My day job is growing startups. I’ve worked with a few hundred by now. Here’s how to grow your podcast, newsletter, blog, YouTube, and Twitter. Hope this helps! A thread:
Growth marketing, a timeline: 2015: “We need to go viral.” 2017: “Well, we raised $25m of VC. Let’s dump it on Facebook ads.” 2021: “Wow. We should have been focusing on content and building a great product.”
How to grow a podcast: • Be YouTube-first; do video • Split eps into 8min YouTube clips with SEO’d titles • Get guests that are searched for on YouTube • Consider not publishing bad eps • Exchange eps with other shows • Niche is fine, but be widely accessible
How to grow a YouTube channel: • Describe the video’s value in the first five seconds • Ask a question you don’t resolve until the last five seconds • With YT algo, 1 amazing video > 10 good videos • Quick cuts don’t give people time to ask if they’re bored —Mr. Beast
Some tips for growing newsletters: • Plug it at the end of a tweet thread. • Swap plugs with other newsletters. • Send a sample issue upon signup to excite people for future issues. • Consider twice-monthly over weekly. My poll revealed people are fatigued with newsletters.
Two major SEO factors I look for: 1. The click-through rate of your page title. 2. Searchers not needing to return to Google after clicking your page. How? • Write for depth • Link to more topics they might want instead • Start w/ a summary to show they’re at the right place
Getting content ideas: • Buzzsumo shows competitors’ big content. Write about those topics • Google Trends shows breakout topics in your industry. Cover them • Search Reddit for good content that didn’t go big. *Credit* (!) your source, remix the insights, and push it broader
Getting Twitter followers: • Learn copywriting—punch + clarity • Respond to big accounts quickly w/ insights • Write for retweets: focus on insights + stories • People retweet novelty, inspiration, tribal affiliation • Bio should say why ppl should follow. See mine: @julian
To see how competitors are running acquisition: • View their Google Ads via Ahrefs • View their popular blog posts via Buzzsumo • View their Facebook ads via the Facebook Ads Library • All of these also reveal which landing pages they’re using
If you want more content on startup marketing, give me a follow. I post threads 2x/week like this. You can see past threads here: @julian
