CXL - Small brands punch harder

I have 5 updates for you this week.

1. On my mind

Small brands need to be 2-3x better than established, big brands - just to compete.

Goes for B2B software as well as social media influencers.

Gary V can tweet "go get it" and get 100k shares. You can craft the most insightful post, and get your 19 likes.

It's an example of the double jeopardy law in action: small brands are always punished twice. They have fewer buyers, and those buyers buy less.

Large brands have the most mental availability, mindshare and influence.

Since people satisfice [satisficing - choosing a "good enough" option from a small consideration set], the momentum is on the big brand side and they keep winning regardless of the quality of their product. In advertising, brand size is an 18x profit multiplier. Basically, whether the ad works is largely dependent on who the advertiser is.

Smaller brands need to try much harder and deliver way better work to have a fighting chance. Hence the idea of emulating the top brands is a road to nowhere: those companies only show you the benchmark to beat.

Follow me on LinkedIn for more thoughts on strategy, messaging and optimization.

2. Growth hacking as the most efficient way to acquire more users for less money

Growth hacking is how Slack went from 15,000 to half a million daily users in its first year. It’s why Canva can call itself a multibillion-dollar platform and how ConvertKit pulled itself up to compete with goliaths like MailChimp and Campaign Monitor.

Growth hacking isn’t about deploying sleazy tricks. It’s about making calculated, data-driven moves for fast growth.

In this article, you’ll learn what growth hacking in marketing is and what it’s not. We’ll look at strategies to reach and engage potential users and break down examples of brands that have used growth hacking to achieve success.

Read the entire article here.

3. CXL job board

Here are some great job offers we added to CXL’s Job Board this week. There’s more here.

If you want top brands to reach out to you, sign up for CXL Talent Pool. It's free.

And if you're a company looking to directly access the best marketing talent and skip all the spammy applicants, apply here.

4. How to fill the form optimization knowledge gap

Last week we invited Alun Luca, Managing Director at Zuko to share some insights around chow to close the form optimization knowledge gap: What data do you need and where do you find it? We’re clear on the date on how many people reach the form, as well as those who end up successfully completing it. But do we have clarity on everything that happens in-between?

Check out the full piece here.

5. Your first marketing course shouldn't cost $997

With CXL's Foundations plan, you can master 4 key areas of growth & marketing, completely free. Sign up for Foundations today.