Going in depth on 4 of the 19 Traction Channels discussed in the book Traction: A Startup Guide To Getting Customers

1. Zachary Clinch
Spring 2015

2. Nineteen Traction Channels which are:
1. Viral Marketing
2. Public Relations
3. Unconventional PR
4. Search Engine Marketing
5. Social and Display Ads
6. Offline Ads
7. Search Engine Optimization
8. Content Marketing
9. Email Marketing
10. Engineering as Marketing
11. Targeting Blogs
12. Business Development
13. Sales
14. Affiliate Programs
15. Existing Platforms
16. Trade Shows
17. Offline Events
18. Speaking Engagements
19. Community Building
But with so much
information and so
little time, I will go in
depth on only a few….

3. My 4
Channels
Existing
Platforms
Affiliate
Programs
Social and
Display
Ads
Targeting
Blogs
The channels I
will focus on
include…

4. Let’s Start with Existing
Platforms
What are they and why are
they important???

5. Existing platforms are websites, apps or
networks with huge numbers of users,
sometimes in the hundreds of millions!!
These platforms include the Apple and
Android App Stores, Facebook, Twitter,
Pinterest, Snapchat, and many others.

6. Why are they so important? These platforms
already have the members, you just need the
content.
Companies like Zynga started on Facebook
because of how easy it was for friends to share
their product.

7. The world
famous
YouTube got
their start by
using an
existing
platform. That
platform was
MySpace
believe it or not.
Users were
directed back
to YouTube
when clicking
on a video,
giving
YouTube
major
exposure
with how big
MySpace
was.

8. Focusing on the App Store
The main goal when being apart of app stores is
to have a high rating or to be featured. For this
to happen the app needs to have good content
or give some sort of value to the consumer.

9. Now let’s talk
about…

10. Why target blogs?
Targeting blogs can help you connect
with your specific customers. The
challenge is finding the blogs that will
be most useful.

11. Ways of finding the right blogs
Search Engines – simply search for “Blogs for
(blank)”
YouTube – Simple keyword searches can do the
trick
Delicious – lets you use keywords to find links
that others have saved, which can help you find
new blogs
Talk to people – the most effective, just go out
and ask people!

12. How about some info on
Affiliate
Programs

13. With affiliate programs, you pay
people or companies for performing
certain actions such as selling a
product or service.

14. How they work?
An example would be Amazon.
An Amazon affiliate program pay’s between 4-8.5%
of each sale depending how many items an affiliate
sells each month.

15. Finding affiliates
Most companies do not have their own affiliate
programs. Sites like Commission Junction,
Pepperjam, and Linkshare provide
affiliates for companies like
Wal-Mart, Apple, Starbucks, etc.

16. Big $$$ in Lead Generation
Lead generation is a $26 billion dollar industry.
Lead’s include email addresses, home addresses,
a phone number, or even credit scores.
Some frequent consumers of lead’s are
insurance companies, law firms, and mortgage
brokers.

17. Last, but not least….
Social & Display
Ads

18. Display Ad Networks
Some of the biggest are Google’s Display
Network, Advertising.com, TribalFusion,
ValueClick, and Adblade. They give people the
capability of reaching specific demographics
and offer a variety of ad formats.
The most common display ads are the banner
ads seen across websites.

19. Social Ads
The goal of social ads is not as much getting
people to buy the item immediately, but more
creating awareness of the product. The hope is
later on down the line a purchase may occur.
One of the main targets for social ads are new
potential customers.

20. Different, but the same
Yes, display and social ads are different but they
both share the principle of understanding your
audience, experiment your message, and
reaching people in a way they will remember.

21. The Finish!
Of the nineteen channels talked about in
Traction, the 4 I found interesting and insightful
were Existing Platforms, Targeting Blogs, Affiliate
Programs, and Display & Social Ads.