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Lenny's Podcast / episode intelligence

Mastering paid growth | Jonathan Becker (Thrive Digital)

7 May 2023 27 published claims 2 attributable people

Speakers in the public record

Claim mix

belief 12evaluation 6recommendation 4uncertainty 2observation 1commitment 1prediction 1

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Every row below preserves an exact excerpt. Identified speakers are linked; unresolved voices are labeled and excluded from people counts.

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The useful parts, with receipts.

27 published records

01 / recommendation

Recommends Storyworthy. Recommends Shoe Dog. Recommends American Kingpin.

“As a marketer, Storyworthy by Matthew Dicks is a wonderful book. He is a world world-class storyteller. I don't know if you know him. He wrote this book about how to structure and think about the art of storytelling and every marketer should read Storyworthy. It was a huge contributor to how I think about what we do at Thrive. As an entrepreneur, I love startup stories, so Shoe Dog, which is the startup story of Nike. It's basically Phil Knight talking about all the ups and downs, and it's crazy. Nike shouldn't be a company based on all the turmoil and challenges that they overcame. Fascinating read about taking risk and doing what you think is right and ultimately succeeding and building Nike. Then a book by Nick Bilton called American Kingpin, which is the story of the startup of the Silk Road, which was like this dark web marketplace for some pretty bad stuff. But it is half tech story, startup story and half gangster kind of kingpin story. It honestly should be a Hollywood movie. It reads like a Hollywood thriller. So awesome, great book.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

04 / observation

You have to essentially correlate that. And the reason is because when you build clusters of content and it's grouped thematically and you're targeting buckets of keywords, whether they're long tail or head keywords, whatever it may be, you can publish all of that on your website.

“You have to essentially correlate that. And the reason is because when you build clusters of content and it's grouped thematically and you're targeting buckets of keywords, whether they're long tail or head keywords, whatever it may be, you can publish all of that on your website.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

05 / belief

I think that everything else, the main problem here is that nobody should expect an overnight turnaround with performance marketing. It is a very difficult channel to manage, and that's why people hire experts like us to help them with it because it's a never ending problem with constantly changing issues.

“I think that everything else, the main problem here is that nobody should expect an overnight turnaround with performance marketing. It is a very difficult channel to manage, and that's why people hire experts like us to help them with it because it's a never ending problem with constantly changing issues.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

06 / uncertainty

We don't know what people are going to create with this and so it's difficult for the generation that knew what life was like beforehand, before iPhone, before internet, before AI, but there will be people who know nothing but this eventually, and to them it'll just be normal.

“We don't know what people are going to create with this and so it's difficult for the generation that knew what life was like beforehand, before iPhone, before internet, before AI, but there will be people who know nothing but this eventually, and to them it'll just be normal.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

07 / belief

The more leads I have, the more marketing qualified leads I'll get, the more sales accepted leads get, and ultimately the more opportunities there will be and the more revenue will generate. And so if I think about this world of lead generation on performance marketing platforms as a function of cost per lead in that sense that I just described, then the tendency is always to want to drive down the cost per lead, thinking that that's the efficiency, I can get more cheaper leads and that will yield more revenue.

“The more leads I have, the more marketing qualified leads I'll get, the more sales accepted leads get, and ultimately the more opportunities there will be and the more revenue will generate. And so if I think about this world of lead generation on performance marketing platforms as a function of cost per lead in that sense that I just described, then the tendency is always to want to drive down the cost per lead, thinking that that's the efficiency, I can get more cheaper leads and that will yield more revenue.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

08 / belief

We get asked this a lot and I think there are tools for different types of functions that we undertake in the process of running paid acquisition for different brands, but these days most of the testing that we do is within the channels themselves. So Meta ads, Google Ads, I keep touching on those two specifically because they're the most advanced in my opinion.

“We get asked this a lot and I think there are tools for different types of functions that we undertake in the process of running paid acquisition for different brands, but these days most of the testing that we do is within the channels themselves. So Meta ads, Google Ads, I keep touching on those two specifically because they're the most advanced in my opinion.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

09 / belief

I'm standing here because you are looking for a marketing partner and you need expertise in this area and instead of telling you the answers to the questions that you asked, I'm going to tell you what I think you need to do to get where you want to go and if you agree with me and my logic and what I talk to you about here today, then you should hire us.

“I'm standing here because you are looking for a marketing partner and you need expertise in this area and instead of telling you the answers to the questions that you asked, I'm going to tell you what I think you need to do to get where you want to go and if you agree with me and my logic and what I talk to you about here today, then you should hire us.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

10 / belief

I think again, if the intention is to grow out a growth marketing capability, which again is not exclusive to performance marketing, then you're looking for a manager role of growth marketing manager.

“I think again, if the intention is to grow out a growth marketing capability, which again is not exclusive to performance marketing, then you're looking for a manager role of growth marketing manager.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

14 / belief

Getting even more tactical with that idea of testing a bunch of creatives makes me think about a story from chatting with a guy from Wish who's had a growth at Wish about how they uploaded hundreds of variations. And I think Wish is the epitome of the opposite of brand highly polished ads or it's just the most ridiculous looking product with just banners and numbers and prices and crossouts and all kinds of stuff, just anything that would take to get people to click.

