Growth Division

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CMO and responsible for marketing, sales, digital initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division, and what were your goals?

We rebranded and relaunched with GD as a central services provider for digital marketing.

SOLUTION

How did you select Growth Division and what were the deciding factors?

GD completed the design and build of our new website and were selected to continue due to their performance.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

GD supported our marketing strategy formation and then executed the elements including; SEM, SEO, LinkedIn, website amendments and content marketing. They've also helped with various experiments and trials of different tools and approaches.

How many resources from the Growth Division team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We have an excellent account manager who is supported by some great subject matter experts. In all we've worked with 6 or 7 GD team members.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We're now number one on Google for our primary product! Our sales team recieve regular feedback on the quality and reach of our online pressence.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our GD account manager holds regular meetings and is always available for quick calls on specific issues and ideas. We work directly with the SMEs who are very responsive. The workflow is effective at all levels.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I like the personalized service and attention they pay us as a company.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Generating really creative content should be an area of focus as this is becoming increasingly important.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I lead growth at a 30-person startup which offers software to help remote / hybrid workforces to connect and build team culture

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division, and what were your goals?

• Experimenting with new growth channels
• Launching referrals, direct outreach, partnerships, managing PPC
• Goals: generate MQLs, sales demos, and ultimately close new business

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We spoke to a few different growth agencies and GD stood out immediately from the sales process, led by Tristan and Tom. They were thoughtful, attentive, and demonstrated expertise from the first meeting, helping to brainstorm growth channels based on the Bullseye framework.

They listened to all of our concerns and questions and had an informed perspective on each. We've worked with an agency previously who was completely unrealistic about what they could deliver, oversold us, and ultimately ended up underdelivering.

The GD team were realistic while also ambitious, skilled and experienced, and most importantly honest and transparent about where they thought they could add value. All of these ingredients were really important to us in making the decision of deciding to work with GD.

We wanted an extension of our team in a growth agency, and that's exactly what we found in GD.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

To kick off, we worked with our growth strategist, Tom Hurst who put together a comprehensive strategy of how we would go to market - complete with ICPs, messaging, and OKRs for each growth channel. It was immediately apparent that Tom was an expert in finding scalable channels to market for startups like ours and would be an asset to our team.

This has continued throughout the partnership and he continue to deliver novel insights, ideas for campaigns and channels to try, and introduce us to people on the GD team who might be able to support. Next, Michael Soselia and Jonny Hughes worked to set up our analytics and tracking, which was previously messily organized in Hubspot.

They were able to consolidate and simplify our tracking and enable much better conversion attribution via Google Tag Manager, untangling the mess that we had made previously, which set us up for success. Then we worked with Jon Cottrell and Alex Dawson, two growth experts in PPC and direct outreach, respectively.

We met with each of them and developed detailed strategies and plans for how to maximise the impact of each channel. Jon gave us brilliant advice on how to structure and target our ads for maximum impact, and rebuilt our entire Google ads account from scratch, with much better organisation and attribution, and optimised copy / CTAs. He regularly supported with requests for analytics on our keywords and ad performance, and stays ahead of any issues by regularly diving into our CPC, CTR and CAC data to allocate spend to campaigns that are performing best.

Alex created a cadence and sequence of direct outreach emails and messages to engage our audience. He had super sharp insights about which personas to target and how, and how to tailor our copy to get the maximum number of responses and meetings. He built high-quality lead lists and templates with for various response scenarios.

Once launched, he regularly listened to feedback and anticipated needs before we had them (e.g. running out of leads, chasing unresponsive contacts, etc.). Jadene Hendricks-Small on his team has gone above and beyond in supporting on our campaigns, responding to a large volume of messages and scheduling requests, and proactively following up with prospects that were unresponsive.

Everything is tracked meticulously in a dashboard that gives us full visibility on how our campaigns are performing far more detail than we would be able to collect and put into action on our own. Finally, Tom Hurst met with myself to devise a strategy for referral campaigns, researching various options and tools, and recommending and then implementing an active users and “friends of” campaign.

