INBOUND 2015

1. INBOUND15
Forget Hacks:
An Actual Growth
Playbook For Content
Anum Hussain
Senior Growth Marketer, HubSpot

2. Hi, I’m @anum.
I love telling stories,
pretending I’m Beyoncé,
and sipping chai tea.

3. HEADS UP!
Deck Available:
ANUMHUSSAIN.COM/PRESENTATIONS/B2C2B-CONTENT-STRATEGY
@anum | #INBOUND15

4. So sit back,
relax, and
tweet your
heart out.
@anum | #INBOUND15

5. The business world calls my passion
for storytelling content marketing.
@anum | #INBOUND15

6. This content marketing takes a
different form and strategy
depending on your business type.
@anum | #INBOUND15

7. This content marketing takes a
different form and strategy
depending on your business type.
B2B
B2C
(BUSINESS-
TO-BUSINESS)
(BUSINESS-TO-
CONSUMER)
@anum | #INBOUND15

8. vsB2B
B2C
“A good B2B content strategy often
boils down to simply being the most
insightful source of information on
the work you do.”
BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS
BUSINESS-TO-CONSUMER
“B2C content marketing is often
focused on the topics consumers care
about; good B2C content marketing
aims to entertain.”
DEFINITIONS FROM CONTENTLY.COM/STRATEGIST

9. But here’s the problem. I don’t work for
a B2B or B2C product.
@anum | #INBOUND15

10. But here’s the problem. I don’t work for
a B2B or B2C product.
WHAAAT?
@anum | #INBOUND15

11. This is Sidekick.
It tracks your emails
and surfaces helpful
contact information,
right in your inbox.

12. This is Sidekick.
It tracks your emails
and surfaces helpful
contact information,
right in your inbox.
Our approach to
growing users?
B2C2B.

13. B2C2B
business-to-consumer-to-business
“ winning hearts and minds of the intermediate
consumer, the employees of a company.”
TOMASZ TUNGUZ, VC
@anum | #INBOUND15

14. VISUAL ADAPTED FROM TOMTUNGUZ.COM/B2C2B/
How B2C2B Works

15. user
acquisition
• self sign
up
• virality
• content
VISUAL ADAPTED FROM TOMTUNGUZ.COM/B2C2B/
How B2C2B Works

16. user
acquisition
• self sign
up
• virality
• content
VISUAL ADAPTED FROM TOMTUNGUZ.COM/B2C2B/
How B2C2B Works
acquire
individuals

17. user
acquisition
• self sign
up
• virality
• content
acquire
individuals
acquire
teams
VISUAL ADAPTED FROM TOMTUNGUZ.COM/B2C2B/
How B2C2B Works

18. user
acquisition
• self sign
up
• virality
• content
acquire
individuals
acquire
teams
VISUAL ADAPTED FROM TOMTUNGUZ.COM/B2C2B/
How B2C2B Works
acquire
company

19. user
acquisition
• self sign
up
• virality
• content
acquire
individuals
acquire
teams
acquire
company
(what we’ll be
addressing)
VISUAL ADAPTED FROM TOMTUNGUZ.COM/B2C2B/
How B2C2B Works

20. Here’s Sidekick again.
We’re not promoting
Sidekick to businesses.
We’re promoting it to
individuals - for free.

21. Here’s Sidekick again.
We’re not promoting
Sidekick to businesses.
We’re promoting it to
individuals - for free.
These free users
ultimately influence
paying companies.

22. The B2C2B movement is a core ingredient to the
growing success of Sidekick’s freemium model –
and of other players you may know.
@anum | #INBOUND15

23. But … how do we
employ a B2C2B
content strategy in
this new framework?
B2B
B2C
B2C2B

24. B2C2B Content Strategy
Google Search
I’m Feeling Lucky

25. B2C2B Content Strategy
Google Search
I’m Feeling Lucky
stupid

26. B2C2B Content Strategy
Uhhh, idk, first time someone asked.
Here’s some information about B2C2B strategy overall, but no news on
content specifically yet.
Well, that, and I hardly know what I’m writing about. B2C2B is kind of
a weird acronym too, don’t you think?
Puppies!
SaaS founder claims he’ll pay $50,000 to whoever names their first
pet puppy “B2C2B.”
I think I know something helpful.
Crud, we don’t even have
any ads to display for this
search query yet.
Here’s a totally irrelevant
advertisement instead –
props to whoever
selected this keyword ad
group.

