Scale Growth Without the Bloat: A Lean Marketing Framework
Lean Framework + AI Shortcuts for Startup Marketing
Need traction—not busywork? The SALT Method gives busy leaders a repeatable, four-step playbook and just-enough AI to move faster.
Slack pings. Seven “must-read” dashboards. A blog post half-finished since Tuesday. If you’re wearing too many hats (plus a few you didn’t order), welcome to the club. The good news: you don’t need extra hours, headcount, or a seven-figure martech stack—just clarity, focus, and a system that turns insight into action. That’s SALT.
Less Noise, More Pipeline
Chasing extra channels or slashing brand spend looks productive, but it scatters focus and inflates costs. Slim pipeline? Double-down on the one channel your ICP already trusts instead of piling on new ones. Demo drought? Fuel the brand engine—cutting it only raises cost-per-click (CPC) and tanks awareness. The SALT framework surfaces the real gaps, funnels effort into what matters, and turns every experiment into measurable revenue. Quality beats quantity: send the right message to the right buyers, and the metrics follow.
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Set one crystal-clear goal + KPI.
Align message, ICP, and lean channels to that goal.
Leverage tech that accelerates the plan—ditch the rest.
Test weekly, learn fast, scale what sticks.
Stick these four lines on a Post-it—then get back to building.
S — Set the Right Goals
Scattered marketing is a symptom; fuzzy goals are the cause.
Pick the mission:
Drive Pipeline – attract ICP.
Drive Conversions – turn interest into revenue.
Retain & Refer – keep customers loyal (and loud).
Assign one north-star KPI per stage—traffic, MQLs, demo-show rate, whatever moves the business.
Pressure-test every idea against that KPI. If it can’t move the needle, it’s busywork.
Get an in dept view of how I build my KPIs here.
A — Align the Essentials
Creative without alignment is just noise.
Choose 3–4 buyer-favorite channels. Show up where they already scroll.
Reverse-engineer each campaign. If it doesn’t serve the funnel stage, park it.
Sketch a one-line mini-funnel. Ad → Click → Email → Nurture → Conversion. Nothing fuzzy in between.
Tag a KPI to every hop so leaks (and wins) surface instantly.
Quick Win: Kill one under-performing channel this week and reinvest those hours in your top performer. Momentum loves subtraction.
For a deep dive on how to align the essentials check out this blog.
L — Leverage Tech & AI—Intentionally
Automation should buy back hours, not create new chores.
Identify the biggest bottleneck, pilot one tool for two weeks, measure the lift, then layer on the next robot.
RevenueHero – turns “Book a demo” into “On my calendar” by auto-routing qualified leads.
Custom GPT (“SALT Copy Checker”) – audits SEO, tone, and readability in one prompt.
Zapier, Canva, Databox, Loom + Descript – small-team staples that erase repetitive clicks.
Speed only helps when your direction is clear—choose tools that push the plan forward, skip the shiny objects.
T — Test → Learn → Scale
Ship experiments, not opinions.
Pick one lever.
Run a bite-sized test (< 2 hrs build).
Measure the ratio that matters (CVR, CPL, revisit-to-signup).
Double down or pivot.
Ten Micro-Tests to Steal
Swap hero headline → watch scroll depth
Add exit-intent poll → surface top objection
Shorten demo form (6 → 3 fields)
A/B subject lines (emoji vs. none)
LinkedIn text-only post vs. link post
Two-Week Loop: Hypothesis → Launch → Measure → Keep-or-Kill → Document → Repeat. Velocity beats clairvoyance.
Need the hard data behind the SALT moves? Let me dig it up for you. My Custom Market Gap Report benchmarks your positioning against top competitors, surfaces untapped channels and keywords, and hands you a 90-day action plan you can execute tomorrow—no generic slideware, just growth levers you can pull first.
→ Request Your Custom Market Gap Report
