Reaching out to potential clients and developing growth
Growth is a fundamental topic for a start-up that is often very confusing. Growing the customer base is of course essential, and everyone is looking for the trick to achieve this. This trick often consists of running ads on Facebook, sharing information on LinkedIn, posting content on Youtube, etc.
So, most of the time, the strategy is to experiment, while the tactic is to do different things on every platform we know. Is there a trick? Is there a marketing secret we need to uncover to grow the customer base?
… There is no magic. Finding the marketing tactic to engage a large number of potential clients is a process, a well-thought-out experiment. Let’s dive in.
We start with a message. A message is what we say to a customer. In it, we indicate what the expected behavior is (sign up, download, pay, etc.).
Then we decide what the format of the message will be. The message can be text (email, LinkedIn, medium, substack…), video (youtube,…), audio (Podcast,…), or a mix of these things.
Once we have created a message in a given format, we need to distribute it, and therefore decide which channels to leverage. Channels are where the customer will see/hear your message. Linkedin, Youtube, your website, and a sales rep are just a few that you may recognize.
Finally, the message must trigger a behavior. This behavior happens on a platform (website, application, …). That is where you want your customer to end up
So we have the following simple scheme:
Example
Now that we understand this, we can realize that when communication does not produce the expected results, the causes can be multiple.
Your message may be weak,
The message format may be inappropriate,
The channel could be the wrong channel,
the call to action on the platform itself may be ambiguous.
Even more daunting, it could be a combination of several factors. So I hear, “we tried this, but it did not work” I am always suspicious and need to understand how they did it.
Let’s look at each touch points
Message
The Message is what it is you need the customer to believe, to trigger some kind of action. I won’t spend time on this, this is specific to every startup.
Message format
The message format is also driven by the type of product/startup.
Channels
Channels are probably the most critical aspect. One channel will become dominant and create 70%+ of the growth. For Pinterest it is the SEO, for Slack it’s virality, just to name a few.
So it is important to find the channel that will yield the best result. The selection of your channel is all about what creates customer engagement. If we were to list the main customer acquisition techniques we would mention paid marketing, content creation, direct sales, product virality, or partnerships.
There is usually one dominant method, the others having little impact. So first you need to find out what creates the best customer engagement. Once you have the preferred method, the channel options become clearer. Here is an example:
For each channel, it is necessary to create some ranking using the following criteria:
The target (how good the target is and how large)
The cost
The time it takes
The ability to scale
The control
Then it is a matter of experimenting to find your primary channel, the one that will score much better than all the others.
The Platform
The platform is where the prospect performs the call to action. It can be
A website
A mobile app
A landing page
A DocuSign contract
A gaming console
A social network
Quite often the platform has unique specifics and may favor specific channels. If your platform is Facebook, the Facebook ads channel seems inevitable. Switching platform is complex.
It’s a complex and deep subject. I don’t pretend to provide all answers. I hope this helps you better visualize the process, the options, and the experiments you need to run to find your sweet spot.