Airtable - 'Sheets on Steroids' achieving Product Market Fit & more

Welcome to the new members of the Growth Letter who have joined us since last Tuesday. I hope you are enjoying the content. Feel free to send me a message on LinkedIn with your ideas and thoughts.If you like the newsletter, share it with others.

Today at a glance:

• Article: Airtable’s Path to Product-Market Fit

• Post: Your 2023 content strategy

• Media: Some Folks in SaaS Are Still Doing Really Well

• Tool: Vouch for marketing

• Framework: Use a story to make your Customers the hero

One Article:

Airtable's Path to Product-Market Fit — Lessons for Building Horizontal Products

Product market fit (PMF) is one of the most challenging aspects of your product. There is an elusive transition from pushing your marketing to eventually customers pulling your product. Some recommendations do exist, but they either tend to be too rigid because they’re based on one person’s experience or too broad to be actionable.

Andrew Ofstad and his co-founders Howie Liu and Emmett Nicholas share their journey and how time, research, and intent-filled questions made Airtable an $11 billion valuation company with over 300,000 organisation using their services.

One Post:

​John Bonini, Director of Marketing at Databox, shares some simple, low-cost video content ideas. Social media is the home in marketing, I couldn’t agree more, especially short-form videos for top networks like Instagram, Youtube Shorts, and TikTok.

One Media:

The current climate within the SaaS industry is unpredictable. While some companies acquire funding, others are taking the cost-measurement approach, and we’ve seen tech layoffs at an all-time high. Some companies like MongoDB and more are moving towards SaaS and the cloud. Read & listen to some of the successful SaaS companies and how they’ve moved the needle in their favour here.

One Tool:

Videos shouldn't be pricey. Save your budget for other projects and collect highly-sharable video testimonials, customer feedback, and employer branding assets - for free. Vouch for better marketing.

One Framework:

The StoryBrand Framework is a seven-step process for clarifying your brand's message. This messaging method allows businesses and brands to engage customers by leveraging the power of storytelling.

The 7 steps process:

1. A character → These are your customers who want something; they are the heroes of your brand. Focus on drives what drives them (money, saving time..)

2. Has a Problem → They have a problem (the villain in a story). Your product is the weapon that can help defeat the villain.

3. Meets a Guide → You must show empathy and autonomy for customers to trust you. Your product or brand is the key to helping them will the problem.

4. Who Gives them a plan → Your business shows customers the path or solution they must take to overcome their problems (the villain in the story)

5. Call to Action → Effective calls to action facilitate direct or transitional CTAs. Direct CTAs: Schedule a conversation, Buy now, or Get StartedTransitional CTAs: Learn more, Download a Guide, or Register for a webinar

6. That helps them avoid failure → What is at stake for the customer? What will they lose if they don’t buy your product?

7. That ends in a success → Tell customers how this specific action can change their life. Show them what their lives will look like after they buy the product and how that resolution will make them feel. Three solid ways storytellers end a story is by allowing the character to:- Win power or position- Find somebody or something that makes them whole- Experience some form of self-realisation that also makes them whole

The storytelling framework provides a clear path for the customers and helps align your values with the customers’ journey.

Tim’s Hiring Zone:

You can find growth-related jobs here.