Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers

• Brainstorm every single traction channel to see which one works for you
• Compile your brainstorming ideas for each traction channel in a spreadsheet with educated guesses
• Run cheap traction tests in the channels that seem most promising
• Find the most dominant channel in terms of customer acquisition
• Have an explicit traction goal that you are working towards

Publicity

Start small. Focus on small sites especially if you want large media outlets to find your story.

• Use search engine ads to test the right product positioning and messaging
• Don’t expect early profit
• Measure conversion so you can test SEM variables against profitability
• Longer keywords are better than short ones
• Monitor ad quality scores to get better placement

Offline Advertising

TV ads, billboards, direct mail, radio

• There are two high-level strategies to choose from: fat-head and long-tail
• Fat-head strategies involve trying to rank for search ranks that directly describe the company.
• Long-tail strategies involve ranking for more specific terms with lower search volumes
• SEO comes down to two things: content and links

Create short free courses that are geared towards educating potential customers about the product, or your problem space.

A popular approach is to create a sequence of emails that slowly exposes your new customers to the key features in your product.

For example, you could email them five days after they've signed up and say, "Hey, did you know we have this feature?"

A viral loop is a three-step process in its most basic form:

A customer is exposed to a product or service

The customer shares the message with someone else

Some portion of the people exposed become your customers as well

Engineering As Marketing

Building useful tools and resources in a way that attracts customers

Business development involves exchanging value through partnerships.

• Standard partnerships. Two companies work together to work on one or both their products
• Joint ventures. In joint ventures, two companies work together to create a new product
• Licensing. Happens when companies charge a fee to anyone using their brand
• Distribution deals. Distribution deals work when one company provides a distribution channel to another company
• Supply chain partnerships.  Connections help secure key inputs that are essential for certain products.

Ask Situation questions. These questions will help you understand the prospect’s buying situation. An example of a situation question is how is your organization structured?

Problem questions.  These kinds of questions clarify the buyer’s pain points

Implication questions. These kinds of questions are meant to make the prospect aware of why they need to solve the problem they are facing ASAP.

Need-payoff questions. These kinds of questions get the buyers thinking of the benefits of solving their problem