This deck reviews what IRG’s marketing has done, where it stands, and what to start, stop or continue. It is written to double as a briefing and handover for new team members.
The marketing strategy follows directly from IRG’s purpose. Because the organization exists to connect growth leaders to peers, experts and best practices, its marketing strategy is written to maximize those connections rather than to sell.
Key findings
- The audience funnel as of September 2021 ran from 330,000 CMOs and other growth leaders at awareness, to 8,000 database registrants, 1,300 event attendees, and 210 participants and alumni.
- Leads generated through the website, the Humanizing Growth Series and Seeds of Growth rose from 8,000 to 11,000, with the series named as the biggest single contributor.
- LinkedIn followers grew from 2,000 to 3,668, described as organic growth to be sustained by continuing to tag.
- The paid advertising experiment was stopped. The team notes that most companies put 20 percent of budget into production and 80 percent into activation, and that IRG did none of the latter.
- The Humanizing Growth Series is identified as the flagship: it builds brand, creates community feel, shows partners, has huge potential reach and is the key lead generator, at a high cost in time and team.
What is measured
The KPI set is split three ways. Paid covers applicants to IRG100, interest in IRG1000, and registrations for masterclasses and the Humanizing Growth Series. Owned covers website visitors and views, LinkedIn followers, clicks and engagement rate, newsletter subscribers and opens, and attendance at IRG’s own events.
Earned media is measured by what other people ask for: invitations to speak, invitations to contribute, placements of content with links, reads and views of IRG articles, and podcast invitations.
What was rebuilt
The website moved from a static click-through page to something intended as an experience and a destination. The Humanizing Growth Series section gained highlights, easier navigation, sign up without a third party feel, video watched on the IRG site rather than elsewhere, and recommendations for what to watch next.
Video marketing was built around reuse. Formats and animations for snippets, a YouTube channel connected back to the website, a database of snippets shared on social and used on the learning platform, and snippets turned into IRG Insights videos.
The community loop went from little interaction to a weekly WhatsApp touch, either content or social news, and a bi-weekly Seeds of Growth email written by and for the community.
A template library was created behind all of it: social cards, Seeds of Growth mailing and social designs, and video templates covering opening animation, end card, sound, name ticker and background variants.
The channels, honestly rated
Seeds of Growth is named the second biggest lead generator, close to the reader because it lands in the inbox every two weeks and leverages the community. Its constraint is a staffing one: it needs someone who knows the community and the content and likes writing.
The website is a must have with plenty of room to improve, and two honest downsides: it becomes quite full, and it is never done. Social media reaches multiple target groups with templates ready and is good for tagging, but its reach needs improvement and it is always on.
Events are rated great for community and brand building, with travel as the cost. IRG Insights capitalizes on the series and uses guests’ own reach, at about a thousand per video. WhatsApp gives community feel and a more personal route than going through assistants, though not everyone joins. YouTube reaches new audiences and helps search.
Scope and limitations
This is an internal review and handover document. The figures are IRG’s own marketing metrics, given as movements from one number to another rather than as a measured attribution.
Source
This page summarises IRG Marketing: Driving Humanized Growth, by IRG Marketing Team, 2021-09.