Growth & Acquisition
CAC optimization, paid acquisition, growth loops, and user acquisition.
21 articles
Brands expect reach, Peloton got irrelevance: how owned community became the retention engine
When paid social algorithms shifted and Peloton's growth flywheel stalled, the company discovered that its most durable asset was not its content budget but the community infrastructure it had quietly built inside its own product. This case study examines the mechanics of that pivot and what CMOs in other categories can replicate, and where they should expect the model to break.
Sep 2, 2026How product-led growth went from a startup accident to a marketing motion
Product-led growth did not emerge from a marketing whiteboard. It grew out of a specific distribution problem that a handful of software companies stumbled into solving, and the story of how it became a deliberate strategy tells you something important about where the real growth levers now sit.
Aug 28, 2026How Amazon turned retention into its primary growth engine
Amazon's decision to build Prime around habit rather than discount reshaped how the company acquires, retains, and monetizes customers across every product line. The mechanics behind that choice offer CMOs a concrete model for treating the customer lifecycle as a revenue engine, not a defensive cost center.
Aug 23, 2026How Slack built a product-led growth motion that enterprise marketing teams can actually copy
Slack's path from viral SaaS tool to Salesforce's enterprise backbone offers one of the clearest blueprints for running a PLG motion inside a large marketing organization. This case study breaks down the specific mechanics, where the numbers hold up, and what CMOs need to adapt before applying the same logic.
Aug 17, 2026Product-led growth: what marketers actually need to understand
Product-led growth shifts the acquisition engine from the sales team to the product itself, but most marketing frameworks were not built for this model. Understanding the mechanics changes how CMOs think about spend, attribution, and the customer journey entirely.
Aug 15, 2026Diversifying paid acquisition beyond Google and Meta: a practical playbook
Google and Meta still consume the majority of digital ad budgets, but that concentration is now a liability, not just a missed opportunity. This playbook walks through how to identify, test, and scale alternative paid channels without destabilising your existing performance baseline.
Aug 12, 2026Getting CAC and LTV honest before scaling
Most growth failures trace back to a single mistake: scaling on metrics that look right but are calculated wrong. This article breaks down how to build CAC and LTV figures you can actually trust before committing budget.
Aug 9, 2026Retention as a growth engine: the mechanics CMOs need to master
Most marketing budgets are still weighted toward acquisition, yet the economics of retention compound far more reliably over time. This article breaks down how lifecycle thinking actually works in practice, and where CMOs tend to miscalculate it.
Aug 8, 2026The product-led growth motion: what B2B marketers actually need to understand
Product-led growth has become one of the most discussed go-to-market models in B2B software, but the marketing implications are frequently misunderstood. This article breaks down exactly how the PLG motion works, what it demands from a CMO, and where it genuinely falls short.
Aug 4, 2026Product-led growth: a practical playbook for marketers
Product-led growth has moved from a SaaS buzzword into a mainstream acquisition strategy, but most marketing teams still treat it as a product team problem. This playbook shows CMOs exactly where marketing plugs in, what to build, and where the model breaks down.
Aug 3, 2026Retention and lifecycle as growth levers: a CMO playbook
Acquiring new customers costs four to seven times more than keeping existing ones, yet most marketing budgets still skew heavily toward acquisition. This playbook walks through how to restructure your growth strategy around lifecycle stages, where the real margin lives.
Aug 2, 2026The product-led growth motion explained for B2B marketing leaders
Product-led growth shifts the acquisition engine from sales teams to the product itself, but most B2B marketing leaders misread what that actually demands of them. This article breaks down the mechanics, the real tradeoffs, and where the motion genuinely fits.
Jul 27, 2026Retention as a growth lever: the mechanics CMOs need to master
Most growth models are built around acquisition, yet the economics of retention consistently outperform it. This article breaks down exactly how lifecycle marketing works as a primary growth driver, and where CMOs tend to get it wrong.
Jul 24, 2026Product-led growth strategies: a practical playbook for marketing leaders
Product-led growth has moved from startup tactic to mainstream competitive strategy, yet most marketing teams are still structured around channels rather than product moments. This playbook gives CMOs a concrete sequence for repositioning their function around the product as the primary growth engine.
Jul 22, 2026Customer acquisition in 2026: why growth is getting harder to buy
Paid media costs are rising, third-party data is eroding, and the brands that relied on performance marketing to fill their funnels are starting to feel it. Here is what CMOs need to rethink to keep acquisition efficient as the economics shift.
Jul 15, 2026Customer acquisition in 2026: what CMOs get wrong about growth
Most acquisition strategies fail not because of poor execution but because of a flawed model for what growth actually costs. Here is what senior marketers need to rethink before the next budget cycle.
Jul 8, 2026Customer acquisition in 2026: why growth efficiency has replaced growth at all costs
The era of burning capital to buy market share is over, and CMOs who haven't recalibrated their acquisition playbooks are already behind. This article examines what disciplined, high-performance customer acquisition looks like in 2026 and what it demands from marketing leadership.
Jul 1, 2026Customer acquisition in 2026: why your growth model is probably broken
The cost of acquiring a new customer has never been higher, yet most organizations are still running acquisition playbooks designed for a different era. Here is what CMOs need to rethink, and fast.
Jun 24, 2026The acquisition trap: why your CAC is rising and what elite CMOs are doing about it
Customer acquisition costs have tripled across most digital channels in the past five years, yet most marketing organizations are still running the same playbook. Here's how the best CMOs are restructuring their growth architecture to break the cycle.
Jun 18, 2026The customer acquisition trap: why your CAC is rising and what elite CMOs are doing differently
Customer acquisition costs have surged over 60% in the past five years across most digital channels, yet the best-performing CMOs are actually widening their competitive moat. Here's the strategic playbook separating growth leaders from growth laggards.
Jun 11, 2026The CAC trap: why most CMOs are optimizing for the wrong number
Customer acquisition cost has become the default metric for growth-focused marketing leaders, but obsessing over CAC alone is quietly destroying long-term enterprise value. Here's what sophisticated CMOs are doing differently to build acquisition engines that actually compound.