Last year I was standing in front of a group of entrepreneurs sharing different marketing channels for them to consider using in their business. For each channel I told them to brainstorm what it would look like to utilize that channel in their business.
I believe this is so important as the differentiator between successful and unsuccessful startups will increasingly be their ability to market. In the age of AI, building products and services becomes easier. AI helps write code, answer questions, and build roadmaps. The ability to get that produce or service in front of people is in many cases the hardest part (this is why it’s so helpful to build your audience before your product).
The feedback I received from that group was that the exercise was extremely helpful in thinking about ways of getting in front of customers that they might not have previously considered. And so, I want to share it here with all of you.
Much of this content comes from or is inspired by a great book - “Traction” by Gabriel Wienberg and Justin Mares. If you want to dig deeper on this topic, I’d recommend checking it out.
Following are the 19 marketing channels you should think through as you wrestle with how to scale your startup.
1. Affiliate Programs
Affiliate programs reward your current customers for having one of their friends sign up for or try out your product/service.
At Breeze we had an affiliate program that sent a gift card to users who got a friend to sign up through a special link personalized to them. We even had some users posting that link on Twitter in order to reach a broader network.
Amazon utilizes this strategy heavily by allowing users to create links to products so if someone signs up from that link, the referer gets a portion of the sale. This results in these links showing up in blogs, forums, and websites.
Overall, affiliate marketing can be a powerful way to accelerate word-of-mouth advertising.
2. Offline Advertising
Billboards, magazine ads, a sign at your local high school football field for being a sponsor, those pamphlet racks in hotel lobbies that show people what to do in the area… there’s a lot of space for marketing in the physical world.
While digital advertising is great for tech companies and national/global businesses, if you have a company that operates in a specific geography, you may find success with more traditional advertising methods such as these.
And even if you are a more global company, sometimes advertising in the physical world is less crowded and results in attention you wouldn’t otherwise get.
3. Existing Platforms
The most valuable asset any business has is their distribution channel. Which is why if you can insert yourself into someone else’s distribution channel - especially someone who has a lot of customers - it can catapault you forward.
The iOS App Store is a great example of this. Without a marketplace like the app store, it would be difficult to get your product noticed and provide a way for people to buy it. Having a platform you can build off of allows you to accelerate this. The same is true for similar platforms like Google Play and the Meta Quest store.
Outside of tech, this same principle can work through. My wife has recently started a program to help young people learn more about and embrace Biblical generosity. The platform she’s building off of are local Christian schools.
Look at where your target customer already is. Then ask if there’s any organizations or companies that they are currently engaging with that you can build off of.
4. Offline Events
There’s something refreshing about getting together with people in the real world and really getting to know them. Offline events like hosting a dinner or coffee can be really powerful.
One of the best ways to do this are to invite some of your current customers and encourage them to invite some friends who might be interested in your product or service.
This works best when you have a company or organization that really gets people excited. Non-profits will do this quite a bit when looking to get their message out, but it can also work in the for-profit sector.
These can be small events like 4 or 5 people at a coffee shop, mid-sized events like 50-60 people renting out a restaraunt, or large scale events like Salesforce’s “Dreamforce” conference which is attended by tens of thousands.
5. Search Engine Optimization
Rising to the top of the organize results on Google can be a tremendous benefit - specifically when people are actively searching for the type of solution you provide.
There are loads of great resources online on how to rank well in search engines and while I won’t try to do justice to that content here, much of it boils down to having quality content that people are linking to.
Understanding the difference between the “fat head” vs “long tail keywords” is a great place to get started if you’re new to the field.
6. Free Product/Service
Used prolifically in the tech space, free products can produce a large number of users that you can then market to using other techniques on this list (like email or sales) in order to upgrade to paid users.
Profitwell, a company that focuses on helping tech companies increase revenue, has a free metrics software that is excellent in quality. But they make all of their money from their pricing products which helps people increase their financial metrics (which their free software measures). One product gets them in the door, the other is where their revenue comes from.
Other companies merge these together with a single product that has a free tier and paid tiers. HubSpot is a great example of this where their core CRM is free but if you want functionality on top of it, you need to pay for those upgrades.
This doesn’t just belong to the tech industry however. An HVAC company could advertise that they are giving away free tune-ups to the first 100 people that call in. The revenue portion comes from those customers either paying to have something fixed or having such a great experience that they hire the HVAC company in the future.
7. Speaking Engagements
If you’ve been in your industry for long enough to have a level of expertise on a subject, speaking at events and conferences can be a great way to drive people to your brand.
If you’ve not done this before, it can feel intimidating, but the truth is that if you have taken the time to deeply understand your customer, their problem, and how it can be solved, you almost certainly have a level of insight that is unique, valuable, and others would be interested in hearing.
Start then by learning if there are any trade shows, conferences, or meet ups in your space. Reach out to the organizer and tell them what you have to offer. Put yourself out there. You may be surprised where you end up.
8. Trade Shows
Putting up a booth at a trade show can be a great way to meet people, sell products, and build brand recognition.
If what you are selling is a more expensive product (e.g. $5k, $10k, $15k), you may find these trade shows allow you to gain a profit just from the show.
If on the other hand you have a less expensive product (e.g. $50/customer or $100/purchase), you may find the greater benefit of the show to be in exposing people to your brand so that over time they may be your customer.
Either way trade shows can be a great way to get in front of your target audience.
9. Sales
10. Viral Marketing
11. Community Building
12. Content Marketing
13. Target Market Blogs
14. Business Development
15. Social Media Ads
16. Search Engine Ads
17. Unconventional PR
18. Public Relations
19. Email Marketing
20. Snail Mail
Ranking them on a target
downloadable target and ranking exercise
try out a couple at a time - they won’t all work - see what works for you
Focus on marketing
Once you have found product-market fit, it’s time to put a heavy focus on marketing. In fact the authors of traction suggest that 50% of your time should be dedicated to sales and marketing. For founders who are sales and numbers-focused, this will come naturally, but if you’re a more product-focused founder, you’ll need to put intentional effort into focusing on or hiring for this.