Call-Response Brand Building

Christina shares how Vanta built their initial go-to-market strategy through community engagement and brand building, particularly focusing on creating automatic associations between problems and their solution.

Key Points:

• Initial Outbound Strategy:

  • Cold emailed YC companies for "feedback"
  • Spent 60-70% of calls discussing their problems
  • Subtly introduced Vanta's solution at the end

• Community Brand Building:

  • Created call-and-response dynamics in founder and VC Slack channels
  • Goal: When someone mentioned "SOC 2", others would automatically respond "Vanta"
  • Strategy worked well until competitors emerged

• Marketing Channels that Worked:

  • Billboard advertising ("Compliance that doesn't suck")
  • Podcast advertising proved surprisingly effective
    • Initially skeptical about ROI
    • Started with $20k test on "This Week in Startups"
    • Continued to perform well

• Overall Strategy:

  • "Try everything and see what works"
  • Focus on building strong brand associations
  • Mix of traditional and digital marketing channels