I read the book Traction for you, which is for me one of the best books I have ever read.
The book was written by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, who are masters of entrepreneurship. Traction means growth and is the best way for your startup or company that you have founded to succeed. Gabriel and Justin spent four years writing this book, during which they interviewed 40 globally successful entrepreneurs.
The book talks about tactics that every company should think about (especially startups at the beginning of their journey) and figure out which of these works for them:
- Viral marketing (encouraging users to recommend your product or service to others)
- PR or public relations
- Unconventional PR (do something to attract media attention)
- Paid search marketing (SEM)
- Paid social and display ads (Facebook, Youtube, etc.)
- Offline ads (television, print ads, billboards, flyers, etc.)
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Content marketing (for example blog posts)
- Email marketing
- Engineering (micro sites, widgets, free tools)
- Targeting niche blogs
- Business strategy (partnerships with companies, e.g. Apple and Nike created Nike+ footwear)
- Phone sales
- Affiliate programs (in exchange for referrals you give the provider a certain percentage of sales)
- Platforms (Facebook, App Store, Android, etc.)
- Event sponsorship
- Trade show exhibitions
- Public speaking
- Community building
Which tactic to choose?
Find a way to test each one, check how competitors are doing it, test and evaluate performance over different time periods — what works today may no longer work after some time, or vice versa. A good example of this is website banners, which used to be a very good source of acquiring customers but are no longer as relevant today.
When testing a tactic, ask yourself the following:
– How much does it cost to acquire users through this channel?
– How many customers are reachable through this channel?
– What are the conversions and how much time do you need to achieve them?
Below is a description of each tactic individually, as described in the book.
Viral marketing
Means encouraging users to recommend your product or service to others.
Virality options:
- Inherent virality – The user gains added value by inviting someone into the system (example: Skype — it becomes more useful when the user invites their friends)
- Collaboration – It is useful on its own, but much more so when more people use it (example: Google Drive).
- Through communication – Hotmail had “get a free email” written in it, or Apple, which appends “sent from iPhone”.
- Friend referrals – With Dropbox, the user gets more storage space if they bring in friends who sign up. AirBnB, PayPal, and Uber also add credit if you refer a friend.
- Plugins and widgets – An embedded YouTube video on any website.
The most common methods in viral marketing are referrals via email and social media. A very important question in viral marketing is: in what way do your current users communicate? Consider sharing gifts — give customers a gift in exchange for posting about your product or service on one of the social networks. Competitions are also a good option for achieving virality, for example Shopify organizes a competition where you build your business (it’s called Build a Business by Shopify).
SEM (Search Engine Marketing) or paid ads on search engines. On Google Adwords alone, advertisers spend 100 million dollars per day. The essence of SEM is finding high-quality keywords, grouping ads into ad groups — which consist of one or more ads targeting keywords — and testing different ads and landing pages in each group separately.
Start SEM with keyword analysis, using tools such as Google Keyword Planner, Keyword Spy, SEMrush and SpyFu. As a rule, specific or longer (long-tail) keywords are much cheaper than general ones. Be sure to use the URL builder tool, as it allows you to create links that will show you where the greatest conversions are, not just clicks on your ads. You can test keywords, ads, user demographics, landing pages, cost per click, etc. For A/B testing (comparing two different versions) of your landing pages, you can use for example Optimizely and VWO. Quality score is also important, as it enables better visibility and lower cost per click. CTR (click-through rate) has the greatest impact. The average CTR is 2 percent, and below 1.5 percent is already a poor score for the Google search engine. Other factors also affect the quality score, such as how long users stay on your website, etc.
Paid social and display ads, for example on Facebook, YouTube, etc.
Use for example banner or text advertising. The largest networks are Google’s Display Network, AOL platforms, Exponential, Conversant and Adblade. You can also use BuySell Ads, where you can buy directly from website publishers. Another option is to arrange advertising deals directly with websites yourself — this is a tactic that Noah Kagan used at Mint, where he personally contacted bloggers and negotiated advertising prices. Tools such as MixRank and Adbeat show you competitors’ ads and where they are placed. Alexa and Quantcast show you who visits the websites where your competitors have ads. Highly visited websites for advertising include: LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, Foursquare, Tumblr, reddit, YouTube, BuzzFeed, Scribd, SlideShare and Pinterest.
