🏠 Adobe's sweet, sweet marketing campaign

ISSUE #251

SaaS Weekly and I are getting a makeover (same year, new me kind of vibes). While I work on my sixpack, the roundups are making a comeback!

Don’t panic: As part of this redesign, the sender address will be “[email protected]” – just for a few weeks. Please don’t mark me as SPAM 🙏🏻

Now, back to business. Growth marketing has a lot going for it right now (ChatGPT, MOps 2.0, gingerbread houses – for real tho). But despite the hyped hacks, there are still foundational elements that need to be executed well.

In this week’s roundup, we cover:

• The rise of GTM Engineers (can I change my title to this?)

• Laying the foundation for your GTM Strategy (from 0 ➡️ 1)

• How to get started with Google Ads (without breaking the bank)

Let's dive in!

Ian at SaaS Weekly

(P.S. Shout out to Mike Northfield for helping me with the redesign.)

INDUSTRY ROUNDUP

🎨 AI x Marketing | Adobe turned America into a giant gingerbread house
The tech giant's creative campaign for Firefly AI generator cooked up 17.6K+ impressions and 2K media mentions by having AI design state-themed cookie cribs. Sweet strategy, literally. (Link)

📈 Markets | SaaS valuations be popping off
And I’m not just talking about Salesforce and HubSpot’s stock price. Private startups are trading at a 3.2x valuation premium over public companies. (Link)

💰 Social Media | Threads about to make that bread
Meta's X competitor plans to invite select advertisers to the party in January 2025, while Bluesky's CEO says she won't "enshittify" her platform with ads. (Link)

🤖 Hiring for AI talent | Salesforce goes heavy on its GenAI platform
The company is hiring over 1,000 new employees for Agentforce, a platform to help companies easily build and deploy AI agents. (Link)

GROWTH PLAYS IN PRACTICE

👷 Systems | 5 min read | Matteo Tittarelli, HyperGrowth Partners
The Rise of the GTM Engineer

In theory: As traditional growth tactics get commoditized through AI and no-code tools, a new breed of talent is emerging.

“GTM engineers” combine technical expertise with marketing acumen to build scalable, automated growth systems that drive pipeline and revenue.

In practice:

1. Master the new marketing tech stack. Get comfortable with workflow orchestrators like Clay and AirOps. These tools enable automation across content creation, data enrichment, and email sequencing.

2. Think in systems, not just campaigns. Unlike traditional growth marketers who optimize for one-off campaigns, GTM engineers build end-to-end workflows that continuously run.

3. Own the full customer journey, not just acquisition. Build systems that integrate product, marketing, and sales data to create unified growth engines - from initial targeting through monetization and retention.

⚖️ Foundation | 7 min read | Maja Voje, Growth Unhinged
How to build your GTM strategy from scratch

In theory: Most startups struggle with their early GTM motion, often targeting too many customer segments and channels simultaneously.

The path to $1M ARR starts narrow - typically requiring 5-7 iterations to find product-market fit and 2-3 scalable GTM motions that can predictably drive growth.

In practice:

1. Build your Early Customer Profile (ECP) using three criteria: deals that close in under 30 days, customers willing to be references, and those with urgent pain points.

2. Survey your first 5 customers with one question: "Where would you turn for inspiration, guidance, and suggestions to solve [your product's problem]?" Use these insights to identify your first GTM channel rather than spreading across multiple channels.

3. Test channel-motion fit with this framework: Set 30-day goals (e.g., "10 reference customers"), pick one channel (e.g., LinkedIn content), define success metrics (e.g., "25% response rate"), and measure weekly. Pivot if metrics don't hit targets after 4 weeks.

⚙️ Channel | 8 min read | Alexander Estner, MRR Unlocked
How to get started with Google Ads for early-stage B2B SaaS startups

In theory: Google Ads captures high-intent buyers actively searching for solutions, with campaigns seeing 1.5%+ demo conversion rates.

Unlike other channels, it provides immediate feedback on positioning and messaging.

In practice:

1. Start narrow, then expand. Launch with 2 campaigns max, focusing on high-intent keywords. Split budget 60-70% to product category terms, 20-30% to competitor terms, and 10-25% to brand protection.

2. Prioritize tracking over creative testing. Implement enhanced conversion tracking through GTM + offline conversion imports (HubSpot/Zapier) to optimize for business outcomes vs vanity metrics.

3. Focus on four proven campaign types: competitor terms ("Gong alternatives"), product category ("sales automation software"), use case specific ("transcribe Zoom calls"), and brand protection campaigns.

SAVED SOCIAL POSTS

TOP READS FROM LAST WEEK

1. Inside Statsig's Pricing Philosophy 📈 (Link)

2. How Statsig Grows: The Story, Growth Motion, Product, and Market (Link)

3. A Guide to Positioning with Multiple Products, Segments and Personas (Link)