1% Startup Marketing Challenge

Weeks 9 & 10

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Hey folks! 👋

Wow would you look at that: we've made it to double digits! 🎉 Thank you for being here with us. Below you'll find the latest two challenges and remember, if you've missed any or want to refresh your memory, you can see them all here.​

Reminder: This challenge gives you tasks to do in ~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. Let's go 🚀.

Challenge #9: Make social proof a habit (easily)

Ever had someone say something lovely about your work… and you completely forgot it a week later?

Us too.

Founders are often told to collect testimonials, but what most of us really need is a way to catch compliments in the wild before they disappear into the Slack void, the inbox scroll, or the recesses of our over-capacity brains.

But here’s the thing: those moments of noticing the good stuff you’re already doing don’t just make people feel good, they make great marketing assets too.

Here's how to fix that future problem before it shows up.

✨ Create a #kudos or #feedback channel in Slack or Teams (ours is #kudos-testimonials-feedback!)

✨ Drop in anything that reflects impact: from customers, teammates, partners, advisors.

✨ Set a reminder to check it monthly and pull one piece to share externally.

It could be:

➡️ A line from a customer email

➡️ A shoutout from a team member

➡️ A lovely LinkedIn comment

➡️ A quote from a client survey

Nothing staged or polished. Just words people actually said, which, let’s be honest, tend to resonate a lot more than overly designed testimonials or case studies.

You’re probably collecting more social proof than you realise. This is just about giving it a home and building the habit of celebrating and sharing it. Done consistently, these tiny signals turn from nice-to-haves into something bigger: reusable proof that what you’re building is working. 🙌

Challenge #10: Create content that cuts through

If your content feels fuzzy, it’s probably because of this.

It’s easy to fall into the trap of describing what your product or service does, listing features and buzzwords without anchoring anything to the actual pain point your target audience experiences.

Cue: Eyes glazing over and... bounce. 🏀

Here's how to bring your content back to a stronger foundation.

⌚️ Set your timer to 5 mins and, without overthinking it, write down the single most important problem your product/service solves. Not your vision. Not your features and benefits. Just the core problem, captured in the kind of language your customer would actually use.

⌚️ Next, in 20 mins sketch as many content ideas as you can that relate to that problem, like:

💫 An article that explores the problem in depth: why it exists, who it affects, and what’s at stake.

💫 A post that offers insight: a way of thinking about the problem that your audience might not have considered.

💫 A post that tells a story: something human and specific that makes the problem real (maybe about your own experience with it).

💫 A quote or piece of proof: from a customer, user or data point that shows your product is already helping.

This approach doesn’t require a new campaign or a brand refresh, it just gives your content a centre of gravity. And when you’re working with limited time or team capacity, that kind of focus makes a noticeable difference.

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 AU and NZ 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