For a new company trying to build awareness and trial for their online service offering, there are several tactics worth considering and trying. Adwords is usually the first tactic tried, because it is affordable and easy. However, if the product or service doesn't have a clear category yet, people aren't likely to be searching for it in a predictable way. Fortunately, there are other ways to build customer awareness and trial. Here are three that I think can be very effective.
1. Partnerships. Where do your target customers gather? Who do they look to for advice on making buying decisions? For B2BC companies, good partners might be professional associations or publications. For B2C companies, good partners might be non-profits (AARP for elderly, Girl Scouts for pre-teen oriented products) or related products (photo and video sites might partner with camera manufacturers). If these partners are already part of an affiliate program, implementation be quick and easy. More customized partnerships often take a long time to initiate and test, but can have major payoffs. The other benefit of partnerships is that often the partners want something besides money for the partnership–reputation, providing value to membership or a "cool factor" are all reasons companies have agreed to feature or sell products on their sites.
2. Influencers. The internet's ability to serve what Chris Anderson describes as the Long Tail of unique segments of interests makes it a great place to find clusters that fit your target profile. For example, there are active communities of dog lovers (heck, there are even communities of chihuahua lovers) cyclists, product managers, vegans–you name it. Find the thought leaders, whether bloggers, journalists, or analysts, and make sure that they are aware of your product and understand its benefits. These folks are generally easy to reach because much of their value is based on knowing the latest products. The challenge is getting them excited about what you offer. However, it is precisely because they strive for objectivity that they can make such powerful endorsers. The timeline on reaching influencers is much shorter than establishing most partnerships, but still, it can take awhile to build strong ongoing relationships.
3. Virality. Everyone wants to "go viral" but only some businesses should. For virality, you need one of two attributes. Either your product is so fabulous that users want to share it with others, and are natural connectors (do not try this with accountants or engineers, or with products that might signal weakness like dating services or personal coaching) OR the product is naturally networked and just by using the product it connects people with their friends (examples of this include email–hotmail is the most famous example, but also YouSendIt's file delivery service, Egnyte's file sharing, and Skype. Nearly any online service should have an easy (and ideally fun) way to recommend it to friends built into thei product itself, but only naturally viral products should invest further in this tactic. At its best, viral products can grow acquisition numbers quickly and profitably, almost from the moment they are introduced.
Ultimately, customer acquisition is all about testing, measuring, and adjusting. Nearly all companies with strong lead generation engines share the following traits:
1. Clear definition of a qualified lead and of a good customer
2. Understanding of Lifetime Customer Value (or, in new companies, proactive activity to determine LCV) and bounty ranges.
3. Well defined list of constraints ("what we won't do" with a partner–kind of like that Meatloaf song "I would do anything…but I won't do that") — for example, not partnering with sin-dustries (alcohol, porn, etc) or not trading customer lists
4. Dispassionate approach to testing–that is, tests aren't personal. If I make a recommendation for a test, and it fits our constraints and requirements, but the test fails, it does not reflect badly on me. Each person is measured on identifying and testing lots of good ideas, and on quickly implementing the most promising.
5. Clear definition of an attractive campaign (total opportunity size, quality of leads)–if the test is successful, can we build a big channel by replicating it?
It's ok to start customer acquisition tactics without any data to support them, but from the moment programs are implemented, they need to be carefully measured and evaluated against objective criteria in order to quickly move to the most effective and productive programs.
