Why so many founders & early teams fail to profitably acquire customers at

scale, plus tactical tips to help solve these dilemmas.

7Ways Startups Fail at Marketing

Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO

Too Many Startups Die Because

They Can’t Get Customers

CB Insights compiled an

analysis from startup post-

mortems.

These 5 are mostly “couldn’t

find enough customers” or

“couldn’t affordably find

customers”

To stay focused on marketing, I’m going to

assume your startup has* a:

A) product people want & will pay for

B) serviceable market

C) team that can execute, learn, & improve

* don’t have these? Get ‘emfirst, then come back to the marketing process

#1A Terrible Business

(or Product) Name

Problems:

No one could say our name until

they heard it

On a .org, so folks assumed

we were nonprofit

Took ~$500K to rebrand in

2013 (“Moz”)

Problems:

Lunar is already

associated w/ dozens of

other things (including

other watches)

Brand name directly

conflicts w/ product’s

UVP

Problems:

Hustle has negative

connotations outside SV

(hustlers, getting “hustled”,

“Hustler Magazine,” etc)

Name suggests product is

something it’s not (a case)

7Easy to spell, say, hear, and remember

Has no existing associations that could confuse

Either suggests what the company does (AirBnB, Lyft), or has no

existing/problematic overlap (Google, Atlassian)

The .com site and major social accounts are owned by you

Has very few or no Google search results

Avoids trademark infringement

Biases to brandable > keyword rich/generic

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#7

Rules for a Marketing-Friendly Startup Name:

Some Startups Who Nailed It:

You Can Succeed, Even With a Criteria-

Breaking Name…. It’s Just Harder.

Pssttt….

So long as the name matches the criteria, you

don’t personally have to like it

#2Not Respecting the Long Journey

from Potential Customer to

Conversion

Startup Marketing Mythology

Step 1: Build a Great Product

Step 2: Launch on PH/HN (or Run Ads)

Step 3: Customers! $$$! Series A!

This is a long process,

with many steps

Yay! You made it to the top of PH & received

15,000 visits + 500 email signups

But, only ~0.01% of people are looking for

email verification APIs that day

Every day, a few dozen people search

for this (and don’t find you)

Loads of searches for your

service, but none of these

people can find you

They visit lists like this

(but you’re not here)

They ask friends +

colleagues (who’ve

never heard of you)

They rely on existing

providers

They lean on social

proof from their

networks

Via Wordstream

New to a market? This

happens.

Known & loved?

Welcome to Profitville.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, &

display ads all work the same way

Via Resolution Media

How to Win at Digital Advertising

Step 1: Earn brand exposure w/ your target audience

Step 2: Get >1 organic visit (or social engagement)

Step 3: Advertise to those who already know + like you

If you only play here

(first exposure)Or here

(decision time)

You’re gonna have a bad time

Startup Marketing Reality

Step 1: Get known + trusted by your audience

Step 2: Grow a presence across the channels they use

to find solutions your product solves

Step 3: Be visible throughout their discovery,

consideration, and decision processes

#3 Chasing Growth Hacks

Hack-Chasing Usually Leads to Death

Before Success

Via ProStart

Hack Hack Hack Hack Crap.

You’re Fighting the “Law of Shitty Clickthrough Rates”

Via

Andrew Chen

A lot of exploitable, short-term

“growth hacks” start here

And end here

Great Marketers Focus on Flywheels (systems that scale w/ decreasing friction)

Content

Marketing

Flywheel

KW Research +

Industry Intuition

Publish

Content

Promote via Social

Channels

Push to email +

RSS subscribers

Earn Links +

AmplificationGrow social, email,

RSS, & WoM channels

Grow Domain

Authority

Earn Search &

Referral Traffic

Rank for More

Competitive KWs

PR+Ads

Flywheel

ID Sources of

Customer Influence

Craft Stories to

Draw Coverage

Earn Press

Coverage

Pitch Media

Amplify +

PromoteRun Ads Targeting

Cookied Visitors

Expand Social

Following

Slowly Convert

Fans + Followers

Refine Ad+CRO

Processes

Events +

Sponsorship

Flywheel

ID Events w/

Customer Targets

Sponsor + Pitch to

Present

Capture

Visitor Info

Host Booths,

Dinners, Parties

Reach Out w/

Direct+Indirect

Emails Cookie Site Visitors &

Email Opens

Run Hyper-

Personalized Ads

Improve CRO +

Sales Process

Uncover Customer

Connections & Affinities

Hard at first, but

gets easier

(& more profitable)

with scale

Find

Find

Create

Create

Amplify

Amplify

Convert

Convert

Learn & Apply

Growth Hacks

Can Accelerate a Flywheel

Hacks aren’t necessarily evil,

spammy, or without value.

They can be useful when applied to

a sound marketing strategy.

Find a Balance Between Long-Term

Investments & Short-Term Hacks

High upfront costs Pay (in time/$$) as you go

Long-Term Investments

Slow to show ROI

Earn customers while you

sleep

Low Risk (PR/legal/etc)

Can Show Fast ROI

Effort In = Links Out

Often High Risk

Short-Term Hacks

The Formula for Marketing that Will Work

for Years to Come:

Strategic

Roadmap

Scalable

Flywheel

Long-Term

Investments

Hacks to

Remove

Friction+ + +

#4Saving Marketing Until Your

Product Launch

Via ASmartBear

The First Time Someone Hears About You…

You want my

credit card &

email???

Which One(s) Should You Do?

