What You'll Learn Today

In 5 minutes, you'll be learning about the following:

The 6-Step Formula to a Billion Views
Missed Our Workshop on Instagram Ad Creative? Watch the Replay Now! 🎥
Traffic Is Down, But Revenue Is Up? Here’s What’s Really Happening
Demystifying Product Market Fit with John Doherty [PODCAST]
The Easiest Way to Scale Influencer Marketing [TOOL]

What did everyone enjoy last week?

The most clicked link was ... How Smart Brands Use AI: 7 Examples of AI in Marketing Automation

Cheers,

Jim Huffman, GrowthHit CEO
(Want a friend? Let's connect on Twitter or LinkedIn)

My Take of the Week
Missed the Live Ad Workshop? Watch the Replay Now! 🎥

Tired of running ads that don’t deliver?

We just hosted a game-changing workshop where Jordan Summers and I broke down 10+ real-world ads that crushed ROAS.

Now, you can catch the replay and learn:

✅ Insider strategies for crafting high-converting ad creative
✅ Audience targeting tactics that actually work
✅ Scaling techniques to maximize every ad dollar

No more guessing—just proven frameworks to help you build, test, and optimize ads that convert.

🎬 Watch the full recording below.

🎥 WATCH THE FULL SESSION HERE 🚀

Special Find: Team Pick

Chargeflow's Dynamic Social Proof

Winning customer trust is half the battle in conversions—and Chargeflow nails it with a brilliant approach to social proof.

Their website dynamically updates customer logos based on the selected industry, making testimonials feel hyper-relevant to each visitor.

This personalized touch instantly builds credibility, aligns with visitor needs, and enhances the impact of testimonials. The result? Less friction, more trust, and higher conversions.

💡 Actionable takeaway: If your business serves multiple industries, don’t just show a generic wall of logos—make your social proof dynamic.

Credit to Morgan Davison, our Senior CRO Manager, for finding this gem!

In Partnership with The Rundown.ai

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Curated Growth Tips of the Week
2 Growth Tips to Grow Your Biz

Featuring growth tips and insights sourced from other publications.

1/ Traffic Is Down, But Revenue Is Up? Here’s What’s Really Happening.

For years, more traffic meant more sales—a simple equation that marketers could rely on.

But recently, something unexpected has been happening: businesses are seeing drops in website traffic while their revenue continues to grow.

*Red line goes down. Blue line goes up. How is this happening?*

Rand Fishkin from SparkToro recently broke this down, highlighting companies like HubSpot, which has lost millions of monthly visits to its blog but continues to see record-breaking revenue growth. How is this possible?

The answer lies in how people discover and engage with brands today. Instead of clicking through search results or blog posts, users are influenced by social media, AI tools, and content platforms that don’t send direct traffic—but still shape purchasing decisions.

🔹 Key takeaways for marketers:

✅ We live in a "zero-click" world. Platforms like LinkedIn, Reddit, and ChatGPT keep users on their sites instead of driving traffic to yours—but they still shape buying decisions.

✅ Brand awareness is shifting. Buyers no longer rely solely on Google searches; they make decisions based on what they see in social feeds, AI recommendations, and discussions on niche platforms.

✅ Traffic isn’t the only success metric. While visits may drop, direct sales, brand engagement, and overall revenue can still rise if your brand stays top-of-mind where customers are spending their time.

💡 The takeaway?

Stop obsessing over traffic alone. Instead, focus on influence. If your audience is finding you through LinkedIn posts, AI-generated recommendations, or social media discussions, that’s just as powerful—even if it doesn’t show up in your Google Analytics dashboard.

🚀 Read the full breakdown here: Traffic Is Down; Revenue Is… Up?

2/ The 6-Step Formula to a Billion Views 🎥

What separates viral videos from the ones that get ignored?

Adley Kinsman, founder of Viralish, has built a system that generates over a billion organic views per month. She believes virality isn’t luck—it’s a formula.

