Between Marketer's 7 Years of Real-World Brand Marketing A to Z

What I learned through firsthand experience at a startup for 7 years
I will share my concerns and know-how as a marketer.

#00
prolog
(Feat. The Reason Why I Created This Lecture)

Hello. My name is Kim Dong-shin. I was in charge of brand marketing for the couple app Between for about seven years, from 2013 to 2019. Oh! You don't know Between?

What about the couple app Between?

Between is a couples messenger app developed by startup VCNC (developer of Between and Tada) . It has over 30 million cumulative downloads worldwide, and is used by millions of couples worldwide, including in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and the United States. (This data is based on data collected during my tenure and may be different now.)

_{Between Apple App Store search screen}

#01
Why did you plan this lecture?

I joined Between early on and spent the next seven years working to make it a must-have app for couples around the world. Meanwhile, I was constantly thinking about how to market and promote the brand.

Before that, I had joined Jeil Planning, then my dream company, as part of the 34th batch, and had been there for about three years. Then, I met my colleagues at VCNC and Between, and, captivated by their vision, I took the risk of changing jobs. My confidence in myself was the driving force behind my decision to take that leap. Still, Jeil Planning was Korea's No. 1 agency, and I had worked with senior colleagues there on numerous clients and various branding campaigns, so I was confident I would do even better at a startup.

I was so inadequate. Until then, within the confines of Cheil Worldwide, I could launch any campaign I wanted, as long as I had an idea, without worrying about budget or staff. But startups weren't like that at all. Naturally, we were short on budget and staff, and the tasks at hand were far more varied and challenging.

I've worked in a variety of roles, including marketing, public relations, government-funded projects, and advertising sales. Of course, these experiences have been incredibly helpful. However, I've constantly felt how inadequate I am as a marketer.

First, objectively, I saw many areas where I felt I had shortcomings. So, with the intention of relearning, I searched through numerous marketing-related books and resources. However, most of them only covered macroeconomic issues, and it was difficult to find anything more practically helpful.

What I needed right now was a solid foundation in content marketing on Facebook. However, the lectures and books I'd been reading, hoping to gain this knowledge, offered nothing but vague, pie-in-the-sky information, rather than practical, practical application. Ultimately, as Between expanded globally, I gained hands-on experience, encountered challenges, and learned from them. With the help of my exceptional colleagues, I was able to implement small but meaningful marketing initiatives.

I received several offers to share these cases. However, I declined them all. It felt like I was the only one getting the spotlight, even though many of my colleagues had worked on it together. It felt like I was doing something else, something outside of my core business. Above all, I felt it would be difficult to share stories that could be applied directly. However, when I decided to leave my job in 2019, I changed my mind and decided it would be better to properly organize my experiences .

I thought that if I could create it without going to work and using my own time and budget (feat. unemployed), it would be a way to promote the value of Between without being a burden to my colleagues. And more than anything, I believed that if it could directly help "marketers in the field" who are facing the same challenges I faced in the field, it would be a meaningful way to end my seven years. That's how I wanted to wrap up my seven years and finish them on a high note.

While I was unemployed, I thought I could finish it in three months if I focused solely on this, but it took eight months just to write the manuscript. It took a year to prepare this lecture. Naturally, my unemployed life has already exceeded a year.

#02
For practitioners
Let me tell you the AZ of marketing.

This lecture provides indirect experience and direct application of real-world, real-world marketing, not superficial, through the AZ of a brand marketing case study executed by an actual 'couple app Between' marketer for 7 years.

The advantages of this course are:

_{Practice-oriented!
Field experience
Melted lecture}

_{content marketing,
Branding campaigns, etc.
Planning~Execution AZ}

_{In a startup environment
Specialized Marketing
Case study}

_{200 pages in PDF
A generous portion and
Convenient configuration}

• Because it is based on real-world experience, you can apply it and receive help right away in the field.
• You'll learn practical examples of the role of a marketer, covering everything from content marketing to branding campaigns, vision building, and team culture.
• Rather than a rigid case study, it is presented as a story about 'what concerns went into the planning, and what the execution and results were' so that it can be easily read and applied immediately.
• The cases (content, videos) explained in the lecture are convenient because you can check them right away by clicking on the actual address.

Of course, there are also some regrets.

• This course covers the entire spectrum of brand marketing, drawing on my subjective experience. Consequently, it doesn't focus on a single marketing discipline (e.g., content, performance, GA, etc.) . Instead, it focuses on the topic of branding, covering comprehensive marketing campaign strategies for building a brand. While this can be a strength, it can also be a drawback for those seeking deeper insights and learning.
• Additionally, the marketing and branding case studies in this lecture are based on my own personal experience from May 2013 to December 2019. Given the passage of time, you may feel a lag in the examples and strategies covered in the lecture.

_{It is packed with various know-hows in 200 pages.}

#03
If you are someone who has these concerns,
It will be more helpful.

In a startup
While doing marketing
What should I do?
People who are worried

Couple app Between
What kind of marketing did you do?
I'm interested,
For those who are curious

From content marketing
Up to branding campaign
Actual marketing case
For those who are curious

We help you solve these problems.

After attending the lecture, your thoughts will change like this.

#04
What do you learn?

The course consists of a 200-page PDF file, divided into three sections and 12 lessons. Each section is as follows:

Section 1. Content Marketing, Offline Marketing, and Experiences and Tips for Creating Great Ideas!

Learn how to turn customers into marketers, how to go from content marketing ideation to execution, and why startups use offline marketing.

_{Section 1 Table of Contents}

Section 2. From planning to execution, we'll create a branding campaign that promotes our brand philosophy and builds loyal fans!

Learn how to plan and execute a branding campaign based on the assets accumulated through small-scale marketing, and the challenges of the process.

_{Section 2 Table of Contents}

Section 3. Experience creating our brand's vision and building a great team!

We explore the scope of the marketing team's role, the challenges and challenges of creating a team culture, and, most importantly, how to establish our brand's vision and values.

_{Section 3 Table of Contents}

#05
Who created this course
Introducing the knowledge sharer.

I learned advertising, branding, and creative writing from senior colleagues at Cheil Worldwide. At the time, my dream was to become a world-class creative advertiser. Then, I stumbled upon Between and fell in love with its vision, so I embarked on a new challenge.

Of course, Jeil Planning was my dream company, and being accepted by Jeil Planning was the happiest moment of my life. So, it wasn't an easy decision. However, my desire to build Between into a truly remarkable service and a brand that will be remembered for generations, with the help of exceptional colleagues, was what overcame all that.

That challenge, which began like that, has now lasted about seven years. Of course, the journey wasn't easy. I also keenly felt my shortcomings as a marketer and manager. This lecture is a compilation of those experiences. I hope my experience and this lecture will be helpful to marketers struggling in the same situation I was in. Thank you.

#06
Frequently Asked Questions 💬