Here's how I plan on getting traction - what do you think?
I'm a few days away from launching Neatly, a digital asset manager for Google Drive, and I thought I'd share some details on how I plan to get traction.
Some background:
I've spent the last 11 years as a marketing exec helping scale startups from early stage to millions in revenue. I'm a non-technical founder launching an MVP with two kids and a mortgage -- so I need to keep a very tight ($0) budget.
My goal for Neatly is to get to $5k MRR within a year (I plan to keep a day job).
The plan:
I'm a big fan of the book, Traction, and decided to break my plan into phases & use the bullseye framework:
- April -> June
- Goal: 100 signups to indicate a valid idea
- July -> Aug
- Goal: 50 paid users to indicate that Neatly offers real value
- Sep -> Oct
- Goal: New signups every day to indicate the self-service machine is working
- Nov -> Jan
- Goal: $1k MRR
- Feb -> Apr
- Goal: $5k MRR
Getting traction
I have 3 months to reach 100 users (I realize now this is overly cautious) & no money to spend. This means using what I can for free.
Here is what I plan on doing:
- List on Betalist: Already did this, got featured & generated over 200 requests for early access! They'll all get an invite to register once I launch.
- LinkedIn: Neatly is a B2B product, so this is a great site to promote it. I've been steadily posting on LinkedIn & building up my following (~1,550 followers). I estimate another 20 or so early access requests came from here. I'll keep posting here, mixing good content with Neatly stuff.
- Email my network: I have friends with leadership positions at some good startups, I plan on reaching out to them after launch to offer them free plans in exchange for social proof for my site.
- Hackernews: I'll post here for Show HN, maybe it will get me a few signups
- Reddit: I'll post here as well, though I need to do some research as to how to best approach it
- Facebook Groups: I'll share in niche groups here
- Product Hunt: Once I'm confident the product is good enough, I'll try to get someone with influence to hunt Neatly
- Blogger Outreach: Contact every blogger or journalist who write about Google Drive, hopefully I'll have some good customers to include in my pitch by then
- Review sites: I'll list Neatly on G2, Capterra, Clutch, etc.
- Quora: Has potential for a few signups here and there
- Content: I'll need to write some interesting posts to gain attention and for SEO down the road.
Phase 2 will probably include more content, partnerships, affiliates and some test ad campaigns, but I haven't decided yet.
On the product side, I already have a small list of features I need to start planning out to help grow my user base.
What's most intriguing to me, is how do I create my growth loop? I have a few ideas, but it needs to be something really good since it can fuel organic growth for me for free.
I'd love to hear what you think and if I'm missing anything. Also, happy to answer questions or give advice.
I would be cautious on setting goals like that.
For example, "Get 50 paying users" is not actionable. It's not in your hand. And there isn't clarity on what you have to do.
"Send 25 personalized cold emails every single day" is.
I've fallen victim to this. I'd say try to focus on your habits, not on results.
But "Get 50 paying users" means you do everything to get them whereas "Send N emails" just describes what exactly you are going to do without specifying any result. You can send them and what then?
I think you need both.
"Get 50 paying users" is a way of measuring PMF which is something I need to achieve.
This number forces me to figure what I need to do to get there. The "send 25 emails everyday" is how I plan to execute if I beleive emails will help me reach my goal.
Of course. It's always somewhere in the middle. And I see what you mean!
Good luck and let us know what happens! :)
Exactly what I thought...
Like how can you plan to get 50 paying users?
Hell you can't even plan to get 50 free trial users.
Not exactly something you can "do" but something that "happens" when you do the right things.
Like if you don't get 50 paying users by August, then what? Give up?
You'll most likely shift the goal post again... So what's the point?
Phase 1 seems solid, I'd also add Twitter to the mix. This phase is inevitably all about community promotion and manual outreach.
Phase 2 should be all about finding a way to automatically get new visitors to your website every single day: content marketing, paid ads and SEO.
I'd also try to come up with a way to capture all those visitors' emails, because only a fraction of them will convert right away. Maybe a lead magnet or something like that?
Forgot to add Twitter, which I'm also using in phase 1, but I've never much success with it.
I agree with what you wrote, I need to figure out what my angle should be for content, lead magnets etc. Based on the feedback I've received, I'm solving a problem everyone is aware of, but few actively search a solution.
@billyattar You probably have missed out on one traction channel i.e. sales or product pitching through cold outreach. Locating prospects with the pain point that you are trying to solve and find some way to initiate a direct conversation are important ways of building early traction.
Another strategy that you could consider is to offer a lead magnet and build an email list for the top of the sales funnel. This period of lockdown is the best time for getting a maximum response to a lead magnet - people have more time and they want to connect with others currently.
List building using a combination of lead magnets (eventually) and nurturing them for conversions later, is one strategy to build a growth engine.
I like the lead magnet idea, which I hadn't really considered.
I definitely want to do cold emails, but I thought it might make more sense to wait until phase 2.
@billyattar The cold outreach doesn't need to be only through cold emails. You can locate the prospects in forums and platforms and join in the discussions about a broad perspective on the pain point there. It doesn't necessarily need to be a product pitching in the first go.
Another advantage of doing this is that there could be other prospects who could find the discussion interesting and may discover your offerings through that.
Its not scalable and needs to be done manually. But that's what you do in the beginning - unscalable things.
Wow, this is interesting!
Because I'm a few days away from launching my first SaaS too! I have my own strategy too but it's different because I don't have signups yet and don't have many followers on LinkedIn. But as for other tactics I'm going to execute them too :)
Awesome, I look forward to following your progress. Good luck!
Thanks, you too!
Perhaps you want to move 11. Content earlier in the process? That way you'll have more information and authority when people visit your site from earlier steps in the process.
I'm already working on it :) I'll start with bottom of the funnel stuff and go from there.
I would not set the first two goals sequentially. They go very much hand in hand.
In other words, after getting a few active users (presumably from your early access audience), I'd try to get them to pay for it either with $ or their reputation (i.e. a testimonial). I'd do this well before the allotted three months is up.
Yeah, pretty sure I'll have to adjust the phases. Especially since the majority of early access requests are for a use case I didn't consider.
Hi @billyattar
I have to echo what @andreboso says about content and tell you that, in my experience, you should start building a community the earlier you can.
Send me an email, I believe I can help you. No costs I promise you! 💪
Thanks! sent you an email
@billyattar I've seen it, great!
I'll come back to you as soon as possible deal? 💪
Sounds good, thanks
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