Hi there 👋
Thank you for all the positive replies from last week’s newsletter about open, work-from-anywhere roles in tech. I hope the resources are helpful for you or for anyone you know who’s looking for work. For the next few weeks, I thought I would take some space in this newsletter to highlight a few open roles in particular. You can check out the list at the bottom of the newsletter. This week’s includes cool jobs at Circle, Blinkist, Superside, and more.
I also wanted to welcome all the new readers that have made their way here via Substack’s recommendations feature. As a Substack writer, I can recommend other Substacks I love, and other Substacks can do the same. My list of recommendations is visible from my newsletter homepage or can be seen in full here. Lots of good ones to check out!
Kevan
(ᵔᴥᵔ)
Thank you for being part of this newsletter. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world and my time at Oyster, Buffer, and more.
Say hi anytime at hello@kevanlee.com. I’d love to hear from you.
One-page marketing strategy (w/ free template)
There is no wrong way to write up a marketing strategy.
(At least, this is what I tell myself, since I use a different way every time.)
However, there may be an easiest way.
When I was at Buffer, I used a simple one-page marketing strategy template to communicate the core of our marketing strategy. The template was inspired by a one-pager from David Cummings, found of Pardot and board member at Calendly. It’s a great distillation of strategy down to its core.
You can see the exact strategy I wrote up for Buffer in 2017.
The strategy one-pager includes these elements:
Company mission
Company (and marketing) values
Brand purpose
Product positioning
Strategic pillars
3-year target
Annual goals
Quarterly / monthly / cycle goals (whatever timeframe you use)
Priority projects
Here is a free template that you can use next time you’re putting together a marketing strategy to share with your team or with leadership.
You may notice that a lot of this one-page strategic doc mirrors another strategic template I shared at the start of this year: MSPOTs. We’ve been using MSPOTs to great success at Oyster as a way to “speak the same language” when I’m sharing marketing plans and my direct reports are sharing their plans for brand marketing, product marketing, growth marketing, etc.
As a refresher, MSPOT stands for Mission, Strategy, Plays, Omissions, and Targets. The only thing missing from our strategic one-pager is, ironically, Omissions — which are often the hardest things to name anyway (and arguably what makes MSPOTs such a valuable exercise). If you do use the marketing strategy one-pager, be sure to give some thought to the things that you won’t be doing. Your team will appreciate it :)
Misc.
A manager’s guide for managing through times of uncertainty and burnout. Highly helpful (and relevant) for many of us right now!
A wonderful overview of community-led growth (CLG).
Open roles
We’re hiring on the marketing team at Oyster. Come work with me!
Head of Growth at Circle (fully distributed)
Customer Marketing Manager at Circle (fully distributed)
(plus a ton of other GTM roles)
Content Marketing Manager at ChartMogul (Canada or Europe)
Copywriter at Doist (fully distributed)
Growth Manager at Almanac (fully distributed)
Strategic Marketing Associate at Loom (US and Canada)
Program and Community Manager at Skillshare (US, Europe, South America)
Director of SEO at Sticker Mule (US)
Head of Product-Led Content Marketing at Superside (fully distributed)
About this newsletter …
Hi, I’m Kevan, a marketing exec based in Boise, Idaho, who specializes in startup marketing and brand-building. I currently lead the marketing team at Oyster (we’re hiring!). I previously built brands at Buffer, Vox, and Polly. Each week, I share playbooks, case studies, stories, and links from inside the startup marketing world. Not yet subscribed? No worries. You can check out the archive, or sign up below:
Thank you for being here! 🙇♂️
I’m lucky to count folks from great brands like these (and many more) as part of this newsletter community.