Growth Playbook - Network Effects in SaaS (Part 3 of 3)
Plan and Implement Growth Strategies - Creator, Community, Expertise, 2-sided Platforms, Utility and Collaboration - Goals, milestones, activities, North Star Metric, review process and timelines.
Recap
In Part 1 of this series Growth Strategies (Driven by Network Effects), we explored:
Types of Growth Strategies: We looked at various growth strategies powered by network effects specifically tailored for B2B businesses.
Finding Your Strategy: How do you identify the right network-effect strategies for your business?
Evaluating Effectiveness: Methods to measure the impact of these strategies— are they working as expected?
Real-World Examples: I shared some successful initiatives to give you a clearer picture.
Have you started identifying which strategies could amplify your growth?
In Part 2, our focus shifted to:
Five Innovative Ideas: We presented fresh growth strategies for leveraging network effects in B2B tools for Sales, Marketing, HR, Productivity and Creation.
How to plan, build hypotheses, test, and implement these strategies.
Review Frameworks: Before you move forward, how do you make sure your strategy is sound?
How should you plan for a pilot launch of growth strategies?
Remember this is gonna be crucial as you implement your own growth strategies.
What steps have you taken so far in your growth journey?
A recap on Growth Strategies (driven by Network Effects):
Let’s get into the specifics of planning and executing these growth strategies…
Growth Strategies - Plan & Implement
Here’s a detailed breakdown of what to plan and implement in each phase—Pilot, Launch, and Ramping—for each type of growth strategies (driven by network effects).
Each phase is outlined with goals, milestones, activities, North Star Metric, review process, timelines, and how these align with business goals.
Let’s look at growth strategies (driven by network effects) for the following:
Creator - Notion, Airtable
Community - Salesforce, Hubspot,
Expertise - Salesforce, Adobe, Quickbooks, MixPanel, Wordpress
2 sided Platforms - Android, iOS, Salesforce Lightning, Twilio, Zoom, Tracelink
Utility and Collaboration - Slack, Figma
Creator - Notion, Airtable
To achieve the milestones and goals outlined in each phase for the Creator growth strategy, the following systems, processes, and resources are essential:
System: Implement a robust content management system that allows for easy creation, sharing, and tracking of user-generated content.
Process: Establish a clear process for content moderation and quality control, ensuring that user-generated content meets community standards.
Resources: Allocate dedicated team members for community management, technical support for content creators, and marketing professionals to promote content creation within the community.
Potential Pitfalls:
1. Poor Quality of User-Generated Content: Inadequate content could deter platform usage.
Focus - Implement content guidelines, moderation tools, and community-driven quality checks.
2. Low User Participation: Insufficient incentives might result in low creator engagement
Focus - Offer rewards, recognition programs, or visibility opportunities to encourage high-quality submissions and active participation
Tool Showcase - Whatlist
If you use WhatsApp a lot, you should check out Whatlist.io.
It's designed for personalized broadcasting, group engagement, and intelligent networking on WhatsApp, which is currently challenging through the WhatsApp app and web.
It's in Beta Mode, so just register and the makers will reach out to you for a demo.
Community - Salesforce, Hubspot
To achieve the milestones and goals outlined in each phase for the Community growth strategy, the following systems, processes, and resources are essential:
System: Robust community management platform with advanced analytics to track engagement and user behaviour.
Process: Create a structured process for onboarding new community members and a clear escalation path for community suggestions.
Resources: Invest in community managers, event organizers, and technical support to facilitate community activities and growth.
Potential Pitfalls:
1. Community Disengagement: Lack of active participation can reduce the community’s value.
Focus - Regularly introduce interactive content, challenges, and community events.
2. Negative Interactions: Poor community behavior can impact user experience and platform reputation.
Focus - Establish clear community guidelines and a robust moderation system to maintain a positive environment.
Expertise - Salesforce, Adobe, Quickbooks, MixPanel, Wordpress
To meet the goals of each phase in our Expertise growth plan, we need these essential systems, processes, and resources:
System: Implement a content management system tailored for expert contributions with capabilities for feedback and iterations.
Process: Define clear guidelines for expert contributions and feedback mechanisms to ensure content relevance and quality.
Resources: Allocate resources for content moderation, expert recruitment, and user interaction facilitation to maintain high engagement and quality standards.
Potential Pitfalls:
1. Poor Quality of Expert Content: If content does not meet users' expectations, it could lead to disengagement.
Focus - Set high standards for content approval and introduce peer review systems.
2. Expert Attrition: Loss of contributors can diminish the platform's value.
Focus - Offer continuous training, networking opportunities, and recognition to keep experts engaged and loyal.
2 Sided Platform - Android, iOS, Salesforce Lightning, Twilio, Zoom, Tracelink
To achieve the milestones and goals outlined in each phase for the 2-sided platform growth strategy, the following systems, processes, and resources are essential:
System: Develop a robust platform infrastructure that supports high traffic and data integration between users and developers.
Process: Establish a clear process for onboarding and supporting developers, including detailed documentation and responsive support systems.
Resources: Invest in technical staff to maintain and upgrade platform capabilities, marketing teams to promote the platform, and customer service personnel to ensure user satisfaction.
Potential Pitfalls:
1. Imbalance Between Sides: A disproportionate number of app publishers vs. users can stall the platform’s effectiveness.
Focus - Monitor growth metrics closely and use targeted marketing or incentives to balance the two sides.
2. Integration Issues: Technical difficulties in integrating services can deter user adoption.
Focus - Ensure strong developer support and continuous improvements to integration tools.
Utility and Collaboration - Slack, Figma
System: Implement systems that support real-time collaboration and data syncing across multiple users and devices.
Process: Develop a streamlined process for users to integrate and adapt the platform into their daily operations easily.
Resources: Allocate resources to continuous product development, customer support, and user education programs to enhance user experience and platform utility.
Potential Pitfalls:
1. Adoption Resistance: Users accustomed to other tools might resist transitioning to new platforms.
Focus - Provide comprehensive training sessions and onboarding materials to ease transition fears.
2. Collaboration Overload: Too much collaboration can lead to inefficiencies.
Focus - Allow users to customize their level of collaboration to prevent overload.
Summary
Here I've provided a comprehensive framework to effectively roll out growth strategies enhanced by network effects in B2B SaaS. Here's what we've covered:
Pilot Phase: We start by testing the viability of your growth strategy with a minimum viable product, focusing on core concept validation, initial user feedback, and alignment with business goals.
Ramp-up Phase: Next, we transition to a full-scale rollout, emphasizing user engagement, marketing efforts, and operational execution to solidify the strategy’s place in the market.
Scaling Phase: Finally, we focus on scaling the strategy across all user segments, enhancing features, and integrating user feedback to cement the strategy's long-term value and competitive edge.
Each phase is meticulously planned with clear goals, milestones, and timelines, ensuring alignment with your overarching business objectives. Have you identified which phase your current strategy is in? What are your next steps to propel it forward?
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