1 Holistic Approach to Get your Brand Traction
You have successfully launched your company. All you need now is customers. Figuring out which marketing channels (listed below) will get you the best results is hard. Takes time, money, and testing. You can make educated guesses, but until you run the appropriate test, it’s difficult to tell.
Here is a holistic approach that will help you figure this out.
A. Brainstorm: Think about reasonable ways you can use each marketing channel. List all the marketing tactics and strategies you can think of.
B. Rank: Rank each channel. Ask yourself, which channels seem the most promising at the moment, which ones have potential and which ones are long-shots.
C. Prioritize: Now that you have identified which channels are promising, it’s time to put them to the test. Remember, numbers don’t lie.
D. Test: Here is where you find out which marketing channels are worth focusing on. Don’t run crazy test just yet. You are just trying to see what gets you traction -traffic, leads, conversion, etc…
E. Focus: Allocate resources towards those channels that generate results. Become an expert on these channels. Experiment and tweak to get the most results.
Avoid Product Obsession.
Don’t spend all your time developing features users want. Equivalently, try to get some traction. Those who think a great product is the way to go will end up with a product users want but with not enough of them to generate profit. You should make something people want and market something people want at the same time.
When to Pivot:
As you grow and set higher marketing goals, you need to figure out what channels can get you there. Use the same process listed above to figure this out. Begin at brainstorming and think; what are the most appropriate channels to meet your new marketing goals and company milestones? Remember those long-shots? Revisit those. At this point, you are allocating higher marketing resources and should run throughout tests that clearly show where to pivot.
Test:
Constantly run A/B tests to optimize a traction channel. Tweak a button, an images, or text in a landing page or ad and compare it to the original. See how each performs and find out whether your change is having an impact on traffic, CTRs, conversions, etc…Running A/B tests will improve your efficiency in traction channels by 2-3X.
Define your Traction Goals:
Whether it is 500 new paying customers, 100 new users, or 15% market share, you should always have a goal you are working towards. Now, everything you do should be in benefit of those goals. Stay on this path by assessing every activity you do against it and by consistently re-assisting it. Every goal should be S.M.A.R.T. Specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant and Time-Bound.
Here is a list of marketing channels that can work for your company:
1. Viral Marketing: Growing your user base by encouraging your users to refer other users.
2. Public Relations: Getting your name out there via traditional media outlets like newspapers, magazines, and TV.
3. Unconventional PR: Doing something unconventional to draw media attention.
4. Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Advertising to consumers searching on google and other search engines.
5. Social and Display ads: Placing ads on popular sites like, Reedit, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and hundreds of other niche sites.
6. Offline ads:These are TV spots, radio commercials, billboards, infomercials, newspapers, magazines ads, flyers and other local advertisements.
7. Search Marketing Optimization (SEO): Making sure your websites shows up for key search results.
8. Content Marketing: Create and push content that is valuable and relevant to an industry or niche.
9. Email Marketing: Sill one of the best ways to convert prospects while retaining and monetizing existing ones.
10. Engineering as Marketing: Developing tools such as microsites and widgets that are valuable and useful to visitors.
11. Targeting Blogs: Targeting blogs related to an industry to drive brand awareness interest, engagement.
12. Business Development: Creating strategic relations that benefit you and your partner.
13. Sales: Creating sales programs that directly aim at the exchange of product for dollars.
14. Affiliate Programs: Reward affiliates for each visitor or customer they bring on board.
15. Existing Platforms: Focus growth efforts on existing platforms like Facebook, Twitter, or an app to get users to try your product.
16. Trade Shows: Attending to marketing events in specific industries to show off your latest product/services.
17. Offline Events: Sponsoring or running offline events. Small meetups, conferences, etc…
18. Speaking Engagements: Talk about a specific topic relevant to an industry.
19. Community Building: Build a community around your product.
To discover what channels will get your brand traction read http://tractionbook.com/