“Getting even more tactical with that idea of testing a bunch of creatives makes me think about a story from chatting with a guy from Wish who's had a growth at Wish about how they uploaded hundreds of variations. And I think Wish is the epitome of the opposite of brand highly polished ads or it's just the most ridiculous looking product with just banners and numbers and prices and crossouts and all kinds of stuff, just anything that would take to get people to click.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

15 / belief

Then I became a web developer and as I transitioned into a performance marketing role, I realized that being technical and having technical aptitudes was extraordinarily helpful in terms of being on the front line of what we were doing and solving problems.

“Then I became a web developer and as I transitioned into a performance marketing role, I realized that being technical and having technical aptitudes was extraordinarily helpful in terms of being on the front line of what we were doing and solving problems.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

18 / recommendation

In situations where someone is well-meaning but may not understand what they need, be brave and tell them what they need rather than just conforming to what they're asking for because sometimes inadvertently that leads you down the wrong path.

“In situations where someone is well-meaning but may not understand what they need, be brave and tell them what they need rather than just conforming to what they're asking for because sometimes inadvertently that leads you down the wrong path.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

19 / evaluation

" And so what you see as a result of that is less of the core data that Facebook in particular would've required to make attribution more airtight and ultimately validate its advertising. So because we can no longer validate attribution on Facebook as seamlessly, we are in a situation where we're not sure any longer which audiences to target, and we're not sure how to run all of our creative testing, and ultimately we can't even determine the degree of revenue that's coming from particular campaigns that we've launched, and whatnot.

“" And so what you see as a result of that is less of the core data that Facebook in particular would've required to make attribution more airtight and ultimately validate its advertising. So because we can no longer validate attribution on Facebook as seamlessly, we are in a situation where we're not sure any longer which audiences to target, and we're not sure how to run all of our creative testing, and ultimately we can't even determine the degree of revenue that's coming from particular campaigns that we've launched, and whatnot.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

20 / commitment

I am essentially looking at my business model, determining what my goals are, and then I'm backing out into an attribution methodology that I think adheres to both the economics of my business and the capabilities of these platforms.

“I am essentially looking at my business model, determining what my goals are, and then I'm backing out into an attribution methodology that I think adheres to both the economics of my business and the capabilities of these platforms.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

21 / evaluation

I'm not going to really be able to point to this company is really getting it right and I think that you can do that, but it's like saying, a friend of mine who recently on Twitter tweeted this funny thing where he was like, this is the number that I used to win the lottery said every successful founder ever trying to give advice to other founders.

“I'm not going to really be able to point to this company is really getting it right and I think that you can do that, but it's like saying, a friend of mine who recently on Twitter tweeted this funny thing where he was like, this is the number that I used to win the lottery said every successful founder ever trying to give advice to other founders.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

23 / recommendation

When I think about all of the marketing mix, so email, direct mail, linear television, performance, marketing, whatever it is, I think about it as investing capital with the expectation of a return. And in the same manner that I would not take all of your life savings and dump it into a single stock, I don't recommend putting all of your money into a single performance marketing channel, and then somewhat exposing you to the volatility of fluctuating CPCs or changing market conditions.

“When I think about all of the marketing mix, so email, direct mail, linear television, performance, marketing, whatever it is, I think about it as investing capital with the expectation of a return. And in the same manner that I would not take all of your life savings and dump it into a single stock, I don't recommend putting all of your money into a single performance marketing channel, and then somewhat exposing you to the volatility of fluctuating CPCs or changing market conditions.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

24 / evaluation

There have been plenty of incredibly sophisticated attribution models that we've helped build and invalidated with MMM or other types of tools that have indicated that the campaigns do not work. So I will repeat that, we, a very sophisticated organization, have stood up campaigns that we measure and ultimately determine do not work, and that is an important finding in terms of an organization's determination of whether they want to continually invest, take budget out of these channels, or invest into other areas.

“There have been plenty of incredibly sophisticated attribution models that we've helped build and invalidated with MMM or other types of tools that have indicated that the campaigns do not work. So I will repeat that, we, a very sophisticated organization, have stood up campaigns that we measure and ultimately determine do not work, and that is an important finding in terms of an organization's determination of whether they want to continually invest, take budget out of these channels, or invest into other areas.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

25 / evaluation

When I think about an experience that I want a consumer to have on Facebook, audience targeting and creative, I think about us beginning a conversation at the top of funnel creatively with an audience, having that conversation change as we say different things, and the audience that we're targeting ultimately graduates through different behaviors on our website from one to another, and then ultimately it resulting in an end to the conversation where they take an action hopefully that the brand that we're working with is looking for.

“When I think about an experience that I want a consumer to have on Facebook, audience targeting and creative, I think about us beginning a conversation at the top of funnel creatively with an audience, having that conversation change as we say different things, and the audience that we're targeting ultimately graduates through different behaviors on our website from one to another, and then ultimately it resulting in an end to the conversation where they take an action hopefully that the brand that we're working with is looking for.”
Speaker
Jonathan Becker
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast

27 / evaluation

I think Grammarly, they're just super efficient as a business. And then I think Analytic Greens, they're a sponsor and their negotiations for sponsoring is just like, okay, here's the number that makes sense for them financially, and they're not going to go anywhere above that.

“I think Grammarly, they're just super efficient as a business. And then I think Analytic Greens, they're a sponsor and their negotiations for sponsoring is just like, okay, here's the number that makes sense for them financially, and they're not going to go anywhere above that.”
Speaker
Lenny Rachitsky
Publisher
Lenny's Podcast
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