How to acquire your first 100 customers: 10 tactics to use after your launch - Justin Jackson - MicroConf Europe 2015 talk recap

The MicroConf Europe 2015 Talk Recaps can be found on the central “hub” page.

Website: productpeople.club
Twitter: @mijustin
Slides: here

Key Points From the Talk

Ask for money
“sprinkling some marketing on top of it” is NOT the magic formula to success
Content + Email Marketing works really well right now

Talk Recap

In 1980 Iron Maiden was a brand new heavy metal band, they were about to release their first album
- one problem: too cute for metal
- Marketing problem
- solution: new brand “Eddie”
We are all in search of the magic formula to (marketing) success – but there is none
- Marketing has dependencies
  - product that people want
  - audience
  - channels that work
  - combines into “Message that resonates”
- You have competition, etc.
- Your way out: UNIQUENESS
3 ways to be unique
- bake uniqueness into your product (Balsamiq)
- use your own personal uniqueness (DHH)
- Create unique branding (Rovio – Angry Birds)

7 Tactics for getting more leads

#1 Rank highly on a list
- most of the major properties are ranked lists
  - Google
  - iTunes App Store
  - Reddit
  - Product Hunt
  - Quora
- list hack: Quora
  - edit “Answer Wiki”
  - Answer a question
  - summarize the answers into the “Answer wiki” – put your product up top
- List hack: Product Hunt search
- List hack: Google Image Search
  - Justin is #1 result for “nerd mullet”
  - Really easy to rank for
  - For StageCMS: “band websites”
    - add <img src=”band-websites.jpg” alt=”Band website example” title=”Example of a band website” /> to your website
#2 Create a free tool that naturally leads to your product
- engineering as marketing
- e.g. Bidsketch “freelance proposal templates”
- for StageCMS: “Free spreadsheet for managing band finances”
#3 write a surprising blog post that gets people interested
- e.g. Sascha Greif – What kind of Logo do you get for $5? – an epic tale of deception, stolen artwork, and crappy logos
- Benedikt Deicke – Launching a product, in just 3652 days
- good idea: “Why you should treat your band like a startup”
- publish on blog first, then 7-14 days later republish on Medium
#4 Give away an ebook
- trade eBook for email address ==> build an audience
#5 ask for referrals
- word of mouth is great – but you can encourage people
#6 share a journey
- share your story from 0 to $20k/mo
- For StageCMS: Nightwish (one customer) has a documentary on Youtube
#7 Email people you know
- you are already building relationships
- you can ask them to use your product, if you have the relational capital

2 Tactics for guiding leads through the funnel

#8 Drip email campaigns
- for SaaS businesses this is the #1 driver of trials & paid customers
- build trust over a time – automatically
- In the last email “I told you all these things, why don’t you try my product now?”
- StageCMS: “Turn your band into a business in 5 days”
#9 use retargeting ads
- test retargeting against not doing retargeting – some people don’t see results!
- For StageCMS: Retarget on Facebook to people who “like” Bandcamp and SoundCloud

2 Tactics for closing the deal

#10 Follow up with your leads
- no CRM needed; use Google spreadsheets, track:
  - name
  - email
  - estimated LOW/HIGH value
  - ask date
#11 Ask for their money
- we are getting worse at this!
- “Shut up and take my money” –> Entrepreneurs: “OK, I’M ready to take your money”
- use phone to close deals