Public Relations
The authors advise that in the beginning you focus on smaller blogs and forums for coverage, and where possible later connect with well-known personalities (celebrity marketing), who can — with their name (if you are unknown) and by recommending your products or services — more easily help you get coverage in a major media outlet. Capture a journalist’s attention with special events — you’ve launched a new product, secured significant funding, reached a certain user milestone, achieved a major business partnership, or launched a special report for your industry. Follow influencers in your industry and check which blogs they write and visit. Publish your story on social news websites such as Digg, reddit, Hacker News, etc. Share your post on social media, notify influencers in your industry about it, and try to convince them to share it with their audience as well.
Public relations that are out of the ordinary
A good example of this is Richard Branson, who wore a space suit at the opening of Virgin Galactic, dressed in women’s clothing, rode a tank down the street, etc.
Outdoor advertising
Examples include posters, magazines, television, direct mail, etc. With these ads, the most important factor is the user demographics (e.g. magazines are usually bought by older people).
Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
It is the process of improving ranking (visibility) in search engines with the goal of attracting a greater number of users to your website. I recommend checking out Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO. Very important in optimization is to find keywords that are being searched and initially test them by purchasing Google ads for the keyword where you want to be highly visible in search engines. If the Google ads you paid for perform well (e.g. have good conversion), then optimizing for that keyword makes sense for you. Use the tools and websites Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends and Alexa. The Open Site Explorer tool will show you the number of links your competitors have for a specific keyword.
Content marketing
Unbounce started their blog a full year before they actually had their product. They also connected with their potential users by answering questions on targeted forums such as Quora. Also consider infographics (visual representations of information) and free e-books with which you can build your email list of users. One of the best methods for growing your user base is to publish an article on another website with a mention of you (guest posting).
Email marketing
The coupon website Groupon uses email marketing as its primary marketing channel for communicating with their customers. Another marketing technique is to set up autoresponders (pre-prepared email messages that are automatically sent at specific moments and time intervals). Email messages can be used throughout all lifecycle stages, for example for acquiring or retaining existing customers. A good example is Dropbox, where if you create an account and for an extended period do not upload a file to their server, they automatically send you a notification to do so. With these automated messages, they increased the chances of users returning to use their services. Regarding writing emails and other copy, I suggest checking out Copy Hackers, where you’ll find a wealth of useful tips. Also use email retargeting, which means that a visitor comes to your website and adds a certain product to their cart, but then doesn’t complete the purchase — after which they are automatically sent an email a day or two later with a special offer for that product where they didn’t finish the purchase. With emails, I suggest testing different variations such as different subject lines, images, sending times, etc. In email marketing, timing is very important, as you want to achieve the highest possible open rates (which tells you how many people actually open and view your email), and most experts recommend sending between 9 and 12 o’clock.
Engineering, e.g. free tools
HubSpot is a company that deals with marketing automation and has reached thousands of users across multiple countries, and one of the key reasons for their success is the free tool Marketing Grader. MOZ, which deals with website optimization, also has several free tools, for example Open Site Explorer.
Targeted blogs
Noah Kagan used this tactic to gain twenty thousand users before launching Mint. Find blogs in your industry by typing top blogs for “your industry” (top blogs for x) or “best industry blog” (best x blogs) into Google. You can also use Twitter, where you can take advantage of tools like Followerwonk and Klout. On YouTube, you can search for the most watched videos for your keywords. Social Mention shows you which websites have the most frequent mentions for your desired keywords. You can also share a link to your site on communities such as reddit, Inbound.org, Digg, Hacker News, etc. Dropbox gained 10,000 new users by sharing a video on Hacker News.
