Turing's Tofu #10

📰 This Week in AI & SaaS 📰

• Google is fighting back against AI-generated content by changing its algorithm to downrank low-quality, AI-generated content–that has no ‘original value’--showing only authentic, high-quality content. Read more.
  

• OpenAI competitor–Anthropic–has released Claude 3, stating it performs better than GPT-4 and Gemini as it can answer more questions, understand longer instructions, and give near-instantaneous results, with better reasoning, complex task comprehension, and graduate-level knowledge. Read more.
  

• OpenAI has launched a new (free) “read aloud” feature for ChatGPT 3.5 and 4 users which means users no longer have to read ChatGPT’s responses to their prompts, they can listen to them. A helpful feature for those with accessibility needs, and those on the go. Read more.
  

• Want to know what the Mona Lisa would sound like, if she could talk? Watch this

🌟Turing’s Top Picks 🌟

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• The YC Bot: The YC Bot is an AI tool which provides constant access to the expert wisdom of Y Combinator (YC) mentors, helping entrepreneurs face their startup challenges. 

• Purple Wave: Purple Wave is an AI-based digital marketing tool that enables users to generate their marketing assets, including funnel flows, sales pages, and email campaigns, without coding experience.

Read of the Week: 

More data does not always mean more effective marketing  

A world where we’re constantly told that data is the key to success, this article explores whether that is actually true… or is a more traditional approach more cost-effective.

Read it

💡 Marketing Moments with Mounier 💡

In this week's "Marketing Moments with Mounier," let's dive into the timeless AIDA Funnel Model, or as I like to call it, "Elmo's Funnel." Devised by E. St. Elmo Lewis in 1898, it segments the buyer's journey into four crucial phases: Attention, Interest, Desire, and Action. This model not only underscores the psychological journey customers embark on but also offers a blueprint for guiding them towards making a purchase.

Despite its age, AIDA remains remarkably relevant, illustrating that the essence of captivating marketing hasn’t changed drastically. The real challenge today lies in how we adapt these age-old principles to modern digital platforms. In a world where B2B websites often default to showcasing product features, integrating AIDA to highlight benefits and create compelling narratives can set you apart.

The journey from capturing your audience's Attention to sparking an Interest, fostering Desire, and ultimately driving Action requires not just creative storytelling but also a deep understanding of your audience's needs and the unique value your product offers.

This exploration into AIDA is just a snippet. For those looking to deepen their understanding of marketing funnels and discover how to apply these concepts in today's digital age effectively, check out my full discussion in "Marketing Funnels: A Journey Through Time and Their Demise," available on Amazon. It’s your guide to evolving beyond traditional models to craft marketing strategies that resonate in the 21st century.

👾 TOFU Quick Bytes: Zylo Teardown 👾

Zylo Teardown

Founded in 2016, Zylo is a SaaS management tool. It develops software that helps companies discover, manage, and optimize their SaaS subscriptions, providing insights into their spending, utilization, and user feedback, addressing rising costs and risks associated with SaaS. 

Strategy overview: 

When Zylo first launched, it created an entirely new category of software management. It initially focused on running smart and targeted sales and marketing campaigns to complement the heavy R&D investments needed to build the platform and discovery engine.

They target mid-to-large, high-growth cloud-based companies with over 1,000 employees who run most of their IT via SaaS subscriptions, helping them understand the value of the investments they’re making in software platforms.

Product development and engineering are still the top priorities for hiring and deploying funding from investors, but building a new category also demands an investment in sales and marketing.

Performance Analysis:

• In 2023, Zylo made $6.6M in revenue, with a 26.2% YoY increase  

• They now have an ever-increasing team of 138 people and have raised $35.2M in funding
  

• They have secured big customers such as Nike, Slack, Uber, Adobe, Salesforce, and Atlassian
  

• They have been recognized as a top SaaS startup and won awards from Inc., SAP, Gartner, and Forbes

How have they achieved this? 

Critical Teardown: 

What does Zylo do well?

Culture: Zylo was founded by a team of four who all came from Salesforce and brought with them a culture of passion, an ambition to define the market, and a shared drive to solve hard problems and create impact. This culture has permeated the entire team of 138 and inspires new ideas and motivational can-do attitudes 

Data-led, need-based product innovation: Zylo makes a point of collecting industry data and utilizing it to form new product features. For example, they discovered that, on average, 44% of software licenses go unused, resulting in an estimated $17M of waste per year. As a result, they built a feature called Usage Connect, which allows IT, Software Asset Management (SAM), and Procurement teams to surface insights from any application connected to Zylo’s SaaS Management platform. This was the first time businesses could unlock a single source of truth for true SaaS optimization.

Events: They launched an industry-first annual conference, three years ago, called ‘SaaSMe’ which is dedicated to helping IT, SAM, finance, and procurement leaders unlock value and drive responsible growth through smarter SaaS management. They utilize their relationships with their bigger customers like Adobe, Redis, CM Group, and LinkedIn, inviting them to attend as keynote speakers, which increases overall attendance. As a result, they’re respected as leaders in the world of SaaS management.

Case studies: They publish plenty of case studies on their site to showcase how effective their tool is. They are concise, clear, and full of impactful statistics (which they like to use in headings). They often include short videos to provide real-world context (which is especially important for technical or complicated SaaS products), and they follow the tried-and-tested ‘Challenge, Solution, Results’ format to keep them short (under 500 words) and sweet.

Podcast: Zylo is utilizing its relationships with its customers to run a successful podcast that features uncensored conversations with SaaS management professionals from big companies like Salesforce, Atlassian, and Redis who are conquering SaaS in their organizations. The podcast further cements Zylo’s position as a SaaS management leader and provides them with another platform to educate the growing industry about the benefits of SaaS management.

What doesn’t Zylo do well?

Basic user features: Despite exploiting gaps in the market, according to reviews on G2, Zylo doesn’t allow users to generate automated reports and workflows. This seems like an obvious feature to include. Perhaps, rather than collecting industry-wide data, they should also spend time analyzing user feedback and developing new features that help them use their tool better. 

SEO strategy: Competitors, such as ChargeBee and Cledara, are bidding on Zylos brand terms/keywords to gain a competitive advantage which is harming their position in the SERPs.

Zylo doesn’t appear anywhere near the top of the SERPs for keyphrases like “SaaS management tools” which, as they’re building a new industry category, seems strange. 

AI integration

• Zylo utilizes AI in their product: For example, they have an AI-powered matching model that uses ML to identify a user's known and unknown SaaS applications, which allows them to identify new and suitable applications. They also have an AI-Powered Savings Center that automatically detects and prioritizes savings opportunities, estimates financial impact and captures realized savings and cost avoidance across a user's SaaS stack.

• Zylo might want to consider using AI within their marketing efforts too: There are hundreds of SEO tools that can help them generate a more strategic, targeted SEO strategy that prevents their competitors from bidding on their branded keywords and stealing the top SERP spots.

Key takeaways

• Instill a culture of passion, ambition, and a shared drive to resolve problems by leading by example and living that culture yourself.   

• Collect industry data and utilize it to form new product features, but don’t forget to also use customer feedback to create useful features for existing users

• Consider utilizing relationships with customers to host events or start a podcast and solidify your position as an expert/industry leader
  

• Include case studies that use statistics and facts to showcase your product
  

• Use AI SEO tools to develop a competitive SEO strategy and make sure you bid on your own brand keywords to protect your brand name and regain the clicks you lose when a competitor's ads show up under your brand keywords.

What campaign or content marketing strategy would you like to see torn apart, next? Let me know! 

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