27. Okay, that was not helpful.
@anum | #INBOUND15

28. Here’s how we’re (learning) to tackle a
B2C2B Content Strategy for Sidekick.

29. Here’s how we’re (learning) to tackle a
B2C2B Content Strategy for Sidekick.
1. Commit to a highly experimental process.
PRINCIPLES ADAPTED FROM COELEVATE.COM/GROWTH-TEAM/

30. Here’s how we’re (learning) to tackle a
B2C2B Content Strategy for Sidekick.
1. Commit to a highly experimental process.
2. Seek excellence through authentic growth.
PRINCIPLES ADAPTED FROM COELEVATE.COM/GROWTH-TEAM/

31. Here’s how we’re (learning) to tackle a
B2C2B Content Strategy for Sidekick.
1. Commit to a highly experimental process.
2. Seek excellence through authentic growth.
3. Allow data to inform intelligent decisions.
PRINCIPLES ADAPTED FROM COELEVATE.COM/GROWTH-TEAM/

32. Here’s how we’re (learning) to tackle a
B2C2B Content Strategy for Sidekick.
1. Commit to a highly experimental process.
2. Seek excellence through authentic growth.
3. Allow data to inform intelligent decisions.
4. Use technology to drive success at scale.
PRINCIPLES ADAPTED FROM COELEVATE.COM/GROWTH-TEAM/

33. @anum | #INBOUND15
1COMMIT TO A HIGHLY
EXPERIMENTAL PROCESS.

34. In the world of fashion, one concept
drives me bonkers.
@anum | #INBOUND15

35. In the world of fashion, one concept
drives me bonkers.
ONE SIZE FITS ALL
@anum | #INBOUND15

36. One-size-fits-all is to fashion what
best practices are to content:

37. One-size-fits-all is to fashion what
best practices are to content:
A bunch of BS.

38. While best practices can inspire us,
every decision we make should stem
from an experiment.
@anum | #INBOUND15

39. In Summer 2014, we used this guiding
principle to test the following:
BUSINESS
BLOG
LINKEDIN
PULSE
GATED
EBOOKS
SLIDESHARE
DECKS
SEO WEB
PAGES
@anum | #INBOUND15

40. In Summer 2014, we used this guiding
principle to test the following:
BUSINESS
BLOG
LINKEDIN
PULSE
GATED
EBOOKS
SLIDESHARE
DECKS
SEO WEB
PAGES
(let’s use this as an example)
@anum | #INBOUND15

41. To understand if LinkedIn Pulse can become a scalable channel for driving
activated users for Sidekick.

42. To understand if LinkedIn Pulse can become a scalable channel for driving
activated users for Sidekick.
Based on what we could gather, if this experiment is successful, we predict
it would add 201 new activated users because -
*31,000 views x 0.65% conversion rate = 201 activated users.
*31,000 views = avg # of views a post from influencer program
.65% = rough avg %of people who activate after reading getsidekick.com/blog

43. Since there was little understanding of this channel, we tested with an
efficient, low investment way to garner some data about ROI. Since it was
only available for individual users (not brands) our experiment involved
republishing previously successful content under Mark Roberge’s profile
with the following tactics:
1 text-based CTA at end of
post
2 intro copy linking back to
sidekick blog
3 click-to-tweet links
4 landing-page style post
5 hyperlink images
6 image/button CTAs

44. Post
Strategy
Views
Likes
Comments
Social
Clicks
1
Startup Struggle: Who Should Your
First Sales Hire Be
Poses question to spark
conversations in comments.
2,297 45 50 457 19
2
A Busy Executives Guide to Actually
Using Social Media
Targets executive audience. 1,371 19 4 144 41
3
How We Promote Reps to Managers Target career-focused topic. 1,247 18 8 251 26
4
How To Avoid Sending “Just
Checking-In” Follow Up Emails
Republish to see if we can
get as much traffic.
5,019 66 10 635 45
5
15 Must-Read Quotes From 3 Top
Sales Books
Use quotes feature and drive
traffic to our gated content.
4,561 58 12 416 196
6
Help! My Sales Team Thinks Out
Inbound Leads Suck
Focus in on the inbound
sales/marketing audience.
1,266 42 6 225 48
7
BDR Managers: Here’s A New Way To
Get Promoted
Heavy product call-out to
drive more activation.
508 8 1 21 16
8
Is Mass Email Marketing Dead? Includes strong SlideShare. 575 1 1 34 1
9
Your Chance To Hear Malcolm
Gladwell Speak
Short, to-the-point. Basically
created like a Landing Page.
308 6 0 0 19
10
7 Quick Quotes That Make Economics
Interesting Again
Completely non-sales and
used quotable tweet.
265 4 0 32 23

45. ** We also generated 17 new blog subscribers.
# views
across posts
clickthrough
rate
clicks to
site
clicks-to-new-
contacts rate
new
contacts
activated
CTR
activated
users
18,099 2.4% 434 24% 104 20.2% 21

46. Currently, LinkedIn Publishing has not shown enough positive viability as a
core content channel for Sidekick.
With limited resources, we get better ROI on our time other channels. We
may use LinkedIn to help support other goals - such as getting an offer
more attention or recycling some content.