Despite limited product/technical resources that we could devote internally to this project, Tom was extremely resourceful in finding alternate tools and “80/20” ways we could create the same outcome much more quickly and with lower overhead. Once everything was setup after a few weeks, we launched all channels and started tracking results, checking in regularly on progress and performance.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Growth strategist, direct outreach expert, analytics and implementation team, PPC / Google ads expert

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Results so far (first 3 months from March - June): 100+ demo meetings booked from direct outreach (over 30 per month), thanks to Alex and Jae's excellent work 8% CTR on Google ads and low cost per conversion, with Jon's expertise on PPC 14 closed won new customers + 1 partnership to date

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Outstanding - our wonderful growth strategist Tom has been highly proactive and communicative - we have monthly reviews and regular calls in between to catch up on strategy and bounce around ideas. Through our shared Slack channel we are in communication almost daily and benefit enormously from the close-knit collaboration.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The breadth and depth of experience on their team - we've met and worked with probably 10+ of the GD team at this point and they are all top of their game in their respective fields. This means that they not only execute on our goals but also bring hugely valuable insights and perspectives to our campaigns, that we wouldn't have thought of.

This is a killer combo and means they add value at every turn. They're generous with their time and efforts, and treat their clients like they're a part of the family. One example is how Stephen Johnson, their LinkedIn expert, kindly offered an hour of time for free to help me set up LinkedIn ads from scratch on my own, despite me not "technically" being a client of his.

I learned more in that one hour than I could have in hours of self-learning. So thank you!!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Perhaps simplifying their pricing, as it can sometimes get confusing with each channel having a different cost structure, although I understand why they do! It would just be easier to budget if there were a fixed monthly fee per channel.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A tech for good platform that makes social impact work for modern business - by integrating donations into business activity as rewards for user action. As CEO at an early stage startup, my role includes our growth strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division, and what were your goals?

We were soft launching our platform and were looking to book in demos for early adopters. We were aiming to achieve 60 demos booked in 2 months from a 'standing start'.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We spoke to a number of agencies, from both a sales angle and marketing. We were looking for a partner that wanted to work on an experimental basis and could integrate easily into our ways of working.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

We initially spent time defining & scoping our Ideal Customer Profiles. We did a deep dive on their pain points, jobs to be done, our value propositions etc. Then our direct outreach expert mapped data sources where we can find these ICPs & determined an outreach plan.

Our direct outreach expert devised options for the copywriting for the outreach plan and we reviewed these with feedback cycles. The team then set the campaigns live, monitor and manage them, and pass us the leads once they are booked into demos!

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Growth Expert Direct Outreach Expert Landing Page Expert

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

It is still early stages, but Growth Division have exceeded their targets on 'demos booked' and have a strong pipeline looking forward. The leads have been good quality.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had a number of initial meetings to scope the work. We have direct communication channels with our experts via Slack connect. We have review meetings monthly.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They get startups. They understood the chaos that comes with small teams trying to do many jobs at once. They've simplified the work to focus on the most effective metrics and not fuss about pointless data.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We initially went in with a fairly clear approach that we wanted to achieve. I think we could have done more to consider how we could scale the service moving forward. But that's also on me for not thinking far enough ahead!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Head of Marketing for Weavr, the global leader in Plug-and-play finance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division, and what were your goals?

Weavr had launched its MVP and marketing resources were internally limited. We needed an agency to set up and test digital channels. Our goals were to experiment and evaluate the success of four initial channels: Paid Search, Paid Social, Direct Outreach, and Content marketing in terms of demand generation, and in the case of content - organic traffic.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were looking for an agency that had specific experience in helping Start and Scale-up businesses, and therefore fully understood the pace, budget limitations and start-up environments. Growth Division understood immediately where we were in our growth journey (MVP stage) and the importance of controlled but pacy channel experiments to help us learn and scale fast without breaking the bank. We also really liked their business model i.e. the ecosystem of channel experts.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

The scope of works included the initial set up of the relevant tools and tech that Weavr didn't yet have in place such as a CRM, Google AdWords, Tag Manager, Zapier, Dripify etc., a clear outline of stages involved in setting the channels up and optimising for success both in terms of MarTech and channel best practises. Post set-up clear KPIs were agreed for each channel, along with monthly experiments and ideas and work began!

