Bryan Karas is a great marketer, having spent nearly two decades helping businesses scale their marketing efforts. Bryan founded Playbook Media in 2017 to help entrepreneurs to navigate the many pitfalls of growth marketing. Bryan’s experience helping a range of brands succeed at Facebook and Playbook Media led him to recognize that all businesses have different gaps in access to digital marketing talent. To help address these gaps, he founded GrowTal in 2020 to connect businesses with great marketers who fill an immediate growth need outside of Playbook’s core suite of services. He regularly contributes to several media outlets, including Entrepreneur, MediaPost, The Drum, and AdAge.
Bryan is a marketing nerd! Before starting Playbook Media in 2017, Bryan was at Facebook, where he created a program to help venture-backed startups launch and grow their business. Bryan saw an opportunity to address a growing demand for performance marketing agencies who understand the nuances of the startup landscape as well as direct response marketing and creative. Bryan’s entrepreneurial spirit, deep network, and collective experience working with Fortune 100 & 500 companies and newly-founded startups are the foundation on which Playbook Media was built.
Connect with Bryan on LinkedIn.
Sarah Little is a startup and marketing enthusiast, currently serving as Senior Marketing and Operations Manager at GrowTal since August 2022. Previously, she served as a Paid Social Growth Analyst at Playbook Media and a Project Manager at the Saint Mary’s University Entrepreneurship Centre leading various entrepreneurial projects. If she isn’t solving problems or strategizing the next marketing initiative, she’s leading a yoga class in the community or hiking up a mountain.
Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn.
Interview questions:
Q1: Now before you founded both of your companies, you worked on the disruptors team at Facebook with ton of high-growth companies. What did you learn about the challenges they faced in getting their products a bigger audience?
Q2: What was your motivation for starting Playbook Media? What is Playbook Media’s focus for clients?
Q3: What 2-3 mistakes do you see brands make in trying to build growth for the long haul?
Q4: Where does your second company, GrowTal, come in? How does GrowTal differentiate from its competitors?
Q5: How does the intersection of GrowTal and Playbook Media fulfill your founding vision? And how do both of these companies work together?
Q6: If you could give every brand one piece of advice, no matter the growth stage, what would it be?
Playbook Media is a Silicon Valley and Los Angeles-based performance marketing and creative agency focusing on early-stage business growth strategy, creative, and media buying.
- Playbook Media helps brands scale through the growth curve.
- Playbook Media works with startups that need to build a foundation for growth, VC-backed companies that need to maintain efficient CACs, and late-stage startups that see diminishing returns on digital channels.
Case studies:
- HelloFresh: 3x purchase volume increase with Facebook advertising.
- ImperfectFoods: Leveraging influencer content to drive direct response results.
- OhmConnect: Efficiency and reach lifts with Facebook’s Advantage+ and strategic campaign objectives.
Learning Center: https://www.playbookmedia.com/learning-center/
GrowTal is the premier talent marketplace for effortlessly securing top remote marketing experts. Our platform seamlessly connects companies with elite marketing talent, eliminating the need for expensive recruitment efforts and the risks associated with traditional hiring practices.
Founded in 2020 by Bryan Karas, a former Facebook executive and current CEO of digital marketing agency Playbook Media, GrowTal is headquartered in Los Angeles and supported by private investors. Leveraging our platform, clients effortlessly find, evaluate, and connect with independent contractors offering professional marketing services.
Recent Blogs: https://www.growtal.com/blog/
Win Warfield, Publisher at citybiz.co Los Angeles
If you’re interested in a citybiz CEO Interview, please contact Win Warfield at win@citybiz.co
