Scaling from $0 to $5 million in annual recurring revenue (ARR) requires a systematic approach to growth. The good news? It can be done profitably by focusing on the right channels and strategies. Below, I’ll walk you through a step-by-step process, based on proven methods, using a combination of organic short-form content, influencer marketing, SEO, and paid ads.
Organic Short-form Content
In today’s social media landscape, follower count doesn’t matter. What really counts is engagement. Even a new account with the right content can go viral and outperform established influencers. The key is not to chase followers but to chase virality.
A great hack here is to create fresh accounts, find a face for them, and craft a viral video series. For example, if a famous person created a new/additional TikTok/X account today, their videos would immediately go viral, thanks to the algorithm pushing their content to their existing fanbase—even with zero followers. You can leverage the same approach for your brand.
Here’s the formula:
- Find a face for your account.
- Craft a viral video series —keep experimenting until you find a winning format.
- Multiply accounts —once you find a viral series, create multiple accounts and start reposting and tweaking the same content.
For example, you could partner with a creator that has a big following. Even though you started with a brand-new account with this creator, you can achieve large numbers of impressions in the first month because the algorithm will push the content from the new account to the established followers. Once you find a viral series, you can tweak it slightly and repost multiple times a week.
Viral series examples:
- A guy testing how many spaghetti sticks can hold his weight.
- A guy drinking a cup of milk for every 1,000 followers he has.
- A video series “POV: You have an essay due,” with minor variations, generated over 300 million views and more than half a million dollars in revenue.
Keep experimenting with video ideas across platforms like TikTok, X, Instagram, and YouTube Shorts or LinkedIn. Once you find a viral concept, post it across multiple accounts and languages, sponsor reposts on other pages, and turn it into paid ads. Rinse and repeat.
💡 B2B Tip: Leverage LinkedIn for these videos as well. Share content that speaks to professional challenges, industry insights, and expert interviews—these resonate well with decision-makers.
Influencer Marketing
When it comes to influencers, size doesn’t always matter. Smaller influencers with high engagement can provide incredible results at a fraction of the cost of larger names. Here’s how to tap into influencer marketing:
- Find influencers: Look at which influencers your users follow on Instagram, TikTok, or X, and use “suggested accounts” feature to find similar ones.
- Reach out to influencers: Direct messages (DMs) often result in higher response rates than emails. Be clear, concise, and make it clear that it’s a paid promotion.
- Negotiate: Align incentives by splitting payment, with part based on performance (e.g., number of conversions). Never pay 100% upfront.
- Customize content: Each influencer has a unique style. Tailor content to match their usual format to maintain high engagement. A good influencer partnership is worth far more than several unsuccessful ones.
Remember, influencer marketing is about trial and error—casting a wide net and then doubling down on what works.
💡 B2B Tip: Partner with industry experts or micro-influencers within your niche. Their trust and reputation in the field can create powerful content such as tutorials or product demos that resonate with professional audiences. Focus on performance-based partnerships, especially with niche influencers in your industry. Performance metrics in the B2B space can include lead generation, downloads of white papers, or registrations for webinars.
SEO
SEO is a long-term game but can provide exponential growth. Start SEO when you have enough understanding of your users. Here are some SEO hacks to help:
- Take featured snippets: Use SEO tools to find keywords you already rank for and tweak your content to grab Google’s featured snippets by making the answer clear and concise.
- Search for Viral content on Social Media: Use viral posts on X, TikTok or LinkeIn and turn them into your blog content.
- Boost brand searches:Encourage users to search for your brand name, as brand searches boost your site’s credibility in Google’s eyes.
- Add schema: Mark up pages with structured data to help search engines better understand your content.
SEO is an ongoing process, and while results may take time, they can compound into massive returns when done right.
💡 B2B Tip: Answer common industry questions or concerns in your content. Focus on questions decision-makers would ask, such as “What’s the best CRM for manufacturing companies?” or “How to reduce supply chain costs?”
Paid Ads
Only start running paid ads after you’ve experimented with influencer marketing and organic content. Why? Paid ads require data to work effectively, and you can get that data from organic channels first.
Here’s how to approach paid ads:
- Use existing creatives: Repurpose high-performing content from influencer partnerships for paid ads.
- Leverage customer feedback: Use comments from organic social posts to craft better ad copy.
- Scale gradually: Once you have product-market fit (PMF) and a 3:1 LTV to CAC ratio, it’s safe to scale your ad spend. Ensure your landing page is optimized to convert traffic
Paid ads can be a powerful tool, but don’t rush into them. Focus on organic channels first, then use the insights gained from these channels to optimize your paid campaigns.
💡 B2B Tip: LinkedIn Ads are highly effective in the B2B world. Retarget key decision-makers who have engaged with your website or downloaded your content, delivering personalized ads that address their pain points.
Final Thoughts
Scaling to $5M ARR isn’t easy, but it’s achievable if you focus on continuous experimentation and iteration. For every growth channel, it’s about finding what works and doubling down. Start with organic content, experiment until something sticks, and once you find that viral spark, replicate it across platforms. Similarly, approach influencer marketing and paid ads with a data-driven mindset.
At every stage of growth, you’ll encounter new challenges, but the key is to stay focused, refine your processes, and hire the right people to help you scale.