47. Of course, we still had 4 other channels
to experiment with. So what do we do?
BUSINESS
BLOG
LINKEDIN
PULSE
GATED
EBOOKS
SLIDESHARE
DECKS
SEO WEB
PAGES
@anum | #INBOUND15

48. We rinse and repeat
our testing flow for
every channel.

49. Avoid blindly following best practices and focus
instead on uncovering what works best for your
own audience.
PRINCIPLE REVIEW:
Commit to a highly experimental process.
@anum | #INBOUND15

50. @anum | #INBOUND15
2SEEK EXCELLENCE THROUGH
AUTHENTIC GROWTH.

51. Most growth teams seek authentic
growth through active usage.
@anum | #INBOUND15

52. Most growth teams seek authentic
growth through active usage.
DAU:
DAILY ACTIVE USER
unique amount of
users who are
"active" within a
day.
WAU:
WEEKLY ACTIVE USER
unique amount of
users who are
"active" within a
week.
MAU:
MONTHLY ACTIVE USER
unique amount of
users who are
"active" within a
month.

53. We measure Sidekick
in WAUs.
We use a set of criteria
that shows if users are
getting value from our
product every week.
That core metric helps
us monitor the success
of our B2C2B growth.

54. To support this authentic growth, we
set on a mission to turn content into
a meaningful revenue channel.

55. Fortunately for B2B content teams, this
path to revenue is clear – fuel inbound
lead generation.
visitors leads customers
@anum | #INBOUND15

56. But … what if you don’t have a big sales
team focused on nurturing these leads?
@anum | #INBOUND15

57. user
acquisition
acquire
individuals
acquire
teams
acquire
companies
Let’s revisit that
B2C2B funnel.

58. user
acquisition
acquire
individuals
acquire
teams
acquire
companies
This is where content play its
role in driving new users.

59. user
acquisition
acquire
individuals
acquire
teams
acquire
companies
This is where sales turns those active
users into paying customers.

60. There is no stage where sales tries to
convert content leads into free users –

61. There is no stage where sales tries to
convert content leads into free users –
they focus on turning free users into
paying customers.

62. Mark Roberge calls this “adopt before
you buy.”
“Our sales reps aren’t calling up leads; we rely on our
growth marketing channels to bring in new, free users.
Our sales team then takes a targeted cohort of that free
user base and explains how they can unlock even more
value by upgrading to a paid tier. The people we talk to
have already adopted our product, our ‘sales
conversation’ is simply a matter of buying more usage.”
@markroberge
HUBSPOT CRO

63. So, if content leads are not the input to
revenue in a B2C2B content strategy …
how do we build this meaningful
revenue channel?

64. We applied the same authentic metric
behind product growth …
MAU:
MONTHLY ACTIVE USER

65. We applied the same authentic metric
behind product growth … to content.
MAU:
MONTHLY ACTIVE USER
MAS:
MONTHLY ACTIVE SUBSCRIBER

66. MONTHLY ACTIVE SUBSCRIBER:
noun
1 an individual subscribed to content and clicking
through on that content through emails
2 definition used by Sidekick content team to monitor
authentic audience growth

67. 11,870
12,698 12,489 12,990 12,495
14,217 13,675 13,176 13,616
16,794
19,159
20,697 20,636
24,108 23,906
24,967
While we aim to rapidly grow our email
list, we focus more on how many
subscribers are actively engaged.

68. Looking purely at “views” can fog our
vision. Measuring active engagement
allows us to assess our content’s true
effectiveness.

69. It’s far too easy to get caught up in vanity metrics
– push you or your team to pursue meaningful
metrics for authentic growth.
PRINCIPLE REVIEW:
Seek excellence through authentic growth.
@anum | #INBOUND15

70. @anum | #INBOUND15
3ALLOW DATA TO INFORM
INTELLIGENT DECISIONS.

