“TRACTION: A STARTUP GUIDE TO GETTING

CUSTOMERS”Joshua Harper

What is Traction?

Definition-“Traction is basically quantitative evidence of customer demand.”

-Naval Ravikant

Path to Traction

19 Channels

Viral Marketing Public Relations Unconventional PR Search Engine Marketing Social & Display Ads Offline Ads SEO Content Marketing Email Marketing Engineering as Marketing

•Targeting Blogs

•Business Development

•Sales

•Affiliate Programs

•Existing Platforms

•Trade Shows

•Offline Events

•Speaking Engagements

•Community Building

*Side Bar*

As I’m creating this presentation I received two time delay emails from Slideshare showing me how to use the product. This is a great example of Lifecycle messaging as I had not yet become an active user as defined by them. If only those tutorials were more readily available on the site maybe I would have finished the presentation there rather than on Powerpoint. Good attempt Slideshare, you can’t win them all.

Bullseye Method

1. Brainstorm-Think of at least 1 idea for every channel

2. Rank-Rank your best options

3. Prioritize-Tier your options selecting those you will focus on

4. Test-Test your options focusing on your “inner circle” first

5. Focusing-Focus on your best traction channel and optimize

Repeat

Divide and Conquer

50% Product 50% Traction

•Divide your time equally between developing the product and developing traction for your company•“Move the needle” Focus on tactics that provide a measurable benefit to your company•Remember metrics: have a way to measure your efforts with actual numbers and data

Pivot

Once you find a traction channel that works scale it and continue to monitor progress

When customer acquisition from a channel drops too low (the channel becomes saturated) pivot and select another channel to focus on

Some channels will work early on but will not scale as well once your startup grows

The Law of Shitty Click Throughs

Definition-Eventually every marketing channel becomes saturated

Implications: Continually test your traction channels to

see which are performing Know when to pivot to a new channel Do A/B testing to optimize your channels

Critical Path

Set specific goals you can work toward Develop milestones to reach that goal Measure each decision you make against

how it furthers your goals

*Remember to measure your moves with metrics so you can see the affect your efforts have

Viral Marketing

Going Viral-Every user that signs up brings another user to the platform

Viral Loop-A user of your product exposes others to it and they become users themselves then repeat this cycle

Viral Coefficient (K)=# of invites sent * conversion rate

*It’s all about numbers. Measure your viral coefficient and make incremental improvements to increase efficiency

Public Relations

Definition-All of your company’s public messaging

Start small and target blogs that bigger news sources draw on for content

Build relationships with reporters, bloggers, and other figures in your industry

When you pitch make sure you have something worth pitching

Unconventional PR

Definition-Generating a buzz through stunts or uncommon actions

Publicity Stunt-Doing something out of the ordinary to generate media awareness

Customer Appreciation-Small uncommon acts of appreciation toward your customers that generate word of mouth and sometimes media coverage

*It is difficult to be successful in this space but if done right it can have huge dividends

Search Engine Marketing (SEM)

Definition-The placement of ads on search engines

Have a good set of keywords Craft and continually test landing pages Having a high quality score gives better

ad placement Once your campaign is running use

advanced tools like; retargeting, negative keywords, scripting and conversion optimizer

Social & Display Ads

Definition-Ads placed on social sites These ads generate demand and work to

build the brand The trick is to make your ad feel like

content that the consumer wants to engage with

Social ads are about building a relationship with the consumer and converting them to a sale over time rather than immediately

Offline Ads

Definition-Traditional advertisements through print, radio, television, etc…

It is very difficult to directly measure the effects of offline ads

Offline ads are best used to build brand awareness and recognition rather than drive sales

Be creative with how you use offline ads. The medium has been saturated and consumers typically ignore you unless you can do something differently

Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Definition-Optimizing your ranking on a search engine to appear higher in the results. Rankings are based on content and the number of links to your site.

Two Strategies:Fat Head-Ranking high for a few terms that

directly describe your companyLong Tail-Ranking high for many longer

terms that are highly specific*The majority of searches done are long tail

Content Marketing

Definition-Generating awareness by providing content customers want to interact with

Develop content your target audience cares about

Blogs are a popular form of content marketing that drive traffic to your site and increase your SEO

It takes time for your blog to perform well. Allow six months for it to gain traction

Email Marketing

Definition-Emailing customers directly Don’t just buy an email list, that is spam Exchange content (blog posts) for customer

email addresses Lifecycle Email-Emailing customers at different

times depending on their interaction with your product in order to help drive them to an “active” state

Use this to upsell customers as they max out their current account limits

Leverage your users’ contacts by providing incentives for them to invite friends

Engineering as Marketing

Definition-Creating useful tools through engineering that give your company exposure to the customer

Tools your engineers create for your business can also be provided to customers

Providing customers with a useful tool is a good way to introduce them to your company and make them more likely to convert

Think of what you create as assets that can continually generate customer leads

Targeting Blogs

Definition-Generating support from blogs your customers are interested in

Works well early on but doesn’t necessarily scale well

Smaller blogs are sometimes a feeder for larger news outlets

Increases the number of links to your site driving SEO

Business Development

Definition-Developing mutually beneficial business partnerships

Pick a business partner that can help you Think about the value you provide to your

business partner as well Many partnerships fall through so have a

continual pipeline of potential partners ready

Sales

Marketing should both direct sales toward relevant leads and provide them the material they need to display the product and convert the customer

Build a repeatable sales model so that it can be scaled

Utilize SPIN selling by asking leads questions

Get verbal confirmation for each step of the sales process

Affiliate Programs

Definition-Paying another company for generating a lead or sale

Affiliate programs are especially popular when your product is expensive (insurance)

Look to existing affiliate programs like Clickbooth and Neverblue

Existing Platforms

Definitions-Platforms that already have a large user base (App store, Facebook, Twitter, etc…)

Target your customers by utilizing the platforms they typically use

New platforms pay off well if you can enter that space because it is not yet saturated

Trade Shows

Definition-Industry specific shows that allow companies to show their products to others within the industry

Make sure a trade show lends itself to your current traction goals

Make sure your booth and interactions aim to specifically further your goals

Offline Events

Definition-Sponsoring some kind of event in order to have beneficial interactions with customers or potential partners

This is an underutilized space for most start-ups

Effective early on but can be more difficult to scale

Start with a small event and scale up

Speaking Engagements

Definition-Speaking about your company at an event that garners an audience

Conferences are often centered around a topic or industry so choose one that you bring value to

Industry specific conferences can gather a large number of influential industry members to one place

Tell a story that directly relates to your company and is engaging

Community Building

Definition-Building a community around current users

Create evangelists or consumers that are passionate about your product and actively recommend it

Foster connections between evangelists and typical users

Start this process early on to set the stage as your company grows

Thank You