MIA 2024 Roundup—Baby Steps
Here’s a review of everything that happened in 2024 at Marketing In Action: milestones, growth, and our journey forward.
Marketing In Action (MIA) is your weekly dose of actionable marketing wisdom, delivered straight to your inbox. Share it with your network! ~James
What went well this year?
In May 2024, I launched MIA and brought it to life.
Marketing In Action was born out of my experience over the past six years as the first marketing hire or a solo marketer at nine different startups—both bootstrapped and venture-funded. The biggest challenges I faced were finding ready-to-use marketing templates, frameworks, and first-hand benchmarking data.
So I decided to solve the problem for myself and thousands of marketers and founders struggling in the same shoes.
The MIA community has grown into a thriving space where marketers and founders can connect, share knowledge, and grow together.
We’ve seen a lot of growth.
Here are some of the wins we recorded in 2024:
542 active subscribers in 7 months.
My goal for 2024 was to reach 1,000 subscribers organically. While we hit 54% of that target, it’s not half bad for a new publication! For context, we’ve outpaced the typical growth range for niche publications, which is usually between 300–500 subscribers.
At one point, we reached 625 subscribers, but I periodically clean the list to ensure we’re only emailing those who want to hear from us. And if you ever feel like you’d rather not receive our emails, you’re always welcome to opt-out.
Right now, our audience is enough to fill a theater.
47.52% average open rate.
Our open rate is 122.9% higher than the industry average (21.33%). That’s why I prioritize subscriber engagement over building a massive broadcast list with low engagement.
Published 22 newsletter issues with 8,000+ reads.
In just 7 months, we’ve been putting out content that people actually read—averaging about 1,000 views every month.
These were some of the best reads:
2.9 average search position, 8 domain rating, 51 backlinks, 16 referring domains.
Our work earned us referrals, recommendations, backlinks, a few collaborations, and press mentions, all of which helped boost our search rankings and backlink profile.
We’ve launched a few publications and reports.
Our major publication features step-by-step guides, templates, and resources in Notion, Google Docs, and Google Sheets that help marketers and founders put marketing theory into practice.
We’re also doing interviews with marketers and founders to glean first-hand insights in driving growth and innovation.
We launched the MIA Podcast where we are putting marketing into action, one conversation at a time. The first episode featured Gemini and Bard as AI hosts, sharing their thoughts on what the MIA Newsletter is all about.
In addition to our regular publications, MIA publishes three annual marketing reports, starting with the African SaaS Marketing Report.
What didn’t go so well this year?
I had ambitious plans to execute a lot of projects in 2024, but I quickly realized there was no way I could do it all alone. Between my full-time job in startup marketing and growth, running an agency, consulting, and managing other life projects, my plate was already full.
That’s why I put out a call for volunteers who believe in MIA’s mission and want to be part of its success. While a few amazing people stepped forward, I’m still looking for more capable hands to join these teams:
Editorial & Content Team
Design & Creative Team
Community Management Team
Partnership Team
If this sounds like you, fill out the form, and let’s make a ruckus in 2025!
What next for MIA in 2025?
Besides publishing a lot more content, I’m looking forward to:
Posting more memes.
Seriously. Life is already hard for startup founders and marketers who have to do the job of 10 people.
Doing more interviews and podcasts with African startup founders.
I want to speak with founders to uncover how marketing drives business growth—because no GTM motion—whether it’s Product-Led, Sales-Led, or a Hybrid approach—can be truly effective without marketing at its core.
Marketing often doesn’t get the recognition it deserves for its role in the entire customer journey, so it’s only right to give marketing its flowers.
If you know founders who truly appreciate the value of marketing, we’d love to speak with them!
Publishing the African SaaS Marketing Report.
This is a first-of-its-kind resource in Africa. The report will aggregate data from SaaS companies across Africa and provide critical benchmarks that every marketer, founder, and investor can use to make better decisions.
If you or anyone you know—friends, colleagues, or even competitors—works in SaaS, we need your help! Fill out the survey and share it widely. The more companies that participate, the better the insights we can all gain.
Doing more community collaborations.
has been incredibly gracious. She writes Marketing For Geeks, the second-best marketing newsletter in Nigeria.I’d love to collaborate with more people like her—creators, writers, marketers, and founders who are doing the work of elevating African marketing.
Showcasing more marketing products and tools.
I’d love to highlight more martech tools—especially those that empower marketers to achieve more with less effort. If you have a favorite tool or a new AI solution you swear by, let us know!
Launching on Product Hunt.
I would like to launch the Marketing In Action Newsletter on Product Hunt. I anticipate that this will take a village to pull off.
On that note, I’ve also created a Product Hunt Launch Template—just in case you’re looking to launch your own product on the platform.
Thank you for being part of this journey—reading, sharing, and supporting Marketing In Action.
Wishing you a Happy New Year!
We’re building a village of 1,000+ marketers and founders who want to increase their odds of succeeding at marketing. Share this newsletter with them.