Free Sales Pitch Storytelling Template
Unlock the Power of Storytelling in Your Sales Process
Transform your sales pitch with a proven storytelling approach that engages customers, builds trust, and drives conversions. Use this template to create compelling sales narratives that resonate with your audience and differentiate your product in a competitive market.
1. Introduction: Start with the Market Conversation
Template: “At [Your Company Name], we see the [Your Market/Industry] differently from our competitors. While many companies focus on [Common Market Focus], they often overlook [Unique Challenge or Opportunity]. Our approach is different, and that’s why we’ve built [Your Product Name] to specifically address [Customer Pain Points].”
Example: “At BuildrsCRM, we approach the CRM market with a unique perspective. While many CRM platforms are designed for large enterprises, they often fail to address the specific needs of small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs), particularly those operating in the B2B space.”
2. Engage the Customer: Acknowledge Their Choices
Template: “As a customer, you have several options when it comes to [Product/Service Type]. You could choose [Competitor 1], [Competitor 2], or even [Competitor 3]. Each of these products offers a different approach to solving your [Customer Problem]. Let’s explore these options together to find the best fit for you.”
Example: “As a customer, you have many options. You could choose from established CRM platforms like Salesforce, HubSpot, or Pipedrive, each offering different approaches to solving your CRM challenges.”
3. Educate the Customer: Explain the Market Landscape
Template: “Here’s how we see it:
- Option 1: [Describe Competitor’s Approach] – This solution offers [Strengths] but may fall short in [Weaknesses].
- Option 2: [Describe Another Competitor’s Approach] – This choice simplifies [Process] but may lack [Critical Features].
- [Your Product Name]: We’ve built our platform differently. By [Key Differentiator], we focus on [Core Benefits].”
Example: “Here’s our take on the market:
- Traditional CRMs: These platforms are feature-rich but can be overly complex and expensive, often requiring significant resources to implement and maintain.
- Simplified CRMs: Some solutions aim to streamline the CRM process but often at the cost of essential features needed to manage complex B2B sales cycles.
- BuildrsCRM: We’ve taken a different approach by integrating AI from the ground up, focusing on automating routine tasks and providing a hyper-personalized user experience.”
4. Build Confidence: Help the Customer Make an Informed Decision
Template: “Choosing the right [Product/Service] can be challenging, especially with so many options available. Here’s how you can evaluate your choices:
- Option 1: Great for [Benefit], but consider [Drawback].
- Option 2: Ideal if you need [Feature], but it may not offer [Other Feature].
- [Your Product Name]: Designed to give you the best of both worlds – [Highlight Strengths].”
Example: “In today’s crowded CRM market, making a confident decision can be challenging. Our role is to simplify this decision for you by offering a platform that is both powerful and easy to use, tailored to meet your specific needs.”
As the world embraces the decentralized nature of blockchain technology, the potential for leveraging its power in various industries continues to grow. One such area that stands to benefit significantly from the convergence of blockchain and data analytics is customer relationship management and data platforms. The numerous benefits include improved security, increased efficiency, and reduced costs.
Integrating Web2 data with We3 analytics enables businesses to analyze customer data, including website visits, email communications, and customer service interactions. By analyzing this data alongside on-chain and off-chain data sources, businesses can better understand their customers’s behavior and preferences, enabling them to tailor their marketing and sales strategies to specific customer segments.
However, integrating blockchain with other technologies, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics, can lead to even more significant benefits for businesses. The integrated Web3 CRM and data platform is an excellent example of how integrating on-chain and off-chain data sources can provide companies with deep customer insights and analysis.:
- Off-chain data analysis: In addition to on-chain data, Buildrs Platform can also analyze off-chain data such as social media activity, website behavior, and customer feedback. By combining on-chain and off-chain data sources, businesses can gain a complete understanding of their customers, enabling them to tailor their marketing strategies to specific customer segments.
- Real-time data analysis: Buildrs Platform provides real-time data analysis, enabling businesses to respond quickly to changing customer needs and preferences. With this feature, companies can adjust their marketing and sales strategies in real-time, increasing conversion rates and customer satisfaction.
- Customizable dashboards. Using customizable dashboards on the platform, businesses can create unique views of their customer’s data to track key metrics, visualize data trends, and gain insights into their customers’ behavior.
- Enhanced security. By storing data on a distributed ledger, businesses can ensure that customer information is secure and tamper-proof.
Built-in blockchain intelligence provides numerous benefits to businesses, including:
- Improved customer experience: By providing businesses with deep customer insights, the platform enables them to offer personalized experiences to their customers, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
- Increased efficiency: The platform’s integration of on-chain and off-chain data sources reduces the time and effort required to analyze customer data, increasing efficiency and reducing costs.
- Improved security: The platform’s use of blockchain technology provides improved security, ensuring that customer data issecure and tamper-proof.
- Understand the customers better: By providing businesses with deep customer insights, the platform enables them to gain acompetitive advantage by understanding their customers better than their competitors.
Therefore, integrating blockchain technology with other technologies, such as artificial intelligence and data analytics, can lead to even more significant benefits for businesses. The Buildrs Platform is an example of how integrating on-chain and off-chain data sources can provide companies with deep customer insights and analysis. Its features, benefits, and applications make it an attractive option for businesses looking to improve their customer experiences, increase efficiency, and gain a competitive advantage.