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The MD, the Weavr project Manager and, when and where relevant, the Channel experts all worked with us to ensure nothing was missed and we were being given direct access to the right expert for the right task in hand.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We've learnt, optimised and built on all the channel experiments carried out to date, across each channel Growth Division manage for us - as a team. It's never been a case of 'oh it works great now', even with a channel campaigns success, the GD team are continuously looking to make the channels sing even better - it's a constant iteration environment which is in keeping with the Weavr culture and approach to all projects.

However, the experimental environment and the drive to improve does not mean that KPIs and targets fall by the way side. Monthly and quarterly KPIs are agreed upon and are tenaciously and religiously followed up on by our Growth Division project manager!

In terms of specific outcomes, Paid search has been particularly successful and has generated 5+ clients to date with a return on ad spend of over 35 x! Month on month the blog articles deliver above and beyond the brief, and often their expertise actually shapes and improves on the brief! They have set a high bar for content deliverables and have helped shape our storytelling which in turn has influenced our wider Weavr narrative.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. Communication is great - Growth Division experts work as an extension of our Marketing team, we use slack for day to day comms and Asana to keep track of the projects.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

In the initial months of our working relationship it was their deep understanding of a Start-up environment alongside the expertise across all the essential marketing channels. But now, 1 year+ down the line, it's the 'one team' dynamic that makes them unique.

They have done a phenomenal job of helping us explain the concept of our services in a meaningful way. It sounds incredibly cliche to say but it doesn't feel like a typical agency-client relationship, it feels like we're all Team Weavr.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Lead at a fintech company based in the UK that provides financial solutions for Africans living in the diaspora.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division?

We were looking to grow and create awareness about our services so that we could expand our reach and increase our user base. As a small team, we wanted to get experts who could help us launch an effective advertising campaign across different platforms and Growth division helped to manage our marketing efforts.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We spent some time trying to identify which company to go with and interviewed 3 eventually. Growth Division stood out as the best fit for us. based on our values, needs and budget.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Initially, we had meetings to establish what we wanted to do & how we were going to achieve this. We met with different experts for Facebook, Linkedin, Google etc and came up with a comprehensive plan that was broken down in different stages. After every stage, we had reviews and we set up new strategies to achieve our ultimate goal.

What was the team composition?

We worked closely with different members of the team and the entire process was managed by our Growth Strategist Stephen, which was great.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Before Growth Division, some of our digital platforms had ad blockers but this was resolved. We managed to run several ads on different digital platforms. We also had ads running on London buses ad tube stations which was exciting for us as a startup. This paid off! Awareness grew about our service and our number of active users increased while staying true to our brand.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We had weekly meetings with the Growth Strategist and sometimes with different experts depending on the ads we were running. In these meetings we would go over the progress from the week before and get answers to any questions we had. The entire team linked to us was also available on slack for any communication during the week. Our team always felt part of the process

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I really appreciated their dedication to get things set up. We had a lot of challenges with pre existing blockers on our ad pages but they took their time to follow up and get the needle moving. Stephen has been very consistent and open to our ideas during the entire process, so we felt included all the way.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

We should probably have decided to move faster with some ideas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Breezy, a revolutionary new affiliate marketing tool that has the potential to transform how businesses pursue affiliate and partner marketing as a channel for growth. Starting off with the launch of the Discovery Tool, which would save affiliate marketers and business development execs hours per week on searching for prospective partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division, and what were your goals?

The Discovery Tool launched in July 2020 and Breezy were looking to sign up 100 Beta users to the product. On top of that Breezy needed to build out your sales and marketing stack that will automate the engagements with prospects and customers and systematize internal customer data management.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I was working with a trusted consulting for our CRM implementation and he recommended the team at Growth Division. He stated that they're startup experts and have a fantastic reputation amongst other founders. After speaking with Tom and Tristan, it was clear they would be perfect to support our beta launch and beyond.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

Below are the key deliverables from the work so far.