Business partnerships between companies – Business Development (BD)
This focuses on increasing mutual benefit between two companies with the goal of reaching new users for both. Even Google had a partnership with Netscape in the beginning, and later with Yahoo. A great example of collaboration is Apple and Nike, which resulted in Nike+, a shoe that communicates with your iPod or iPhone, which you can use for example to track your run or listen to music. Licenses also fall under this area — for example, Starbucks licensed its brand to an ice cream manufacturer.
Sales
Todd Vollmer, who has extensive experience in sales through phone calls with companies, recommends that you answer five questions:
– In what way do companies buy solutions like yours?
– How much does the company need your solution?
– Who makes the purchasing decision?
– Does the company you are calling have the money to buy your solution?
– How quickly can they make a decision?
Consider a sales funnel strategy, which is essentially the way you will convert your website visitors or store visitors into customers. It is very important to assess what stage your customers are at and how ready they are to make a purchase. HubSpot, which sells tools for over $10,000, uses this information to know how much time to spend with customers, and therefore divides customers into groups A, B, and C. Group A represents those where they expect to close a sale within three months, B within three to twelve months, and C those who will not make a decision for at least a year, and their salespeople dedicate the most time to group A. You can improve the effectiveness of your sales funnel with free trial periods, answers to frequently asked questions (FAQ), customer testimonials, webinars, easier use of your product or service, a lower entry price, etc.
Affiliate (affiliate marketing)
This is an arrangement between companies or individuals with the aim of achieving a predetermined goal, such as sales or lead generation — a blogger recommends your product and in return receives a certain percentage of each sale made. Insurance companies and law firms pay high commissions just for helping them acquire good and qualified clients. Companies such as Amazon, Zappos, eBay, Orbitz, and Netflix also use affiliate programs to increase revenue. Affiliate programs are one of the best tactics for online stores, informational products, and membership websites. The largest affiliate network for digital products is Clickbank, where commissions can be as high as 75 percent. The book’s authors recommend that businesses offer their products through CJ Affiliate, Pepperjam, ShareASale or more specific networks that target products similar to yours. When joining an affiliate network, it is important to reach out to content creators such as bloggers, publishers, social media influencers, and those with email lists of customers suited to your product or service. Start building a relationship with them — for example, help them out or write a guest post for their blog, give them free access to your product or some other gift, etc.
Existing Platforms
These are existing websites, application providers and networks with a large number of users that can help you grow, for example the App Store, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. This also includes various plugins and add-ons, e.g. Adblock Plus, which blocks ads on websites. A great example is Youtube, which grew precisely because of the MySpace platform, which was the most visited social network in the world in 2000. Sharing and uploading videos at that time was not user-friendly and MySpace did not support it either, and Youtube took advantage of this by allowing users to do it for their platform in just a few minutes. Evernote was also among the first apps to offer its application on Android and was featured on their platform for six weeks, while today the competition on the Android platform is exceptional.
Trade Shows
Before deciding to exhibit at a trade show, visit it as a guest one year before the actual event. It is very important that if you do decide to attend trade shows, you also make the most of it by having meetings with journalists, bloggers, competitors, business partners, etc.
Various Events
This involves sponsoring or hosting an event, from smaller meetups to larger conferences. For example, Twilio focused on sponsoring hackathons (events where a group of people work together to find a common solution), conferences and various meetups. Author Eric Ries organized his own conference to which he invited investors and successful entrepreneurs, thereby spreading his message about Lean startup methods. Author Seth Godin also used meetups to launch his book Linchpin in multiple cities across the country, meeting tens of thousands of people in the process. I recommend using meetup.com, where you can organize a meetup or join an existing one.
Public Speaking
You can start with this tactic very easily, as you can initially offer free talks to small groups or your customers and business partners. When you begin speaking, the audience will typically always wonder, if they don’t know you, who you are and what added value you will share with them, so it makes sense to answer that at the beginning. You will also engage the audience with a good story, as stories capture the audience’s interest.
Building a Community
Chris McCann started Startup Digest by sending emails to twenty friends. Chris then continued by speaking at events. Today the community has hundreds of thousands of users. As I already mentioned, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian initially thanked everyone for their posts, and also sent them gifts such as t-shirts, stickers, etc.
