The Growth Gazette

To minimize churn rate, we do a lot of strategizing to effectively engage with existing users, specifically considering SaaS products. But one thing we forget in this quest is that everything depends on your product and the engagement – meaning how the end user is interacting with your product. Analyzing their behavior and understanding their needs are key for long-term growth of the product. Without having crystal-clear insights into your existing user behavior, you can't upgrade the features and use cases effectively. The cardinal reason for failure to minimize churn rate is this: not having a clear understanding of existing user interaction data and the potential features they require to create a barrier that prevents them from even thinking of moving to another platform. To every SaaS founder or team working to penetrate the market, I recommend working on improving the quality of your raw ideas, gaining a user base, and building a foundational analytics ecosystem around it from the beginning. You can't ignore product analytics – especially user engagement data – if your goals include avoiding churn. For this, you don't even need advanced tools and software if you're in your early stages of growth. Just stick to basic tools and tactics, and you're set to make an impact. The formula is very simple yet hard to execute: solid product use case + easy user interface + relevant hooks + engagement data!

The first thing I advise or plan whenever I'm taking on a new project or doing anything related to product, growth, content, or channel and platform-based marketing is ensuring everything is connected to basic analytics tools for better insights into user activities on sites or with the product. In most cases, I’ve seen this get ignored in an attempt to focus on different things that are useless without a strong analytics ecosystem in place. I always consider this a high-priority subject. I remember working with a D2C food brand where I was tasked with managing their performance marketing campaign. The first thing I did was to bring everything under the view of analytics tools, which previously hadn’t been a concern for them. Many brands, especially very early-stage ones, make the mistake of ignoring the basics of setting up long- and short-term strategies for growth and marketing. You should never do this. Make sure the fundamental aspects are clear before venturing into any initiative. Note: This picture is part of the foundational early market entry strategy for a U.S.-based enterprise AI startup.

The easiest thing you can do as a D2C or omni-channel brand is sell your products through performance marketing, using creative strategies combined with various offers and magnets. However, this approach is short-term and not truly organic, as it’s driven by push factors. What truly counts as success is how well you create long-term perceptions of your brand and establish a lasting brand narrative. Cultivating a strong brand following is crucial, and it's not specific to any industry – it’s essential for everyone. From my personal advice and past experiences, seeing multiple brands achieve huge success often boils down to two key aspects. First, they excel at building and setting their narrative, and second, they place a strong emphasis on product development and gathering feedback. So, don’t overlook these foundational aspects of brand building, especially when focusing on long-term KPIs.

Never miss out on narrative building. Most successful brands or those with great dominance are exceptionally good at setting a narrative and driving engagement around it. This is something that will help build a lasting brand cult over time. While there can be arguments about the different types of narratives, one or two key narratives will continue to resonate with your brand, even alongside moment- or event-based narratives that are typically time-bound for achieving specific results. I've noticed that brands that have cracked the code of social media and content creation focus heavily, sometimes more than necessary, on establishing their narrative. So, never overlook this crucial aspect.

Previously, I talked about some aspects to consider for effective brand marketing strategies. One of them was identifying the brand's target, potential, and existing audience, which I'll dive deeper into here. Let’s go. I often see a lot of paid and organic content floating around on social media platforms, and one thing that really frustrates me is when brands fail to target the right set of audiences. I’m sure you’ve come across ads that were irrelevant to you while scrolling through social media – ads for products you have no interest in. Remember how frustrating that feels? This happens when a brand fails to identify its target, potential, and existing audience. In many cases, digital branding campaigns are well-executed, but they lack an effective targeting approach. If you're spending significant money and effort on a campaign, it’s better to execute it based on thorough research. Here’s how you can plan your campaign and figure out your target and potential audience: 1. Before understanding your consumer, first understand your product, because that’s the only way to reach the right audience. 2. Segment your audience (target and potential) based on different criteria like age, general behavior, common patterns, likes, dislikes, and other factors relevant to your consumer. 3. Age, likes, and dislikes are some of the most important factors to study and build strategies around. 4. Study your audience based on geography as well. In a nutshell, understanding your product or service on a macro level, and segmenting your end-user or consumer by factors such as age, preferences, and geography, is crucial. Put a lot of effort into this, and build your campaign strategies around these insights. While there are more factors to consider, these are the basics that you cannot overlook. Note: Marketing and branding are a blend of art and science, so always experiment to figure out what works best for you. Following conventional rules doesn’t always guarantee success. Everything I’ve mentioned is based on my own perspective, experiences, and assumptions. It’s always better to do your own research when it comes to branding and marketing.

