How to acquire the first batch of seed users when you have no money, no people, and no fame?

In the early stages of a business , when you are short of money, people, and fame, where should you start to acquire the first batch of seed users ? This is the confusion that many entrepreneurs encounter in the early stages of their business.

There is a reason for these confusions, because the domestic marketing field is full of all kinds of big words: advertising, market, marketing, public relations, media, communication, brand, 4P... etc. It is difficult for beginners to understand them, let alone achieve results.

In fact, these are all complicated by those pseudo-experts in the industry who have confusing logic and lack professionalism. In fact, marketing is not that complicated. It boils down to doing these 4 steps:

• Gain insights into the needs of target groups;
• Produce communication information that meets the needs of specific groups;
• Find appropriate media channels for dissemination;
• Choose the appropriate "dissemination node" in the channel to spread the content.

Which group is the target audience?

The so-called audience refers to the objects to whom your information is disseminated, which is linked to the purpose of your communication. A company’s communication demands can be divided into several categories. Taking the live broadcast industry as an example: C-end users, B-end anchors, and another part may be investors /shareholders, etc.

Based on different purposes and targeting different user groups, the content, channels and presentation forms are all different.

Let’s take an example from another perspective. If you need to sell a product to a company now. So, is your target audience the product users, the people who hold purchasing power, or the company's CEO? How do you find your target audience correctly? This requires starting from customer needs and consumption decisions.

Customer needs

Customer needs are often multifaceted and uncertain, and need to be analyzed and guided. Through long-term observation, communication and analysis, we can gradually explore customers' desires, uses, functions, styles and other requirements, and describe and display the vague understanding of customers in a precise way.

After listing them, further judge the importance of these different needs. Which category is the most important; which category is the least important? This is a very important step in understanding needs.

Consumption Decisions

If you’ve ever personally interacted with consumers, you’ve learned who’s actually involved in the buying process. Who are the product users and who are the recommenders? Who are the decision makers and who are the disruptors?

A typical example is Melatonin and K12 products, where consumer decision makers and users are two different groups of people.

This is very important. After figuring out the role each type of person plays in the purchasing process, marketing communication and sales process, you will be able to determine the most important target audience, that is, the most important information communication object, so that the product's value proposition can be clearly implemented.

What message do you want to spread?

After clarifying the needs of the target audience, you can combine your own goals with the communication channels to produce the information you want to spread.

Is it a short film? article? picture? Audio? Or plain text? This varies from channel to channel; is it simply a sales event? Is it to shape brand awareness? Or something else? This depends on the purpose of the business.

What I want to emphasize here is that as a content provider, you need to figure out how to present these two points:

First, how to attract users’ attention and make them interested?

In the book "Stick", the author introduced 6 creative elements that can make users unforgettable: "simplicity, surprise, concreteness, credibility, emotion, and story". Combine your product characteristics and choose the right entry point to make your communication creativity attract the user's attention.

For example, US President Trump ’s campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”, the ups and downs of the plot design of Hollywood blockbusters, and the presentation of the therapeutic effects of new drugs for treating gastric ulcers, etc.

Second, how to ignite their desire and make them take action?

Do you want them to download a demo video, schedule a sales call, or download an app? More directly, do you want them to visit your website or your physical store? In short, the information you spread needs to ignite their inner desire + a specific call to action.

For example:

Xiaomi's early mobile phone products used high configuration, low price and limited sales to ignite fans' desire to buy the phone, and the F code was the specific call to purchase after the desire was ignited.

Note: Xiaomi F code (Friend code) refers to a priority right for purchasing Xiaomi mobile phones. It was originally obtained by Xiaomi to users who have purchased Xiaomi mobile phones and meet certain conditions (such as participating in the essence of Xiaomi mobile phone official forum or using virtual currency, points, etc.). It is provided to their friends to buy Xiaomi without waiting in line. ）

What media to choose to spread the information

The media mentioned here refers to the types of communication media that the target audience uses to read, listen and watch in their daily lives.

It could be paper media such as newspapers and magazines, or online media such as websites and blogs; it could be broadcast media such as television and radio, or social media such as WeChat and Weibo.

You need to carefully observe your potential users and how they usually obtain information about your company or related products. Based on the results of the survey, decide what media should be used to disseminate information.

At the same time, try to choose communication channels that are in the upward channel for communication, because the cost of acquiring traffic in this way is the lowest. Even Xiaomi, which is now a unicorn company, chose social media that was underestimated by the market at the time for market communication during its startup phase.

At the same time, some online media over which the company controls, such as official websites, public accounts , official WeChat accounts and other official accounts, should be your first choice for disseminating information and acquiring users.

Generally speaking, you need to choose different media channels to disseminate information for different target audiences. Because it is very likely that the media they use in their daily lives are different. For example, as mentioned above, the media channels that the anchor group and C-end users are accustomed to using are definitely different.

Which nodes to choose to spread information

If choosing the right media category is a communication strategy, then choosing the right "communication node" in the channel to spread the content is a very specific communication strategy.

Since we are talking about how start-ups can do marketing efficiently, let’s put aside the super-spreading “nodes” used by wealthy companies and talk specifically about the issue of communication nodes on the familiar Weibo.

Friends who have read Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Tipping Point" should clearly remember the several major types of communication nodes described in the book: Mavens, Connectors, and Salesmen.

Translated to the Weibo platform, they may be stars loved by the target users ; or big Vs with rich knowledge in certain fields; or they may be some public intellectuals or Internet celebrities.

To sum up

Ultimately, good communication is about controlling these four key points: demand insight, creative ideas that touch people's hearts, and the selection of media channels and communication nodes.