Growth Marketing

---
name: growth-marketing
description: Growth strategy, CRO, content distribution, funnel analysis, audience building. Activate for growth, marketing, acquisition, conversion, distribution, audience tasks.
user-invocable: true
---

# Growth Marketing

## When to Activate
- User mentions: growth, marketing, acquisition, conversion, distribution, audience, funnel, CTR, retention, churn, launch, go-to-market
- Planning product launch or distribution strategy
- Analyzing growth metrics or conversion data

## Core Principle
> Distribution before product. The best product with no audience loses to a decent product with 100K followers.

## Growth Framework

### Phase 1: Channel Selection
Score each channel 1-5 on these dimensions, pick the top 2:

| Dimension | Question |
|-----------|----------|
| Audience proximity | Are your target users already here? |
| Execution fit | Can you execute this well as a solo founder? |
| Feedback speed | How fast do you learn what works? |
| Compounding potential | Does effort here compound over time? |
| Cost efficiency | Can you do this for <$100/month? |

**Channel Options:**
| Channel | Best For | Time to Results | Solo-Friendly? |
|---------|----------|----------------|---------------|
| SEO/Content | Long-term organic, $20-$40 CAC | 3-6 months | Yes |
| Build in Public (X/LinkedIn) | Early audience, trust building | 1-3 months | Yes |
| Short-form Video | Discovery, brand awareness | 1-2 months | Yes |
| Cold Email (Instantly/Smartlead) | B2B SaaS with clear ICP | 2-4 weeks | Yes |
| Newsletter partnerships | Targeted paid acquisition | 1-2 weeks | Yes (paid) |
| Integrations/Marketplace | Durable growth loop | 2-4 months | Moderate |
| Community (Reddit/Discord/HN) | Credibility, feedback | Ongoing | Yes |
| Paid Ads (Meta/Google) | Scale after PMF | Immediate | Moderate |

### Phase 2: Funnel Design
```
Awareness → Interest → Evaluation → Purchase → Retention → Expansion → Advocacy
```

For each stage, define:
1. **Metric**: What number tells you this stage is working?
2. **Action**: What does the user do here?
3. **Friction**: What stops them from moving to the next stage?
4. **Fix**: How do you reduce that friction?

### Phase 3: Content Strategy (Build in Public)
**Content mix:**
- 40% Lessons learned (what worked, what didn't)
- 30% Experiments (testing something, sharing results)
- 20% Story/narrative (the journey, the vision)
- 10% Asks (feedback, beta testers, purchases)

**Repurposing chain:**
Blog post → Twitter thread → LinkedIn post → YouTube Short → Newsletter section

**Rules:**
- Be useful 10 times before mentioning your product once (community channels)
- One quality short-form video daily beats monthly long-form
- Every insight, milestone, and failure is content

### Phase 4: CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
**Landing page checklist:**
- [ ] Hero headline: outcome, not feature (< 8 words)
- [ ] Social proof above the fold (logos, numbers, testimonials)
- [ ] Single CTA per section (not 3 competing buttons)
- [ ] Page load < 2 seconds (Core Web Vitals)
- [ ] Mobile-first (60%+ traffic is mobile)
- [ ] Pricing visible (don't hide behind "Contact Sales")

**A/B testing rules:**
- Test one variable at a time
- Need 100+ conversions per variant for significance
- Run tests for minimum 2 weeks (capture weekly patterns)
- If >20% of visitors reach pricing → messaging works, optimize CTA
- If <5% scroll past hero → headline/hook is wrong

### Phase 5: Metrics Dashboard
| Metric | Formula | Check Frequency |
|--------|---------|----------------|
| Traffic | Unique visitors | Weekly |
| Conversion | Signups / visitors | Weekly |
| Activation | Users who complete key action / signups | Weekly |
| Retention | Active users this month / active last month | Monthly |
| Revenue | MRR, ARPA, churn | Monthly |
| NPS | Promoters - Detractors | Quarterly |

**Stage-based priorities:**
- 0-10 customers: Manual outreach. DMs. Calls. Whatever it takes.
- 10-100: SEO + newsletters. Organic compounding begins.
- 100+: Integrations + referrals. Growth loops kick in.

## Zero-Bias Checks
- Am I picking a channel because it's popular, or because my users are there?
- Am I avoiding a channel because it's uncomfortable (e.g., cold email), not because it won't work?
- Am I measuring vanity metrics (followers, impressions) instead of business metrics (signups, revenue)?
- Am I doing what's comfortable instead of what moves the needle?

## Guardrails
- NEVER launch without a distribution plan
- NEVER optimize for vanity metrics (followers ≠ customers)
- ALWAYS measure by revenue impact, not activity volume
- ALWAYS have a hypothesis before running an experiment
- Apply 5-Question Research Framework for new market entry