This document summarizes key traction strategies for startups. It discusses 19 channels including viral marketing, PR, unconventional PR stunts, search engine marketing, social/display ads, offline ads, search engine optimization, content marketing, email marketing, blog targeting, engineering as marketing, and business development. The document provides examples and tips for effectively testing and utilizing each channel to acquire customers and drive growth.

1. Notes on
TRACTION
HOW ANY STARTUP CAN ACHIEVE
EXPLOSIVE CUSTOMER GROWTH
by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
summary by Spencer Maroukis

2. TRACTION - MARKETING FOR
GROWTH
COMMON THEMES
1. Startups focus on the same channels
2. It's hard to predict what will work

3. 3 GROWTH PHASES
Phase 1: Making something people want. Test
traction channels to see if a product is getting
better.
Phase 2: Marketing something people want. After
finding product-market fit, it is time to really focus
on traction and scaling the userbase.
Phase 3: Scaling the business.

4. THE BULLSEYE FRAMEWORK

6. One traction channel dominates in terms of customer
acquisition.

8. Identify channels in the "outer ring". Brainstorm a
channel strategy for each.

10. Select the three most promising channels and build
quick tests.

12. TESTING
How much does it cost to acquire customers through
this channel?
How many customers are available in this channel?
Are the customers in this channel the kind we want
right now?

13. RE-EVALUATING
Re-evaluate your channels, placing them into buckets
of "Inner Circle" (inner ring), "Promising" (middle
ring), and "Long Shot" (outer ring).

14. 19 TRACTION CHANNELS TO
RULE THEM ALL
Many are interrelated and feed off one another. You
may be comfortable with some, uncomfortable with
others. Try them all. You don't know which ones will
work.

15. "Poor distribution, not product, is the
number one cause of failure."

16. LEAKY BUCKET ANALOGY
Time should be ideally split 50/50 on product and
traction.

17. 1. VIRAL MARKETING
Reality: not likely to obtain true exponential viral
growth
But pursuit optimizes "hooks" in the product and its
distribution
Low cost, high volume
"Optimize Everything"

18. VIRAL LOOP
A customer is exposed, loves the product, tells
someone else who is exposed, loves the product, tells
someone else...
Provide free branded content
Minimize friction
Allow users to test product before signing up

19. VIRAL MATH
viral coefficient, K = [Invites per User] x [Conversion
%]
Conversion %, made of Click Thru % and Sign Up %
K>1: exponential
K>0.5: worth pursuing

20. TESTING
Map out your viral loop
Find viral pockets
Have personal hooks
Optimize conversion pages
buttons vs text links / size, color, contrast of CTA /
images / copy
1% improvement will compound
Seed with SEO or online ads

21. COMMON MISTAKES
Product isn't inherently viral
Not testing enough
Virality as a tactic instead of product strategy
Not learning from others and copying details

22. 2. PUBLIC
RELATIONS (PR)
Stories now filter up the media chain
Bigger outlets scour smaller ones for captivating
stories
"Start Small To Get Noticed"

23. EXAMPLES
TechCrunch & Lifehacker pick up stories from
Hacker News and Reddit.
The New York Times wraps stories from TechCrunch
into a larger narrative.
Donorschoose.org received local coverage, then
Newsweek, then Oprah, then the Gates Foundation

24. HOW TO PITCH
Follow industry influencers and reach out to blogs
they often link to
Show significant milestones
raising money, launching a product, breaking a
usage barrier, a PR stunt, a big partnership
Combine milestones for a greater impact
Offer exclusivity and giveaways
Keep it short and sweet
Example Template

25. AFTER GETTING A SOLID STORY
1. Submit it to community sites with large audiences
2. Share it with social networks
3. Email it to influencers that may share with a larger
audience
4. Ping bigger blogs
5. Write a "How We Did This" follow up

26. 3.
UNCONVENTIONAL
PR
"Systematize Richard Branson In A
Space Suit"

27. PUBLICITY STUNTS
"Halfway, OR" ⇒ "Half.com, OR"
Richard Branson
Chargify Bull at SXSW

28. VIRAL VIDEOS
Blendtec's "Will It Blend?" Youtube Videos (8M
views)
Dollar Shave Club's "Our Blades are F**cking Great"
(31k fb shares, 9.5k comments)
Grasshopper.com's "How Entrepreneurs Can
Change the World"

