What strategies helped you acquire early customers for your startup?

Question

Acquiring early customers is crucial for any startup. We found that a combination of targeted social media campaigns, strategic partnerships, and a strong referral program worked wonders for us. But every product is unique, and experimentation is key. Happy to share more insights on Product Hunt! Let's connect, and I'd be thrilled to be part of your launch journey and offer more personalized advice. Wishing you the best of luck!

Tristan Berguer · Accepted Answer

Influence marketing works a lot and press as well to get some social proof! I launch a new product next Monday if you're interested... I can give you free credits 🔥

Tristan Berguer · Answer

@realkunalmehta thank you my friend it's important for me ❤️🎈

Answer

Hi Kunal, congratulations on your success with those strategies! For my startup, these were some of the key strategies that helped us acquire early customers:

- Understanding who would benefit most from our product and tailoring our messaging to them was crucial.
- This allowed potential customers to experience the product without risk and helped in building trust.
- We reached out to friends, family, and professional networks to spread the word and gather initial feedback.
- Just like you, we found that having a referral program provided a boost in our customer acquisition.

Alex Camilar · Answer

Get your friends and family in first. and then, their friends and family. It's the lowest barrier for acquisition :) slowly this can turn into word of mouth and you have organic growth. ofc, this would require some time to take off, unlike performance marketing options, but it obviously depends on what your goals are.

Kevin Brendel · Answer

Tbh, when we soft-launched our product, we didn't actively try to acquire customers, as we were just trying to gather some initial insights from the early versions. So, our first customers just randomly found our app in the Mac App Store while doing relevant searches. Although it is a good sign that our app was interesting enough that users found, downloaded and bought it amongst all the other apps.

Tracy Lee · Answer

Starting conversations! Really just genuinely talking to people and building relationships, and that strategy has proved successful in every one of my businesses. Growing our network is so valuable and it makes it all way more fun, as well!

Rok Bozic · Answer

Community marketing works wonders too!

Kunal Mehta · Answer

@tberguer that sounds great. I will be there to support at the time of launch

JD · Answer

I used a combination of strategies to acquire early customers.

I started by creating a basic website and using SEO to bring more organic traffic to it.

I also took advantage of social media platforms, to increase brand awareness and reach potential customers.

I reached out to influencers in the industry, asked them for feedback on my product, and utilized referral marketing to expand our customer base.

Kunal Mehta · Answer

@italo_costa Good choice.

Kunal Mehta · Answer

@alex_camilar1 yes that sums up everything at a high level

Kunal Mehta · Answer

@tracy_lee2 Thats completely true.

Kunal Mehta · Answer

@bzcrk Right, It has helped us gaining traction on Product Hunt, which ultimately led to acquiring new customers.

What strategies helped you acquire early customers for your startup?

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