Demand Curve - The Growth Newsletter #116

The Growth Newsletter #116

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Happy Tax Day to those of you filing in the U.S.!

By that, I mean congrats to everyone who filed well in advance—and best of luck to those of you scrambling to file last-minute.

This week we cover why your company needs an enemy, killing unoriginal ideas with ChatGPT, and 10 conversion copywriting tips.

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As always, if you don’t find this valuable, you can unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.

–Neal

Want to get in front of founders/marketers? Here's what you need to know (booking into June).

1. Find an enemy for your brand

Insight from Basecamp and Swipe Files.

Having trouble positioning your brand in a crowded market?

Here's a tip: Find yourself an enemy.

Basecamp did this for its project management tool. They identified Microsoft Project as its arch nemesis which led to their focus on collaboration—something Microsoft didn’t do well.

Having a brand enemy is more than just identifying a competitor. It's about finding the very antithesis of your company so you can:

• Sharpen your brand’s messaging and positioning,
• Which will help your audience understand your main differentiators.

By positioning your brand in direct contrast to another, your key value props become much more memorable. And you instantly align yourself with their detractors.

A few examples of companies with clear enemies:

• Hinge: Tinder. Hinge’s founder revamped its branding after being put in the same category as "casual" Tinder. Look at Hinge’s tagline: “Designed to be deleted.”
• Chipotle: Taco Bell. Chipotle emphasizes quality over cost with its “food with integrity” message—the total opposite of Taco Bell’s fat- and sodium-heavy menu. This also comes across stylistically in its clean and minimal aesthetic.
• Liquid Death: Dasani, Ozarka, and just about every other mainstream plastic bottled water brand. Liquid Death nails all of these enemies with its “Death to plastic” motto and recyclable aluminum cans.

2. Use ChatGPT to identify and filter out unoriginal ideas

Insight from Tom Roach.

ChatGPT has proven itself to be amazing at both research and overcoming blank-page syndrome. It's an amazing tool to jumpstart copywriting.

Emphasis on jumpstart. ChatGPT can struggle to come up with completely novel ideas (and can be a bit cringe unless you put in a bunch of work). That’s because ChatGPT was trained on a giant dataset of existing (not necessarily good) content like articles, books, and sites.

That means it can synthesize ideas really well—but it's not the best at imagining (yet).

So another way to leverage ChatGPT is by using it to identify unoriginal ideas.

Brand strategist Tom Roach tested this out by feeding ChatGPT a variety of prompts asking for unique positioning statements and slogans—all to no avail.

But by generating those answers, generic ideas became clearer. Tom and his team could eliminate obvious cliches and focus instead on their truly creative ideas.

Use ChatGPT to cull the herd by identifying and filtering out unoriginal ideas. 

3. 10 copywriting tips to improve conversion

Insight from Neal O'Grady.

In nearly all aspects of life, communication is the most important skill. And writing is the most efficient and effective method of communication—particularly for driving sales.

Here are 10 writing tips to improve your conversion rates:

#1. Make it about them

Don't just talk about your product's features. Instead, talk about what’s in it for your audience.

"Get paid back by friends instantly. No fees."

#2. Make it relatable

Shortcut comprehension—relate your product to something that they already understand.

"Send money like you send texts."

#3. Cut the fluff

Remove words that don’t add value. Hook their interest as succinctly as possible.

"Miss the bus? Grab a Lyft."

#4. Use simple words

Don’t use a $10 word when a $0.05 word will do. Don’t use industry jargon either.

"Get more done in less time."

#5. Be specific

Don't make them do the work. Spell it out for them and make it easy to picture.

"Relax with plush bedding, a spa-like bathroom, and stunning city view."

#6. Use active voice

Active voice results in shorter, sharper sentences. Making it easier to follow and finish.

"Your client will adore your accurate edits."

#7. Tell a story

Stories are relatable, interesting, and real. Don't make them do the work. Illustrate.

"Little Johnny was failing math. After working with our tutors, he's graduating with honors."

#8. Make it punchy

Steal concepts from poetry. Use literary devices. Chop up sentences. Add rhyme and rhythm.

"One scoop. Once a day. Every day."

#9. Handle objections

Identify the most common objections that come to people's mind and proactively handle them.

"Build a custom website in 20 minutes. Without code."

#10. Be bold

No one identifies with wishy-washy statements. Take strong stances to find your tribe.

"Most companies suck at onboarding."

Implement these in your writing and you'll increase both comprehension and sales.

News and links

News you can use:

• Twitter announced a re-launch of its Creator Subscription program that lets users monetize their tweets. Plus, Twitter Blue members can now write tweets up to 10k characters long.
  • Also, lots of Twitter drama in the last week, beginning with NPR and PBS quitting the platform. Could this mean more movement away from Twitter overall? Maybe—or Twitter may just become less relevant.
• Google’s April 2023 Reviews Update rolled out last week. Relevant if you create any review content—not just about products but also services (e.g., restaurant reviews).
• Lemon8, the ByteDance-owned platform that’s part Instagram, part Pinterest, is gaining traction among Gen Z. Great for ByteDance considering Montana just became the first U.S. state to approve a bill banning TikTok.
• Meta’s making Instagram Reels easier to create and edit with a new unified editing screen and dashboard feature that shows trending audio. It’s also adding two metrics to Reels insights: total watch time and average watch time.

I just want to take the opportunity here to say we love you all for supporting us 😍

And thanks again to sponsors, Quimby Digital and Upfluence.

Top new marketing jobs

If you're looking for a top growth role, check out the opportunities below from our job board.

Something fun

From @stephsmithio

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Who's Demand Curve?

We’re on a mission to help make it easier to start, build, and grow companies.

We share high-quality, vetted, and actionable growth content as we learn it from the top 1% of marketers. We democratize senior growth knowledge.

How we can help you grow:

• Read our free playbooks, blog articles, and teardowns—we break down the strategies and tactics that fast-growing startups use to grow.
• Enroll in the Growth Program, our marketing course that has helped 1,000+ founders get traction and scale revenue.

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• Are you a funded startup looking to grow? Our agency, Bell Curve, can be your strategic growth partner.

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See you next week.

— Neal, Grace, Joyce, Dennis, and the DC team.

Neal O'Grady

Grace Parazzoli

Joyce Chou

Dennis Buckley