To test candidates, give them a project. Have them:
1. Rank acquisition strategies. Can they spot high-leverage opps?
2. Walk through their methodology for CRO at each funnel stage—see if they spot bottlenecks & create hypotheses
3. Create sample content (ads, emails, etc).
Then review their project by asking yourself 3 questions:
1. Are they proactive?
2. Do they have a process for generating and prioritizing ideas?
3. Do they know what a job well done looks like?
Important tip: Pay well
This hire is responsible for your marketing spend—you're investing more than their hourly rate.
When you find the right person, attract them w/ high pay. You'll avoid wasting tons of money on improper tests/poor execution.
Expect to pay $75-$150+/hour
Building a growth team:
Once your contractor(s) have validated (and possibly started to scale) your growth channels, you're ready to build a growth team.
• You could bring your channel expert on full time
• Or you could work with a top agency with expertise in your channel
Recap:
1. Consider starting by contracting with an experienced growth generalist 2. Find them *proactively* by searching/posting on LinkedIn & joining growth communities 4. Test their ability and their thinking with a high-effort growth project
One last thing before we wrap up...
We write a newsletter that helps thousands of founders and marketers grow their startups. We only email 2 times per month.
Inactive contacts on your email list bring down email deliverability.
So consider cleaning your email list quarterly:
1. Find contacts who've been inactive for 3+ months 2. Try a win-back campaign: Send them an email. Allow them to click a button to remain on your list
(1/2)
(2/2)
3. Remove all the inactive contacts who don't click
Then test to see if you get higher open rates and CTRs:
These send positive signals to Google, which should improve your deliverability over the long run—your emails land in more inboxes & fewer spam folders.