I've always worked in marketing but now I'm focused on demand gen. and growth at a startup where we have a free product (which means website optimization/conversion is just as important, if not more, than new traffic).

So lately I've been digging in more on CRO, and it sounds like CRO really just comes down to two things:

1. Having a deep understanding of your target audience.
2. Getting more people in that target audience to do what you want them to do.

Those two things are pretty core to anyone who is great at marketing but wanted to try and get a discussion going.

Are we making CRO seem harder than it really is?