Show Info: Journey to 7 Figures is a show about entrepreneurs and the stories behind how they grew their businesses to 7 figures and beyond. We cover the good, the bad, the ugly and the lessons they learned along the way.
Oli Gardner shares how Unbounce used content marketing and partnerships to grow their website traffic to 800,000 monthly visitors and how focusing on the right customer helped them grow to 14k users and $17M in revenue. In this episode you will learn: What gave them the idea to come up with Unbounce [01:34] What they did to be able to start the company [03:20] How Oli handled the marketing side of things [04:09] How they started generating awareness of their content to build an email list [07:17] What was Oli’s content strategy [09:31] How they launched the company [12:14] How they got to their first 100 customers [14:44] Unbounce’s partnership with MailChimp and how they benefited from it [15:05] How to choose the companies to partner with [16:38] How long it took Unbounce to hit seven figures and the things they had to overcome to get there [17:52] How they got people to join their webinars [20:09] What struggles they had to overcome before hitting seven figures in 2012 [23:25] How they built their product for their ideal client [25:28] How they figured out who their ideal client is [28:03] How they make sure they’re targeting the right people now [31:09] How Unbounce keeps taking things to the next level [33:36] The one thing that had the biggest impact on the growth of Unbounce [38:51] Key Takeaways: Integrations like the one Unbounce had with MailChimp are the kind of things that put you on the path to being a “super sticky useful tool”. When working with other companies, culture fit is important. It is important to find the right partnerships. Don’t fall prey to the big companies who pay big bucks asking you to design things for them. Rather, know who your ideal client is. It’s not the job of your content to convert customers. Its job is to build domain authority for your website. Relentless focus on growth can sometimes be a problem. When you start growing, be careful on the hiring side. Action Steps: Start blogging at the beginning stages of your company and build an audience for when you launch your product. Come up with a solid lead magnet. Find a company that you can partner with, that already has traffic or has similar customers to you, and figure out ways that you can collaborate. Keep evolving the type of content and the type of things you are doing. Consider doing webinars with partner companies and incorporate a relevant demo of your product. Find ways of getting your ideal customer but also design an experience that communicates who you’re not for. If you’re attracting the wrong people, all your metrics die. Get advisers for your company by establishing relationships with people you respect who are in a similar field. Don’t be afraid to ask. Partner with the right people so that you’re building in the right direction to help your customers scale. Mix your marketing, 50% lead generation, and 50% awareness. Oli says: “The small dollar changes at the beginning become big ones at the end.” “Do whatever you can to not doubt yourself.” More from Oli Gardner: Oli’s Twitter Oli’s Email Unbounce Sponsor link 14-day Free Trial to LeadQuizzes Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to this podcast! And don’t forget to leave me a rating and a review on iTunes!
