I would like to start off by saying that we would like to thank each of you for your support in showing love for our blog posts.
Our readership has steadily grown in the past year since our official launch, through unique visits, and social sharing. 

Collectively, it means a great deal to us, as we put in a TON of care into crafting our posts as they cover the latest changes in growth marketing, the best future-proofed strategies to come out on top, and insights worth bringing up in team meetings. 

Needless to say, some posts majorly stood out as winners in terms of feedback. As such, we thought it would be nice to compile the “best of 2022” posts into one neat little package for you to check it. You can think of it as a little gift that keeps on giving, as we get ready to enter the new year.

Smart bidding strategies - in two parts

Smart bidding strategies: How to choose when constrained by budget 

Smart bidding strategies may be fully automated, but they are hardly a case of “set it, and forget it.” In fact, there are a few technicalities you would need to be aware of beforehand, in order to get the most of the strategy you end up using.

The first of this two-part series focuses on choosing the best bidding strategy when constrained by budget.

This post also highlights the following:

• The inner workings of bidding strategies
  
• The differences between the smart bidding strategies
  
• Points you need to be aware of in advance

Smart bidding strategies: How to choose when constrained by business metrics

So many smart bidding strategies to choose from—so little time! And they all seem great. How is one to determine which would be the best fit, especially when constrained by business metrics? 

Well the second of a two-part series, dives right into those details and offers up a lot of tips and tricks.

This post also goes over:

• What you need to know about the bidding strategies
  
• The differences between each strategy
  
• What you must be aware of before choosing a strategy

The Mythbusters series

In the past year, we thought it would be a little fun to add some posts into the mix, to debunk some myths tied to the industry. That sparked a series of “Mythbusters” posts. 

Mythbusters: Top 4 misconceptions surrounding churn rate

Churn rates are hardly ever a fun topic to bring up in meetings, but let’s face it, it’s inevitable (to some degree) right? 

But here’s the thing though, there are many negative connotations associated with churn that simply aren’t true! With that in mind, our team put together a post that debunks some of the biggest myths associated with churn—and we really recommend you give it a look and discuss it with your team.

These are the busted myths. Check out the full post for the explanations.

• There’s only one way to calculate churn.
  
• Your churn rate can, and should be zero.
  
• You can undo churn by bringing back lost customers.
  
• Simple onboarding is key to churn reduction.

Mythbusters: Profitability is not the opposite of growth

Did you know that there are many marketers out there who believe that profitability is the opposite of growth?

They feel this way because focusing on profitability means acquiring less users. However, there is far more context which needs to be factored, which ultimately proves that profitability is not the opposite of growth!

Here’s the thing. Focusing on profitability doesn’t refer to solely focusing on acquiring high value users. It also doesn’t mean you should only focus on users that will convert. Instead, it revolves around thinking more strategically, and building your budget to match your goals. In doing so, you would pay more for high value users and/or users that convert, while paying less for users that are less likely to convert.

This post dives deeper into that, and also goes over:

• Balancing growth and profitability
  
• The way that focusing on profitability saves time, money, and resources
  
• How growth marketers need to think like stock portfolio managers

MythBusters: High CTR is NOT the primary goal of an ad campaign

You have many goals in mind with each of your ad campaigns, and you’ve clearly been doing a great job in terms of awareness and engagement—but if you’re putting a lot of weight on high CTR, you might be missing out on the big picture.

This post offers best practices to attract the most valuable users for your brand, for lasting impact.

This post also highlights the following:

• Why high CTR is good, but not good enough
  
• The benefits of LTV-optimized campaigns
  
• How you can optimize your campaigns using LTV data for greater scalability and sustainable profitability

The “Do it in-house” series

If you know us, you know that we are not the type to gatekeep. We want everyone to be the best they can be in growth marketing. That’s why we started the “Do it in-house” series, to offer insights to growth teams on how they can maximize their impact in-house, without the need for third-party assistance.

Do it in-house: Predictive Value-Based Bidding for DTCs

Does your DTC view all customers as equals in growth campaigns? It may seem like the right thing, but it really isn’t. This is due to the fact that you may be over-investing on lower-quality customers, while under-investing on those that are inclined to be more profitable. 

When segmentation takes place based on customer value, the returns become maximized. And this is where value-based bidding comes into play.

