There is this quote that if you build it right, the customers will come to you. Allow me to tell you that in the real world of startups, this is not always the case. No matter how excellent or perfect you have built your product, customers will not just come to you until you figure out a way to get them to learn about your product in the first place. You have to get them to the product or get the product to them.
Besides learning about your product and adopting it (customer acquisition), they also have to share it with others via word of mouth. This is the point when you begin to create velocity in demand and momentum for your business.
Let’s talk about how NOT to go about customer acquisition especially when you are a startup. Adopting a paid system of getting customers as a startup may seem like a good idea for you but there are a couple of reasons I don’t quite agree that it is.
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First of all, if there is anything you have in short supply at the start of your business, it is funds. So, why would you channel the little or much you have towards buying users? It is neither sustainable nor does it give a true reflection of the situation of things at any point in time. If you have to pay to get customers, how then can we judge the actual market acceptance of your product? How do we know your numbers are not just improving due to money spent? What happens when you choose to stop whatever you are spending? Do these customers remain loyal?
Spending a lot of money on advertising to acquire users can mask the fact that people may not actually want what you’re building and it is important that you know very early, how needed your products are.
A good way to spur up excitement about your business can be the launching contests, giveaways, and promotions. Again, this may not be sustainable in the long run but it can help gather the initial momentum and with a good strategy, you can make headway with it. The shares and tags can get you jumpstarted on your campaign.
There are several ways to acquire customers, but if somehow you can get it done via word of mouth, it will be cheaper for you, and more sustainable in the long term. Social media shares, reviews, customer feedback, tags, and likes can be great ways your customers can help get the word out about your business.
Another thing you could do is blog relevant content for your audience. This shows you to be an authority in that field, while also providing your customers with relevant material they could find useful. It could be how-to articles sharing with them tips. If you are also able to contribute these contents to an established blog, it could work for you. You may not be able to get the press to write about you, but these articles which you contribute can contain backlinks to your site and bring hundreds and thousands of potential customers to check you out over time. It would be a win-win since you are contributing content to those sites, while also creating backlinks to yours.
Also writing Op-Eds can be of great help to you. Again, this is a mutually beneficial arrangement between you and any established blog you choose to work with, and you would be expressing your thoughts on industry trends related to your product or service.
If you have to choose between organic and paid, Organic growth should always be the way to go unless you are only interested in growing your vanity metrics without any actual impact on your growth metrics.