To find a Needle in a Haystack you first need a Haystack
Recently I was listening in on a 1M/1M Roundtable with Co-Founder & CEO of Studymode, Blaine Vess.
Blaine and Sramana Mitra were talking about conversion rates and it was interesting to hear that Studymode had a conversion rate (which was, in this case the proportion of visitors that converted into paying customers) of less than 1%, but with 60 million registered users, we are talking around half a million, pretty neat. Sramana, the gracious and brilliant founder of 1M/1M went on to mention Evernote having an astonishing 4% conversion rate for their premium model.
This had me thinking even a 1% number is pretty high if you compare to typical 20th Century marketing strategies, from billboards, to TV and traditional media, to spam, and IMC just to name a few. Different time yes, and to be simplistic, it was apparent to me that the 20th Century marketing was all about coercive persuasion where as now it is more about engagement and word of mouth, or should I coin the phrase “Word of Share”?
Don’t picture this, but I do my best thinking whilst performing automated daily chores, and this morning, in the shower whilst washing my face, I was thinking of conversion rates and the marketing strategy for Quimojo moving forward, and I came up with the conclusion “To find a needle in a haystack, you first need a haystack”.
I went on to thinking how this phrase not only applies to conversion rates, but to a multitude of situations, from talent acquisition, to diamond mining, to VCs chasing Unicorns. Excited at my newfound wisdom, I quickly hit Google to see if this phase had been used before. Not surprising I came across an article on National Security entitled
“Why Spy on Everybody? Because “You Need the Haystack to find the Needle” says NSA Chief”
So unfortunately, I can’t claim it as my own, but certainly I will consider this as a “mantra” for our marketing department. But if the phrase “Word of Share” takes off, remember, that one is mine! J
Incidentally, I would highly recommend any budding entrepreneur to visit and take advantage of the One Million by One Million platform, the first global virtual accelerator, headquartered in Silicon Valley. For those not fortunate to be located with proximity to a sophisticated and developed start-up support scene, the site has proved to be an invaluable resource and a wealth of information to help guide me as a first time entrepreneur. Sramana was recently named LinkedIn’s #10 Top Influencer.
For more information, visit: http://www.sramanamitra.com
To view the Roundtable with Blaine Vess, visit:
I have been given the opportunity to pitch Quimojo for the upcoming 21st January Roundtable, so be sure to register and listen in!