#139: Your first 1,000 users, content that sells, my SXSW panel redux, and takeaways from Future X
Happy Tuesday-after-Memorial-Day-Weekend-what-day-is-it limbo! Are you back in the groove yet?
In this edition #139:
1. WEDS: SXSW panel redux - IRL to URL
2. THURS: A virtual event about virtual events!
3. Takeaways from my keynote at Future X Summit
4. Three-part series on helping sales rep sell... with content
5. How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1,000 users
6. Pulling a thread
7. Quote of the week: to understand the toll of what we’re living through
1. WEDS: SXSW panel redux - IRL to URL
Can digital experiences evoke the same emotion as real-world experiences?
We planned to explore this question live at SXSW... now, we're doing it live on Zoom tomorrow, Wednesday May 27th at 12:30pm EDT. Join us?
Hear how Getty Images, GumGum, and Ceros bridge the gap between "IRL and URL" experiences. Looking forward to moderating this all-star lineup feat:
Kirstin Benson, VP, Global Entertainment at GettyImages
Ryan Brown, Head of Brand Strategy at Ceros
Som Puangladda, VP of Global Marketing
Register here. No SXSW ticket? No worries :)
2. THURS: A virtual event about virtual events!
Yes, so meta, I know.
If 2020 has taught marketers anything, it's the importance of being AGILE in event planning.
Join me Thursday at 1:00pm EDT for a special, live conversation with Keely O'Neill from event marketing platform, Splash. We'll chat about creating & scaling agile event programs, including:
What it means to be agile in your event marketing
Tips for reducing risk, creating strong connections, and boosting ROI in your event programs
Strategies for scaling both hybrid and virtual event programs
Common mistakes and misconceptions in the shift to virtual events *** (this is a big one.)
See you there.
3. Takeaways from my keynote at FutureX Summit
The Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce posted a great recap of the recent FutureXSummit from MITX featuring Converse, the NFL, Zipcar, and more. You can watch a full recording of my session here or check out the key takeaways for all marketers.
4. Three-part series on helping sales rep sell... with content
I believe the key to great insight are great questions. The team at Modus asked three important questions related to sales enablement, and myself + 19 other folks weighed in on each.
This is like a smorgasbord of good advice.
Part I: What type of content best supports buyer conversations?
Content that answers questions
Content that shares stories and case studies
Content that creates community and experiences
Part II: What do sales reps need to know to use content effectively in buyer conversations?
Make sales part of the content process
Simplify the buying process
How to use peer stories
Part III: How can marketers best support sales reps once they're engaging buyers?
Market across the continuum of buying
Ensure marketers understand selling
Targeted content that sales actually knows about
Thank you Ardath Albee for including me in this who's-who-of-B2B-pundits roundup.
5. How the biggest consumer apps got their first 1,000 users
A deep dive on how essentially every major consumer app acquired their earliest users, including lessons from Tinder, Uber, Superhuman, TikTok, Product Hunt, Netflix, and many more.
Lenny Rachitsky found:
Just seven strategies account for every consumer apps’ early growth.
Most startups found their early users from just a single strategy. A few like Product Hunt and Pinterest found success using a handful. No one found success from more than three.
The most popular strategies involve going to your user directly — online, offline, and through friends. Doing things that don’t scale.
To execute on any of these strategies, it’s important to first narrowly define your target user. Andy Johns recently shared some great advice about this.
The tactics that you use to get your first 1,000 users are very different from your next 10,000.
Read his full findings here.
6. Pulling a thread
This is an important read in the New Yorker about the disproportionate impact of the virus on African-American communities.
If you're about to scroll past this, because you feel it doesn't affect you, please consider giving it a read, or bookmarking the article for another time.
What the virus is doing is pulling a thread that is showing how many things are actually connected, and how deeply people are actually connected.
But it’s also revealing the very different conditions in which we live because of social structures that are inequitable, both within the United States and between countries.
By pulling the thread, it’s revealing patterns that have been long known in public health.
7. Quote of the week: to understand the toll of what we’re living through
“I wanted something that people would look back on in 100 years to understand the toll of what we’re living through,” Marc Lacey, National editor, NYTimes
From a story looking behind-the-scenes at this weekend's jarring New York Times cover, a "presentation of obituaries and death notices from newspapers around the country."
See the online version here.
A reminder that underneath all statistics are real human stories.
If I can be of any help, do not hesitate to reach out.
Thank you for reading,
Katie Martell