71. When experimenting with our own
content process, I grew obsessed with
HelpScout resources.
@anum | #INBOUND15

72. Each resource is a thorough, ungated,
web page guide.
@anum | #INBOUND15

73. Each resource is a thorough, ungated,
web page guide. This one particularly
caught my attention.
@anum | #INBOUND15

74. Customer Acquisition
Google Search
I’m Feeling Lucky

75. Customer Acquisition
In addressing an entrepreneur's most important early-stage question –
customer acquisition – it's easy to waste a lot of money in the wrong
channels, especially ...
Customer acquisition management - Wikipedia
Customer acquisition management is the set of methodologies and
systems to manage customer prospects and inquiries generated by a
variety of marketing techniques.
Customer Acquisition Strategy for Startups
www.helpscout.net/customer-acquisition/
https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Customer_acquisition_management

76. Customer Acquisition
Customer acquisition management - Wikipedia
Customer acquisition management is the set of methodologies and
systems to manage customer prospects and inquiries generated by a
variety of marketing techniques.
https://en.wikipedia.org/.../Customer_acquisition_management
In addressing an entrepreneur's most important early-stage question –
customer acquisition – it's easy to waste a lot of money in the wrong
channels, especially ...
Customer Acquisition Strategy for Startups
www.helpscout.net/customer-acquisition/
The HelpScout
guide ranks
ABOVE
Wikipedia.

77. This performance inspired our own
SEO strategy.

78. We began creating comprehensive,
search optimized guides.
EMAIL
ETIQUETTE
GUIDE
FOLLOW
UP EMAIL
GUIDE
EMAIL
TRACKING
GUIDE
@anum | #INBOUND15

79. After launching six new site pages, we
began averaging 10%+ organic traffic
growth W/W.

80. After launching six new site pages, we
began averaging 10%+ organic traffic
growth W/W.
Better yet, as organic traffic continues compounding,
it’s essentially doubling every ~6 weeks.

81. Boom! Organic traffic is going up and to
the right – time to celebrate?!

82. Not exactly. Rather
than moving on, we
dug into the data to
validate that this
growth was attributed
to our site pages.

83. This closer look revealed
that although organic traffic
was increasing … it was not
completely attributed to our
site pages.

84. This closer look revealed
that although organic traffic
was increasing … it was not
completely attributed to our
site pages. Instead we
learned a few things.

85. Learning 1:
Updating historical blog content with related site page
links helped increase organic traffic for the old blog
post as well as the new site page.

86. For example: We
published a post in 2014
that started with little
organic traffic.

87. Into early 2015, it saw a
few spikes in traffic.

88. When we launched a related site
page and linked the two together,
organic traffic spiked again.

89. But this time, traffic stayed
up and continues to grow.

90. Learning 2:
Organic traffic from site pages is growing at a faster
rate than organic traffic from blog posts.

91. While 132 blog posts continued to build
traffic, less than a dozen site pages were
catching up at a far faster rate.
(so clearly our site pages are contributing meaningfully.)

92. Learning 3:
Doubling down on the same topic across all content
(site pages + blog) is where maximum growth is
achieved.

93. Part of our site page brainstorming
involved looking for patterns of
success in historical blog content.

94. We then threaded together all the similar-
themed posts to build a comprehensive
site page.

95. So we now had a
comprehensive, designed,
SEO-optimized site page.
@anum | #INBOUND15

96. And a variety of posts on
the same subject.
So we now had a
comprehensive, designed,
SEO-optimized site page.
@anum | #INBOUND15

97. It turns out linking these posts to one
another showed topic authority.
@anum | #INBOUND15

98. In fact, the more links to related content we had
across our site, the better we ranked.
# LINKS
TOTALIMPRESSIONS

99. These findings further developed
our strategy:
Beyond SEO site pages, we
write about similar subjects
across all content channels &
link that content together to
show topical expertise.
@anum | #INBOUND15

100. Surface-level insights paint only half the picture.
Dig deeper and uncover learnings that can
continue developing your own content strategy.
PRINCIPLE REVIEW:
Allow data to inform intelligent decisions.
@anum | #INBOUND15

101. @anum | #INBOUND15
4USE TECHNOLOGY TO DRIVE
SUCCESS AT SCALE.

102. Meet Dan
Wolchonok,
Senior PM
for Sidekick.

103. Leading growth efforts
for our product, Dan
became obsessed with
user retention.

104. So his team launched 60 onboarding
experiments to figure out a new user
welcome flow that contributed to greater
retention.

