This document discusses various traction channels that can be used to generate customer demand for a startup company. It defines 19 different channels including viral marketing, public relations, search engine marketing, social ads, content marketing, and speaking engagements. For each channel, it provides 1-2 sentences on how to effectively utilize that channel and what metrics to measure. The overall document emphasizes testing different channels, focusing resources on the most effective ones, and continually optimizing and pivoting channels over time as customer acquisition changes.

1. Joshua Harper

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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. 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

6. 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

7.  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

8. 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

9.  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

10. 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

11. 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

12. 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

13. 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

14. 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

15. 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

16. 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 company
Long Tail-Ranking high for many longer terms
that are highly specific
*The majority of searches done are long tail

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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

22.  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

23. 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

24. 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

25. 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

26. 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

27. 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

28. 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

29. Thank You