Customer acquisition when broke...
Linda Miles
4 replies
When starting the project eight months ago I did not think that the hardest part of the starting a business would be the customer acquisition. I thought it would be technical challenges, design of the app, testing, etc... imagining that once launched the customers would pour in. Boy was I wrong!
So, the app ( https://cogency.io ) is launched! Now what? How do you let the world know that you had created a .. in your mind.. "kick-ass" service? Here are the attempts
1. Google Ads - Failed w/ a few signups but none converted into paying customers
2. Mass mail - Sent approx. 100K emails that unfortunately b/c of the shady email service we used ( not mentioning their name not to give them more publicity ) that prob was already blacklisted...so from 100K, 30+K bounced and the other 60+K emails most likely ended in peoples' spam folders and thus were never opened. I am deducing this from the fact that I received ZERO signups.
3. Tried email some business folks directly ( as a personal email ) asking them to check out my app and possible give some feedback ( preferably critical ) ... nothing either.
4. Started posting on twitter, but I just try to be positive about what I post. I did come across some successful strategies where the folks just keep "bitching" about how hard it is with their startups .. but I do not want pity.. I think I have a good enough product that would benefit a lot of people!
So, the question is.. how do you get the world to get to know you w/out sinking huge amounts of cash into advertising?
Seems like a herculean task!
Replies
Dave Bain@davob
I've been in tech B2B sales (eg. AWS) for a long time and recently transitioned into the startup world where I have had to relearn selling, or more so digital marketing. There are similarities, yet large differences like social media, it's not been part of my life til recently :)
Here are some learning's;
1) No one wants to be sold to. They want to be educated or helped, so for me the DM and direct email stuff is something I wont do.
2) Create a captivating web page (fine tune your messaging!) that shows how you can help and has solid SEO roots. SEO takes time to get going however it runs a long race and is very powerful. (assuming you get the basics of SEO)
3) If it's an app, make sure your ASO is solid as this fires quickly.
4) Blog - start writing on your web site about topics people are searching for that relates to your product/expertise and how it can help. Post some of these blogs to medium.
5) Backlinking. Just launching on PH alone will give you a LOT of backlinks even if your product doesn't rate well.
6) Launch on PH with a good product hunter. This will get you going quickly, however it's important to have done 2-4 well as this is where you get your messaging and product fit right.
7) create a social audience, if that's your thing.
There are other things you can do for free, however organic growth is the foundation, after which paid can be an accelerator.
Lastly measure, measure, measure. You need to understand where and why people are dropping off and always be making small changes, experiments.
Share
@artknight to be brutally honest (apologies in advance), when I read your main heading, it doesn't answer the 'why?' so I'm not sure what problem(s) you are solving for me. If it's improving remote working productivity and collaboration then perhaps something like "Improve remote productivity and collaboration". Sounds a little corny, even obvious, but this is where you need to get into SEO and understand googled phrases (problem) that align with your business/product as it will help you write your copy (answer).
My go to for marketing guidance https://marketingexamples.com/
Also your page load speed was very slow for me. You will lose people on this alone.
Good luck!