In my recent post on strategically doing brand marketing, I mentioned several steps that can be considered when formulating strategies. One such step was understanding your brand's vision and mission with objective clarity, which means grasping both the short-term and long-term objectives of your brand to effectively strategize for brand marketing campaigns. While many marketers follow conventional methodologies, my approach is quite different. I follow an "0 to 1" approach rather than a halfway process. I believe that if you don't deeply understand your mission and vision – by factoring in both short-term and long-term goals – things won't turn out as you expect. The process of understanding a brand’s mission and vision is simple in theory but can be complex in practice, especially when aligning it with branding and marketing efforts. Look at the process on how you can grasp it: 1. Put in the effort to understand each word of your mission and vision, including their meanings and implications. 2. Study what you aim to achieve with your mission statement and what long-term goals you have through your vision statement. 3. Focus on creativity that aligns with your brand's objectives. 4. Identify the audience that relates to your mission and vision. Though this may not be a primary part of understanding your statements, it plays a crucial role in long-term success. 5. Build a unique identity through your creative assets like brand images, colors, CTAs, copies, and other types of visuals that make your audience connect deeply with your brand. 6. Ensure your uniqueness in all aspects to stand out from competitors. More could be added here, but sticking to the basics is key, which we often underestimate in the process. Focus on getting the basics right first. Protip: As I often emphasize, having a unique marketing strategy always pays dividends in the long run. Look at @ Durex, for instance. The way they've established themselves through innovative branding strategies is impressive. While many good players exist apart from Durex, what sets them apart is their creative approach to engaging their audience. I'm sure if you've been on X (formerly Twitter), you've encountered their clever content. The takeaway? Always keep a unique consumer outreach style by your side. Note: In marketing and branding, everything depends on the nature of the business, the audience you're catering to, and the products you're selling. This makes branding and marketing a blend of art and science. What works for one brand may not work for another. So, always experiment with different combinations to create a high ROI strategy and follow the path of businesses similar to yours that have already established significant milestones.

Don't do your brand strategy wrong! Yes, you heard it right – people often confuse building a brand strategy with building marketing strategies. But in reality, both have different objectives and factors to consider. In branding, we have core components to address, especially when it comes to the audience – the potential audience, the target audience, and the existing audience. Each of these groups has different attributes and qualities that need distinct strategies. Create separate ideal personas for each segment of your audience. Understand everything possible about their behavior, likes, and dislikes. Strategize your campaign separately for these groups. For example, your potential audience may dislike something that your target or existing audience actually enjoys. So, planning your campaign in advance and putting effort into understanding your consumers is crucial. Otherwise, you risk ineffective campaign results. Unlike marketing campaigns, which are short-term, time-bound, and objective-driven, branding requires a long-term approach. It’s tough to crack, but it pays dividends in the long run. How to do it strategically: 1. Clearly understand your brand's mission and vision statements with objective clarity. 2. Identify your brand’s target, potential, and existing audiences (if you're already in the market). Understand every aspect of your consumer persona and the problems they face that require solutions. 3. Select the right channels for each consumer segment (if you're new, stick to one or two channels max). 4. Strategize different campaigns for different audience groups on different channels. 5. Use eye-catching creatives – this is critical to your campaign’s success. 6. Focus on playing with consumer psychology, not just end-to-end business tactics. 7. Use strong and attention-grabbing copy (this should come first). 8. Identify the key elements of your brand identity that make you unique – this could be your logo, social media presence, creatives, colors, etc. – anything that sets you apart from competitors. 9. Clearly define your campaign budget and timeline. 10. Engagement is key – aim for as much interaction as possible. 11. Don’t rely on a single copy and creatives for your branding campaign. You need multiple copies and creatives for each audience segment (target, potential, and existing). Analyze which ones bring the most engagement. Pro Tip: The success of a branding campaign depends entirely on the engagement it generates. This means you must be very selective with your targeting, copies, creatives, and even funny elements. Remember – engagement is king. Note: For any branding strategy or campaign, the audience comes first. Always focus on understanding your audience – their age, likes, dislikes, shopping behavior, geography, spending habits, social class, and earning/spending power. Brands that fail to understand their audience are bound to fail. More on branding strategy and execution soon!