1) Created a growth marketing strategy for the product launch

2) Managed Linkedin, Email Marketing and Content Marketing channels

3) Outreached to 500+ contacts per month

4) Validated Affiliate Marketing Managers as the Ideal Customer Persona

5) Secured an average of 20+ leads per month through email and LinkedIn

6) Helped develop the product roadmap and lead the research for the contact enrichment and partnership development features.

7) Built a marketing technology stack including Reply.io, Freshworks CRM and 10+ other tools.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I've been lucky enough to work with the founder, Tom and Tristan. We've expanded our team and added resources with Growth Division as the results came in. We now work with Alex, a direct outreach specialist and Lucy, a content marketing expert.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Overall, I've been very happy with the results. They've continually hit the target and given me effective analysis. Some key stats... 40k+ Views Post views on LinkedIn in the first 5 months 20 Leads average per month over first 5 months 46% Open Rate across 2k recipients

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

It's great. We added them to our Slack channel and they respond very quickly. They also join our weekly team calls.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I think Growth Division's approach to marketing is fantastic. They work with experts to validate a channel, rather than hiring a team. This means I can work with the best freelance talent on a flexible basis to test a channel. If it doesn't work, I can stop and test another channel. I really like this approach.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Initially the reporting wasn't great and I had to check in with the team about results. Over time, they've improved this process and recently introduced Data Studio. This has helped a lot!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Marketing Manager of a small business that services the UK's top Housing Developers. We work with some of the biggest new build developers supporting them in providing the perfect handover solutions for their buyers. Producing either bespoke printed or digital materials for them to use to boost their customer services scores and give their buyers the best onboarding and continued journey into the ownership of a new build property.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division?

We were looking to implement an ABM plan for the top 75 developers whilst still marketing to all others. We looked at hiring Growth Division to help us implement the reporting and key activities to enable us to carry out a bespoke ABM plan for each company.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Growth on recommendation from another party, they happen to offer exactly what we were looking for.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We sent the first two months briefing, setting up reporting and processes and carrying out lots of research to enable us to carry out tasks with ease. Once this was compete we were able to start activities, testing and altering as needed.

What was the team composition?

I have been working closely with the team at Growth myself, alongside my Sales Manager and CEO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have seen a MOM increase in interest on our newsletters, we have generated interest in our business and products and gained a one lead so far that we now have a quote out for. We are improving on communication and methods of reporting monthly and using the team to brainstorm new ideas.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We have weekly and monthly meetings set up and use a group chat and Asana to keep track of everything we do.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their commitment to helping us succeed has been great. Their advice and ongoing weekly support has also helped in areas we don't have in-house expertise for.

Is there any area for improvement or anything that could have been done differently?

The only area I would say that could be improved on is learning exactly how our target client behaves. They do not perform or react in the traditional sense so we are having to adapt, and this could have been picked up sooner to be catered for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder of Presca LTD, a sustainable sportswear company focussed on the cycling market. We develop the most innovative sustainable garments and sell direct to consumer or b2b. I lead on product development, business process and digital growth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division?

We were needing to rapidly prepare ourselves for the b2c market, implement UX, smart CTAs and subscriber growth through our online communities.

What were your goals for this project?

Overall aims to build our customer community on a suitable platform and increase the quality and volume of website traffic. To automate processes, identify key channels for growth, build and test platforms and processes.

SOLUTION

How did you select Growth Division?

Internet research, attended a Growth seminar and spoke to the team.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

After we selected Growth Division, they held a structured workshop to identify what channels would work best for us. We looked at the resources we had available internally and how these could be complimented within budget from the GD team.

Clear achievable KPIs were established and structured project management tools were built to track progress. GDs main support channels were SEO, Automations, Community platform set up and establish community.

The project was completed using clear lines of communication, formal and informal where required. GD were able to identify gaps and flex their resource, bring in SMEs and support with adhoc requirements throughout the project.

