Crafting a killer channel strategy is a game-changer, especially for startups itching to grow fast. Nailing this strategy means you’ll reach your audience more effectively, cut distribution costs, and keep customers happy. Drawing from gems like “Traction” by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares, “Blitzscaling” by Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh, and others, let’s break down some hands-on steps to ace your channel strategy and fuel your startup’s growth.
Understanding the Bullseye Framework
The Bullseye Framework, introduced by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares in “Traction,” is a systematic approach to finding and focusing on the most effective channels for growth. It consists of three rings:
- Outer Ring: Brainstorming Extravaganza This is your wild ideas zone. No concept is too crazy. Think billboards, guerrilla marketing, TikTok challenges – everything goes. The idea is to list every potential channel, even the ones that seem outlandish.
- Middle Ring: Testing Waters Now, narrow down your list to the most promising channels and run small-scale tests. Measure everything meticulously. You’re looking for indicators of what might work on a larger scale.
- Inner Ring: Scaling Up Once you’ve identified the channels with the best performance, it’s time to go all-in. Optimize and expand your efforts on these top performers. This is where you focus your resources and energy.
Implementing the Bullseye Framework
1. Brainstorming Potential Channels
Start by identifying all possible channels where your target audience might be. This can include SEO, content marketing, email marketing, social media, PR, affiliate programs, and more. The goal is to create a comprehensive list without limiting your options. Ready? Let’s get those creative juices flowing!
Mint, a personal finance management tool, initially focused on blogging and SEO to attract early users. By creating valuable content around personal finance topics, Mint managed to build a substantial user base before launching.
Shane Snow’s “Smartcuts” teaches us to hack the traditional pathways to success by leveraging innovative strategies and shortcuts. Rather than following the well-trodden paths, Snow advocates for finding clever and unconventional routes to achieve your goals. This approach fits perfectly into the Bullseye Framework, particularly during the brainstorming and testing phases.
Take the case of Tinder, which initially used college parties to promote their app. They would set up booths at parties, encouraging attendees to download and use the app during the event. This unconventional approach helped them rapidly build a user base through direct engagement and word-of-mouth marketing. It’s a great example of how thinking outside the box and using unique channels can lead to explosive growth.
2. Testing Channels
Once you have a list of potential channels, the next step is to test them on a small scale. Allocate a small budget and run experiments to see which channels bring in the most traction with the least effort. Think of it as sampling different gelato flavors before committing to the one or two. Sure, you might feel like you’re holding up the line, but those who try more flavours end up with the ones they love the most.
Groupon tested various marketing channels, including email marketing and social media campaigns. By focusing on behavioral targeting and using data-driven insights, Groupon was able to acquire 160,000 new paying customers through a highly targeted YouTube campaign.
Using the ICE scoring method to prioritize
It’s crucial to prioritize which channels to test first. This is where the ICE scoring model comes in handy. Created by Sean Ellis, the ICE model helps you quickly and effectively prioritize ideas based on their potential impact, your confidence in their success, and the ease of implementation.
For each potential channel, score them on these following metrics from 1-10 and then divide by 3 to get an average score out of 10. Start with the highest scores and move down the list. I have provided more info in this article.
Impact: Estimate how much your idea will positively affect your key metric. For example, if you believe a new social media campaign could significantly increase user engagement, you might score it an 8 or 9.
Confidence: Gauge how confident you are that this idea will have the predicted impact. This involves looking at past data, market research, and expert opinions. If you have strong evidence, you might rate your confidence at a 7 or 8.
Ease: Assess the ease of implementing the idea. Consider factors like time, resources, and complexity. If an idea requires minimal resources and can be implemented quickly, it would score higher on ease, perhaps a 9 or 10.
3. Focusing on the Best Channels
After testing, focus your resources on the channels that showed the most promise. Invest more heavily in these channels to maximise growth. It’s like finding the perfect combination of flavours after trying a bunch—you stick with the winner.
