How to Boost Growth with Lifecycle Marketing

In this insightful interview, we disscus the world of marketing with Festus Arikpo, a marketing specialist whose expertise spans across user experience, digital marketing strategies, and particularly, growth and lifecycle marketing. Beginning his career in copywriting before expanding into the diverse landscape of marketing, Festus recounts his journey, insights, and strategies that have fueled significant achievements in his career.

From the essentials of crafting effective growth marketing campaigns to the intricacies of lifecycle marketing in today’s digital landscape, Festus provides a comprehensive overview of the tools, methodologies, and innovative approaches that drive customer engagement and sales growth. Join us as we explore Festus’s perspective on balancing creativity with data, the importance of customer feedback, and his advice for aspiring marketers aiming to make a significant impact in the field.

Career Journey

MTS – Could you start by telling us a bit about yourself, including your journey into the marketing field and what led you to specialize in areas like growth marketing and lifecycle marketing?

Festus – My name is Festus Arikpo, and I’m a dedicated marketing specialist with a background in user experience data analysis and digital marketing strategies driven by digital projects. I am skilled in multiple areas of marketing, including multi-channel marketing, storytelling, email marketing, growth marketing, creative strategy, content marketing, product marketing, and copywriting. 

I started as a copywriter at an advertising agency, Publicis Groupe, and soon branched out to other forms of marketing, and that’s how I found myself in lifecycle marketing.

Essentials of Growth Marketing

MTS – In your experience, what are the key factors for a successful growth marketing campaign?

Festus – I’ll list them for an easier explanation:
1. Understanding what the product needs
2. Clearly laying out the necessary marketing strategies
3. Having enough budget to properly execute and maximize the potential of the campaign

Lifecycle Marketing Strategies

MTS – From your experience, how would you define and approach lifecycle marketing in today’s marketing landscape, and how do you measure the success of your lifecycle marketing initiatives?

Festus – Today, lifecycle marketing involves understanding the different stages of a customer’s journey — from initial awareness to post-purchase engagement — and then navigating every step.

I like to start with a diagnosis. I analyze customer data to identify key touchpoints and behaviors throughout their journey. This could include interactions with our website or social media, email engagement, and more. Using tools like Mixpanel, Google Analytics, and Ahrefs, I can gain insights into customer preferences, pain points, and opportunities for engagement.

Once the pattern or the problem is clear, I can determine which lifecycle strategy I’ll use.
Low signups = Activation strategy
Poor sales/conversion = Revenue strategy
Low daily active users (DAUs) = Retention strategy

“The problem determines the treatment.”

Success depends on the KPIs we set before the initiatives are executed. Is it a revenue, activation, or retention campaign? Again, the problem determines the treatment.

Customizing Strategies Across the Customer Journey

MTS – In what ways do you tailor marketing strategies to different stages of the customer lifecycle?

Festus – It depends on the overall business goals. If a business needs more bottom-of-funnel (BoFu) or top-of-funnel (ToFu) conversions, I would adjust the activities accordingly.

Growth Marketing Tools

MTS – What tools or technologies do you find most effective for growth marketing?

Festus – For my specialty, lifecycle marketing, I find that the brain is still the most effective tool. If you have the knowledge of what should work, you can use any tool to achieve that result. You can set up Mixpanel or Firebase, but if you don’t know what to do with the data those give you, it’s all for nothing.

Impactful Marketing Success

MTS – Can you share an example of how your marketing efforts directly impacted sales growth?

Festus – A great example of our impact on sales growth was during our engagement with Payday during my time at Sava Mobile Growth Agency, where we achieved remarkable results within a short timeframe.

We developed and executed comprehensive multichannel marketing campaigns — including lifecycle emails, content marketing, and social media advertising — and we were able to successfully drive a staggering 200% increase in app installs. The result: 300,000 new registered customers.

This surge in user acquisition directly contributed to a substantial increase in revenue, reflecting a 200% MOM increase in attributed revenue.

Additionally, our focused efforts on enhancing user engagement and retention led to a notable 38.2% increase in daily active users. This really made it clear how much effect our growth strategies had on driving sustained customer interaction and loyalty. We achieved a significant 50% reduction in customer acquisition cost (CAC) on a week-over-week basis.

The Value of Customer Feedback

MTS – What role does customer feedback play in shaping your marketing campaigns?

Festus – Customer feedback is the ultimate beta test to determine the lifespan of any feature or activity. I cannot overstate how important it is. Since every product aims to engage and convert the customer, it only makes sense to listen and implement what the majority of the customers talk about.

Creativity Meets Data

MTS – How do you balance creativity and data analysis in your marketing strategies?

Festus – Both are necessary for a successful campaign, so there’s a balance from the get-go. The data shows you what needs to be worked on, what is working, and how well it is working. Creativity helps you know how to increase, decrease, or pace the idea execution. They need each other.

Keeping Up with Marketing Trends

MTS – How do you stay updated with the latest trends and techniques in lifecycle and growth marketing?

Festus – I follow many good thought and practical schools like Demand Curve, Growth Sprints, and Why We Sell.

Email Marketing Excellence

MTS – Can you discuss your approach to email marketing and its effectiveness in sales conversion?

Festus – While email marketing can be its own universe, I like to use it as a part of a bigger lifestyle execution strategy. With over six years of experience in this realm, I’ve mastered a strategy that focuses on personalization, segmentation, and conversion. It’s very important and very adaptable. You can tweak email marketing to fit any type of lifecycle strategy.

Email marketing allows businesses to communicate directly with their audience. When someone opens that email, they are giving their undivided attention to the message. It’s very different from other platforms, where new distractions pop up on every corner.

And yes, automation tools allow businesses to set up email sequences that are triggered by specific actions or events, for example, when a new subscriber joins a mailing list or a customer abandons their shopping cart. These automated workflows can nurture leads and guide them through the sales funnel to increase conversion rates.

Did I mention that it is relatively cheaper than traditional advertising channels like print or TV? With minimal investment, any business can reach and convert a large audience, making it a cost-effective way to drive sales.

Advice for Aspiring Marketers

MTS – What advice would you give to marketers looking to specialize in lifecycle or growth marketing?

Festus – Grow your T-index of knowledge; it always helps. Don’t be scared to think big and experiment with non-conventional ideas. More importantly, dedicate yourself. Nothing is too difficult, and nothing is too easy.