1% Startup Marketing Challenge

Week 13

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Hey folks! 👋

This week's challenge isn't a sexy one, but it is arguably one of the most important we've set yet...

But first, a quick reminder why we're here.

The Startup Marketing Challenge gives you tasks that take ~15 mins each week to improve your marketing. It's your ticket out of "Marketing Drift" (where founders and operators kick the marketing can down the road) and into a world where little improvements each week add up to a lot.

If you've missed any or want to refresh your memory, you can see them all here.​

Let's go 🚀

Challenge #13: Set up Google Analytics & Google Search Console

Hands up if you’ve been telling people you’re super “data driven” but you know full well you haven’t set up your website analytics properly… 🙈

This week’s 1% marketing challenge is to set up Google Analytics and Search Console (the free tools too many founders ignore or procrastinate about setting up) 👀 .

I’m constantly amazed by how many funded startups are flying blind when it comes to their website data...

“We don’t know where our traffic comes from.” “We can’t tell which content actually converts.” “Google keeps changing, we have no idea how we’re performing in search.”

Meanwhile, Google literally gives you two of the most powerful marketing tools for free… and most founders never set them up properly.

Your 15-minute mission:

1. Install Google Analytics 4
2. Set up Google Search Console and verify your domain
3. Connect them together (there’s a little link in GA4 Admin Settings > “Search Console Links”)
4. Set up one conversion goal (newsletter signup, demo request, whatever matters to you)

What does this actually mean in practice? 💁‍♀️

Google Analytics shows you what happens AFTER people land on your site. Search Console shows you what happens BEFORE they get there.

Together, they tell you:

• Which Google searches are bringing you qualified traffic
• What content keeps people engaged vs. what makes them bounce
• Whether your SEO efforts are actually working
• Which pages convert browsers into leads

Most importantly, you’ll stop making marketing decisions based on gut feel and start making them based on actual data.

Once you have this baseline, you can spot opportunities you might otherwise miss. Like that blog post from 6 months ago that’s suddenly ranking on page 1 but you haven’t optimised for conversion. Or the high intent search term you can see is getting a bunch of impressions and no click-through.

Don’t get overwhelmed by all the reports.

Start with looking at just two metrics:

1. Where your traffic comes from (User acquisition report + Traffic Source: Source/Medium)
2. What converts best (Engagement/Events report)

Everything else is noise until you nail those basics.

This isn’t sexy work (sorry…). But it’s the foundation that lets you scale everything else with confidence instead of guesswork.

Any feedback? 💌

We'd love to hear it. Did you try this challenge? How did it go? Hit reply on this email to let us know.

This newsletter is from the team at Stella Startups 👋

ICYMI, we’re Stella Startups – a marketing partner for Aussie and Kiwi startups from early stage to scale up.

We bring you marketing strategy, brand expertise and hands-on execution, all with a commitment to innovation so you can make an impact bigger than your budget. Head to our website to find out more and if you’d like help, book some time to chat (we don’t bite).

See you next time,
Gemma & Bridget