Drata - Sr Manager, Web & Growth: Assignment

Written by

David

Published

March 28, 2023

Another final round, another unpaid presentation, another rejection. This vicious cycle can make a grown man cry. 😭

Last Thursday, I presented what my 30/60/90 day plan would look like if I joined the company. I was asked to spend 2-3 hours on it but I easily spent at least double that.

I spoke with the hiring manager at Drata, Brian Jacobs a few days prior and we really aligned on everything. He seemed like a great guy to work for so I was again disappointed we didn’t move forward to offer stage.

The company’s growth story is incredible having been founded just a few years ago and already at Series C funding with a valuation of over $1B. I was really excited to have the opportunity to contribute to their growth story and leverage my 20+ years of digital marketing skills.

Assignment

Please construct a 30/60/90 plan of what your first 3 months on the job will look like. You can arrange this in shareable google docs or sharable slides. The marketing team’s primary focus right now is increasing top of funnel awareness and getting more customers to qualify. You will walk through the plan with a panel of potential peers and the hiring manager during the final step of the process. We advise you to spend about 2 hours on this assignment.

Note: The primary responsibility of this role is to own drata.com and drive experience and conversion funnels that align with the customer journey. Here’s the JD but it’ll probably be removed once the job is filled.

Below is what I prepared. My speaker notes are under the plan here. I spoke for about 15-20 mins. The remaining time was left open for comments.

🚀 Reaching Break-Even

My goal in every new role is to reach the break-even point as quickly as possible.

🎯 Goal

Increase TOFU awareness and qualify more customers

🧠 First 30 Days - Assess and Learn

1) Onboarding & Team Intros

Task	Status
Meet with key stakeholders and team members	To-Do
Understand current processes, tools, and challenges	To-Do
Get familiar with product offerings, messaging, and value prop	To-Do
Get aligned with key company goals, metrics, KPIs / OKRs	To-Do
Ramp up on GTM strategy and other strategic initiatives	To-Do
Analyze competitors and industry trends to identify opportunities and threats	To-Do
Work with Brian to define what success in this role looks like	To-Do

2) Website & MarTech Stack Audit

Task	Status
Get familiar with the existing website, CMS, and marketing tools in use	To-Do
Audit all tracking code, GA events, utms, etc	To-Do
Analyze current marketing technology stack and integrations	To-Do
Understand new request intake and deployment processes	To-Do
Look at funnel metrics and see where leaks exist	To-Do
Understand channel data/metrics. Which perform best/worst?	To-Do
Conduct a deep dive into analytics, KPIs, and performance data to identify trends and areas of improvement	To-Do

3) Align with Key Cross-Functional Team Leads

Task	Status
Meet with cross-functional teams (Product, Sales, Mktg, CS) to understand their goals and how they relate to web and growth initiatives.	To-Do
Understand current KPIs and goals of each team	To-Do
Identify areas of improvement and opportunities for collaboration	To-Do
Review existing ICP and user personas (with PMM & Mktg)	To-Do
Review customer journey map (if one exists)	To-Do
Review existing customer acquisition, retention, and upsell strategies	To-Do

4) Short-Term Action Items

Task	Status
Implement quick wins for website optimization	To-Do
Address immediate technical SEO issues	To-Do
Ensure attribution, tracking, events, etc are all setup correctly	To-Do
Tackle any low hanging fruit to improve funnel velocity	To-Do

🤓 60 Days - Strategize and Plan

1) Develop Website Strategy & Roadmap

Task	Status
Identify short-term and long-term goals for web and growth	To-Do
Develop strategies to optimize web performance, UX/UI, and conversion rates	To-Do
Establish a plan for SEO, SEM, and content marketing initiatives	To-Do
Prioritize projects based on impact and resources required	To-Do

2) Optimize Conversion Funnels

Task	Status
Identify and implement conversion opportunities. Fix leaks	To-Do
Continuously improve user experience and site performance	To-Do

3) Establish Testing & Experimentation Culture

Task	Status
Develop an A/B testing and experimentation framework to validate hypotheses and improve performance	To-Do
Collaborate with Product Marketing on messaging and personalization	To-Do

4) Streamline Web Experience & Processes

Task	Status
Create documentation for website management and maintenance	To-Do
Implement scalable processes to support future growth	To-Do
Present all findings and proposed strategies to stakeholders for feedback and buy-in	To-Do

🔥 90 Days - Execute and Iterate

1) Operationalize Processes

Task	Status
Create documentation for website management and intake requests	To-Do
Implement scalable processes to support future growth	To-Do
Implement the agreed-upon web and growth strategies	To-Do

2) Implement Technology Solutions

Task	Status
Migrate to GA4, evaluate Segment, and other personalization tools	To-Do
Ensure seamless integration with existing marketing stack	To-Do

3) Monitor & Report on KPIs and Goals

Task	Status
Develop a dashboard for ongoing performance tracking	To-Do
Continuously monitor KPIs and performance metrics to track progress	To-Do
Share progress with key stakeholders and adjust strategies as needed	To-Do
Analyze results from A/B testing and experiments, making necessary adjustments to strategies	To-Do

4) Build & Coach the Web Team

Task	Status
Hire additional team members as needed	To-Do
Develop a coaching plan to optimize performance and growth	To-Do

5) Plan for Long-Term Growth

Task	Status
Identify opportunities for website expansion and new initiatives	To-Do
Continue to foster a culture of learning, testing, and collaboration	To-Do

Speaker Notes

Hi everyone,

This chat (i don't like to use the word "presentation" b/c it sounds boring and not designed as a two-way conversation) through my comprehensive 90-day plan as a Sr. Web & Growth Marketing lead at Drata aims to provide you with valuable strategies and tactics that could be used to ultimately increase TOFU awareness and qualify more customers.

