As one of the communications masters at AppWorks, I have spent a few hours a week talking to founders about "go to market strategies" and marketing.
One of the interesting things that has struck me about these meetings is how the concept of marketing is focused on SEO and everything that is "digital."
I wanted to share with you something from the Silicon Valley past that demonstrates that some of the most successful startup apps in history didn't actually take a digital marketing approach. My gut -- and experience -- tells me that if you are looking for product market fit, and trying to get your answer into the hands of people who have a problem, it might be a good thing to pursue an offline strategy.
Here are four companies that did that:
1. DoorDash -- actually got their first customers by printing up a bunch of flyers and pasting them to street signs and buildings up and down Palo Alto's University Avenue. The $6 code they were offering incentivized people to download the app and try it.
2. Uber -- would it shock you to know that in the early days of Uber, "street teams" would camp out at the train stations and hand out flyers to people coming off the trains from their evening commute. They offered a much more personal and immediate service. It eventually caught on, especially in the Bay Area, which was notorious for being really hard to navigate outside of walking and taking the train.
3. Snapchat -- Evan Spiegel, the founder, would actually go to malls and show people how to use Snapchat by giving them on the spot tutorials. This is something you just can't replace. It's like looking for a car. You want to sit in it, drive it, learn how it works, and that personal touch makes it really hard for you to pass on the deal.
4. Tinder -- the two co-founders would spend hours walking around University of Southern California, literally hooking people up by showing them how to use the app. The immediacy of being able to find an eligible and good looking single who was interested in you, right there on your phone, was intoxicating. It took the search out of dating and showed you who was immediately available in the campus's massive complex.
So, I think the moral of the story here is that you don't really need to spend a lot of money on online marketing. When you are looking for product market fit, you really need to spend time with your potential customers. Early startup days are high touch, very little messaging.
If you are a founder working on Blockchain or AI, or a founder in Southeast Asia, you are invited to apply to our Accelerator #21. Application deadline is July 1. You can find the application info here: https://bit.ly/2AEXaww
This breakdown of companies comes from the following article by Lenny Rachitksy. It's a good read. https://www.lennyrachitsky.com/p/how-the-biggest-consumer-apps-got
Doug Crets
English Communications Master, AppWorks
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