Developing User-Centric Campaigns

Tactic 2 for influencing stakeholders from Jules Walter: Frame your message from their POV (not yours) It’s more effective to speak their language and demonstrate how your proposal will help them reach their goals, not yours. Stakeholders are focused on their own problems and are more receptive to proposals that address what’s already top of mind for them. A few years ago, when I was leading Monetization at Slack, we began to encounter diminishing returns in our product iterations, and we needed to take a bigger swing to re-ignite revenue growth. To do that, I spearheaded a controversial project to experiment with a new approach to free-to-paid conversion. The CEO, Stewart Butterfield, had strong reservations about the project. I knew from his previous statements that he didn’t want the company to be thinking about ways to extract value from users, but rather ways to create value for them. We had scheduled a review with the CEO and a few of his VPs to discuss the proposal. Since he was intensely user-driven, I framed the entire proposal around the benefits it would have for users (the CEO’s POV) rather than emphasizing the revenue impact of the project (our team’s goal). I started the meeting by anchoring the proposal on user-centric insights that we shared in a deck: - “About 10% of purchases of Slack’s paid version happen from users in their first day on Slack.” - “Paid users find more value and retain better. Yet we make it hard for people to discover that Slack has a paid version that’s more helpful.” - “How do we help new teams experience the full version of Slack from the start?” Once we framed the issue with this user-centric lens, the CEO was more open to our proposal and let us try a couple of experiments in this new direction. This user-centric framing also got the cross-functional team more excited and set an aspirational North Star with clear guardrails, which then enabled various teammates to contribute productively to the project. After we tested two iterations of our monetization experiment, we landed on a version that resulted in a significant increase in revenue for Slack (a 20% increase in teams paying for Slack) and we used what we learned to shift Slack’s monetization strategy into a new, more successful direction. Full set of tactics here: https://lnkd.in/gezP2EDw

Know Your User - or Risk a ₹100 Crore Mistake for a ₹10,000 Ad. Earlier this week in Rajkot (my hometown), Zomato put up a catchy campaign: “Dilli ka Butter Chicken, Kashmir ki Wazwan Biryani - Dono ka khaas, ab Rajkot ke paas.” Clever line. Eye-catching hoardings. High-impact placement. There was just one problem: Rajkot is a predominantly vegetarian city. Not just in practice, but in cultural identity. So much so that even top hotels avoid serving non-veg to protect footfall. The response? By 12:00 PM, all hoardings were taken down across the city - just 30 minutes after authorities noticed. As a product leader and ex-founder, this struck me hard. Too often in our world of products, growth hacks, and campaigns - We build for the persona, not the person. - We optimize for reach, not resonance. - We chase clever, not context. But real growth doesn’t come from shouting louder. It comes from listening deeper. Zomato’s campaign may have worked in Delhi. It could have worked on Instagram. But it misfired in Rajkot, because it forgot who it was really speaking to. Lesson: Understanding your user isn’t a research task. It’s a cultural one. Whether you’re building a tech product or designing a campaign, start with empathetic curiosity. The ROI is higher than any billboard. Curious - what’s the most surprising thing your users ever taught you? #UserEmpathy #Growth #CustomerObsession #IndiaMarkets #ProductMarketFit Deepinder Goyal

As a CPG brand marketer, you've likely encountered the challenge of creating ads that truly resonate with your audience.  But the secret to creating powerful CPG ads lies in one thing: Shifting focus from your product to your consumers.  It might seem counterintuitive. But the most effective performance ads are those that prioritize people over product features. Why does this approach work? It's simple: People connect with stories and emotions, not sales pitches.  In today's saturated advertising landscape, consumers are yearning for authenticity. They're tired of being bombarded with product information. What they really want is to feel understood. So, how can you apply this people-first approach to your advertising strategy?  Start by centering your ads on the customer's story.  Instead of leading with your product's features, show how it fits seamlessly into your target audience's lives.  Demonstrate how it solves their problems or enhances their daily experiences, even in small ways. One particularly effective tactic is to leverage user-generated content or testimonials in your ads.  There's immense power in showcasing real people using and loving your product.  It's relatable, credible, and often more impactful than any polished corporate message you could craft. Great ads don't just sell products. They build relationships.  So view your product through the lens of your consumers' lives and experiences.  It's about telling their story, not just yours. 

