Traction online marketing
Chapter 1: Traction Channels
Traction?
- Traction is a sign that your company is taking off, it’s obvious in your core metrics
is you have a mobile app, your download rate is growing rapidly
Traction is basically quantitative evidence of customer demand. So if you’re in enterprise
software, may be two or three early customers who are paying a bit; if you’re in consumer
software the bar might be as high as hundreds of thousands of users
You can always get more traction. The point of a startup is to grow rapidly, getting traction
means moving your growth curve up and to the right as best as you can
A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make
a company startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take
venture funding, or have some sort of “exit”. The only essential thing is growth. Everything
else we associate with startups follows from growth
Traction channels = customer acquisition channels
these are marketing and distribution channels through which your startup can get
traction: real customer growth
2 broad themes uncovered through research:
1. Most founders consider using traction channels with which they’re already familiar,
or those they think they should be using because of their type of product/company
Far too many startups focus on the same channels and ignore other promising
ways to get traction. In fact, often the most underutilized channels in an industry
are the most promising ones
2. It’s hard to predict the traction channel that will work best
You can make educated guesses, but you will only find out which channel will
work best after you’re running tests
19 traction channels:
1. Targeting blogs
Popular startups like Codecademy, Reddit and Mint all got their start by targeting tools.
Mint’s former director of marketing, told us how he targeted niche blogs early on, and how
this strategy allowed Mint to aquire 40,000 customers before launching
1
, 2. Publicity
Publicity is the art of getting your name out there via traditional media outlets like
newspapers, magazines, and TV
3. Unconventional PR
Unconventional PR involves doing something exceptional like publicity stunts to draw media
attention. This channel can also work by repeatedly going above and beyond for your
customer
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM allows companies to advertise to consumers searching on Google and other search
engines.
5. Social and Display Ads
Ads on popular sites like reddit, YT, FB, Twitter and hundreds of other niche sites can be a
powerful and scalable way to reach new customers
6. Offline Ads
Offline ads include TV spots, radio commercials, billboards, infomercials, newspaper and
magazine ads, as well as flyers and other local advertisements. These ads reach
demographics that are harder to target online, like seniors, less tech-savvy consumers, and
commuters. Few startups using this channel, which means there’s less competition for many
of these audiences
7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of making sure your Web site shows up for key search results
8. Content Marketing
Many startups have blogs. However, most don’t use their blogs to get traction
9. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the best ways to convert prospects while retaining and monetizing
existing customers
10. Engineering as Marketing
Using engineering resources to acquire customers is a significantly underutilized way to get
traction. Successful companies have built microsites, developed widgets, and created free
tools that drive thousands of leads each month
2
, 11. Viral Marketing
Viral marketing consists of growing your customer base by encouraging your customers to
refer other customers
12. Business Development (BD)
BD is the process of creating strategic relationships that benefit both your startup and your
partner
13. Sales
Sales is focused primarily on creating processes to directly exchange product for dollars
14. Affiliate Programs
Companies like HostGator, GoDaddy and Sprout Social have robust affiliate programs that
have allowed them to reach hundreds of thousands of customers in a cost-effective way
15. Existing Platforms
Focusing on existing platforms means focusing your growth efforts on a mega platform like
FB, Twitter, or the App Store, and getting some of their hundreds of millions of users to use
your product
16. Trade Shows
Trade shows are a chance for companies in specific industries to show off their latest
products
17. Offline Events
Sponsoring or running offline events – from small meetups to large conferences – can be a
primary way to get traction
18. Speaking Engagements
The leverage of a speaking event, give an awesome talk, and grow your startup’s profile at
such speaking gigs
19. Community Building
Companies like Wikipedia and Stack Exchange have grown by forming passionate
communities around their products
3
, Chapter 2: traction thinking
How much time should you spend on getting traction? When should you start? How do you
know if it’s working? … this chapter answers these and other general traction questions,
empowering you with the traction thinking that will set you up for success
The 50 percent rule
Almost every failed startup had a product, what failed startups don’t have is enough
customers
The number 1 reason that we pass on entrepeneurs we’d otherwise like to back is they’re
focusing on product to the exclusion of everything else. Many entrepeneurs who build
great products simply don’t have a good distribution strategy. Even worse is when they
insist that they don’t need one, or call (their) no distribution strategy a “viral marketing
strategy”
Having a product or service that your early customers love, but having no clear way to get
more traction is a major problem. To solve this problem, spend your time constructing your
product or service and testing traction channels in parallel
The 50 percent rule = spend 50% of your time on product and 50% on traction
4 situations where you could build something people want, but still not end up with a
viable business:
1. You could build something people want, but for which you just can’t figure out a
viable business model (there is no real market)
2. You could build something people want, but there are just not enough customers to
reach profitability (happens when you pick too narrow niches)
3. You could build something people want, but reaching them is cost prohibitive (a hard
to reach market)
4. You could build something people want, but a lot of other companies build it too
(hypercompetitive market)
Pursuing product development and traction in parallel has a couple of key benefits:
1. It helps you build the right product because you can incorporate knowledge from
your traction efforts
If you’re following a good product development process, you’re already getting good
feedback from early customers. However, these customers are generally way too
close to you, they will tell you what you want to hear
Through traction development you get a steady stream of cold customers. It is through these
people that you can really find out whether the market is taking to your product or not, and if
not, what features are missing or which parts of the experiences are broken
4
Chapter 1: Traction Channels
Traction?