29. CUSTOMER APPRECIATION
Gifts
Contests & Giveaways
Customer Support

30. HOW TO DO IT
Look for larger trends
hit themes that don't have a ton of content yet
Success is unpredictable
have a defined process for brainstorming and
selecting ideas

31. 4. SEARCH ENGINE
MARKETING
"SEM" or "paid search" or "pay-per-click (PPC)
Buying ads for keyword searches
"Find Your Baseline"

32. TERMS
CTR, click-through rate: percentage of ad
impressions that click
CPC, cost per click
CPA, cost per acquistion:
CPA = [CPC] / [conversion rate]
conversion rate, % that make a purchase after
clicking on the ad
Quality Score: overall score that includes CTR, time
on site, and more

33. CASE STUDY: INFLECTION
measured CTR on ads for different landing pages
before launching
spent over $100k/month in SEM on around 50k
keywords
SEM is a way to get early customer
data in a fairly controlled, predictable
manner...decide to spend $XXX on an
advertising campaign to get an early
base of customers and users.

34. PROCESS
1. Find & group high potential keywords into ad
groups
2. Test different ad copy/landing pages within an ad
group
3. Remove underperformers, tweak existing to
improve results

35. ADVICE
Beginning - just test 4 ads
Track which ads are converting (not just being
clicked on)
Successful if close to break even after a few weeks

36. ADVANCED SEM
Advanced
content networks (Google)
retargeting (Google, AdRoll, Perfect Audience)
conversion optimizer (Google)
negative keywords
scripting

37. RESOURCES
Google
AdWords & Dynamic Keyword Insertion Feature
Keyword Planer
KeywordSpy, SEMrush, SpyFu
See also: 7. SEO - longtail keywords

38. 5. SOCIAL & DISPLAY
ADS
Display Ads - are broad
Social Ads - are indirect
"Go Broad or Indirect"

39. DISPLAY ADS
The banner ads you see on websites
Normally target a broad audience
In Phase I go directly to smaller sites to advertise
Otherwise use networks like Google's,
Advertising.com, Tribalfusion, or niche ad networks

40. SOCIAL ADS
Ads on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Tumblr,
Pinterest, etc.
Build awareness, not necessarily to convert
Create compelling content
Only employ social ad $'s when your message is
starting to buzz

41. TARGETS
Make a list of small sites and contact them directly
Use an indirect response strategy on social ads,
providing compelling content first and foremost

42. 6. OFFLINE ADS
Radio, TV, magazines, newspapers, billboards, and
direct mail
" "F*ck It We'll Do It Live

43. BASICS
What are the demographics? How does this line up
with my target customer?
Request an ad kit
Use remnant advertising to run cheap tests
Track with url shorteners, promotional codes, and
web hooks

44. EXAMPLES

45. InstaCab cyclists handing out business cards
DuckDuckGo took out a billboard in SoMA (Google's
backyard) highlighting Google's privacy issues
"An ad might be good for a quarter,
or a year, and then decay slowly until
it wasn't valuable anymore. It was
unpredicatble and decayed over
time: so the only thing we were left
with was trying everything and
measuring what worked" ~ Jason
Cohen of Smart Bear

46. TESTING
Remnant advertising
Ads in small niche publications
Advertise free products or services

47. 7. SEARCH ENGINE
OPTIMIZATION (SEO)
Ranking high in search results
Magnifies traction in other channels
Strategies: Fat Head or Long Tail
"Content + Links"

48. " At its base, SEO is starting with a
content strategy and finding a way to
attract relevant visitors through search
engines. You have to intelligently
design this kind of [content] and make
sure search engines can find and rank
that content.” ~ Rand Fishkin founder
of SEO software company Moz

49. STRATEGIES
Your ability to rank on the first page should be a
deciding factor in whether to pursue a particular SEO
strategy at all.

51. FAT HEAD
Are search volumes large enough for growth? (10%)
New products are harder (no one was searching for
"taxi cab alternatives")
Testing
buy Google ads, look at conversion
narrow list of keywords, look at trends
determine difficulty in ranking high for keywords
make sure other sites link to you using desired
search terms

52. LONG TAIL
The majority of searchers
Bundle long tail keywords together
Look at competitors websites, check Alexa search
rankings
"Long-tail SEO boils down to
producing a lot of quality content."