Earlier this year, I almost gave up on pay-per-click advertising. Yes, me—a digital marketer who's been optimizing Google Ads for almost a decade. Let me explain. Our PPC campaigns were hitting a wall... For ourselves and for our clients: - Rising Costs: Cost-per-click was climbing, squeezing our margins. - Declining Engagement: Click-through rates were stagnant. - Low Conversions: Traffic wasn't translating into leads or sales. I was frustrated. It felt like pouring money into a leaky bucket. One afternoon, after yet another campaign underperformed, I sat down and asked myself: "What am I missing?" That's when it hit me. I was so caught up in the mechanics—bids, budgets, keywords—that I lost sight of the most important element: The people behind the clicks. I realized I needed to shift from a numbers-only approach to a people-centric strategy. Here's what I did: Re-examined Audience Targeting - Segmentation: I broke down our audience into specific personas. - Intent Focus: Aligned keywords with the actual intent of our users, not just popular search terms. Revamped Ad Copy - Authentic Messaging: Wrote ads that spoke directly to the needs and pain points of our audience. - A/B Testing: Continuously tested different headlines and descriptions to see what truly resonated. Enhanced Landing Pages - Consistency: Ensured the landing page matched the promise of the ad. - User Experience: Simplified the design for easier navigation and clearer calls to action. Leveraged Analytics - Data-Driven Decisions: Paid close attention to analytics to inform adjustments. - Conversion Tracking: Set up detailed tracking to understand exactly where conversions were coming from. The results? - 30% Increase in Click-Through Rates - 25% Reduction in Cost-Per-Click - 50% Boost in Conversion Rates But more importantly, we started connecting with our audience on a deeper level. I learned that successful PPC isn't just about algorithms and ad ranks—it's about relevance and relationships. So, if you're struggling with your Google Ads campaigns, consider this: Are you speaking your audience's language? Are you addressing their real needs? Are you viewing them as numbers or as people? Don't get lost in the technicalities and lose sight of who you're trying to reach. Sometimes, all it takes is a shift in perspective. Remember, it's pay-per-click, but it's people who click. Are you ready to transform your PPC approach? 👋 Hi, I'm Dave, a digital marketer dedicated to turning clicks into meaningful connections through our agency Spartan Digital Solutions LLC If you want to breathe new life into your PPC campaigns and truly engage your audience, let's connect. Ring my 🔔 for more insights, or feel free to reach out—I'm here to help. #GoogleAds #PPC #DigitalMarketing #CustomerEngagement

Do you sometimes feel frustration, as you are building a product to get the management off your back, rather than address the users? Here are 6 ways to become user-centric again: 1) Prioritize in a transparent way This is a great place to start. If your backlog is prioritized based on data and potential opportunity, risk, and cost, it will be easier to put forth user-centric initiatives ahead of those that came from upstairs. At the very least, you will have a good basis for an educated discussion. 2) Utilize users' perspective using user stories and personas If your team understands the users and their problems, it will be easier to craft something great that will later appeal to the same users. Just keep up the empathy of creating something by people for other people, and not get some metric magically go up! 3) Understand user problems If everyone in the company can see the themes that come from user feedback, it will be way harder to ignore it in favor of some corporate nonsense. Let those voices be heard by everyone! What if there are 100,000s of voices? Here is where this post's partner comes in: Productboard , and their new release: Productboard Pulse. It's a powerful new tool you can use either as a standalone solution or to elevate your work within an existing Productboard product management suite. This new AI will help you make sense of all the feedback and comments, quickly transforming them into actionable, user-centric tasks. Check out the comments for more details :) Now, back to the post: 4) Have the NPS and user ratings at the forefront The same goes for a single metric representing the general product sentiment. If the number is low or, worse, is going down and everyone can see that, the responsible Product Manager has to react. 5) Focus on your product goals Now, upstairs mandates might not be the only distraction you face when trying to improve your product. To survive them all, focus on one thing: your product goals. This will allow you to demonstrate you are doing what you are asked for and you can use user feedback and points 1-4 to pursue those goals. Thus, it's like killing 2 birds with 1 stone. However, you can also simply: 6) Have the confidence to say "No" Not all company/legal/management requests can be ignored. Sometimes changing the law or a wider company initiative will require you to comply and that is OK! However, there will also be times when someone will try to force your compliance. This is where you need to be confident, and exercise your Product Manager's independence, especially when there is no data to support a specific request. There you go! My 6 ways you can become a user-centric Product Manager. Do you put your users first in your product? Sound off in the comments! #productmanagement #productmanager #usercentricity

User Content Builds Sales. People trust people, not polished ads. Step 1: Turn customers into marketers. Encourage buyers to share their experiences. Offer incentives, create challenges, or make it easy to post. Glossier’s UGC campaign led to a 600% revenue increase by featuring customer content. Step 2: Make sharing effortless. Remove friction and give clear ways to participate. Provide branded hashtags, templates, or built-in sharing tools. Airbnb’s referral program generated $10B in bookings by rewarding users for sharing. Step 3: Amplify the best content. Use customer-created content in ads and promotions. Feature testimonials, social proof, and user-generated videos. GoPro’s user videos get millions of views, driving massive sales without big ad budgets. Your customers are already selling for you. Are you letting them? P.S. Do you trust UGC more than ads? Yes/No? #Leadership #Sales #Marketing

Here is an example of a campaign that is driven by customer insight.   Carter’s, a 160-year-old company that claims to be America’s largest baby and child clothes retailer, is attempting to reach a new generation of parents with its new campaign “More Than Just Cute”.   Late Millennials and early Gen-Z, who are now young parents, have different expectations from brands, including those that their kids use.  Kids clothes used to be all about being cute. Now it is about being stylish and being a representation of the parent on social media.   The series of films are taken like user-generated content and show kids enjoying themselves while testing the durability of Carter’s clothes (“durable fabrics, the only thing standing between kids’ butts and the world’s foot.”)   I found this a good example of a brand understanding its customer, their purchasing habits and their social media habits. Here are two of the films, released primarily on TikTok and other social media.   #socialmedia