This blog post highlights how you can get started on value-based bidding in-house—in just three steps!

This post also highlights the following:

• Why you should use value-based bidding
  
• Pitfalls you need to avoid
  
• The benefits of Predictive Bidding

Do it in-house: Use LTV projections as part of the value-based acquisition process

Did you know just how big a goldmine LTV data can be? Subscription SaaS B2B companies can use projected LTV data to evaluate and optimize ad campaigns—to make more informed marketing decisions that are backed by data.

This blog post dives deeper into that, and goes over how you can take on value modeling in-house using LTV projections.

This post also highlights the following:

• Where common practices fall short
  
• The benefits of projected LTV
  
• Advanced projections using segmentation

Do it in-house: Tie Predictive Value-Based Bidding into your acquisition process

Did you know that your team can ramp up user acquisition efforts by tying in Value-Based Bidding on Google Ads—in house? You heard me! And the best part is that it only takes three steps to get started!

We jumped straight into the details of each step in this blog post.

This post also highlights the following:

• An explanation of value-based bidding
  
• What your company stands to gain by using value-based bidding in acquisition efforts
  
• How to take things up a notch with Predictive Value-Based Bidding

Do it in-house: Transitioning from 1-CAC-fits-all, to the value modeling approach

I’m sure you’re aware that the one-CAC-fits-all approach, which is used by many companies, is less-ideal when it comes to the evaluation of marketing campaigns, and decision-making. 

This is exactly why marketing teams are beginning to switch to the value modeling approach—and this is something you truly might want to consider as well.

Our latest blog post offers insights on how your team can take on value modeling in-house, so you can make more informed marketing decisions. 

This post also highlights the following:

• The current state of subscription SaaS campaign optimization
  
• How your company can benefit from value modeling
  
• Formulas to help your team get started

Free tool for PLG B2B’s: Ad Group Likelihood Simulator

This one is a real treat!

If your PLG B2B is making major campaign decisions based on early CAC/ROAS, you’re most likely doing so using a basic model/rule of thumb which is based on historical averages. That’s not the most optimal approach, because compared to B2C’s, PLG B2Bs need more time. 

So now what? What if your team really needs some help in forecasting campaign success now?

This blog post includes a free simulator, created by our amazing data science team, that will help you estimate the likelihood of a campaign’s ability to yield high ROAS over time—simply by entering a few numbers!

Check it out!

Product-led B2B companies are shifting to payback strategy from CAC strategy. Here’s why!

The CAC strategy is quickly becoming detrimental for your brand. In fact, for B2B companies, CAC has gone up by as much as 60 percent, compared to stats from five years ago.

The thing is—the CAC strategy limits your brand’s ability to scale, because it only locks the price your brand is willing to pay. Meanwhile, the payback strategy will allow your growth team to get a lot more out of that limit, by enabling your team to focus on the return. This is with the added bonus that it does not limit networks to target new users within limited pools.

The latest post on our blog dives deeper into why B2B companies are switching to the payback strategy, and also highlights the following:

• Areas where the CAC strategy falls short
  
• Misinformed campaign decisions being made due to CAC strategy
  
• How B2B’s are switching to payback strategy, and how LTV ties into it all

These growth marketing practices are out-of-date for DTCs

This was one of our first posts of 2022, and it quickly became a hit because it stresses on the importance of being current with the times across all fronts—including your growth marketing strategy. With that in mind, we put together a list of growth marketing practices that are worth retiring, along with recommendations on what to do instead.

I’ll write out the “don’ts” here, but you’re gonna need to check out the actual posts for the full descriptions and alternate recommendations.

Here are the practices that need to be dropped:

• Creating campaigns based on generalized data
  
• Only optimizing for upper funnel events
  
• Duplicated campaigns without A/B testing
  
• Placing any and all new customers front and center
  
• Engaging in one of many eCommerce no-no’s
  
• Relying on one ad network as the main source of acquisition efforts
  
• Not having a strong internal data operation

For the sake of stating the obvious, as we approach the new year, the growth marketing practices listed above are becoming more obsolete than ever before!

There are so many more posts that deserve an honorable mention here, such as ones that shine light on leaders in the industry, as well as our really impressive case studies. Check out the full list of blog posts, to see what interests you most!

Thanks again for all your support! Here’s to a new year of greater, deeper insights for us all!