Create a blog?

Participate in forum discussions?

Build a community on your own site?

Become a guest contributor to other communities?

Participate in events & conferences?

Grow relationships/awareness via social media?

Invest in video on a YouTube channel?

Invest in 2-3 tactics long before you

launch a product.

So that when you do, there’s a pre-

existing community that wants to

support & amplify you.

Via ProductHunt

#5Your CRO Process

Misses the Big Picture

Incremental testing of headlines,

colors, layout, pricing, etc.

Local Maxima

Uncovering why

most qualified

customers who

visit don’t buy &

addressing their

issues

Global Maxima

Early Stage:

Build a community &

recruit folks excited

about your product.

Later Stages:

Once you have real people

signing up for your product,

you can learn more about

them

A few dozen emails &

names give you a

treasure trove of info

about your customer

targets

Now we can find more

people like this!

Interview or

survey this

audience to ID

their clones.

Then we can identify traits that separate right

prospects (who’ll use & love our product) from

wrong (those who won’t).

Ideally You Want to:

A: Identify right customers

B: Find what/who influences them

C: Clone, expand, & repeat

My Favorite

Process:

From Conversion Rate Experts’ case study

Boom.

And Shakalaka.

Didn’t try the

product

Tried, but didn’t

love it

Tried & loved the

product

What do you think the

product does?

What made you try it? What made you try it?

What would make you

more likely to try it?

What are your biggest

objections to signup?

What objections did you

have and how did you

overcome them?

What caused you to stop

using the product?

What would have made you

stay a customer?

What objections did you

have and how did you

overcome them?

What’s been most

valuable to you?

If you’ve loved it, can we

share your story?

#6Not Prioritizing an

Easy-to-Reach Audience

easier to reach

harder to reach

Know you personally (& would happily meet for coffee)

Know of you, like you, & follow your work closely

Are already connected to you via email

Already follow you on social media channels

Have visited your website at least once

Have heard of your company (and can recall it)

Are in your target audience and reachable via FB/GG ads

It’s Foolish to…

easier to reach

harder to reach

Know you personally (& would happily meet for coffee)

Know of you, like you, & follow your work closely

Are already connected to you via email

Already follow you on social media channels

Have visited your website at least once

Have heard of your company (and can recall it)

Are in your target audience and reachable via FB/GG ads

1) Lack any strategy to increase the

size of these groups

easier to reach

harder to reach

Know you personally (& would happily meet for coffee)

Know of you, like you, & follow your work closely

Are already connected to you via email

Already follow you on social media channels

Have visited your website at least once

Have heard of your company (and can recall it)

Are in your target audience and reachable via FB/GG ads

2) Not target these

people first

easier to reach

harder to reach

Know you personally (& would happily meet for coffee)

Know of you, like you, & follow your work closely

Are already connected to you via email

Already follow you on social media channels

Have visited your website at least once

Have heard of your company (and can recall it)

Are in your target audience and reachable via FB/GG Ads

3) Aim 100% of your tactics at

only these groups

But Rand…

Mark didn’t start Facebook with…

Oh dang… He totally did.

Brian & Joe didn’t start AirBnB with…

Oh dang… They totally did.

Jeremy didn’t start Yelp with…

Oh dang… He totally did.

Dharmesh & Brian Didn’t Start Hubspot with…

Oh dang… They totally did.

easier to reach

harder to reach

Know you personally (& would happily meet for coffee)

Know of you, like you, & follow your work closely

Are already connected to you via email

Already follow you on social media channels

Have visited your website at least once

Have heard of your company (and can recall it)

Are in your target audience and reachable via FB/GG ads

Pro Tip: Having a lot of target customers in

your personal network makes EVERYTHING

about starting up easier.

#7 Ignoring Brand

Brand is…

A promise.i.e. when you see “Brand X” it means “Y Attributes”

A memory trigger.i.e. when you experience problem Z, you think of “Brand

X” as the potential solution

Brand Marketing is…

A coded message.

Reminding you of the brand’s existence

Reinforcing the brand’s colors, shapes, sounds,

experiences, & feelings

Nudging you to use the brand at the right time

What do you think of when you

see this brand?

Brand marketing reinforces that:

What do you think of when you

see this brand?

Brand marketing reinforces that:

What do you think of when you

see this brand?

Brand marketing reinforces that:

Before you can brand, you need a

Brand Promise

We

provide…

We evoke

feelings…

We remind

you of…

We share the

values of…

product/

service that

solves a

problem you

have

that make our

customers most

anxious about

whether our

solution is right for

them

Memories that our

target

demographics &

psychographics will

have ++

associations with

People who are

statistically most

likely to be our best

customers

Everything Should (Subtly) Reinforce the Message

SEO Snippets

PPC Ads

Big

Content

CommentsTweets

Photos

Landing

Pages

UI & UXBrand Name

Facebook

Posts

Emails

Product

Names

Videos

Visual

Branding

Outreach

Onboarding

Press & PR

The Brand

Promise

BrandCost of paid acquisition drops as people prefer to click on your ads

Retention, LTV, and marketing ROI all rise

You earn more free coverage, amplifying your reach, your SEO rankings, and

reinforcing your brand

It feels difficult, even impossible to reverse engineer your success

Switching costs feel higher (even if your competitors make it easy)

People want to take your calls, open your emails, and respond to you with a

“yes,” making all your bizdev activities easier

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The Awesome Powers of

Rand Fishkin | Founder & CEO

Thank You!

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