Column Five’s Post

How did we get 275,000 eyeballs on Dropbox's video campaign to recruit engineers? By inspiring them to join a big adventure. When Dropbox asked us to help improve their recruiting efforts, we knew we needed to differentiate the talent brand from competitors in a unique way. Because engineers are often courted by tech giants, we centered a bold and bright video campaign around a single idea: Dropbox engineers can build the future. Find out more about how we brought the story to life: https://lnkd.in/gb_bZeGY ________________ 👋 Hi! We're Column Five, a content marketing agency here to help your brand get brag-worthy results. Let’s start a conversation and grow together >>> https://bit.ly/49W4HlM.

FINALLY WE ARE LIVE!!! THIS is why I was so excited to rejoin Dropbox. I fell in love with Dash last year, and am so excited that Dash for Business is out in the world, for everyone else to fall in love with!! Dropbox. Its AI-powered universal search is a game-changer. Learn more about how Dash can help your team find, organize, share, and secure all of your work content: https://lnkd.in/egrMYZ3Z

How did Dropbox go from 5,000 to 75,000 users overnight? They changed from describing their solution to empathetic alignment with their customers problem. Watch the video and within 40 seconds you can feel you are both engaged with the problem and see their solution. https://lnkd.in/eU3g-VpQ Thanks to Guy Manzur for originally posting the video! Original post in comments.

Ever wonder how Dropbox exploded in growth without spending millions on advertisements? 💥 Here’s the secret: they turned their users into their best marketers! 🚀 Back in 2008, Dropbox launched a referral program that was pure genius. 😎 For every friend you referred, both you and your friend got free storage space! 🎁 This simple "give and get" model encouraged users to share Dropbox with friends and colleagues. And who doesn’t love sharing when there’s a huge incentive to do so? 🙌 By rewarding their users with something valuable—extra space—they created a natural buzz. 📣 Within just a few months, Dropbox saw its user base grow by over 60%! 💥 No massive ad campaigns, no flashy commercials. Just happy users spreading the word. 👥 This is a textbook case of how value + trust = growth. 🌱 Make your users a part of the process and watch the magic happen. ✨ #MarketingTips #WordOfMouth #ReferralProgram #GrowthHacking #DropboxSuccess #UserGrowth #OrganicMarketing #CustomerLoyalty #TechGrowth #BusinessStrategy

When Drew Houston and his team at Dropbox faced the challenge of scaling their user base, they didn’t pour money into traditional ads. Instead, they took a creative, budget-friendly approach: a referral program. By offering extra storage to users who referred friends, Dropbox turned their customers into advocates. The result? Explosive growth. 🔥 Why it Worked: 1. Incentives were Simple: More storage = more space for files. Something everyone wanted. 2. Word-of-Mouth Power: People trust recommendations from friends and family. 3. Low Cost, High Reward: Instead of spending on ads, they rewarded existing users. Win-win. Takeaway for Founders: Get creative with acquisition. Sometimes, the most effective strategies don’t need massive budgets, just a deep understanding of what your users truly value. ----- If you enjoyed this post, you might enjoy the We Are Founders newsletter. Head over to https://lnkd.in/ecPxeaJb and get inspired. 🚀

How do you know if you have defined your problem statement well enough? Ask yourself these questions: 1. Can you explain your value proposition without mentioning your solution? 2. Does the solution become obvious once you explain the problem? 3. Are potential early adopters describing their ideal solution in ways that align with your product vision? 4. In sales calls, are you listening more than you're explaining? 5. Have you identified customers at the highest levels of pain who have a budget ready to solve their problems? Take Dropbox, for example. It wasn't the first file sync tool and definitely not the most feature-packed. But Dropbox nailed the problem: "I need my files everywhere, always in sync, and brain-dead simple to use." A well-articulated problem makes the path to the solution less complex.

"This is pointless, I can just code my own...and people still use USB drives anyway. Also, how you gonna make money?" Dropbox: becomes a billion dollar company 🦄 📓 Lessons to learn: 🎯 Deeply understand your target market: Don't assume a one-size-fits-all solution. Identify your core user base and their specific needs. 💊 Focus on solving core problems: Address the most significant pain points for your target audience. Don't get sidetracked by niche use cases. 💰 Monetization is a journey, not a destination: While the initial focus might be on user acquisition and product development, a long-term plan for sustainable revenue generation is crucial.

Here’s some advice to think about from Dropbox CEO and co-founder Drew Houston.

Today marks 5 months since I launched Verbatim, and the journey has certainly had its challenges so far. I have a clear goal for the agency: to grow the business and team. But growing the team means onboarding more clients and creating scalable processes, which is tough when we’re already juggling multiple tools and platforms. 🫠 Dropbox Business has made our lives So. Much. Easier. As our resident Ops leader, I spend less time organizing our projects & documents and more time delivering quality work. 🙌🏽 And as Alexis & I nail down our sales process, we’re always looking for ways to streamline the process and build strong relationships with potential clients. Send and track enables us to easily follow up with prospects, track how long they’re looking at a deck, and share secure files. And with Replay, we can leave actionable feedback on video files for each other with no hassle. Less time talking through feedback & revisions, more time producing great content. Building an agency can feel chaotic and stressful. But with Dropbox’s plans for teams, we’re able to limit the chaos & focus on our clients. Whether you run your own business or work for one, I can’t recommend it enough. Learn more about Dropbox Business and Business Plus: www.dropbox.com/briannadoe #DropboxPartner

This video MVP of Dropbox got them 70,000 sign ups literally overnight. 🤯 And their product wasn’t even ready. One would say it was a genius move by a marketer. But that’s wrong. The whole team was made up of engineers. None of them had any marketing background. The founders just wanted feedback from customers. Their hypothesis was that file synchronization was a problem people didn't realize they had, but would find essential once they experienced the solution. Potential users didn’t even need to use the actual product – the video explainer was compelling enough to answer the value hypothesis. An awesome experiment to learn a lot from. 🚀 Check my first comment for key learnings. P.S. What did your MVP look like at first? Help others by sharing your example below. 😉