2023 in review: wins, losses, and lessons

Marketing Powerups #68: Ramli John shares this year's highlights and lowlights of this newsletter and podcast show.

Hello, and welcome to Marketing Powerups! 👋🏽

Today's powerups include:

• My wins, losses, and lessons in 2023.

• A recap of the 5 best marketing powerups.

• A preview of what’s coming in 2024.

Ready? Let's go! ⭐️

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⭐️ 2023 in review

Phew! Maybe it’s just me, but it’s been a CRAZY year full of wins, losses, and lessons. Compared to 2022 (you can check out last year’s review of Marketing Powerups), there have been more wins and tougher challenges.

Just like last year’s review, I’ll be using James Clear’s three-question template:

1. What went well?

2. What didn’t go as expected?

3. What did I learn?

Let’s dig in!

☀️ What went well?

1. Zane, my firstborn son, turned 1 year old!

I kid with other parents that the primary job of parents in their first few years is to keep them alive. That’s even more of a challenge for Joanna and me as Zane’s learned to climb sofas, window sills, and tables. Worst yet, he’s learned to move boxes and things to climb up on even higher things!

Joanna, Zane, me, and Ro

2. Marketing Powerups now has over 5K email subscribers.

Last week, Marketing Powerups hit a milestone with over 5K email subscribers and a 47% open rate! It took me almost two years to get 1,000 subscribers with my previous newsletter and show, Growth Marketing Today.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you for being part of this journey! It’s been a wild ride so far.

Marketing Powerups now has over 5K subscribers!

I did a recap of the 5 most popular Marketing Powerups of 2023:

1. April Dunford
   ’s 4-part product storytelling framework.

2. ˗` Ronnie Higgins ˊ˗
   ’s Disney content synergy map.

3. Kevan Lee
   and
   Shannon Deep
   ’s 3-step brand storytelling framework.

4. Talia Wolf’s emotional targeting framework.

5. Dr.

   fio
   Dossetto’s EASY content framework.

6. [BONUS]

   Georgiana Laudi
   ’s customer-led growth framework.

Listen to the clips and recap of the best Marketing Powerups episodes of 2023 on Apple Podcast and Spotify, or watch it on YouTube.

3. Speaking at 4 live in-person events and conferences.

After almost two years of travel restrictions, live events came back in full force this year. I was blessed to be invited to four live events this year: SaaStock Local, PLG GTM Conference NYC, DC Startup Week, and Hotjar’s HOTSAUCE conference.

I’m excited to do more in-person talks in 2024, one being the Saasiest Conference in Sweden!

Let me know if you know anyone organizing in-person or virtual events for marketers, product folks, and SaaS leaders! Send them my speaker’s page on Marketing Powerups:

My speaker’s page on the Marketing Powerups site.

4. Traveling to London, UK, and Paris, France with my family.

To celebrate Joanna’s and Zane’s birthdays, we traveled to London, UK, and Paris, France, for the first time. Some of the trip's highlights include Zane chasing sheep at Stonehenge and seeing the Eiffel Tower light show.

5. Losing over 10 lbs.

I noted in my last year’s review that one of my goals for 2023 was to lose weight. I’ve gained extra pounds as a new dad. So, I signed up for a gym and started intermittent fasting by skipping lunch and eating a late lunch and early dinner. The result is in; I’ve lost 10lbs this year!

🌧 What didn’t go as expected?

1. I only broke even with Marketing Powerups.

Though I generated over $30K from sponsorships and some course sales in 2023, most of that went into growing my email subscribers through Sparkloop and hiring an editor for my videos.

2. My dad had a health scare this year.

Earlier this year, our family doctor insisted on a heart checkup for my dad after a routine visit. At 67 years old, my dad eats a healthy diet, swims laps three times a week, and maintains a fit physique.

We were all in for a shock when the doctors found seven blockages in his heart. They said that his heart was a ticking time bomb! If they hadn’t caught it earlier, he’d likely would have had a massive heart attack. So they rushed him to get an emergency open-heart bypass surgery.

Everything went well, and my dad is back to swimming laps. But, this event was a rude awakening for me to spend more time with my parents.

Me and my dad.

🧠 What did I learn?

1. Make the hard choices.

Because of my dad’s health scare, I’ve been thinking a lot about where I want my family, career, and life to be in 5 to 10 years. Wes Bush gave me some advice that’s stuck with me: Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.

I’m going to have to make some hard choices in 2024 to set myself and my family up for the future, such as:

• Should I stop doing the Marketing Powerups show and focus on the newsletter?

• What would be the topic of my 2nd book after Product-Led Onboarding?

• Should I trade in my Corolla for a minivan? 😉

2. Build a personal board of advisors.

This year, I’ve been more intentional about connecting with marketers and entrepreneurs I vibe with regularly, including

Andrew Capland

, Marc Thomas, Gia Laudi, and Ronnie Higgins.

It’s helped me gain a fresh perspective when I’m stuck on something. For example, we’ve had to shift our content strategy at Appcues with “SEOpocalypse” and the rise of generative AI in search. My friends, who are content and marketing leaders, have become a sounding board to refine it.

🤔 How was your 2023?

How about you?

What’s one thing you’re most proud of accomplishing in 2023?

I’d love to know!

Take 10 seconds to hit reply and let me know. You can also leave a comment on Substack.

One thing I’m looking forward to in 2024 is I’ll be doing a CMO interview series in Q2 for Marketing Powerups! I can’t wait to reveal more soon.

That’s all for now, friends!

Have a powered-up day,

Ramli John

Let’s connect on LinkedIn 

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