My name is Alaina. I’m a growth marketer and I’m going to be writing for our blog.
I want to share a little about me, why I’m here, what I hope to accomplish for you all, and my prediction for Fathom.
I’m pumped to be on this small but mighty team. Every one of my teammates is really strong in their area of expertise. While that can be intimidating, I know from my interview that I can bring my own unique skills to the table.
One of the questions Jonathan asked me during the interview process was, “what’s something that I will learn from you, if you get the role?”
Apparently that question stumps a lot of people.
It did catch me off guard for a moment, because what do you tell a CEO that they’ll learn from YOU? Presumably, they’re the one with the most experience.
But then I thought, “What comes naturally to me, that has been strengthened by my career and skills I’ve learned along the way?”
And the answer is optimism.
And while it’s not easy to quantify the value of a soft skill like that, I can tell you that it’s a necessity for growth marketing.
With growth marketing, failure is a guarantee.
As growth marketers, we’re usually running several tests or 1 big test at a time. Every test has a goal, so at the end, you either hit the goal or you don’t. It’s pass/fail. Your tests WILL fail at some point.
If you never run a failing test, you probably haven’t taken big risks. And without big risks you can’t have big returns.
I recently ran several failed tests for a conference brand. The tests were based on what we knew about our audience, but each time, something was off and we failed to sell more conference registrations. We documented every test though, so we were able to make a huge deck of insights and takeaways about our audience by the end of the year. Those insights helped me stay positive, test after test, until we had a win and we could ride the wave of optimism that followed.
This is the cycle of growth marketing. We must turn failures into insights that inform the next test. More informed tests = better odds of a big win.
And that’s why I’m at Fathom: I’m a growth marketer. I’m running marketing tests to, first, engage our audience and second, to continually ask them what challenges they have that Fathom can solve.
There’s a lot that I want to accomplish in my role and as one of the first employees.
Above and beyond acquiring and retaining our audience, I want to:
- Help build a company with strong values, not just the vague ones like “be kind”
- Help build a platform that’s “next generation”. By that I mean
- A platform that puts the subscribers above profits.
- A platform that is always asking for feedback on how to be better.
- A platform that is fully transparent about data and privacy.
Those are sky-high goals, but I think it’s the only right way forward.
There are some BIG changes happening in the digital world, and I’m here for it.
I think a lot of us are starting to wake up and realize that we don’t have to do things the way we’ve always done it.
We want to be on the forefront of that trend.
So here’s my lofty prediction for Fathom in the form of an analogy question from a standardized test (because I like to pretend that those tests helped me somehow)
Fathom : Google :: Craft Beer : Domestic Beer
I believe we’re going to disrupt Google’s ownership of the search market. I believe their search engine appeals to the broadest of audiences, like domestic beer, and that people are waking up and realizing that they want specialty options. One size does not fit all when it comes to search engines.
And on the consumer side, we know this to be true. Amazon has already come in and stolen search market share from Google because Amazon honed in on consumer product searches. With focus, the search results are usually better and recommendations are more tailored.
We’re here to make work-related searches a better experience for professionals. The best business content doesn’t usually rank on Google’s first page.
We’re building a platform that helps surface those hidden gems for you. It’ll be a far more unique and fun experience, just like drinking craft brews at a local brewery is better than drinking domestics at every social gathering. 💯
P.S. - Wouldn’t be a growth marketer if I didn’t ask...wanna join the waitlist? :)