1️⃣ Craft a Hook That Retains 90% of Viewers in 6 Seconds

Nothing else matters if you lose viewers in the first few seconds. Kinsman’s goal? 90% audience retention in the first six seconds.

🔹 The Combo Method: Every hook should include:
✅ A curiosity gap (the answer comes later)
✅ An emotional reaction (excitement, shock, humor, or controversy)

💡 Example: Instead of a generic cooking video, Kinsman once placed a rack of ribs on a car engine in the opening shot. This unexpected visual sparked instant curiosity and emotion—“What is she doing?!”

2️⃣ Storyboard Suspenseful Storytelling

Great videos build suspense—they don’t start with the answer. Instead of leading with your end goal, start by raising a question that needs answering.

💡 Example: Instead of saying "Today, we’re making no-bake cookies!", start by spooning peanut butter into a jar of oats in the middle of a grocery store while security approaches. The audience is hooked—they need to know what happens next.

3️⃣ Deliver the Payoff in the Final 3-10 Seconds

The payoff is where you finally satisfy the curiosity gap from your hook.

🔹 You have two options:
✅ Satisfying payoff: A complete, rewarding conclusion that makes people share your content.
✅ Unsatisfying payoff: Leaves them wanting more and drives them to Part 2.

💡 Example:
🔹 If your hook was “I tested the world’s spiciest chip”, your payoff should show your honest reaction.

4️⃣ Engineer Engagement Intentionally

Instead of hoping for comments and shares, design your video to trigger them.

🔹 How to spark engagement:
✅ Wear something unusual (viewers will ask about it)
✅ Misspell a word on purpose (people love correcting mistakes)
✅ Make relatable statements ("I don’t know if anyone else does this, but…”)

💡 Example: Kinsman once placed tampons next to condiments in a fridge during a cooking video. No one mentioned it, but the comments section exploded with debate: "Wait, why are tampons in the fridge?!"—driving massive engagement.

5️⃣ Raise the Stakes to Keep Viewers Invested

The higher the stakes, the more viewers care about the outcome.

🔹 Ways to raise stakes:
✅ Location: Move your video out of expected settings
✅ Props: Replace a basic item with something meaningful
✅ Wardrobe: Your outfit should match the emotional tone
✅ Casting: The right people make a difference

💡 Example:A proposal video in someone’s living room might be sweet, but staging it at Dodger Stadium in front of thousands of people immediately raises the stakes. The potential for public celebration or humiliation makes viewers more invested in the outcome, keeping them watching until the very end.

6️⃣ Split-Test Before Posting

Instead of guessing which video will perform best, test multiple versions with small ad budgets ($5-$6 per variation).

🔹 What to test:
✅ Hooks and opening shots (which retains the most viewers?)
✅ Video length (does a 30-second or 60-second version perform better?)
✅ Captions and thumbnails (which gets more clicks?)

Source - 6-Step Formula to a Billion Views: Adley Kinsman Viral Video Secrets

TOOL OF THE WEEK:
The Easiest Way to Scale Influencer Marketing

Managing influencer outreach, affiliate sales, and UGC manually? SARAL streamlines the process, eliminating spreadsheets and busywork.

Why SARAL?

Find & Seed Influencers – Discover creators, automate outreach, send products, and track sales in one place.
Built-in Affiliate Tracking – Generate links, track commissions, and send payments without extra software.
Automate UGC Collection – Auto-track influencer posts, request rights, and repurpose content easily.
Creator CRM – Stay on top of relationships with built-in follow-up reminders.

CHECK OUT THE TOOL

PODCAST: IF I WAS STARTING TODAY

Demystifying Product Market Fit with John Doherty

This week, John Doherty returns to compare notes with Jim on a very important but often misunderstood part of business: Product Market Fit.

TOPICS DISCUSSED IN TODAY’S EPISODE