What was the team composition?

GD through the length of the project brought 5-10 people to the team for a combination of implementation, planning and strategy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

All of our agreed KPIs were achieved or exceeded throughout this project. Including SEO improvement, traffic volume, community growth. Our customers are deeply engaged on the platforms we have set up and are interacting with automations at high levels.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless interaction between client and vendor. Informal communication managed on SLACK with project management being completed using ASANA. Frequent structured project management updates with clear insight in how to progress project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Structure, ability to set achievable targets and hitting them, flexibility to deliver under restrictive constraints, communication and willingness to bring more to the project. Really felt like the wider team were engaged with the project and believed in what we are as a company.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would continue working with GD without hesitation

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder and CMO of a 250 person organization that helps startup companies and founders throughout the entire entrepreneurial journey from concept, to idea validation, planning, equity funding and ongoing support. We work with over 1,000,000 startup Founders globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Growth Division?

We have 8 brands - and needed some expert hands to help with channel identification and elimination followed by testing those channels and putting plans in place to scale them.

What were your goals for this project?

To identify

SOLUTION

How did you select Growth Division?

Growth Division have a model that's ideal for businesses looking to identify new channels for growth. They've brought in growth experts to validate LinkedIn Ads, Facebook/Insta Ads, email marketing and affiliate marketing as growth channels for Startups.com.

The high quality of experts and flexible engagement terms means we can run growth experiments and quickly learn what works.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We first utilized a bullseye framework to identify the key channels on a brand by brand basis. Once we had the top 2-3 likely channels we were able to bring in experts to launch experiments on a channel by channel basis - proving the viability or eliminating the channel for each brand.

We then moved forward with the positive test results and created beach head campaigns that served as our basis for scaling the channels. They handled everything from copywriting, to creative, to the technical setups of the various channels, followed by optimization for conversion, optimization for spend, and profit maximization per channel.

What was the team composition?

The team composition changed significantly over time (which is as its intended.

Rather than being locked into a team of generalists - we were able to switch resources on the fly and tap into exactly what we needed at any given time - as channels were proved or eliminated, or we moved from a testing phase to a scale phase - we could count on having the right resource for THAT SPECIFIC outcome at hand.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We now have a deep understanding of 5 new channels across our brands that we didn't have prior to engaging with GrowthDivision - the value of that continues to grow month over month as we expand and scale those channels.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Direct communication with the core team was typically all that was required - and requirements were then passed to the experts who handled the tactical actions based on our strategic decisions. A seamless and easy process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had amazing agility and expertise in the industry. Finding agile generalists isn't hard. Finding deep diving, myopically focused experts isn't either. Finding a group that brings agility AND depth and specificity of experience is rare.

We run a $100M company - and they brought both the speed to solution and the quality of outcomes we needed. If they can do it in our multi-brand, multi-industry environment, they can do this anywhere.

Are there any areas for improvement?

In cases where we became the rate limiting factor - some additional admin on their side to keep things moving despite our often glacial decision making processes - less of an issue on their side - more of an "if they'd offered this I would have said yes".

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Growth of an investment app.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is an investment app that focuses on macro investing and financial literacy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Growth Division to accomplish?

• Deliver a go-to-market plan/strategy for our Fintech App
• Provide top quality professionals specialized in marketing channels
• Executed and followed through on delivery of strategy.

SOLUTION

How did you find Growth Division?

Online Search

Why did you select Growth Division over others?

High Commitment to KPIs

How many teammates from Growth Division were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Growth Division helped create our entire go-to-market process and also delivered on execution. Their deliverables included affiliate marketing, digital ads, pipeline marketing, outbound marketing, and community building.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We achieved downloads above 10k in the first 45 days as well as kept download cost and CAC below our peer group.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Our account manager was very attentive and had great followup. 

What was your primary form of communication with Growth Division?

In-Person Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The quality of professionals they had access to for affiliate marketing and performance marketing was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Growth Division could have done differently?

N/A