🦄 7 growth methods of unicorn companies that any biz can use

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The work week’s only half over. But show some resolve. Or sob. Whatever gets you through.

Today’s Feature Story has good stuff that’s easy to put into action. Seven growth methods that helped grow seven different companies into unicorns. Don’t worry, all these tactics can be used by any sized business. No pile of investor cash needed.

After that, peek into the following sections: 

• The Knowledge Base  

• Self Help (musical defense) 

• Facts & Stats (Reel$ revenue)

• Get Hacking (Black Friday) 

Appetizer: How Canva became a phenom by starting with a puny problem.

Now, let’s pop open today’s Feature Story…

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Feature Story

Secrets of Unicorn Companies’ Ridiculous Growth 

Nope. The secret to becoming a unicorn-size company isn’t mountains of cash from investors.

That’ll get you so far, then it’ll get you into Chapter 13 bankruptcy (without substance to the idea or wise execution).

Hopefully, we’ll live to see Chapter 13 play out for OpenAI and Sammy Altman. 

Where was I? Yes. Growth methods. Not growth hacks.

These tactics are proven to have worked. And you only need the premise to guide you.

No need to look for investors or copy the exact tactic. Your brand is not Canva. Or Stripe. You have to tweak the tactic to suit your biz and your unique selling proposition (USP).

Let’s get into it, starting with the lil Aussie company that could…

7 Growth Tactics that Helped Create these Unicorn Companies

#1 Repeatable and Helpful SEO at Scale

Canva created thousands of landing pages. Thousands, son! Builder pages, template pages, and "create" pages. 

Why? To fill their website with USEFUL high-intent keywords like "logo maker" and "resume builder."​

Taking action on this tactic: Identify high-volume, low-competition keywords in your arena. Build scalable landing page templates that automatically generate content for each keyword variation. 

At 1% conversion, Canva gains at least 1 million new users monthly with this method, according to MindBees.​

#2 Put the Algo to Work 

TikTok's algorithm favors completion rate, rewatch rate, and shares over likes and follower count. That means a video from a 500-follower account that gets watched to completion three times is algorithmically favored over a video from a 500K-follower account people scroll past.

Using this tactic: Give micro-influencer partners freedom, like free-range chickens (e.g., "show how you’d use this product in your morning routine"). Let them create raw, anti-polished content. 

Repost their UGC on your brand account. On TikTok, a shaky iPhone video of someone using your product can outperform a $5,000 production that a talentless "committee" has to approve.

#3 Targeting the Right Ones

Stripe understood that developers, not executives, were the actual decision-makers for payment infrastructure. They wrote clear, concise documentation that removed any hassles and created a developer ecosystem that self-perpetuated. 

Using this method: Identify and cater to who actually uses your product. Think of them first, not the person who signs the check.  

#4 Cut Outrageous Costs

SpaceX manufactures 70% of their spaceship stuff in-house. Compare their onboard radios at $5,000 cost to make vs. the industry standard of $100,000! They reduced satellite launch costs from $400M to $62M.​

Your takeaway: Look for expensive vendor relationships that slow you down or cost you more than they should. Bring those operations in-house when possible so you can control quality, pivot quicker, and slash costs.

#5 Bribes for Referrals

Revolut incentivized referrals. They gamified the process, too, with progress bars and exclusive tiers. This reduced customer acquisition costs and built trust through friends and family recommendations.​

Take action on this: Reward both the referrer and the new customer. Make it easy to share, trackable, and worth their time. Gamification increases participation rates in a big way. BTW, Revolut does banking stuff in case you’re wondering. 

#6 Superfans’ Alter Ego→ Co-Creators

Epic Games (Fortnite) gave players tools to create their own game modes. Some fan-made maps became more popular than official content. Users became co-creators, driving engagement and loyalty, and these co-creators didn’t require a paycheck, I’m guessing.

Your takeaway: Give your users tools to contribute, customize, or create. User-generated content or physical products can produce hits that stick and transform customers into invested community members.

#7 Platform Partnerships for Scale Without Sales

Plaid. Instead of pitching 10,000 individual banks, Plaid partnered with digital banking platforms like Jack Henry, Q2, and Fiserv (platforms that power backend systems for thousands of banks). 

By integrating once with each platform, Plaid gained access to thousands of financial institutions without individual sales cycles.​

Taking action: Identify platforms, agencies, or go-betweens that already serve your target customers at scale. Partner with them to distribute your product. One platform partnership can replace 500 individual sales conversations.

3 Bonus Growth Methods from Unicorn-Lite Businesses

Ok, these aren’t anything close to unicorn-level, but I thought “Unicorn-Lite” was brilliant. Nay, is brilliant.

1. Landscaping business (I ran for 16 years). Once I started including a list of references with my bids, the number of people signing with me went way up. Plus, they began signing on the spot versus having to “think about it.”

2. House painting business. My dad never turned down a chance to talk with someone. This increased his likability with his house painting customers and their neighbors, but it also boosted awareness among area builders.

3. Local non-profit. They get area kids to set up lemonade stands. Sales revenue goes to the non-profit. It’s nearly no work for the organization, but very profitable. And it gets young people involved year after year. Many of the kiddos will become adult volunteers and evangelists for the cause for decades to come.

That’s all I’ve got to give on that topic. So, on to The Knowledge Base…

Self-Help

Lots of studies you cannot trust because of diabolical incentives of the organizations that pay for the studies. 

This one, I see no issue with, though. “Listening to music after 70 may cut dementia risk by nearly 40%. Playing instruments means a 35% lower dementia risk, while doing both offers even greater protection.”

Music (without ads) only gives to humans. It never asks for anything back. No cliffhangers, no teases, no sales funnel, no addictive tricks.

And if you know anyone who’s had dementia, you know it’s worth taking every step possible to never have that disease afflict you or your spouse. So don’t wait till you’re 70 to make time for more music to feed your brain. It costs you nothing to try this brain shield.

Facts & Stats

Bonus: Cost for 60-second host-read podcast / streaming ad spots are roughly $______  CPM & 30-second spots cost $___________ CPM. Answer at end of email.

Get Hacking

A specific strategy to implement today

Don’t forget to seriously target your previous customers with your upcoming Black Friday and Cyber Monday offers. These small lists or segments can rake in the money.

Evidence? Jay Clouse noted an 8.9% conversion rate for an offer emailed to just 700 subscribers (previous buyers). Compared to a tiny 0.1% conversion rate to 58,000 subscribers (they had never bought before). 

He also said he underpromoted those 2024 BFCM deals and should’ve sent more than one email a day for the week leading up. So, step up your targeting of past buyers… and your email frequency (don’t be scared).

Thanks for reading Inbox Hacking. Please share it with your peeps - it’s sugar-free but stings a bit.

Shane McLendon - Copy Kingpin

Bonus answer from Facts & Stats section: Podcast ads approximate cost breakdown. Pre-roll: Approximately $20 CPM | Mid-roll: $25 CPM | Post-roll: $1-$5 CPM (Ad Results Media).

"A brand is a voice and a product is a souvenir." ~Lisa Ganksy

*P.S. Why ignore shoppers who show interest in your website but bounce? Identify these interested shoppers’ email addresses with Smart Recognition. That way, you can retarget them with abandoned browse emails or ads. Book your free demo.