TRACTION: A STARTUP

GUIDE TO GETTING

CUSTOMERS…A REVIEW

Willa Fogarty

Traction is…

Growth

Quantitative evidence

of consumer demand…

A sign that something is working…

The best way to improve

your chances of startup success

In other words….

Traction Trumps Everything

Traction Channels

Viral Marketing

PR

Unconventional PR

Search Engine Marketing

Social and Display Ads

Offline Ads

SEO

Existing Platforms

Community Building

Content Marketing

Email Marketing

Engineering as Marketing

Targeting Blogs

Business Development

Sales

Affiliate Programs

Offline Events

Speaking Engagements

Trade Shows

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Don’t worry, there’s a framework

for that!

To find the channel that will get you traction…

1. Brainstorm 2. Rank

3. Prioritize 4. Test

5. Focusing

If no channel is promising, rinse and repeat.

Most startups focus on this

***Product Development

But not you!!

“Almost every failed startup has a product. What

failed startups don’t have are enough

customers.”

***Focus on product development AS WELL AS

traction.

50%--Each should get half of your attention.

Test, Test, Test

Inner circle tests

A/B Tests

Quantify your results

Do this ^^^

to combat this

Which way do you go?

Startups get pulled in a lot of different directions…

Instill goals and milestones; use the critical path method (the path with the fewest number of steps) to get there.

**Insight: Suppose you have a traction goal of increasing your advertising presence. Once you meet your goal, the authors would suggest shifting focus to something else. While this makes sense, does shifting focus too much compromise your now established advertising presence?

Time to pick a channel!

Viral Marketing

Existing users refer others to your product; every acquired customer brings in at least 1 other.

Use inherent virality,

Incentives, social networks,

etc., to increase viral loop.

Viral Coefficient

K= i*conversion percentage

Public Relations

Leveraging traditional news outlets, newspapers, and magazines to increase your startup’s awareness.

Notice: stories and content now filter up the media chain, rather than down.

Package your pitch to media organizations

as a compelling story.

Unconventional PR

2 Types: publicity stunt & customer appreciation

Publicity stunts can foster instant

national recognition.____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Customer appreciation, “be

awesome to your customers,” more

sustainable

***Insight: I see a creative PR stunt as one of

the most effective ways to get

traction these days, especially with a

generation like the millennials who

appreciate a more creative

approach

Search Engine Marketing

Placing advertisements on search engines like Google-- works well for companies selling directly to their target market.

Testing areas include keywords, ad copy, demographic targeting, landing pages, and CPC bids

***Insight: The book touched on using negative keywords to prevent your ads from showing up for certain keywords. If you’re selling eyeglasses, you prevent your ad from coming up for “wine glasses…” However, what is the harm in having your ad there just in case? Maybe it could remind someone they need to change their eyeglass prescription?

Social and Display Ads

Banner ads, Facebook and Twitter ads, etc.

Social and display ads generate demand by building awareness of products, hoping to eventually convert the audience to customers.

Create compelling

content that people

will like/share.

Offline Ads

Ads that appear in mediums such as TV, radio, magazines, newspapers, yellow pages, billboards, direct mail etc.

Consider demographics

Look for remnant advertising

Use URLS and unique web

addresses for tracking

***Insight: Although remnant advertising is cheap, how large are the benefits? If there are spaces that aren’t selling, couldn’t the publication be unpopular or seen by less people? E.g. The New York Times probably doesn’t have trouble selling ad space…?

Search Engine Optimization

The process of improving

your ranking in search engines

in order to get more people

to your site.

2 Approaches

Fat Head and Long Tail

Your ability to rank on the 1st page should be a deciding factor in whether to pursue this channel.

Content Marketing

Blogging--quality content is essential, write

about problems your customers have.

Drives search and word of mouth, users funnel

through the blog and onto the website.

Email Marketing

Email promotions for sales, discounts,

newsletters, etc.

Should be personalized

Lifecycle emails work

well for moving

customers through your

funnel.

Engineering as Marketing

Creating useful tools such as calculators,

widgets, and micro-sites to get your company in

front of more people.

Use single purpose tools, and make them easy

to find.

Targeting Blogs

Finding influential bloggers in your area of

business-- having them promote your product.

Business Development

BD primarily focuses on exchanging value

through partnerships.

Good deals align with

co. and are focused on

critical product and

distribution milestones.

Joint ventures, licensing, Distribution Deals,

Supply Partners, etc.

Sales

Generating leads, qualifying them, and converting them into paying customers.

Use

Situation questions

Problem questions

Implication questions

Need-Payoff questions

Build a repeatable sales model.^ ^

Affiliate Programs

Paying people or companies for performing

actions such as making a sale or getting a

qualified lead.

*Ability to use affiliate programs effectively

depends on how much you are willing to pay

to acquire a customer.

Found in spaces such as retail, information

product, or lead generation.

Existing Platforms

Using websites, apps, or networks with a huge

number of users to gain traction.

App stores, social platforms, browser extension

stores, etc. ----main goal is to rank highly on

these platforms

*Focus on new and untapped platforms—your

competition isn’t there yet.

Trade Shows

Events that are exclusive to

industry insiders, and

designed to foster interactions

between vendors and their

prospects.

Amount of preparation will determine level of

success.

*Schedule meetings with people you want to meet.

*Have an inbound and outbound strategy for booth.

Offline Events

Sponsoring or running offline events, from small

meet-ups to large conferences.

Co. with customers who have

shared interests or a

kind of community will

benefit most.

Speaking Engagements

Speaking at trade shows or offline events.

Tell a story

through your

speech.

*Increases your business visibility and

connections

*Presents you as an expert

Community Building

Investing in the connections among your users,

fostering those relationships and helping them

bring more people into your circle.

Establish your mission, foster cross-

connections, communicate with your audience,

be transparent and ensure quality.

Results in evangelists for your company

Go forth and get traction!

“You can still build a business without being

creative. If you don’t have creativity, you need

money. You need one or the other.”