Silicon Valley has become the startup and technological hub of the world consisting of companies like PayPal, Tesla, Twitter, Facebook, and many others. If you ask any of the C.E.Os of these companies you will find what are often called “unicorns”, people that are so abnormal, they are on a category apart from the rest of society.
That’s the reason why they can live anywhere they want, drive luxury and foreign cars, and can travel anywhere they want whenever they want. Though these business owners are successful now, they had to start somewhere and that somewhere is common for everyone; the startup stage. That is why in this article we will be discussing how to grow out of the startup stage and into the successful customer acquisition stage with tools like customer success software.
Have a plan
In order to have success with your customers, there has to be some sort of plan. This plan is important because it allows you to put your business ideas into a clear and concise document which you can update and go back to whenever you feel lost. It is also important because it can give your employees or business partners the same detailed vision to have everyone in line for a common purpose. Within the plan, you will have to understand your customer, the market, the products or services your customers want to and will purchase, and how you will go about marketing yourself.
Understand the customer
Once you make a plan and you reach the section about the customer, you will have to create what is called an “ideal customer persona”. This sheet describes who your ideal customer is, what they are like, what they need, and you can even go into more detail about possible objections to your offers, etc. Creating this persona and having some sort of customer success software will allow you to know when you’re speaking to real potential customers who are seeking what you sell.
Split test your advertisements
In order to begin creating and testing your advertisements, you would have had to do the exercise listed above so that you know where your potential clients will be. Once you know this, you can start advertising different ads and changing colours, typography, sales copy, etc. so that you show different iterations of your business proposition to these customers to find what works and to get rid of what doesn’t.
Track everything
In order to find out what works and what doesn’t, you will need real, concrete data. Nowadays it is easy to find and analyze such data with certain sales and marketing platforms. These will show you everything from how much money you’re spending on advertising, how many people are viewing your ads, and how many actually took action. If you’re split testing correctly, you will have one or two obvious ads that can grow into more sales if the ad spend was to be increased.
Use social media and AI
Finally, if you want to grow out of the startup stage and start getting real customers you will want to engage with them on social media. You will also want to use artificial intelligence wherever possible because most businesses are now using some sort of AI and if you don’t, you will be left behind.
Conclusion
In conclusion, in this article, we discussed the topic of startups and we provided a small “road map” on what you need to do in order to move out of the startup stage and into the growth and customer acquisition stages. Have a plan, know your customer, test your advertisements, track everything, and use tools which other businesses have not caught onto and you will have an advantage.
This post was written by Douglas Pitassi, a freelance writer and small business blogger.
