Growth Marketing CXL Review: kinda…

I have been trying my hardest to push myself into the copywriting game for the past six months. I was practically turning digital tricks to get a free class here and there, only to make an ass out of myself and fill my email with loads of spam.

*Not really. I use the spam as free knowledge, and all those copywriters out there sending me your marketing emails, I haven’t bought yet because I’m broke. I am learning a lot from all that spam, though. I am paying attention to more than the words and comparing what I am receiving.

Nonetheless, I continued to search. I even landed a job as a content writer with an Inc 5000 marketing agency and feel really good about it. I still had not landed any classes, though. That is what I really want, to get some proper learning. I want to be a copywriter, not so much SEO content — that is the goal. I am really good at writing SEO content though if anyone is reading and wants to hook a sista up! I’m quite magical.

Anyway, I came across the CXL Institute. In every article I read about “The Best Copywriting Courses,” CXL-I was always in the mix. However, I also knew due to the steep price and lack of work over the last few months; it wasn’t an option, or so I thought. I ended up scrolling through the page one last time to get some manifesting in and saw the small print:

“If you’re unable to pay for a CXL Institute subscription, please check out our scholarship program here.”

It took me about 5 minutes to pour my heart out in the little box they give you for 500 words or more. I let it rip, and three days later, I was accepted. Not saying I am unique — it seems like a lot of people get accepted. But I respect that, especially in these trying times. So, thanks to the acceptance team for helping all of us out.

Now, the rules are strict — 12 blogs in 12 weeks and 108 hours finished with exams. Cool. I thought. Then I got hit with a Cat 5 hurricane. Literally, but hey, it’s Sunday, and my blog is here, although I was only able to finish 3 hours due to the outage. I also have a one-year-old that likes to poop her pants 100 times a day. So, if I’m able to get this damn blog out, then your excuses are beneath me.

CXL Growth Marketing: Great info; No exam

The first few videos don’t short on knowledge. What I like most about all the videos is the text-to-video they offer while learning. Guess you’ll have to get in there to know what I mean, but it works. The set up is designed for all types of learning styles but all meshed into one — that’s how I perceive it anyway.

So, what exactly are we learning in Growth Marketing?

• Growth versus Tradition
• Growth Hacking
• How to be and grow as a growth marketer
• How to build your team

This section outlines what it means to establish yourself as a growth marketer in an ever-evolving digital marketing world. The best part about it is the guy teaching the class, John McBride, relates the process to life, which I got within the first five minutes. I felt like I was getting a massive dose of common sense. All the practices they are sharing are things that I apply to my life. Tomato; ToMAHto. eh, EH?

3 Main Components to Success in Growth Marketing

These three components are basically the outline for the team layout. However, he breaks down why each one is smart to also implement in your personal life, too, to be the best you can be in the Growth Marketing sector. It isn’t like Old Skool Marketing where your main focus is to sell, and you only have one chance, no experimenting, where you are solely concentrating on the two tops of the marketing funnel.

That’s basic knowledge; we want to sell. But growth marketing is about just that, growth, and the idea expands and evolves as it moves through the whole funnel. You use the entire process to get the outcome, which is to ultimately gain revenue. (you can check my fancy pants funnel above, Yah, I made that!)

However, digital mediums give us the ability to do it more empathetically. Instead of playing campaign roulette and assuming what the customer wants, you can figure it out by working with hard data from experiments on what customers actually respond and emote on to sell a product better.

Therefore, Growth Marketing is the next level to Old Skool. It takes you as the marketer out of the sales pitch — floating on the top of the funnel — and into the customer’s mind, or the customer journey, which we will discuss later. Growth marketing unclogs the funnel flow and allows you to embrace the whole process fluidly.

1.Channel Expertise

Something I have always implemented in my life — know some stuff, be great at one thing. For me, it is writing and strategic thinking. Ok, that is two but whatever. Channel level expertise is like your foot in the door, the reason they should hire you. John expands on this by sharing what I do all the time, research, and learn a bit. You may not know it all, but the effort is going to shine through. However, being an expert at one channel within the growth marketing spectrum is how you will succeed. TEAMWORK HOAH!

2.Analytical Capability

If you don’t understand what that means, you may need to stop here and do a little research or move on to the next hustle. Using logic to maneuver through data is key to Modern Digital Marketing. It is “getting to know the customer” on steroids. Being able to extract data and interpret it is vital; as John puts it, you “use it to make better decisions,” which is “super important.” Simple enough, right?

3.Strategic Thinking/Project Management

A project manager understands the best methods

• to get the data,
• extract the data,
• manage the data,
• and the best way to implement the data
• DATA! DATA! DATA!

… while knowing how to present it to the people or clients to “identify big opportunities.”

In short, they can take everything and work with a creative and analytical team to create the customer journey effectively. John makes a great point about this part, too, “growth is cross-functional, and if you are not particularly good at working with creatives or an engineering team or an analytics team, you’re going to have a hard time driving projects end to end.”

Building A Growth Process

Stay tuned for a more fun-filled and informative next chapter of My Growth Marketing REVIEW….

This is what I was able to put together with Cat 5’s, no internet, and poopy diapers while examining the data of being a professional single mom. Here’s to the future! I promise you won’t be disappointed.