Noah Lim

Lessons from a recent Costco launch. 𝗩𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝘁𝗼𝗼𝗹𝘀: -Instacart. (Costco-dedicated campaigns). -Criteo. 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗼𝗱:  First 3 days, zero optimizations. (Although we did increase ad spend.) 𝗥𝗲𝘀𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘀: 𝘐𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘵. -Spend: $135 -Ad Sales: $850.64 -ROAS: 6.30 𝘊𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘰. -Spend: $70 -Ad Sales: $351.84 -ROAS: 503% Total. -Spend: $205 -Ad Sales: $1,202.48 -ROAS: 5.86 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀: -Check organic keyword rank before adding to campaigns. There are very few options in some categories, and you may land on the top row of search for some terms organically 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 advertising. -Consider advertising for broader terms than other platforms. Customers shop differently. Very broad terms like "Snacks", "Sides", and "Condiments" can convert well. Overall, Costco (and other big box) is fish in a barrel. If you're in at least a couple of regions of Costco, and not using retail media... Hard mode. ——— 🔹 We drive velocity in Sprouts, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, Kroger, Sam's, COSTCO, and lots of other retailers. 🔹 We grow brands on Amazon. #cpg #cpggrowth #retailgrowth #retailvelocity #omnichannel #retail #amazonagency #retailmedia #shoppermarketing #instacart #retailtech

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One of the things I'm continually shocked by is how many marketing organizations operate with blinders to their customers and their needs. Getting your arms around your customers' requirements and using it to ensure you have the right product/market fit - not only for your offerings, but also for your approach to getting them to market - is foundational not only to your marketing team, but also to your entire corporate strategy. Our latest blog entry talks a bit about the importance of nailing your product fit. We think it's important enough that it's one of the key tenets of the Callan Way.

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There's a new growth strategy on the block. And I'm dubbing it "The U-Haul Playbook." It's when a founder moves to where their target market lives. Not everyone can do this. Few should. But the real takeaway is in understanding why this matters. Customer discovery is the most important activity for a startup founder who is in pre-market phase, MVP phase, or seed stage. Spoiler alert: the importance never ends, but the tactics can change as you grow. I wrote a bit about this trend and how to think about customer discovery in my latest beehiiv for Five Four!

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Ben Yoskovitz, Founding Partner of Highline Beta, mapped out the SaaS Customer Lifecycle below. At the center is 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗴𝗲𝗱 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿. You need them to get to: - Paying customers - Referring customers - Upsell opportunities Aka revenue and profit. But effective engagement tactics are what most companies lack. You can have a functional product. You can have lots of web visitors. You can get a ton of sign-ups. But they will never convert without… engagement. That’s why top companies invest in: ➡ An interactive onboarding process ➡ A quiz, pop-up discounts, or games ➡ An ROI calculator or interactive demo Are you? #strategy #startups #marketing #sales P.S. Want engaging content pieces to boost conversions? involve.me ▶ AI-powered interactive form builder used for data collection by 3K+ businesses worldwide

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Last year, Amazon did $12.9 billion in sales on Prime Day 🤯 If you’re an Amazon seller, brand manager, or agency owner and want to get a bigger slice of the pie this year, then we’ve got something for you. Nailing big days like this can mean millions of $$$ more in profit on the year. The key to making that happen is being prepared. Our webinar will help you make that happen, and it’ll reveal the strategies of Amazon sellers who have done a combined $100 million in revenue. Here’s the info… Boost Prime Day Sales: 3 High-Impact Strategies You Can Apply Now 📈 Thursday, June 27th @ 09.00 AM (PST) / 12.00 PM (EST) 👉 Register Here: https://lnkd.in/g969guye 👈 Join us live for this exclusive free webinar, featuring renowned eCommerce experts Jon Tilley, CEO of ZonGuru, and Ian Sells, Founder of Join Brands / Dr. Travis Zigler, CEO of Profitable Pineapple Ads. Get insider insights into 3 impactful strategies that you can apply right away: 1. A plug-and-play coupon and display ad strategy that works like crazy. 2. Using TikTok influencers to virally promote your Prime Day offer. 3. Pre-Prime Day sale and PPC to maximize Prime Day sales. One crucial piece of information could lead to a massive rise in sales. Register now to make sure you don’t miss it. See you there!