I assume you all have the link to my Notion page? If so, let's get started!

I first wanted to share a chart to illustrate how I view onboarding. Whenever I start a new role, my goal is to reach break-even as quickly as possible. This is the point at which I've contributed as much value to the company as I've consumed from it.

All new hires are net consumers of value early on but as they learn and begin to take action, they start to create value. From the break-even point onward, they should be net contributors of value to the company.

30-Days

Onboarding & Team Intro

During the first 30 days, my focus will be on getting acquainted with the company and the teams. I'll schedule 1:1's to meet with team members and key stakeholders to understand their priorities, expectations and how we'll work together. I also want to understanding current processes, tools, and challenges which will help me lay the groundwork for developing a comprehensive strategy to improve Drata.com and achieve the goal of increasing TOFU awareness & qualifying more customers.

Website & MarTech Stack Audit

Next will be a thorough audit of the current website and marketing tech stack to understand current processes and identify any areas of improvement and opportunities for optimization. This includes assessing the site's performance, user experience, and the effectiveness of the tools in place. Any gaps in the tech stack will be identified and I'll make recommendations for improvements.

Align with Key Cross-Functional Team Leads

Collaboration with Marketing, Sales, Engineering, and CS teams is essential to ensure a holistic approach to achieving the goals at Drata. I'll want to understand current KPIs and objectives for each team so I have a benchmark for measuring success and identifying areas for improvement. I'll review all documentation like ICPs, personas, customer journey maps, etc.

Short-Term Action Items

At the end of my first 30 days, I'll look for quick wins and immediate actions to help kick-start the next 30 days. This may include addressing technical SEO issues, improving site speed, or making funnel tweaks that improve velocity and enhance user experience. The focus during this phase will be on delivering tangible results that demonstrate commitment to continuous improvement and drive early momentum.

60-Days

Develop Website Strategy & Roadmap

By now, I should have a solid understanding of the current state of Drata.com and the company's objectives so I'll work on a comprehensive website strategy and roadmap. This plan will outline the projects and initiatives required to optimize the website, prioritizing those with the highest potential impact on KPIs and resource availability.

Optimize Conversion Funnels

Working closely with the Demand Generation team, conversion funnels will be analyzed and optimized to drive more qualified leads into the pipeline. This will involve improving user experience, identifying new conversion opportunities, and continuously iterating on existing funnels to maximize their effectiveness.

Establish Testing & Experimentation Culture

Brian was pretty keen on developing a culture of regular testing and experimentation for Drata.com. I totally agree so framework for A/B testing will be created, outlining processes for hypothesis generation, experiment design, and result analysis. Collaboration with PMM will be crucial to ensure that messaging and personalization strategies are effectively tested and optimized.

Streamline Web Experience & Processes

To support the growth and evolution of Drata.com, I'll create documentation and build out formal processes. This will provide a foundation for effective website management and maintenance while ensuring that team members have access to the information and resources needed to excel in their roles.

90-Days

Operationalize Processes

By now, I should have a plan in place so it's time to put it into action. This includes things like creating documentation for the website and intake requests which will provide clear guidelines for the team. Implementing scalable processes to support future growth and most importantly, applying the agreed-upon web and growth strategies which will lay the groundwork for success.

Implement Technology Solutions

Ensuring we have the right tech solutions in place is vital for efficient growth. Migrating to GA4, evaluating tools like Segment, and other personalization tools will help optimize data collection, attribution, and analysis. We also need to ensure seamless integration with the existing marketing stack to allow for a unified approach to growth initiatives.

Monitor & Report on KPIs and Goals

Who doesn't love dashboards and reports? I'm a huge data-driven marketer so having a dashboard for ongoing performance tracking and continuously monitoring KPIs and performance metrics is a must. It will enable myself and the team to track progress and make data-driven decisions. Analyzing results from A/B tests and experiments will provide insights for making necessary adjustments to strategies, allowing us to double-down and successful channels.

Build & Coach the Web Team

As the company grows, so too will the need for additional team members to support Drata.com. Hiring likely won't happen till probably the second half of the year but it's important to plan ahead regardless.

Plan for Long-Term Growth

Planning for long-term growth involves identifying opportunities for website expansion and new initiatives. Continuously fostering a culture of learning, testing, and collaboration will ensure the team remains agile and adaptable in a constantly evolving landscape.

Alright, Elliot, David, and Topher, that's a wrap! Thanks for hanging in there while I walked you through my epic 90-day plan for web and growth domination at Drata. I hope you're as pumped as I am with this plan!

If you've got any questions or thoughts, now's the time to ask away.