Hello and welcome to the 111th edition of Fresh Salmon.

It is my pleasure to have you here, and if you would like to read past issues of the newsletter, please click here.

In 2014, during the early stages of a telemedicine startup we ran several unscalable experiments.

One of them was using a fairly small app to acquire users.

I would literally spend 2-4 hours per day working on it manually.

It was on an android app called: Whisper.

It was a form of anonymous social media, allowing users to post and share photo and video messages anonymously.

But the app allowed people to message each other.

We were focusing on the dermatology segment, and noticed a whole bunch of teenagers publishing "acne" pictures and showcasing their frustrations and asking for solutions.

This was a red-hot audience for us (teledermatology - sending pictures of their skin spots and getting diagnosis).

I would manually send personal messages to each and everyone who posted such pictures or videos, and share them a link to send out a picture of their skin spots to a board certified physician for $40-$50 and get a real solution within 48 hours.

Everyday we would acquire 15-25 paying customers from Whisper. It was crazy!!

It worked for a couple of months before the volume died. But it was great for the business.

We didn't have much of a marketing spend so this was great.

It helped us directly have 1-on-1 chat with the target segment.

We were able to get some proof of the concept (for our app) through it.

Most importantly, it was a lesson in creating marketing and growth hacking, along with realizing the value in doing things that don't scale.

Key Takeaways:

• Creativity beats budget every single time! Think outside the box and the universe will open doors.

• Real talk with real people creates real results. Talking directly to your customers is SUPER powerful.

• Sometimes, the best ideas don't need a lot of money, just a lot of heart.

So, what’s your Whisper? What unique, out-of-the-box method can YOU use to reach your stars?

LinkedIn Takeovers: Navigating Beyond the Hype

Takeovers on LinkedIn...You're probably seeing more of them now than ever before, aren't you?

Several people and I were having a heated discussion about it on LinkedIn.

As with any tactic, the first mover has an advantage. So is the case with LinkedIn Takeovers.

However, I believe we have reached the level-1 maturity curve for sales and marketing technology companies. Thus, we have passed the hype stage.

As time goes on, achieving results will become more difficult.

It is important for companies planning to deploy such takeovers to pay more attention.

If they are the same old, same old... You run the risk of backlash.

When you deploy the same people who are part of three other takeovers, you run even greater risks.

There is no doubt that such takeovers would require more creativity. Posts containing banners, headshots, and text are templates and won’t work any more. 

The point of all these takeovers is to gain visibility, right?

Visibility comes with the price of being used sparingly and smartly.

I believe that the success of such campaigns will depend on "How" they are conducted. The creativity and authenticity of creators or influencers will lead to more real engagements. 

There are no guidelines or templates that will help, the individuals involved must go deeper to be involved, and the companies must let them take actions in their own ways.

Don't make it a blatant sales pitch disguised as some heartfelt endorsement from the influencer.

Now some real talk… 

Last week one of the Sales Technology companies announced the launch of their podcast on LinkedIn, and the guy behind it shared a few results of their LinkedIn takeover.

As I go through those numbers, I would like to say that I am not here to knock anyone, especially the man behind this campaign, who I actually admire for all his good work.

Kudos to him…

Here is what he shared in a LinkedIn post about this campaign - 

76 GTM leaders, from the show, participated

43+ employees participated

High level:

- 1.3 million impressions

- 10,685 reactions

- 1,840 comments

Low level:

- 1,378 website visitors

- 115+ subscribers in 2 days and climbing

- Last 12 spots for the show filled 

Well done on generating millions of impressions.

But… 

All of this led to only 1378 website visitors?? 

That’s 0.1% conversion from impressions to website visitors. 

115 subscribers is like 0.0088% conversion from impressions to subscribers!!

Is there something I'm missing here? This is abysmal.

Fundamentally, there were a few things wrong with this campaign.

In my opinion, the first question is: what is the purpose of such a takeover?

What would you invest your resources in - 

Announcing your annual conference vs. Launching a podcast?

Secondly, there needs to be a clear call to action or an offer at the core of the purpose.

For a podcast announcement, the CTA would be to subscribe to the podcast, while for an announcement of an annual conference, it would be to buy a ticket.

Ultimately, the key is to make sure your LinkedIn Takeovers have a more commercial purpose.

Mac Reddin who is the co-founder of Commsor, and one of the readers of Fresh Salmon did a LinkedIn Takeover for the launch of their new product.

And their results were astonishing - 

We didn’t just get impressions though:

• Added 750 followers to the Commsor’s LinkedIn page

• 1,098 sign ups to our two products - Bronto and Matcha

• Booked 37 qualified team demos for Bronto

• Hundreds of DMs and messages asking to learn more

You see the difference between a podcast promotion and a product announcement especially with the freemium/trial signups in play?

You can read more about Commsor’s LinkedIn Takeover here. 

The good news is we have barely scratched the surface so there is a lot of room for improvements and experimentation.

However, be cognizant of the type of promotion you are running, the CTA, and the offer.

Interesting Thing That I Read This Week

Mac Reddin has been on 🔥🔥🔥

Tweet That I Noticed This Week

I mean, this tweet is 😂😂🤣

What Do You Think?

This concludes this edition of Fresh Salmon.

I would like to hear what you thought of today's newsletter.

Also, let’s connect on Twitter, LinkedIn, or TikTok.

Cheers,

Vivek

PS. I love you ❤️