADS
Principles
Own your data
Don’t trust platforms
CTR = vanity metric
One tracking source
Dashboards
Campaign
Daily
Creative

17. MESSAGE AUTOMATION
Process
Use marketing funnel as base
Think of actions / non-actions
Keep it simple
Ship one email at a time
A/B test from the start
Analyze + optimize
Elements
Message flow
User action
Condition
Timing
Move to flow

18. LEAD GEN + LIST BUILDING
Process
Source company list
Merge databases
Sanitize data
Find people / roles
Generate emails
Enrich data
Data
Company
Contact / Role
Email
Supporting Data

19. COLD OUTREACH
Process
Break down audience mindset
Focus on subject lines first
Personalize as much as possible
Use tactics like “Re:” in subject
Set up 3-5 step direct sell drip
Shift to content marketing
Move back to direct sell

20. REFERRAL PROGRAMS
Elements
Passive discovery
Proactive discovery
Invitation mechanism
Invitation timing
Offer
Follow-up
Tracking
Considerations
NPS score
Dev support
Minimum setup

21. OTHER CHANNELS
INFLUENCERS
SEORETARGETING
CONTENT + SEO PREVENTS + SWAG
CVR OPTIMIZATION
SLACK GROUPS MESSAGE BOARDS
DIRECT MAIL SWEEPSTAKES STREET TEAMS

22. LEARN ABOUT
MARKETING + GROWTH + MOBILE
CEZARY.CO
@ckp