Customer Acquisition - Choosing The Right Channels

Customer Acquisition: Choosing The Right Channels

Industrial Engineer, MBA Graduate of The Founder Institute Mentor at the Berlin Startup Academy More than 3 years of experience in the German internet industry Previous industry experience in logistics (Procter & Gamble), marketing (Robert Bosch) and consulting (The Boston Consulting Group) www.internetandstuff.com @jmdelpinob

José Matías del Pino CEO at Ondango

ABOUT ME

Ondango enables companies to sell their products directly on their Facebook pages

Facebook-like user interface

No annoying app requests

Features to spread the word

Our goal: To offer the world’s best shopping experience on Facebook

ABOUT ONDANGO

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

…but startups need focus – you will have to choose

Search Engine Optimization

Affiliate Marketing

Search Engine Marketing

Direct Sales

Business Development Resellers

Public Relations

Social Media Marketing

Trade Fairs

There’s plenty of acquisition channels…

Display Ads

TV Commercials

Newspapers

Your acquisition channels depend on who you target

Corporations

Small companies

Mid-sized companies

People

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

Corporations

Small companies

Mid-sized companies

People

N° of people involved in purchase decision

Level of information / expertise of buyer

Length of sales cycle

Size of available budget

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

Vision Product Pricing

Target

Acquisition Channel(s)

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

Vision

What do you want to build? Why?

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

Product

Is it easy or difficult to setup? Is it easy or difficult to manage? Is it highly customizable or not?

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

Pricing

Do you get recurring revenue or not? What do your competitors charge?

Remember: PV(CLTV) > CAC*

*The present value of your customer lifetime value must be higher than your customer acquisition costs.

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

!  Business Development

! Direct Sales

!  Trade Fairs

!  SEO/SEM

!  Social Media Marketing

!  Display Ads / Affiliate Mktg.

!  Public Relations

CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS

Effective Less effective

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Business Development Closing mutually benefitial deals with companies that target or have access to your same customers.

Your target for this channel is not your customer but your partner

Long sale cycle (3 to 6 months, sometimes even more), but after 2 months you usually know if the deal will close

Example: Spotify and Deutsche Telekom

Access to the right person in the organization is worth gold; expand your industry network!

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Direct Sales Talking directly to potential customers to sell them your product.

At the beginning, you will have to do it no matter what you sell, because it‘s the best learning

It‘s an expensive channel; monitor your funnel metrics and your ROI constantly

Example: Groupon acquiring merchants

You might have to adapt your pricing for this channel

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Trade Fairs Setting up a stand on trade fairs to show and sell your product to visitors.

“Direct sales on steroids“ – you reach many leads in a short time

It‘s also an expensive channel (registration, travel, stand set up, employees)

Examples: Marketing agencies, development agencies, software vendors

Do your homework: lookup the list of atendees and arrange meetings in advance

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Search Engine Optimization Improving your position on search engine for specific keywords

Two worlds – on-site and off-site optimization. Always do on-site

More difficult that it seems – go for long-tail keywords, focus on a few

Example: All mayor online stores

If you do it, go all in – if you‘re not on the first page it won‘t help

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Search Engine Marketing Advertising on search engines for specific keywords

Your performance depends on the right keyword choice, the quality of the ad copy and the quality of the landing page

Very useful when testing demand for an MVP

Example: All travel companies

Know your numbers, monitor your ROI closely, be data-driven

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Display Ads / Affiliate Marketing Placing banner ads on other websites

Campaign-driven: you need a high ad budget (4-digit U$ to get started), plus costs of ad design and campaign management

Different models (from less to more attractive): CPM, CPC, CPA, CPS

Example: Online fashion stores

It’s important to optimize ad placement, ad copy and landing page

POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS

Public Relations Get your company or product featured on different Media

Do it only if you can afford it. It helps more with branding than bringing actual customers

Use an agency to reach mainstream media, pitch to the tech press yourself

Example: Cumplo

Be prepared for inbound press requests – have all materials and contacts ready

Thank you!