Get the mix of performance and brand right and unlock a new phase of growth
The right mix of performance and brand marketing
It’s a puzzle that modern marketing departments struggle with time and time again.
This course includes everything you need to unlock the answer. Including frameworks, case studies, simple things to do with your own data, and ways to convince decision makers.
So if search is scoffing all of your spend, or your performance marketing isn’t performing, join us.
It’s for businesses of all sizes that sell online
The course takes the perspective of a young-ish business that’s grown with mostly performance marketing so far as its route into the issues. So it’s brilliant for scale ups.
But the learning is equally useful to bigger businesses, and people who work in media agencies.
86% of previous students said the course was immediately useful in their jobs.
It’ll teach you to put your money where the magic is.
Why the search and social alone won’t work for more growth forever
In this module Grace introduces the moment when performance marketing can no longer drive fast growth, and explains it’s a normal point in the lifecycle of a growing online business.
She introduces a very simple model and uses it to explain why this moment arrives, how to spot it in data, and what to do next - including demand building advertising and other solutions.
Case studies are from ASOS, Airbnb, and eve sleep.
Rethinking performance marketing to release budget for other things
This module sets out a plan of action to revisit the performance marketing budget and remove wastage. Grace begins by explaining why wastage arises and why the decision tools that performance marketers typically use don’t point out spend that’s no longer needed.
As well as showing how to identify performance marketing that is appearing to people who were going to buy anyway, Grace shares magic numbers’ data on which types of online ads are most likely to drive growth.
How to take first steps with big business marketing strategies
Module 3 is about what to do as you first step away from only using performance marketing and start to add other elements to the mix. Grace begins by talking through how the first steps should be different depending on what you sell, and in particular, the purchase cycle, ticket price, and new-ness of your product.
She then sets out achievable, successful, and low risk routes into beginning or scaling brand building. Case studies are Monzo, Bloom & Wild, and Habito.
Deciding how much to spend and rules of thumb on how to spend it
This module is packed full of magic numbers’ evidence, knowledge, and data on how online businesses can buy the right amount and the right type of media. Grace introduces a rule of thumb on budget size for maximum ROI and a free online tool for setting budgets for growth in a competitive market.
She then goes on to outline new evidence on the best allocation of spend across long and short. And identifies the channels – both on and offline – that do each job well.
Measuring whether it worked and getting your initiatives implemented
The final module is about measurement, and it’s organised around the principle that data and numbers are most useful if they bring about needed change. This only happens if the people that need to make decisions find the numbers convincing.
Grace starts with research on how businesses make decisions to buy expensive things like media campaigns, outlines a range of simple and more complicated measurement techniques, and then introduces a framework for getting your initiatives agreed.
Learning Options
Engage with the module content in the way that suits you
Module Video
Click through short clips, or watch the full video
Module PDF
Downloadable and printable content for those offline moments
Module audio
Audio only, for if you’re on the go, or prefer to just listen
Module slide deck
Look at all the charts in detail and use as a companion to audio
“Scaling Up Works is clear, robust and highly practical training for any online scale-up. But I recommend it for anyone working in online businesses, whether scale-ups or not.”
Lucas Bergmans, Rocket Fuel Inc
“I highly recommend Scaling Up Works for creative content creators who are struggling to demonstrate the value of their work in a "performance marketing" dominated world. You will be delightfully surprised to find out that your work is critical for demand building and sustained business growth. The magic numbers prove it!”
Lynn Melling, 515productions
“I can THOROUGHLY recommend Scaling Up Works. We're smashing through myths and fallacies at breakneck speed and learning practical techniques to drive e-commerce growth - often without incremental spend.”
Tom Lucas, Squadron
“I can recommend Scaling Up Works to the entire performance marketing community. If you need to grow, Facebook and Google ads are stagnating and you need to start creating brand awareness systematically, this course is for you.”
