I’ve just finished reading the book: TRACTION: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth – by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares. Published in 2015, so not a new book but I highly recommend it to any business wanting to know which marketing channel(s) they should invest in to grow. The book says it is for start-ups, but I think the advice is valuable to all businesses.
The book breaks all the marketing tools and tactics available down into the following 19 channels:
- TARGETING BLOGS – E.g. Write guest posts for industry-specific blogs
- PUBLICITY – E.g. Articles written about you in newspapers and magazines
- UNCONVENTIONAL PR – E.g. A publicity stunt or a giveaway to generate press coverage
- SEARCH ENGINE MARKETING (SEM) – E.g. Google AdWords
- SOCIAL AND DISPLAY ADS – E.g. Facebook Ads
- OFFLINE ADS – E.g. TV, radio, magazine, newspaper and direct mail ads
- SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION (SEO) – E.g. Content created around your target keywords
- CONTENT MARKETING – E.g. Write blogs on topics that your customers will find useful
- EMAIL MARKETING – E.g. Advertise in other companies email newsletters
- VIRAL MARKETING – E.g. Give your customers an incentive to refer you to their friends
- ENGINEERING AS MARKETING – E.g. Develop a free tool for your potential customers and ask them to provide an email address to access it
- BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (BD) – E.g. Create a partnership with a company offering a complementary product or service
- SALES – E.g. Develop a sales process to convert leads into customers
- AFFILIATE PROGRAMS – E.g. Pay people a commision when they sell one of your products or services
- EXISTING PLATFORMS – E.g. Create a free app for the Apple app store. An app that people in your target market will use
- TRADE SHOWS – E.g. Exhibit and strategically network at industry trade shows
- OFFLINE EVENTS – E.g. Run an event for your potential and existing customers
- SPEAKING ENGAGEMENTS – E.g. Speak at local meet-ups or networking events where your potential customers will be
- COMMUNITY BUILDING – E.g. Create a Facebook or LinkedIN group to provide advice and help to people in your target market
The book also provides an excellent and easy to use framework to help you decide which traction channel is best for your business. Even if you plan to hire a marketing agency, I think this book will be beneficial in opening your eyes to the multitude of marketing opportunities available – condensing them into an easy to understand selection of categories.
This book is most definitely on my ‘re-read regularly list’. I read around 30 books a year, and only 2 or 3 make it onto that list 🙂
I’ve scribbled all over my copy – highlighting lots of sections. ↓
Leave a comment