The most difficult task for a startup is not building the product but selling it. We will review a framework to determine which customer acquisition channels to choose depending on your vision, your product, your pricing strategy and your target group. We will also go through the most common acquisition channels and discuss do's and don'ts.

1. Customer Acquisition:
Choosing The Right Channels

2. ABOUT ME
José Matías del Pino
CEO at Ondango
Industrial Engineer, MBA
Graduate of The Founder Institute
Mentor at the Berlin Startup Academy
More than 3 years of experience in the
German internet industry
Previous industry experience in logistics
(Procter & Gamble), marketing (Robert
Bosch) and consulting (The Boston
Consulting Group)
www.internetandstuff.com
@jmdelpinob

3. ABOUT ONDANGO
Ondango enables companies to sell their
products directly on their Facebook pages
Facebook-like user No annoying app Features to spread the
interface requests word
Our goal: To offer the world’s best shopping experience on Facebook

4. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
There’s plenty of acquisition
channels…
Search Engine Marketing Trade Fairs
Search Engine Optimization
Social Media Marketing TV Commercials
Resellers
Business Development
Newspapers
Display Ads
Public Relations Direct Sales
Affiliate Marketing
…but startups need focus –
you will have to choose

5. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
Your acquisition channels depend on
who you target
Corporations
Mid-sized companies
Small companies
People

6. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
Corporations
Mid-sized companies
Small companies
People
N° of people involved in purchase decision
Level of information / expertise of buyer
Length of sales cycle
Size of available budget

7. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
Vision Product Pricing
Target
Acquisition Channel(s)

8. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
Vision
What do you want to build?
Why?

9. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
Product
Is it easy or difficult to setup?
Is it easy or difficult to manage?
Is it highly customizable or not?

10. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
Pricing
Do you get recurring revenue or not?
What do your competitors charge?
Remember: PV(CLTV) > CAC*
*The present value of your customer lifetime value must be higher than your customer acquisition costs.

11. CHOOSING YOUR ACQUISITION CHANNELS
!
Business Development
! Direct Sales
!
Trade Fairs
!
SEO/SEM
!
Social Media Marketing
!
Display Ads / Affiliate Mktg.
!
Public Relations
Effective
Less effective

12. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Business Development
Closing mutually benefitial deals with companies that target or have access to your
same customers.
Your target for this channel is not your customer but your partner
Long sale cycle (3 to 6 months, sometimes even more), but after 2 months you
usually know if the deal will close
Access to the right person in the organization is worth gold; expand your
industry network!
Example: Spotify and Deutsche Telekom

13. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Direct Sales
Talking directly to potential customers to sell them your product.
At the beginning, you will have to do it no matter what you sell, because it‘s the
best learning
It‘s an expensive channel; monitor your funnel metrics and your ROI constantly
You might have to adapt your pricing for this channel
Example: Groupon acquiring merchants

14. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Trade Fairs
Setting up a stand on trade fairs to show and sell your product to visitors.
“Direct sales on steroids“ – you reach many leads in a short time
It‘s also an expensive channel (registration, travel, stand set up, employees)
Do your homework: lookup the list of atendees and arrange meetings in advance
Examples: Marketing agencies, development agencies, software vendors

15. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Search Engine Optimization
Improving your position on search engine for specific keywords
Two worlds – on-site and off-site optimization. Always do on-site
More difficult that it seems – go for long-tail keywords, focus on a few
If you do it, go all in – if you‘re not on the first page it won‘t help
Example: All mayor online stores

16. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Search Engine Marketing
Advertising on search engines for specific keywords
Your performance depends on the right keyword choice, the quality of the ad
copy and the quality of the landing page
Very useful when testing demand for an MVP
Know your numbers, monitor your ROI closely, be data-driven
Example: All travel companies

17. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Display Ads / Affiliate Marketing
Placing banner ads on other websites
Campaign-driven: you need a high ad budget (4-digit U$ to get started), plus
costs of ad design and campaign management
Different models (from less to more attractive): CPM, CPC, CPA, CPS
It’s important to optimize ad placement, ad copy and landing page
Example: Online fashion stores

18. POPULAR CHANNELS – DO’S & DON’TS
Public Relations
Get your company or product featured on different Media
Do it only if you can afford it. It helps more with branding than bringing actual
customers
Use an agency to reach mainstream media, pitch to the tech press yourself
Be prepared for inbound press requests – have all materials and contacts ready
Example: Cumplo

19. Thank you!