53. BUILDING LINKS
Building links is at the heart of SEO
Use other channels, PR, Content Marketing, and
Widgets to drive links
Quality content organically builds links
infographics, slideshows, images and research

54. 8. CONTENT
Good content ⇒ recognition as an industry leader
Impacts other channels
Unbounce and OkCupid Examples
"You Are What You Eat Content"

55. UNBOUNCE (PHASE I)
Biweekly, shorter posts
Blogged for a year before launching a product
Started guest posting after 3 months
Took over 6 months to get traction
First 6 mo.: < 800 monthly visistors
Later: 2k visitors/mo.

56. OKCUPID (PHASE III)
Switched marketing focus to blogging ⇒ expedient
growth
Longer posts, less frequent
Controversial
Data driven
Received much more organic PR

57. LESSONS
Create consistently, quality
After every post ping influencers for feedback
Engage readers
Be patient
Give away free (premium) content to build email list

58. HOW TO PRODUCE GOOD CONTENT
You should know more about your industry than
your potential customers
Write about problems your potential customers face
Infographics are 20% more likely to get shared
Show readers a problem they don't know they have

59. TARGETS
Blog consistently for 6 months
Do things that don't scale
Create in-depth and unique posts

60. 9. EMAIL MARKETING
Capitalize on the email lists you've built through
other channels
Advertise on email lists of your prospective
customers
Improve activation rates
"Test Everything"

61. TYPES
The "You Are So Awesome" Email
The "This Email Will Make You Nostalgic" Email
The "Access This Premium Feature" Email

62. TIPS
Successful email marketers A/B test everything
subjects, formats, images, timing
Never send from "noreply@yourdomain.com"
Trickle update with features

63. TARGETS
Personalization
Building a great list
Set up a series of automatic emails
Use online tools to A/B test emails

64. 10. TARGETING
BLOGS
Good for Phase I
Advertisements, guest posts, & coverage
Mint case study
"Go Where Your Potential Customers
Are"

65. CASE STUDY: MINT
20k signups before launch, 100k within 6 mo. of
launch, 1M within 12
Tested different segments
Covered/mentioned by blogs
Wrote guests posts
Advertised on smaller blogs
Used sharability and exlusivity through Mint badges

66. TARGETS
Make a list of all relevant blogs
Run tests on a variety of blogs and audiences
Use linksharing communities to generate traffic,
feedback, and buzz

67. 11. ENGINEERING AS
MARKETING
Get quality leads
Solve a problem of your audience
Keep it as simple as possible
Look internally for inspiration
"Create Valuable Tools For Prospective
Customers"

68. EXAMPLES
HubSpot's Marketing Grader
WP Engine's Wordpress site render speed test

69. TACTICS
Take advantage of cyclical behavior
Create micro-sites for your tool(s)
Create widgets

70. TARGETS
Standalone, low friction sites that lead back to
product or a sales channel
Extremely relevant to your core business
Demonstrate value as quickly as possible

71. 12. BUSINESS
DEVELOPMENT
Need to be strategic, easy to pursue weak
partnerships
Find mutually beneficial partnerships
Create a pipeline
"Exchanging Value Through
Partnerships"

72. Make sure your milestones are defined
Only pursue partnerships that will help you on this
path
"Good BD aligns with company and
product strategy. It is always focused
on strategic milestones and traction
goals"

73. TYPES
"standard": Apple-Nike
"joint ventures": new products. Starbucks-Pepsi
"licensing"
"distribution deals": Groupon, Kayak powering AOL
searches
"supply partnerships": Hulu and content providers

74. TARGETS
Have a pipeline of 20 potential deals
place emphasis on attributes instead of name
get to know partners' business beforehand
seek out advocates and foward thinkers
Focus on how BD will help you reach the next
milestone

75. 13. SALES
(more of a B2B strategy, we'll skip this for now)

76. 14. AFFILIATE
PROGRAMS
For retail, information products, and lead
generation
Use existing affiliate networks
Better than PPC since you get to define conversion
"Take A Cut"