Considering branding and marketing as the same ballgame is one of the lesser-known crimes that most early-stage companies commit. They perceive both as the same, forgetting that they are meant for different purposes and objectives. I’ve observed this firsthand. Brand strategy and marketing strategy are totally different from one another. Branding or brand strategy is all about positioning yourself as an identity that is synonymous with a solution that your target market can find when they need it in a respective problem. It’s about establishing an image in the minds of your consumers or target market before your product even comes into play. The name of your brand or company should come to mind before any other players. This requires a special kind of strategy over time – you can’t establish a brand image in one month. It takes time and a lot of ultra-creative strategies and experiments, both organic and paid. It's like making your girl so obsessed with you that whenever she thinks about other cool and handsome dudes, they fail to touch or cross your benchmark of coolness and sexiness. It’s about creating an image that never fades away, like being a cool sex god. Similarly, you need to make your target market obsessed with you even before they interact with your product. On the other hand, marketing is different. It's like flirting with a girl and trying every possible move to make her say "yes" to a date. It's more of a creative attempt to make someone take action. Marketing is about positioning yourself at the right time so that someone notices you and takes action. This is a more objective-oriented effort, meaning you know what to gain, in what period, by reaching out to whom and where. In a nutshell, branding is about obsession ("I only need that guy whenever I need something"), and marketing is like positioning yourself with a clear objective of what you need, from whom, and where. BTW, on a side note, I'm thinking – damn, I’m such a dirty mind, chhiii sasur :))

Just like sex, marketing is a blend of art and science, as I always say. You should never miss any moment to experiment and introduce new things into the system. Always go for the thrilling stuff!:)

Email marketing as a channel has an incredible depth that many underestimate. I’ve been leveraging it for years and have consistently seen better success rates compared to other platforms, particularly in terms of ROI and conversions – especially for e-commerce and q-commerce companies offering products. It’s also highly effective for SaaS and service companies. One key reason might be the widespread adoption and familiarity of email, as well as the trust it has built in the minds of conscious users and consumers. Some insights into email marketing that might make you reconsider incorporating it into your brand's marketing or branding strategy: 1. Over 32% of marketers use email marketing as their primary medium for various marketing purposes. 2. By the end of 2023, email marketing revenue was around $11 billion, and it's expected to exceed $13 billion in 2024, $16 billion in 2025, and $20 billion by 2027, highlighting its growing popularity. 3. The number of daily email users stands at 4 billion and is projected to reach or surpass 5 billion by 2026. 4. Around 348 billion emails are sent and received each day for different purposes. 5. Over 65% of small businesses use email marketing to connect with potential and existing customers. 6. 40% of brands are increasing their email marketing budgets, compared to 10% who are reducing costs. 7. Subscriber segmentation (78%), message personalization (72%), and email automation (71%) are among the most effective strategies. 8. High-performing emails or campaigns tend to do better when they include multimedia elements, creatives, and infographics. 9. According to 85% of email marketers, their primary objective is boosting brand awareness, though email marketing offers more potential than just that. 10. More than 90% of brands recognize email marketing as a critical aspect of business success. Note: These statistics are sourced from the internet and are subject to change. Always conduct your own research before applying any insights. Marketing is a blend of art and science – your performance improves the more you experiment, research, and analyze.