105. They tested, reiterated, and tested again
until something clicked.

106. This got me thinking about current
content subscription models:
@anum | #INBOUND15

107. This got me thinking about current
content subscription models:
reader subscribes
@anum | #INBOUND15

108. This got me thinking about current
content subscription models:
reader subscribes
receives “subscription complete” email
@anum | #INBOUND15

109. This got me thinking about current
content subscription models:
reader subscribes
receives “subscription complete” email
receives next published post
@anum | #INBOUND15

110. … wait a minute.
If an optimized user onboarding flow
leads to longer user retention, wouldn’t
an optimized subscriber flow result in
a similar impact?
@anum | #INBOUND15

111. With excitement, I
launched our own
welcome email
experiments.
That one failed.

112. But we did eventually end up with new
content onboarding.
(and are still actively learning how to improve …)

113. READER
SUBSCRIBES
READER ENTERS
DRIP CAMPAIGN
READER RECEIVES
NEW POSTS

114. READER
SUBSCRIBES
READER ENTERS
DRIP CAMPAIGN
READER RECEIVES
NEW POSTS
Standard step. A
visitor on your
website fills out a
form to subscribe
to your content.

115. READER
SUBSCRIBES
READER ENTERS
DRIP CAMPAIGN
READER RECEIVES
NEW POSTS
Hypothesis: The higher the engagement with subscribers
early on, the longer they’ll retain as monthly active
subscribers.
Approach: New subscribers enter 4-week workflow that
sends them top performing posts.

116. READER
SUBSCRIBES
READER ENTERS
DRIP CAMPAIGN
READER RECEIVES
NEW POSTS
These workflow emails generate 2x the clickthrough
rate as our normal sends – an indication that first
impressions really count – and were a vital contributor of
our monthly active subscriber growth shown earlier.

117. READER
SUBSCRIBES
READER ENTERS
DRIP CAMPAIGN
READER RECEIVES
NEW POSTS
Once the workflow
is complete,
subscribers join our
email list to receive
new content as its
released.

118. READER
SUBSCRIBES
READER ENTERS
DRIP CAMPAIGN
READER RECEIVES
NEW POSTS
Of course, this onboarding flow uses
technology in it’s simplest form: setting up
smart drip campaigns.

119. LOOKING <
to
the FUTURE:
@anum | #INBOUND15

120. There’s a lot more technology
can do to take content to the
next level.
LOOKING <
to
the FUTURE:
@anum | #INBOUND15

121. The biggest opportunity? Personalization.
@anum | #INBOUND15

122. The biggest opportunity? Personalization.
No, not this kind.
(big deal, ya got my name right).
Hi ANUM,
@anum | #INBOUND15

123. Right now subscriber lists works like so:
@anum | #INBOUND15

124. Right now subscriber lists works like so:
EMAIL
SUBSCRIBER
LIST GROWS
@anum | #INBOUND15

125. Right now subscriber lists works like so:
EMAIL
SUBSCRIBER
LIST GROWS
ALL SUBSCRIBERS
RECEIVE THE
SAME POST.
@anum | #INBOUND15

126. Right now subscriber lists works like so:
EMAIL
SUBSCRIBER
LIST GROWS
SOME CLICK TO
READ, SOME
DON’T. THAT’S IT.
ALL SUBSCRIBERS
RECEIVE THE
SAME POST.
@anum | #INBOUND15

127. But there’s an issue at this first step:
@anum | #INBOUND15

128. But there’s an issue at this first step: All our
subscribers have unique interests.
@anum | #INBOUND15

129. This means they need content catered to
those unique attributes.
@anum | #INBOUND15

130. While recognizing those attributes have
even more niche interests.
@anum | #INBOUND15

131. To get there, we need to go beyond
automation and segmentation:

132. To get there, we need to go beyond
automation and segmentation:
We need technology that automatically
collects data that can help deliver content
in a massively personal flow.

133. That path may not
be invented, but we
envision it playing a
role in the next big
thing for content.

134. Until then, uncover what growth levers can
supercharge your content process into a well-
oiled machine of value.
PRINCIPLE REVIEW:
Use technology to drive success at scale.
@anum | #INBOUND15

135. Our B2C2B Content Strategy is in
motion, but never set-in-stone. We test,
fail, learn, and grow everyday.
@anum | #INBOUND15

136. And these four principles help keep that
cycle in check:
1. Commit to a highly experimental process.
2. Seek excellence through authentic growth.
3. Allow data to inform intelligent decisions.
4. Use technology to drive success at scale.
PRINCIPLES ADAPTED FROM COELEVATE.COM/GROWTH-TEAM/

137. Holla to the growth & content hustlers
who inspired different bits of this deck.
Hiten Shah
Ivana Flodr
Brian Balfour

138. Thank You.
Deck Available:
ANUMHUSSAIN.COM/
PRESENTATIONS/B2C2B-
CONTENT-STRATEGY
@anum | #INBOUND15