Growth Newsletter #093
Welcome to the 1,171 founders and marketers who subscribed this week!
Neal here again. You’re stuck with me now going forward :)
This week we have three insights lovingly stolen from three creators I respect: Justin Welsh, Katelyn Bourgoin, and Amanda Natividad.
We’ll be covering win-win relationships, delight, and zero-click content.
This week's tactics
Build win-win relationships to fuel growth 🤝
Insight from Justin Welsh & Neal O’Grady.
Justin Welsh is a solopreneur who recently clocked $3M in revenue. It’s just him, some tools, and some contractors. 98% profit.
In his LinkedIn audience building course, Justin tells everyone the time of day he posts.
He also tells his students to be there at that time to leave comments.
Because of Justin's 300k+ followers, adding a comment on his post can earn insane engagement and reach. It can even outperform most people's own posts.
Yet at the same time, Justin creates an army of fans that all engage with his posts the moment they're out, thus driving engagement and increasing his following.
Which then makes it even more worthwhile to comment first.
It’s an amazing growth loop—he’s created a win-win relationship with his customers that doesn’t cost anybody anything.
How to become a smarter marketer 🧠
Sponsored by Stacked Marketer.
“The more you learn, the more you earn.” –Warren Buffett
This definitely applies to digital marketing.
You need to have a solid knowledge foundation. And you need to stay up to date with “what’s hot” to be effective—and it changes fast.
So wouldn't it be great to have both?
Stacked Marketer is a daily newsletter that gives marketers an edge over the competition in just 7 minutes a day.
It covers breaking news, useful tips and tricks, and insights for all major marketing channels like Google, Facebook, TikTok, native ads, SEO and much more.
Many of us at DC read it :)
Give value upfront with “zero-click content” 🪤
Insight from Amanda Natividad.
Ever see a social media post that reels you in with a strong hook?
You dive into the post trying to get the finality you’re now craving.
Searching, searching, and… it doesn’t come.
You have to click to their website and parse a 5,000-word essay to get your answer.
This is the opposite of delighting. It’s annoying.
This is also the opposite of “zero-click content." Clicking is a requirement to get value.
Zero-click content gives you value without needing to leave an email or post. Clicking is an enhancement to the experience, not mandatory.
This insight is also zero-click content. You already got value. If you want to learn further, you can click to read the full article from Amanda, but you don't need to.
Being successful in 2022 requires building trust, affinity, and relationships. Zero-click content does that. Tricking people to go to your website does not.
And on top of that, nearly every algorithm prefers content that keeps people on the platform.

Delight customers to build loyalty 😍
Insight from Katelyn Bourgoin.
Every time I’ve ordered an Apple product has been the same cycle.
Estimated delivery: two weeks
“What! I don’t want to wait that long… Fine, take my money.”
Four days later...
“Oh wow it came so early! Thanks Tim! I love Apple.”
When someone buys something, they expect a certain outcome. That outcome is based on what they’re used to (from life in general), and your marketing promises.
If you achieve it, they’re satisfied.
For example, a hotel room better have a bathroom and bed. If so, satisfaction. If not, fury.
But if I walked in and also saw a fresh bouquet of roses for my girlfriend, I’m now their biggest fan.
Going above and beyond expectations can delight customers. And studies show that delight—not satisfaction—drives brand loyalty. And loyalty drives revenue.
This is likely why Apple uses a worst-case shipping estimate. Most of the time, they delight people. The rest of the time, they purely satisfy them.
Delight your customers and they’ll start shouting your name from the rooftops.
Community Spotlight
News and Links
News you can use:
- Creators with 10k+ followers get a boost with Meta’s new monetization tools. These include Instagram subscriptions for exclusive content, virtual gifting from viewers, and expanded NFT capabilities.
- YouTube’s Go Live Together feature lets accounts invite other YouTube users to their streams. Perfect for live brand-influencer collaborations—think interviews and Q&As.
- Also from YouTube—"handles" are finally here. Check out ours: @demandcurve.
- Don’t close the door on Snap. In its latest AR shopping investment, it’s partnering with Amazon to make digitally trying on glasses possible. Also, Snap announced an integration with Strava. Why this matters: it’s an initiative to get more older users on the app.
- Twitter’s paid verification update—the Twitter Blue feature everyone’s been talking about from Elon—becomes available tomorrow, after Election Day in the U.S.
How to choose an outsourcing partner*:
Outsourcing is a smart way to scale customer experience without sacrificing quality.
Whether you’re building a new support team from scratch, adding coverage hours or additional languages, or augmenting your existing team, outsourcing allows startups to stay nimble and focus on growth and innovation.
But your success with outsourcing is completely dependent on finding the right partner. That’s why it’s important to ask the right questions. Learn the six questions you should ask when evaluating any outsourcing company.
*Sponsored by PartnerHero
Something fun
From @thejenkinscomic






