GE 221: How Larry Kim Started WordStream Out of a Bakery and Grew It to Over 10K Users (podcast)

Hey everyone! Today I share the mic with Larry Kim, founder of WordStream, the world’s biggest PPC management software company.

Tune in to hear Larry discuss why you need to focus your energy on creating original content, the mistakes that people make when it comes to content marketing, the strategies he employs to produce the best content out there, and why it’s not necessary to test the same idea across different channels.

Download podcast transcript [PDF] here: How Larry Kim Started WordStream Out of a Bakery and Grew It to Over 10K Users – TRANSCRIPT

Time-Stamped Show Notes:

• 00:40 – Please leave us a review and rating and subscribe to the Growth Everywhere Podcast
• 00:57 – Eric introduces Larry Kim
• 01:30 – Larry started WordStream in 2008 literally out of a bakery
• 02:20 – His background is in software engineering
• 03:34 – WordStream’s target market are the people who are not full-time marketers, like entrepreneurs and small business owners
• 04:01 – WordStream does the work for you for search marketing and social marketing
  • 04:22 – The software costs on average $299 to $500 per month
  • 04:58 – They have over 10,000 users
  • 05:03 – WordStream offers free online tools for millions of marketers
• 06:22 – Being top of mind for people as a marketer is a lot of work – commitment to originating content is important
• 07:04 – The mistake people make is delegating or starting to curate other people’s content
• 07:57 – Two to three hours of Larry’s day is dedicated to learning new things that will inspire his original content
• 09:30 – The first thing Larry wants to express is that there is a lack of understanding of what constitutes quality content
• 10:35 – Quality content should be defined in terms of outcomes and results
  • 12:11 – “We should define quality based on numbers”
  • 12:40 – Larry wrote 300 pieces of content last year and only 6 or 7 of them went viral getting millions of views – 98% went nowhere
  • 13:05 – High user engagement rates was a commonality in the ones that had success
  • 13:52 – Today, metrics are being used by the algorithms of social and search platforms
• 15:50 – The notion of content marketing has shifted and so you have to change your strategy
• 16:16 – Changing your strategy is like a betting strategy in poker – you have to know when to fold and when to go all-in
  • 17:28 – When you come across unusual stories that go viral, ones Larry calls unicorns, you have to go all-in
  • 18:38 – Drop all the other marketing projects that you have going on and direct all your time and attention on your unicorn
  • 19:14 – “A catchy idea tends to be catchy on social media”
  • 19:33 – Another channel you should look into is paid advertising
  • 21:27 – Keep rolling over your budget for marketing until you find a unicorn
  • 22:44 – It’s not necessary to test the same idea across different channels
  • 24:02 – In poker, you don’t play all your hands the same way
• 24:38 – Targeting matters! Think about who your target audience is for the content you produce
• 27:32 – They key to getting into social media is unusually high engagement rates
• 28:05 – People don’t randomly click on ads – they have a tendency to click on things they’ve heard of before
• 29:00 – The hack is going back to how marketing used to be – building a brand that people have heard of or are familiar with
• 31:25 – What’s one new tool that you’ve added in the last year that’s added a lot of value? – Facebook Audience Manager
• 32:35 – What’s one must-read book you recommend to everyone? – “I don’t read books so I’m going to pass”
• 33:06 – Connect with Larry on Twitter or LinkedIn
• 33:27 – End of today’s episode

3 Key Points:

1. The quality of one’s content should be measured by outcomes or results.
2. Be willing to change your strategy if your initial plan doesn’t work out.
3. Targeting matters – produce the content your audience wants to consume.

Resources from this Interview:

• WordStream
• Larry on Twitter
• Larry on LinkedIn

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