77. TYPES

78. RETAIL
coupons or deals (like RetailMeNot)
loyalty programs offer cash back on spending
aggregators aggregate products from retailers
email lists - affiliates recommend products to a
large audience
vertical sites like individual blogs

79. INFORMATION PRODUCTS
books, software, music, and education
have their own affiliate networks (Clickbank.com)
LEAD GENERATION
insurance, law firms and mortgage brokers
will pay a lot for customers

80. TARGETS
Build a relationship with content creators
Look to customers as affiliates
Know how much you are willing to pay for users
Play a flat fee for conversion
Keep payouts simple and below cost of acquisition

81. 15. EXISTING
PLATFORMS
Appstores and Social Sites
"Get In The Charts!"

82. APPSTORES
Top apps & featured listings will get traction
How do you get into the charts?
buy ads
through other channels
high ratings
think hard about what the editors are looking for

83. SOCIAL SITES
Airbnb's crosslisting to craigslist strategy
YouTube & Myspace

84. CASE STUDY: EVERNOTE
Evernote uses existing platforms as their main
traction channel
They receive early promotion for free, but with risk
that platform fails
They think about what editors want
Evernote Peak used Apple's smart cover to create
flashcards
"We work day and night, for weeks in
advance, to make sure that Evernote is
in the app store on day 1"

85. TARGETS
Figure out where customers are online
Create new features to fill a gap of that platform
Try new platforms

86. 16. TRADE SHOWS
Build interest in what you're building or launch it
Driven by strategic goals
Look to the future, years in advance
Be social
"Show It Off"

87. PREPARATION
Set overarching goals
Write down all of your industry's events
Evaluate in the context of your goals
List key attendees you want to meet, schedule
meetings before the event.
editors, bloggers, customers, vendors, potential
parteners, press

88. AT THE SHOW
Have an outbound strategy (talk to people)
Have a call to action
Give people a reason to come to you
redeemable vouchers, swag, etc.
Sponsor a dinner with hot ticket speakers
Partner with others to keep cost down

89. 17. OFFLINE EVENTS
Phase I: meetups and events
Phase II: larger tech conferences like TC Disrupt,
Launch Festival, SXSW
Hosting your own
"Scale By Doing Things That Don't
Scale"

90. SCALING OFFLINE EVENTS
1. Attend, start your own, or sponsor local meetups
2. Try a day-long mini-conference
3. Consider larger events focusing on attendee quality

91. TARGETS
Attend and engage at local meetups
See if there is an appetite for bigger events
Be creative

92. 18. SPEAKING
ENGAGEMENTS
Benefits other aspects of your business, e.g.
management
Get started for free
Become a recognized industry expert
Get paid to talk and get customers simultaneously
"Teaching Sells"

93. GETTING STARTED
Give free talks to small groups of potential
customers or partners
Refine your speeches, build a reputation
Landing talks
establish your expertise
pitch conference organizers on what they want to
have covered

94. SPEAKING TACTICS
Why are you important enough to be the one giving a
talk?
What value can you offer?
Have one or two core talks
Advanced
Record speaking engagements
Reuse slides - each slide is a story and can be
swapped
Build relationships at e.g. speakers dinners

95. TARGETS
Speak at a small event, even if you're not pursuing
this channel
Tell a story on stage
Leverage referrals and past engagements

96. 19. BUILD A
COMMUNITY
Build an inital audience
Have a mission
Be transparent and truly engage
"Will You Be Mine My Community?"

97. EXAMPLES
Stack Exchange
Joel Spolsky and Jeff Atwood were already
"internet famous"
Found what their community needed and built it
Reddit
Alexis Ohanian sent emails to anyone who wrote
about reddit
Sent early users shirts, stickers, and other gifts
Sponsored open bar tour for redditors

98. COMMUNITY BUILDING TACTICS
Have a mission, write a manifesto
Foster cross-connections, launch with a meta
Ensure quality through guidelines

99. TARGETS
Build an initial audience
Cultivate and empower envangelists
Set standards early on
Tap your community for product development and
potential hires

100. FIN
Thanks for listening!
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101. SOURCES
"Chargify Bull" © grasshopper.com
"SEO" © moz.com
see for how I created these slides with
reveal.js and reveal-md
the repo