I been a big fan of Mixergy interviews. I recently came across this one with Sean Ellis which is full of useful nuggets. In case you don’t have the time to watch the entire video, here are a few startup marketing takeaways:
1. The key is to find problems that are worth solving in the first place and then evaluate if there is big enough market. That way one doesn’t hit saturation too quickly.
2. The risky part is in identifying if the customer needs a product in the first place (product market fit). Sean’s strength lies in working with companies that have this initial product market fit and then scaling them for mass market adoption.
3. Once enough people say that they need the product then with the right execution one can build a sustainable business. One can identify if there is an early customer for the product by asking the following question: How would you feel if you could not use the product? There will be 3 types of responses:
- One group would be very disappointed . Ask these users why are they so passionate about the product.
- Second group of somewhat disappointed users. They would just use product x if your product did not exist. Try to identify the attribute/feature that this group of people focus on.
- Third group which has no benefit Ignore this group
A product gains traction when at least 40% of people interviewed say they will be very disappointed if they cannot use this product.
4. This number can be increased by further fine tuning the funnel:
- Conversion: Start with the right message, as it needs to reflect the right use case of the product. A lot of marketers say you have to put yourself in a category so that a user knows what he/she is buying.
- Maximize Life time of user: If it is a viral marketing play then it is ok to have low lifetime value of the user as the cost of customer acquisition is low.
- Add to that a great first user experience(gratification engine) to double conversion rates;
- Ensure a high net promoter score: i.e on a scale of 1-10 are you going to refer the product. This score is very important in an undifferentiated market
