traction-book-notes

Traction: A Startup Guide to Getting Customers Weinberg, Gabriel

Traction = growth

Traction channels

(customer acquisition channels)

Startups get traction through nineteen different channels:

Viral Marketing = encouraging your users to refer other users.

Public relations = the art of getting your name out there via traditional media outlets like newspapers, magazines and TV.

Unconventional PR = doing something exceptional (like publicity stunts) to draw media attention.

Search engine marketing (SEM) = advertising to consumers searching on Google and other search engines

Social and Display Ads = advertising on popular sites like reddit, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and hundreds of other niche sites

Offline Ads = TV spots, radio commercials, billboards, infomercials, newspaper and magazine ads, as well as flyers and other local advertisements.

Search Engine Optimization = making sure your website shows up for key search results.

Content Marketing = using eg. blogs to get traction.

Email Marketing = one of the best ways to convert prospects while retaining and monetizing existing ones.

Engineering as Marketing = using engineering resources eg. building micro-sites, developing widgets, and creating free tools that drive thousands of leads, to acquire customers.

Targeting Blogs = targeting niche blogs early on to acquire customers

Business Development = creating strategic relationships that benefit both your startup and your partner.

Sales = creating processes to directly exchange product for dollars

Affiliate Programs = get your products promoted via affiliate programs to reach hundreds of thousands of customers in a cost-effective way.

Existing Platforms = focusing your growth efforts on a mega-platform like Facebook, Twitter, or an App Store

Trade Shows = a chance for companies in specific industries to show off their latest products.

Offline Events = sponsoring or running offline events – from small meetups to large conferences

Speaking Engagements = leverage a speaking event, give an awesome talk and grow your startup’s profile at such speaking gigs.

Community Building = forming passionate communities around your products.

Tips:

• Until you start running tests, it’s difficult to tell which channel is the best one for you right now.
• You have natural tendencies (bias) toward or against certain traction channels. Think about which traction channels are you biased for and which traction channels are you biased against.
• Get one channel working that your competitors dismiss, and you can grow rapidly while they languish.

The Bullseye Framework

(or how to find the channel that will get you traction)

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