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Last week, I talked with 20+ of the smartest CMOs, CROs and demand gen leaders to talk about qualifing and converting demand.  But everyone spent a good chunk of time talking about the role SDRs play in the equation. More specifically, we talked about the current model is broken. Many even went as far as saying the SDR function is dead 💀 𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐃𝐑𝐬 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐝𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞? You have your most junior employees (many straight out of college) with little to no experience cold calling executives. You have people requesting demos only to get a call from an SDR to "qualify" you, schedule another meeting with an AE, who often requalifies you, does discover, then might schedule yet another call to give you a demo. 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐃𝐑 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐦𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠? The SDR and marketing teams have a more closely aligned goal than SDRs and sales – feed the top of the funnel to get sales-ready meetings for your AEs. 𝐃𝐨 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐞? Having a $100k SDR, $200k AE, $125k SE, $130k CSM, and a $110k Onboarder team up on sub-$10k ACV deals is draining your business. The CAC is too high, CAC payback period is too long, the CAC/LTV ration isn't right, and the GDR/NDR isn't high enough in today's environment. 𝐖𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡, 𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞 𝐒𝐃𝐑𝐬? There are more tools and tech that make the job of the SDR more scalable and automated. Introduce AI that is nearly as good as SDRs (and often better) at many jobs, and you have a competitive threat to the SDR role. 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐒𝐃𝐑? The SDR role is seen as an entry-level role used as a stepping stone to a more stable and enjoyable job. You rarely see career SDRs. And it makes sense – it's one of the hardest yet most thankless jobs in the business. 𝐃𝐨 𝐛𝐮𝐲𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬? With the rise of PLG motions and tools that let buyers see the product before buying, more and more buyers are willing to purchase products (yes, even B2B enterprise products) without even talking to a rep. It's time to rethink the SDR function and how it contributes to demand conversion. 

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Some of the best threads in the Healthy Competition community... aren't even about competitive intel or product marketing. They're usually found in the "careers" channel. Some of the most recent topics have been around: - how to navigate layoffs - creating "win docs" to use when asking for raises - fractional work - job interview tips - growing beyond director-level titles - what to do when you're juggling too many requests I don't think this element in a community is talked about enough. Usually, they're marketed as a place to get the TACTICS, TEMPLATES, FRAMEWORKS, etc. for a certain role. And yeah, we certainly share those things in the Healthy Competition community for competitive intel and product marketing. But what's equally as important, IMO, is just seeing how other folks in your role are navigating their work life. There are some nuances with the CI and PMM roles that make it more relatable and resonant when you hear it from people in those roles vs. general marketers, sellers, product managers, etc. That's where I see the majority of people connecting with one another and experiencing the real value of community.

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Something we see many brands miss on each year--December SMS revenue should beat November's results. Here's the story: Last year, the average brand sending 15%-20% more texts in December (than November) matched or exceeded their November revenue. Meanwhile brands that sent fewer texts MoM saw an average 43% decline in channel revenue. So yes, efficiency does come down after BFCM. It becomes a volume play. However, there's still meaningful revenue opportunity on the channel. The key is to keep your send volume up. So, what should you send? Here's a quick list of some ideas: -Twelve days of Christmas -Gift guides -Shipping deadline reminders -VIP only sale event -Last minute gift card push -Personal message from the brand founder Lots of opportunity even after BFCM! Maximize December, folks.

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Here’s a cool thing I’ve noticed: Nearly all our customers who come to us come because they want to #MakeBuyingSimple. They realize there’s something more fundamental that needs to change in today’s B2B buying experience. And it’s not something as trivial as lead gen or demand gen or growth hacks or some conversion tactic. At the end of the day, it’s people, not companies who are coming to buy your software and product.

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Special feature post in The GTM Newsletter today: Kyle Poyar broke down 10 “PLG plays” that every company should implement - even if they’re *NOT PLG*. Kyle consistently shares exceptional content around PLG, growth and pricing. It was a ton of fun collaborating and seeing his breakdown. The first point is an interactive demo on the website. The fourth point is to leverage product data to drive customer outcomes. This fourth point I found particularly interesting. The CRM is the "source of truth" for go-to-market teams, but often lacks product analytics to provide customer behavior understanding from in-product activities without human or sales rep involvement. But in reality, even non-PLG companies can use this data to assess customer health and tailor sales conversations. I'll drop the link to the details on these 10, including examples and screenshots 👇 -- The GTM Newsletter is a weekly newsletter by GTMfund's media brand, GTMnow, that goes out to over 50k revenue leaders who are scaling their companies and careers. If you aren't already subscribed, you can do so through the Substack post in the comments.

