So what if you're starting from ground zero. No hefty email list. No 50k+ followers on Twitter. No partnership with any established business that perfectly aligns with your customer base.
And you don't have a lazy 10k to blow on just testing the concept with an advertising campaign.
What do you do?
You give these three handy methods a try.
These have been selected for those early days in a project to help you:
• Find where your customers are (and where they're responsive!)
• Chat with those first critical few (To validate your new proposition)
• Onboard these customers (even for no charge initially).
By no means is this list exhaustive- it's just enough to get those cogs turning. They can work for pretty much any industry too.
1. DM them on the platform they regularly use:
This one works more for B2B.
Let’s say you have a new product idea that serves home builders. Where could you find them?
a) LinkedIn is an obvious example here. I won't go into detail about this as it's been written about extensively, but LinkedIn Sales Navigator is this go-to.
b) Find relevant business in the space via directories/ lists of that niche. Eg. Houzz or HiPages and DM them.
c) Or, for a visual niche like builders, Instagram is another worthy option. Use the directory platforms listings to then find the businesses Instagram accounts.
Depending on their size, the owners of these building companies might be managing their own accounts on Instagram too- getting you straight to the person you want to be speaking with.
Instagram also lends itself more to general conversation, as opposed to listing owners expecting direct work leads from directory sites, which could be frustrating for the prospect.
So what do you say to not come across as another generic spam message? Reach out directly on these platforms, complimenting them on their expertise in the space and then ask for their 'feedback' on your new idea.
Tailor each of these messages to (significantly) increase the response rate.
Commit to 100 reach-outs (10 DM’s x 10 days) to get a reasonable sample size.
See who bites and follow up with a mighty discount or even free use of the product.
Use any responses as an invitation to follow-up.
With this resilience you can get the answers you need to decide on those next steps.
2. Retarget them on Facebook:
Here's one if you have a little advertising budget, and looking at getting in front of your ideal customers, and landing inbound leads.
Get yourself an email list.
But where?
LinkedIn sales navigator is one avenue.
Using directory sites (as discussed above) for your niche is another. Get emails scraped. Post a job on Upwork and for just tens of dollars you'd be surprised as to what's possible (just as long as there are actually emails available on these listing sites!)
Plug that list into your Facebook ads manager, with a link to your landing page of your new concept.
Setup the ads and let Facebook do it’s magic, advertising your service to those (and lookalike) businesses.
3. Run google search ads on competitor brands:
Often if you’re in a space with many incumbents, you’re competing on expensive keywords for something you haven’t property validated yet. You might be talking hundreds of dollars wasted to just get a single lead- that you aren't even ready to fulfil.
How can you cut through without running up big dollars in acquisition costs, just to get those first customers?
A cheeky solution is to run low cost search ads on competitor brandname keywords.
That's right, include their business name when bidding on keywords!
Often clicks are a fraction of the price. And when you're watching every dollar, it's often a great idea.
Selling a high-protein wheaties breakfast? Bid on Weetbix.
Offering done-for-you DIY furniture? Bid on IKEA.
A new enviro-friendly paint? Bid on Dulux.
You get the idea. Give it a shot. You could be paying cents to get your first customer through the door.
That's it.
Three, straight-to-the-point techniques.
They aren't totally revolutionary, but they're actionable- and they work.
You don't need an enviable mailing list, 50k-strong Twitter followers, or an existing killer partnership, just a clever couple of ways to get your concept in front of those all important first users.