Dropbox used a referral program that encouraged users to invite friends in exchange for additional storage space. This strategy led to exponential growth, with Dropbox experiencing a 60% increase in signups following the launch of the referral program.
Then it is important to scale these channels in a structured and sustainable way. Aaron Ross’s “Predictable Revenue” provides a playbook for building a scalable outbound sales team. By creating a predictable lead generation system, you can ensure a steady flow of new customers, helping you scale sustainably. Integrate this into your Bullseye Framework by using data from your initial tests to build a reliable, scalable sales process. Salesforce implemented a structured outbound sales process, which contributed to their rapid growth and predictable revenue streams.
Continuous Evaluation and Adaptation: A Must for Success
It’s not just about finding the right channels once; even scale-ups and established companies need to continuously evaluate their channels’ performance and restart the process as needed. This iterative process helps businesses stay agile and responsive to market changes.
Julian Dent and Michael White emphasize in “Sales and Marketing Channels: How to Build and Manage Distribution Strategy” the importance of periodically examining your channels and adapting your strategy accordingly. For example, in the book, they talk about Myspace’s failure to innovate and pivot their marketing strategy in the face of Facebook’s rise serves as a cautionary tale. They stuck to outdated user engagement strategies and failed to adapt, leading to their decline. In contrast, Facebook continuously experimented with different channels and strategies, ultimately focusing on user-driven content sharing and targeted advertising, which allowed them to scale rapidly and dominate the social media landscape.
Practical Steps to Implement the Bullseye Strategy
- Identify Potential Channels: List all possible channels and evaluate them.
- Test and Measure: Implement small-scale tests and measure results.
- Scale Successful Channels: Focus resources on the channels that show the most promise.
- Continuously Optimize: Regularly review and optimize channel performance based on data.
Channel strategy is a dynamic and essential component of startup growth. By applying insights from previous campaigns and continuously iterating on your approach, you can develop a channel strategy that drives sustainable growth and sets your startup apart from the competition. Now, figure out how to implement these at your company or collaborate with someone like me to put it into practice.
About the Author
Angkan Mukherjee works in growth strategy for high growth companies and is a graduate of the ESADE business school in Barcelona. Outside work, he volunteers as a mentor at incubators like eWorks and loves getting involved in every aspect of building ventures. He gets excited to talk to others like him and you can set up a short call with him here.
References:
- Mint’s SEO Strategy: Forbes
https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2012/03/28/what-are-some-top-strategies-for-conversion-optimization/ - “Traction: How Any Startup Can Achieve Explosive Customer Growth” by Gabriel Weinberg and Justin Mares
https://www.amazon.com/Traction-Startup-Achieve-Explosive-Customer/dp/1591848369/ - Groupon’s Targeted YouTube Campaign: Think with Google
https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/future-of-marketing/digital-transformation/market-reach-beyond-demographics/ - Dropbox’s Referral Program: Viral Loops
https://viral-loops.com/blog/dropbox-grew-3900-simple-referral-program/ - Tinder’s Initial Marketing Strategy: Outbound
https://outbound.net/strategies-behind-tinders-explosive-growth - Salesforce’s Predictable Revenue: Predictable Revenue
https://predictablerevenue.com/blog/salesforce-case-study - Smartcuts: How Hackers, Innovators, and Icons Accelerate Success by Shane Snow
https://www.amazon.com/Smartcuts-Hackers-Innovators-Accelerate-Success/dp/0062561373 - Predictable Revenue: Turn Your Business into a Sales Machine with the $100 Million Best Practices of Salesforce.com by Aaron Ross
https://www.amazon.com/Predictable-Revenue-Business-Practices-Salesforce-com/dp/0984380213 - Sales and Marketing Channels: How to Build and Manage Distribution Strategy https://www.amazon.com/Sales-Marketing-Channels-Distribution-Strategy/dp/0749482141