The Growth Newsletter #158

Graceful exit points. Ad profitability. Satirize your enemy.  ‌ ‌ ‌ [Demand Curve]( [Read on demandcurve.com]( The Growth Newsletter #158 Graceful exit points. Ad profitability. Satirize your enemy. "Your margin is my opportunity"– Jeff Bezos  Industries where companies have huge profit margins are typically complacent and ripe for disruption. Their profit margin is your opportunity to innovate and whittle it away.  Topics for the day: Graceful exit points. Ad profitability. Satirize your enemy.  Let's dive in ♨️ – Neal Thanks to our sponsors for keeping this newsletter free for all of you! Check them out :) Brought to you by [Insense](—the UGC and influencer marketing platform where a single marketer can manage multiple campaigns at scale.  Or you can opt for their managed service pla with a human touch and receive up to 18 ready-to-use UGC ads with 14 days. [Book a call]( and get 5% off their managed service plans until Feb 23rd.  Brought to you by [Sleepless](—the turnkey creative team for performance marketers. - Like adding 8 video editors and designers to your internal team overnight - Available via Slack 24/7 - Get 15+ net new video ads per month Normally 5k/mo, but DC readers get $1,500 off. Get started for only 3.5k/mo.  Be sure to mention us! [Learn more]( Want to be featured in front of 90,828 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](–booking into April.   1. Provide a graceful Exit Point for your app Insight from [Growth.Design](.  It's 12:35AM, you've swiped your 420th TikTok/reel, and you know you should go to bed, but you can't stop. Often, it takes some external jolt to get you to stop finally. You then think, "Ugh, I need to delete it from my phone.”  If your app is never-ending and potentially addictive (Duolingo, Tinder, games, social media) - First of all, congratulations, that's hard to achieve. - Add in graceful exit points. This keeps users from getting so burnt out that they stop returning, and increases overall satisfaction with your product. Surprisingly, TikTok actually already does this.  If you watch too long, they have a video that tells you to take a break. But it misses the mark for a few reasons: - It looks like all the other videos. - It's too easy to skip. - It doesn't use data against me. Here's what Growth Design suggests instead: Being told I've watched 293 videos would get me to put the phone down. And I'd be extremely appreciative that THEY took the initiative.  Duolingo could add one as well. After you hit your goal for the day, they currently dump you back into the lesson tree, where you see the weeks of effort ahead of you. You feel like you've barely progressed and are less satisfied with your efforts.  Instead, they should do this: Give your users a graceful exit. They'll appreciate you for it.  Check out Growth Design's case studies for both [TikTok]( and [Duolingo](. 2. The best way to control ad profitability Insight from [Thinkbox and Accelero](.  We're a bootstrapped, lean company. We love other bootstrapped, lean companies.  This insight is a kick in the pants for startups looking to run profitable ads.  But it's also incredibly motivating.  Here are the biggest drivers of profitable ads (from analyzing up to 28,000 brands): 1. A huge brand – up to 20x multiple on ROI Yep, that's not what any of us wanted to hear. Here's the data: The bigger you are, the more effective your ads, thanks to existing awareness and affinity. Often, you're just reminding people to buy or that you are selling something new they should get. Sadly, we can't control that one, but we can control this one: 2. Great creative – up to 12x multiple on ROI Here, you can see the difference in performance across creative campaigns for two established brands: And if you look at all the other ways that influence ad profitability, focusing on great creative is really the best way (since you can't control your brand size or budget): The magic doesn't come from button pressing and knob twisting in an ads dashboard. It comes from great ads that are noticeable, memorable, and cause an emotional response that drives action. 3. Create a satirical version of your enemy's ad Insight from [Will Poskett](.  Talking about what you're not is as important as talking about what you are, especially if you're challenging the status quo.  [BRLO]( is a challenger startup in the alcohol-free beer category. It can't compete with massive beer brands' multibillion-dollar media spend, so it knew it had to get creative.  People are growing tired of perfect yet wholly inauthentic portrayals of men, who have dominated beer advertisements for decades.  (This sentiment away from "perfect" towards "authentic" is everywhere.)  So, they positioned themselves to be the complete opposite: An authentic, full-bodied, and juicy beer leaning into Berlin's alternative reputation. Much like Liquid Death did to the water industry. Yet the cleverest part of this strategy?  They stole fame from one of the most famous, inauthentic ads of the moment by Calvin Klein and satirized it. Here's a snippet of the comparison: They found their enemy and satirized them.  Check out Will Poskett's post for [the entire video](. Fun fact: Will is an alumnus of our audience building course, [Un-ignorable]( ;0   Quick question: You are a...? [Founder]( [Freelancer]( [Full-time role]( Your response will help us personalize the content you receive from us :)   News and links News you can use: - Apple [released the Vision Pro to consumer on February 2nd](, the Internet won't stop talking about it. Casey Neistat has the [most hilarious video](. - LinkedIn [launches a new tool, Website Actions, to help simplify action tracking.]( - Bard [added image generation](—and just like that LLMs are a commodity. - Meta ads[1-day video ad view conversions](. - � introduces [vertical video ads to all advertisers.]( - AI has gotten even weirder with underground site OnlyFakes churning out fake digital IDs (photos of driver's licenses) [like this one]( for only $15.  Tool we recommend*: [Smart Recognition](  Turn anonymous traffic into revenue with a simple copy-paste.  Capture every drop of shopper traffic that comes to your store.  With [Smart Recognition](, a quick copy-paste lets you - Unmask the email address of up to 40% of your previously anonymous visitors. - Retarget them directly with email or Meta so they come back and check out. - Send abandoned cart emails to people who browse products or don't complete checkout. … All without busting your ad budget, and it's CAN-SPAM Compliant.  DC readers get 20% off any subscription.  [Get started with Smart Recognition today](  *Sponsored by SmartRecognition Want to be featured in front of 90,828 founders and marketers? [Learn more here](.   Something fun AI is truly horrifying.   What did you think of this week's newsletter? 😍 Loved it: Forward to a friend, or send a reply—a simple 😍 will do! It really helps. 🤷‍♀️ Meh: You can unsubscribe [here](), or manage your subscription [here](. 🤔 I'm new here: You can join the party [here](. In case you're new: Who's [Demand Curve](?   We’re on a mission to help make it easier to start, build, and grow companies.  We share no-BS, vetted, and actionable startup growth advice as we learn it from the top 1% of founders and marketers. 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.x - Need help running ads? We’ve built [the]([ ads agency]( for startups. - Want a growth freelancer/agency? [We’ll match you]( with one for free. - Get your product in front of startup founders by [sponsoring]( this newsletter. Thanks everyone! See you next Tuesday with another fresh batch of tactics. PS: I will love you if you take 30 seconds to [write us a testimonial]( :) [Neal]( [Neal O'Grady]( [Grace]( [Justin Setzer](   © 2024 Demand Curve, Inc. All rights reserved. 4460 Redwood Hwy, Suite 16-535, San Rafael, California, United States [Unsubscribe]() from all emails, including the newsletter, or [manage]( subscription preferences.