The Growth Note # 4

Happy last day of July, you made it! Welcome back to The Growth Note — the growth marketing newsletter from your friends at Tuff.

This time, we’re looking at some of the top AI tools for growth marketers (according to us). We’re also sharing high-level results from our recent startup founder sentiment survey and what we know about the timing of the next Google core algorithm update.

It’s hump day, folks — let’s dive in.

–  Spencer at Tuff

P.S.: If you’re enjoying the newsletter, don’t forget to forward (and share the sign-up link) to a friend. As always, if growth insights aren’t your jam, you can opt out here.  

Since the release of ChatGPT in November 2022, marketers and professionals in pretty much every industry have been exploring how generative AI tools can make them better at their jobs.

Along the way, we’ve been treated to a barrage of enthusiastic AI posting on X and LinkedIn (you know the sort: “99% of people use ChatGPT wrong. Do this instead … (1/99) ⬇️👀🧵”) and unsettling news headlines speculating on the future of work.

Our take? AI is great for automating some of the most repetitive and menial tasks in our day-to-day work. Frankly, it’s hard to imagine going back. Not using AI for those things would feel as weird as manually rewriting text instead of copying and pasting.

One of the many fitting tributes from 2020 for Larry Tesler, inventor of the copy and paste command. Source

But for other tasks, there’s no substitute for human insight and creativity. The happy medium we should all be striving for is one in which AI accelerates human creative work, not replaces it.

So, what processes make sense to automate in a growth marketing context, and what are some of the best tools for the job? To find out, we asked members of the Tuff team in functions ranging from paid media and CRO, to design creative and SEO.

Here are some of the highlights:

We’re always testing new tools. Our AI stance, at least for now? Use AI for the boring tasks that don’t add much value, but need to get done anyway.

You can check out the full list of processes and tools broken down by channels here.

It’s a message we’ve heard time and time again — in 2024, marketing teams are being asked to do more with less.

Over the past 18 months, we’ve seen how significant market shifts have impacted life at many of the early-stage startups we tend to work with. Things like Google’s declining market share, restricted VC funding, and the rise of AI have all made a mark.

But on the agency side, these changes have also given us a chance to observe, learn, and understand how startups are adapting — and what these changes mean for growth now and in the future.

To get a sense of how the founders at such companies are thinking about growth and marketing heading into the second half of the year, we sent out a survey asking about budgets, growth plans, and top priorities.

Here were some of the top findings:

The responses also featured insights into which parts of founder businesses have been most impacted by the current economic climate. Perhaps unsurprisingly, marketing and growth teams were feeling the pressure:

Our founder, Ellen, packaged up these insights into a full report you can read here — including four practical steps for startups, founders, and marketers feeling the pressure to make the most of the current climate.

Here we go again: Core update version 🚨

Google search liaison Danny Sullivan said in a comment on an SEO Round Table post that he anticipates the launch of a new Google core algorithm update “in the coming weeks.”

The expected core update comes amid reports of increased SERP volatility as measured by a variety of third-party SEO tools — which is usually a warning sign of an impending update.

The update would be the first from Google since the far-reaching March 2024 core algorithm update, which many experts deemed one of the most impactful to hit publishers in the last decade.

Cookie-ful future 🍪

In a reversal, Google announced that it wouldn’t be deprecating third-party cookies after all.

As reported by Search Engine Land, the move “suggests Google is trying to balance privacy concerns with the needs of the ad industry and its own business model.”

The oft-delayed deprecation of Google third-party tracking cookies became a topic of debate in recent years between regulating bodies concerned with privacy and advertisers fretting over the potential loss of visibility into user data. For now, marketers can relax — cookies are still very much on the menu.

How we act when they tell us to stay in our lane. Credit: @bradwhipple on X

Check out case studies, playlists, and more resources for all things growth on our site.

Cheers,

Spencer Cappelli, Senior Content Strategist

Tuff Growth

PS: Tuff on our team summit in DC last week. We’re real, we promise — feel free to say hi!

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