Pedro Cabrera, TUI
“I just wrapped up a stellar course with Dr Grace Kite at magic numbers that taught me a TON about marketing effectiveness as a company scales. If you get a chance to take the course, I highly recommend Scaling Up Works.”
Emily Keller-Logan, Coursera
Scaling Up Works FAQs
If your question isn't here, no worries, email Imogen via [email protected]
The course is for any business that sells online. It's useful for marketing people in agency and client-side roles.
It's good for scale ups because it takes the perspective of a smaller business that's grown so far with performance marketing only. And shows how to change tack to maintain fast growth. If that's you, the course is bang on brief.
But if that's not you, there's still a lot that's useful to learn because the same issues apply in bigger businesses and shifting your point of view temporarily helps as you learn new ways to think.
Is it for performance marketing people?
Yes - especially if you're curious about other types of marketing, or if you've ever reached the point where performance tools don't work as well as they used to.
Does it teach performance marketing?
Nope. If that's your need, there's a lot of great training available out there from reputable people and training organisations.
This course assumes that you know a little bit about performance and puts it in its wider context alongside other types of marketing.
Surely it's not performance vs. brand, but both?
Gold star for a great question, you're right.
This course explains why, because it shows that both work better with the other in place. There are interaction effects - brand building makes performance marketing work better and vice versa.
Does the course cover incrementality?
Yes, absolutely. This is one of the key learning outcomes.
So if you've heard this funny word, wondered what it meant, but never got a clear explanation, you're in the right place.
My boss doesn't believe in brand. Will this help?
Yep. We completely understand where your boss is coming from and have lots of material to help him or her.
Previous students have told us over and over again how they've reused the explainers, frameworks, case studies, and evidence in the course and seen the boss change their mind.
Does it cover measurement?
Yes.
We cover a lot of simple things you can do with your own data to see what's working.
And we also give you an introduction to more complex measurement techniques: including the problems with attribution and how MMM fixes them.
Will I need to pay for analytics to use the course?
No, not at all.
We do cover what paid for analytics contributes, but there's also a LOT of options for businesses where that isn't on the cards.
Is there new stuff? Evidence, benchmarks etc?
Hell yeah.
Want to know which online choices are typically best for growth? We share magic numbers' experience.
Want a rule of thumb for budget size for maximum ROI? You got it.
Want a starter media channel mix depending on your life stage? It's there.
This course has got new stuff coming out of its ears.
What's the homework and assignment like?
Each teaching module comes with a homework task that gets you to apply what you learnt in the module to an example business.
You only need standard things like PowerPoint and Excel (or equivalent) and it shouldn't take more than 45 mins. Tashan takes you through the answers in his weekly video.
At the end of the course you bring all of the homework learning together into a plan of action for the example business, you submit this and we mark it!
What if I'm in FMCG or CPG?
This course isn't for you.
Our data works course might be of interest though, the example business in the homework there is an FMCG/CPG, and the course covers lots of useful things you can do with data.
Do you have a one-pager I can download?
To download a copy of our one-pager for our courses please click here.
*You may need to right-click 'save as' to download.
Can I balance this with work?
Yes! There are 5 weeks of learning with a minimum demand of 1 hour 30 minutes per week, with optional live sessions.
Yes! You'll gain 12 hours and a CPD certificate once you have completed the course.
Can I spread the cost?
You can pay with Klarna, spreading the total cost across 3 payments over time.
There is the initial payment when you book, followed by 2 payments in 30 and 60 days after completing the check out process.
Once you have signed up, a member of the team will be in touch to get you onboarded to the learning platform.
Alumni
Next intake is 22nd April 2025
Data Works
In modern marketing no decision is made without data, so learn how to use it well. This course makes marketing data doable. It includes everything from killer charts and killer stats all the way to commissioning analytics and communicating data with impact.
Get the balance of brand and performance right and find low-risk routes into building demand. So you can put your money where the magic is. It’s for businesses of all sizes that sell online, and 89% of previous students said it was immediately useful.
