Create your own awards
A case study and a playbook
Hi friends - I’m going to share one of my most successful marketing experiments with you this week. Because when I find something that works, I LOVE to share the wealth. You’re welcome. 😉
So, as many of you know, my typical customer is a B2B startup with $1-10mm in ARR. And 40% of my pipeline comes from referrals, mosty from venture capital investors.
Investor referrals not only make up a large part of my pipeline by source, but they are also my highest-converting opportunities.
Which makes sense…most investors know when their portcos need me (through informal convos or through board meetings), and most of their portcos trust their recommendations.
Therefore, building and nurturing relationships with VCs is a big part of my GTM strategy.
AND, I’m running a bootstrapped services business. So I’ve got a limited budget and capacity to execute GTM and marketing (relatively speaking).
Which honestly creates a pretty fun challenge and opportunity. I get to test all my wild ideas on my own business first - all of which are scrappy (low-cost), creative, and experimental.
And when something works…I can roll it out to my clients who all have similar budgets, tech stacks, and capacity. 🙃
So I created Women to Watch in Venture, a series where I feature 5 new women each quarter making an impact in venture.
The most recent one, this little post from October 9th, has already generated over 5,000 impressions and reached over 3,600 members on LinkedIn…and at the time of this screenshot it’s only been 2 days…so it’s not even done working yet. 👀
Ready for the ‘how to’? Let’s do it.
Create your own awards
How I did it
I literally made it up. Yep. Just dubbed myself the new 40 under 40 or something. 🤣
I started with 5 women investors who were close friends and said…
‘Hey queens - I’ve got this idea that I think is mutually beneficial. I want to feature you as Women to Watch in VC. I’ll write up a little blog about your career path into venture, your advice, etc. I’ll hype you and your fund up. In exchange, I’m hoping you can amplify (pun intended 📣) the piece to help increase my awareness amongst the investor and startup community. You in?”
And naturally, they said - sure!
And that first post in 2022 TOOK OFF! My friends looked great and their managing partners all congratulated them….and 5k+ new people knew my name overnight for $0. ⭐️
So, I made it a quarterly series. It’s evolved and continues to get better and better each time.
Some of the most notable things I added (that help!) -
I solicit nominations - encouraging additional engagement and organically growing my investor network
I interview the nominees live - asking them these questions - allowing me to truly get to know these women on a deeper level - to build a real relationship
Why this works?
It gives me an organic and non-salesly way to build real relationships with potential partners and referral sources
It’s a win-win-win for the women featured, for me, and for the very real mission of improving diversity in venture (doesn’t get better than that)
It’s FREE organic, somewhat viral marketing
I’m consistent - every single quarter
How you can do it, too
Pick a topic/persona that is relevant to your business (Ex: Most active debt investors in Region A/B/C, Most innovative Employers, Five CPOs to watch, etc)
Pick a cadence you can commit to (consistency is key!)
Start with 5 people you already know well - current clients, advisors, friendlies
Build a cadence / way to accept nominations
Build a format to capture and write the pieces (like my Q&A here)
I’ve run a similar play with several clients, and it’s worked every time.
“We rise by lifting others” is a quote I live by 🙏. And this strategy is exactly that.
Give it a try. Let me know how it goes! 🚀
With love and gratitude -
If you want to learn more about working with me directly…
For B2B startups I serve as a Fractional GTM executive or advisor. Learn more about-
When you’re ready, let’s connect to discuss your specific growth goals and challenges.
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