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MarTech Vendors: A client is underutilizing your tech and thinks they need new tools (aka Not You) to solve their problems. What do you do? I touched on this topic in a recent chat with a Marketing VP at $500M Food CPG. He shared that his top goal for the year was to streamline their tech stack. I paused. “Didn’t you just tell me you could never have enough tech?” “Okay – let me rephrase,” he laughed. “It’s not about needing more technology. It’s about expanding use cases and streamlining the tech that we already have.” In other words, he knows the core issue is that they’re underutilizing their current tech. Here are the 4 Vendors he’s hit roadblocks with: //1 CDP An effective CDP is critical to his 2024 goals for better targeting and optimization across Google and Meta. They recently moved to a new CDP. But he’s still not happy, rating it 6/10. “While it holds potential,” he says, “we need more proactive support to fully leverage it.” He also dislikes: - Hidden use-based costs - Surprise implementation challenges //2 ESP and SMS He gave this vendor an 8/10 for exceptional support, deliverability, and workflow management. The issue: His team. They lack the time or resources to fully utilize it. But if they could, he knows it will bring immense value. //3 Identity Resolution “We have a substantial internal database of subscribers.” The problem: “We’re not fully leveraging it. And the match rate on Google and Meta isn’t ideal.” But because personalization is a top priority, he’s keen on an identity resolution tool that will enable him to create tailored Meta and Google campaigns. //4 Email retargeting, email capture, & on-site promotions His main issue: it wasn’t effectively integrated to support their unique needs. Customer service's response times were okay, but it was still a headache when his team needed immediate support for blockers or pop-ups. The integration issues and lack of proactive support have left him feeling like they’re not using this vendor to its full potential. ___ Vendors — A client’s ability to leverage your tech isn’t always in your control… But it will always have an impact on your bottom line. Which is either your problem or your opportunity, depending on how you look at it. If this was your client, what would be your first step to retain their business?

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GARM has been unceremoniously shut down. MOAT is no more. Contextual advertising is in flux. The concept of Brand Safety as we know it seems to be at a reckoning point. It's time to reassess what we mean by 'Brand Safety', and ask what the future holds for the concept. The industry wants to hear your views on what’s next for Brand Safety. https://lnkd.in/e2zm33_Z

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Instacart not having negative keywords as an option is the best example of what "machine learning" actually costs brands to support. The best solution I've found? Take their auto applied keywords and make their bid the lowest possible (30 cents). I built a really solid ads structure supporting each of our Target sku's and woke up to us bidding on "Ben and Jerry's" as a "optimized auto applied suggesition" for our Vanilla Ice Cream Whey. Gee, I wonder what sophisticated dev team decided "auto bid on product title". Yeah, in the world of CPG there could neeevvverrr be issues with that. Who leads this team and how much do you make. (Hint: too much). Happy Friday to everyone except overpaid leadership that don't actually understand what they're building and get paid boat loads of money for it.

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$1,000 says your Meta agency is NOT doing this. And you can’t make good decisions w/o it.   If your in-platform reporting isn’t breaking out reports these two ways, it’s useless. 1. By funnel 2. By audience type   Without, it’s not targeted enough to inform. You won’t know where to focus.   Funnel ➡️ ✅ Views ✅ Adds to carts ✅ Starts checkout ✅ Purchases *You could add other events, too *These can be adapted for non-ecom, too   Audience Type ➡️ ✅ New: cold traffic ✅ Engaged: warm traffic ✅ Existing: current customers   A blended ROAS of 4.3 is misleading…here’s what’s really happening: - New: 2.4 ROAS - Engaged: 6.2 ROAS - Existing: current customers 12.1 ROAS   A blended CAC of 80 is misleading…here’s what’s really happening: - New: $140 CAC - Engaged: $56 CAC - Existing: $28 CAC   Want to improve ROAS, CAC, etc.? - Review the funnel - Compare to benchmarks - Find the most broken steps   TLDR: ❌ Meta’s standard reporting is a joke ❌ It’s only good for clouding judgement ✅ Better reporting = better decisions 👊

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as a marketer - I learn alot from sales / GTM podcasts. Here's a great example - Rippling CRO with Sam Blond (ex CRO Brex / Founders Fund) Marketing budget contributes to outbound 50%(!!!) of their pipeline comes from cold calling (not emails) How they moved from selling to HR (core product) to IT / Finance as they added more SKUs Why they moved from CSMs to Account Managers Great convo > https://lnkd.in/etiuFqfN

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Retail Media is passive income. When you hire us to do it. :) Kidding, been in all seriousness. It is probably the most MEASURABLE velocity tool. It is probably the most FLEXIBLE velocity tool. Here’s your go-to retail media platform list: -Kroger: 8451 -Ulta: UB Media -Target: Roundel -Costco: Costco Media -Best Buy: Best Buy Ads -Most Grocery: Instacart -Convenience: DoorDash -CVS: CVS Media Xchange -Walmart: Walmart Connect -Macy’s: Macy’s Media Network -Dollar Tree: Chesapeake Media -Sam’s Club: Sam’s Member Access -Home Depot: Home Depot Ad Center -Ahold (Food Lion, etal): AD Retail Media -Albertsons: Albertsons Media Collective -Walgreens: Walgreens Advertising Group -Chew.com: Chewy Retail Media (dotcom bonus) Citrus and Criteo can give you access to almost any other major retailers. There you have it. There’s your cheat sheet. Now, if you want it to be passive income… Or you want it to be passive velocity… Hit me up. :) ——— 🔹 We grow brands on Amazon. 🔹 We grow brands in Whole Foods, Walmart, Target, CVS, Macy’s, Instacart, etc. #ecommerce #retailmedia #retailmedianetworks #cpg #cpgbrands #retailstrategy #founderlife #instacart #ShopperMarketing #walmart #wholefoods

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