Acquiring more customers is often a challenge.
Here is a framework that guides you on which channels to focus on at each stage of your business growth.
You've just launched your product or service. The goal here is to acquire your first customers via ANY channel (scalable or unscalable) to validate that your product or service meets a market need.
You're seeing early signs of product-market fit (positive feedback, customer retention, referrals, etc.), and a stream of new customers from unscalable channels, although it might be small or unpredictable. The goal now is to find your first scalable channel.
You've found your first scalable channel, leading to an increase in volume and predictability. The goal at this stage is to optimize this primary channel for maximum output.
As you approach the capacity of your primary channel, the goal shifts to finding your next scalable channel, or using other channels (scalable or unscalable) to amplify the first one.
Scalable channels (like paid advertising, SEO, virality, or sales) can help you reach large volumes of people and allow you to reinvest the outputs repeatedly, resulting in compounding growth. They are ideal as the main growth engine for your business. Unscalable channels (like events, media & PR, blogs, or partnerships), on the other hand, are excellent as initial sources of users and secondary channels that support scalable ones.
Happy channel picking! 🤞
Note: This framework is based on the principles outlined in the Demand Curve's Growth Program.