- Traction is a sign that your company is taking off, it’s obvious in your core metrics
is you have a mobile app, your download rate is growing rapidly
Traction is basically quantitative evidence of customer demand. So if you’re in enterprise
software, may be two or three early customers who are paying a bit; if you’re in consumer
software the bar might be as high as hundreds of thousands of users
You can always get more traction. The point of a startup is to grow rapidly, getting traction
means moving your growth curve up and to the right as best as you can
A startup is a company designed to grow fast. Being newly founded does not in itself make
a company startup. Nor is it necessary for a startup to work on technology, or take
venture funding, or have some sort of “exit”. The only essential thing is growth. Everything
else we associate with startups follows from growth
Traction channels = customer acquisition channels
these are marketing and distribution channels through which your startup can get
traction: real customer growth
2 broad themes uncovered through research:
1. Most founders consider using traction channels with which they’re already familiar,
or those they think they should be using because of their type of product/company
Far too many startups focus on the same channels and ignore other promising
ways to get traction. In fact, often the most underutilized channels in an industry
are the most promising ones
2. It’s hard to predict the traction channel that will work best
You can make educated guesses, but you will only find out which channel will
work best after you’re running tests
19 traction channels:
1. Targeting blogs
Popular startups like Codecademy, Reddit and Mint all got their start by targeting tools.
Mint’s former director of marketing, told us how he targeted niche blogs early on, and how
this strategy allowed Mint to aquire 40,000 customers before launching
1
, 2. Publicity
Publicity is the art of getting your name out there via traditional media outlets like
newspapers, magazines, and TV
3. Unconventional PR
Unconventional PR involves doing something exceptional like publicity stunts to draw media
attention. This channel can also work by repeatedly going above and beyond for your
customer
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM)
SEM allows companies to advertise to consumers searching on Google and other search
engines.
5. Social and Display Ads
Ads on popular sites like reddit, YT, FB, Twitter and hundreds of other niche sites can be a
powerful and scalable way to reach new customers
6. Offline Ads
Offline ads include TV spots, radio commercials, billboards, infomercials, newspaper and
magazine ads, as well as flyers and other local advertisements. These ads reach
demographics that are harder to target online, like seniors, less tech-savvy consumers, and
commuters. Few startups using this channel, which means there’s less competition for many
of these audiences
7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
SEO is the process of making sure your Web site shows up for key search results
8. Content Marketing
Many startups have blogs. However, most don’t use their blogs to get traction
9. Email Marketing
Email marketing is one of the best ways to convert prospects while retaining and monetizing
existing customers
10. Engineering as Marketing
Using engineering resources to acquire customers is a significantly underutilized way to get
traction. Successful companies have built microsites, developed widgets, and created free
tools that drive thousands of leads each month
2
, 11. Viral Marketing
Viral marketing consists of growing your customer base by encouraging your customers to
refer other customers
12. Business Development (BD)
BD is the process of creating strategic relationships that benefit both your startup and your
partner
13. Sales
Sales is focused primarily on creating processes to directly exchange product for dollars
14. Affiliate Programs
Companies like HostGator, GoDaddy and Sprout Social have robust affiliate programs that
have allowed them to reach hundreds of thousands of customers in a cost-effective way
15. Existing Platforms
Focusing on existing platforms means focusing your growth efforts on a mega platform like
FB, Twitter, or the App Store, and getting some of their hundreds of millions of users to use
your product
16. Trade Shows
Trade shows are a chance for companies in specific industries to show off their latest
products
17. Offline Events
Sponsoring or running offline events – from small meetups to large conferences – can be a
primary way to get traction
18. Speaking Engagements
The leverage of a speaking event, give an awesome talk, and grow your startup’s profile at
such speaking gigs
19. Community Building
Companies like Wikipedia and Stack Exchange have grown by forming passionate
communities around their products
3
, Chapter 2: traction thinking
How much time should you spend on getting traction? When should you start? How do you
know if it’s working? … this chapter answers these and other general traction questions,
empowering you with the traction thinking that will set you up for success
The 50 percent rule
Almost every failed startup had a product, what failed startups don’t have is enough
customers
The number 1 reason that we pass on entrepeneurs we’d otherwise like to back is they’re
focusing on product to the exclusion of everything else. Many entrepeneurs who build
great products simply don’t have a good distribution strategy. Even worse is when they
insist that they don’t need one, or call (their) no distribution strategy a “viral marketing
strategy”
Having a product or service that your early customers love, but having no clear way to get
more traction is a major problem. To solve this problem, spend your time constructing your
product or service and testing traction channels in parallel
The 50 percent rule = spend 50% of your time on product and 50% on traction
4 situations where you could build something people want, but still not end up with a
viable business:
1. You could build something people want, but for which you just can’t figure out a
viable business model (there is no real market)
2. You could build something people want, but there are just not enough customers to
reach profitability (happens when you pick too narrow niches)
3. You could build something people want, but reaching them is cost prohibitive (a hard
to reach market)
4. You could build something people want, but a lot of other companies build it too
(hypercompetitive market)
Pursuing product development and traction in parallel has a couple of key benefits:
1. It helps you build the right product because you can incorporate knowledge from
your traction efforts
If you’re following a good product development process, you’re already getting good
feedback from early customers. However, these customers are generally way too
close to you, they will tell you what you want to hear
Through traction development you get a steady stream of cold customers. It is through these
people that you can really find out whether the market is taking to your product or not, and if
not, what features are missing or which parts of the experiences are broken
4
