Suggestions
Conor Begley
CSO & Board CreatorIQ - Follow for creator facts & startup learnings
Conor Begley is the Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) and Board Observer at CreatorIQ, a leading influencer marketing platform.12 He co-founded Tribe Dynamics, which was acquired by CreatorIQ in September 2021 to create a comprehensive solution for influencer marketing in the creator economy.35
Begley has been recognized as one of the 100 Most Influential People in Influencer Marketing by Influence Weekly and as one of the 100 Leaders of Tomorrow by St. Gallen's Symposium.13 His expertise lies in influencer marketing strategies, analytics, and brand building in the digital space.
At CreatorIQ, Begley is responsible for providing strategic direction to customers in influencer marketing, leveraging industry-trusted analytics across various advertising categories.2 He has experience working with iconic brands in beauty, fashion, entertainment, sports, gaming, and automotive industries.2
Prior to his current role, Begley served as the Co-Founder and Board Member of Tribe Dynamics from April 2012.5 He is also an advisor and investor for Hashtag Pay Me since March 2023.5 Additionally, Begley has held a board member position at NEST New York from February 2020 to January 2023.5
Begley is a frequent speaker and thought leader in the influencer marketing space, hosting the "Earned" podcast where he interviews industry leaders about their marketing strategies and success stories.6 His LinkedIn username is conormbegley, where he shares insights and updates about the influencer marketing industry.45
Highlights
Conor's Startup Sales and Marketing Playbook™
I’ve been asked what our early playbook was and I thought it would be helpful to share.
**When we were acquired for $70M, we had ~ $10M in ARR growing ~60% with 86% gross retention, 116% net retention, really good sales and marketing efficiency, and had done so with very limited investment ($4M).
We are now north of $50M in ARR.**
STEP 1 - GET PEOPLE TO COME TO YOU
1️⃣ We turned our data into research that people subscribed to. Customers that come to you have more trust. This leads to higher retention, better profitability, and greater likelihood of signing up.
2️⃣ Be the first plumber to respond. ~70% of customers choose the first vendor that responds to them. Be first. Anybody who downloaded our research was sent directly to my inbox. I tried to email them within 5 minutes with a personalized message.
3️⃣ Get on the plane. I was on a plane constantly and filled my calendar as much as possible while on the road - 5-10 meetings a day. Nothing replaces face time. Getting on the plane also creates a sense of urgency for meeting while you are in town.
4️⃣ Meet with everyone. Helping someone that can’t help you creates a deep meaningful connection and creates a powerful reputation for you in the market. It's also just a nice thing to do. I would meet with students, teachers, consultants between jobs, influencer marketing enthusiasts. If you subscribed to our newsletter, I tried to be helpful. They told their friends, etc.
STEP 2 - DON’T SELL. DELIVER VALUE.
5️⃣ Extreme preparation. Even if I was meeting for coffee, I would come into the conversation having researched the person, their brand, and their competitors. I would even print and bind the research. This made a very strong impression particularly when they didn't expect to receive the research.
6️⃣ Value first. I would never talk about what we do unless asked. I would center all of my attention on delivering value in the conversation. Helping people learn and get better. Inevitably they will ask, “How does this work? What are the next steps?”. This is much much better.
STEP 3 - LONG TERM VIEW
7️⃣ 95% of customers aren’t buying today. Don't force a sales conversation. Let them come to you when it is the right time, but stay top of mind with regular touch points. Deliver value in every interaction (here is some new research, we’re holding a really cool event, etc.)
8️⃣ Focus. Sign up the right customers for the things you are best at. 70% of our new customers are either a referral or a user that brought us with them to a new company. Ensure that everyone you bring in is very likely to have a good experience. This compounds over time and creates trust. I turned a customer down for not being an ideal fit and they invited me on their board.
I hope that was helpful! I'm happy to help anyone that is early in building their company. Just shoot me a message or comment.
Onwards and upwards 🚀
YEAR 2!!! 🙀
Connect is one of the things I’m most proud of ❤️ at CreatorIQ.
WHY AGAIN?
🍾 We planned for 350 attendees last year and ended over 700 (oh my!)
🍾 It brought together the whole community. Agencies, platforms, startups, brands, publishers. Epic.
🍾 We set sales pipeline records for 6 weeks straight last year (FTW)
WHAT’S DIFFERENT
🔢 700→1,000 attendees (eek!) 🔢 2 stages → 3 stages 🔢 Budget $418K → $780K 🔢 Price (early bird) $699 → $799 (a steal!) 🔢 October 10th
WHAT’S THE SAME
✅ Hollywood Chamber Orchestra performing ✅ 11am mimosas? Yes, please. ✅ Wild speaker line up. ✅ Best community in the world coming together. ✅ The lady in charge. Katie Penwell 👑.
THE STARS
⭐ Alexis Warchalowski, Meche Wellness, Founder ⭐ Amanda Perelli, Business Insider, Senior Reporter ⭐ Amy Liu, Tower 28, CEO and Founder ⭐ Ashton Wall, GateMaker Community, Founder ⭐ Brad Schultz, BeatBox Beverages, Co-Founder & CMO ⭐ Casey DePalma, Unilever, Chief Brand Communications Officer, North America ⭐ Chanel Lake, Edelman, SVP, Influence Marketing ⭐ Chelsea Riggs, Amika, CEO & Founding Member ⭐ Cody Plofker, Jones Road Beauty, CMO & CRO ⭐ Danessa Myricks, Danessa Myricks Beauty, CEO & Founder ⭐ Doug Jensen, Estée Lauder Companies, SVP GTM Analytics & Activation ⭐ Dr. Jason Wersland, Therabody, Founder and Chief Wellness Officer ⭐ Emanuel Macias, AT&T, Lead Product, Creator Intelligence ⭐ Hannah Murphy, Financial Times, Technology Reporter ⭐ Jenna Habayeb, Ruggable, CMO ⭐ Jenny Fine, WWD, Exec Editor ⭐ Jeremy Lowenstein, Milani Cosmetics, CMO ⭐ Jessica Hanson, Huda Beauty and Kayali, General Manager, Americas ⭐ Jim Louderback, Inside the Creator Economy, Editor and Publisher ⭐ Kelsey Chickering, Forrester, Principal Analyst ⭐ Kim Larson, YouTube, Global Managing Director & Head of YouTube Creators ⭐ Lia Haberman, ICYMI, Creator Economy Expert ⭐ Lloyd Dsouza, Condé Nast, SVP Global Head of Central Video ⭐ Preston Rutherford, Chubbies and Loop Returns, Co-Founder ⭐ Quincy Kevan, Snap, Head of Americas, Creator Partnerships ⭐ Rahul Malik, The Business of Fashion, Chief Growth Officer ⭐ Rekishia Jessup, OPI, SVP Global Marketing ⭐ RJ Larese, Paramount, VP, Talent and Influencer Marketing ⭐ Sarah Gibson Tuttle , Olive & June, Founder & CEO ⭐ Stephanie Binette , L'Oréal, GM Youth to the People and Urban Decay ⭐ Tim Coolican, Milk Makeup, CEO ⭐ Toral Patel , Kopari, VP of Marketing & E-commerce ⭐ Toto HaBa, Benefit Cosmetics, SVP, Global Marketing & Communications
INSANELY INSANELY PUMPED.
❗❗Better see you there! Message me or the team if you need tickets!!❗❗
