How to Get Your First 100 Paying Customers by Utilizing Different Marketing Channels

Most entrepreneurs find it challenging to get their start-ups off the ground. This is because, at first, no one knows if their offer is valuable until they generate income. Almost every start-up faces the challenges of getting the first 100 paying customers.

Sadly, there's no universal step-by-step guide for acquiring these customers due to many variables.

So, do you get from a business no one knows to 100 paying customers for your offering?

Foundeck business experts investigated the process of opening your business from the first day to acquiring these customers. So what's the secret? How do you achieve this? Keep reading to know where and how to get your first 100 paying customers.

How to Get Your First 100 Paying Customers

The following methods are not industrial but perfect for experiments, testing, and validation. Furthermore, checking the offer and the target clientele's identification or verification is crucial.

The process you need to take proceed as follows:

1. Solve your client's problem: Find out how they think, what their pain points are, what they want, and how they want it; to solve your customer's problem, you first need to know their problem.
2. Listen to what they say, get feedback:  apart from your target audience, find the people who have the problem, see how they look at the situation, and then get their feedback on your point of view and proposed solutions.
3. Locate where they socialize: Identify where those with such a problem are most likely to be found and how they address it.
4. Connect and feel the pulse:  Suggest that the problem is solved for several individuals to determine the feasibility and correctness of the price.
5. Feedback should be sought:  Ask for feedback, particularly on the process and experience of the customer.
6. Get validated: To get validation in the sense of people willing to pay for the solution and in the delivery of the solution.
7. Cover them before venturing out to cover other groups :  it is vital to be able to sell to the target group of stakeholders and ensure their support in purchase before covering the different groups.

After handling the above points, you should start considering methods to boost sales in your company.

Let's explore the methods you can use to get customers in your new business:

1. Start with your inner circle

When searching for those customers, the first action is to start with the people who know you.

When starting an organization, you can easily understand the nervousness a business can bring when selling its solution to new people, be it a product or a service.

• The internal network refers to people you are closely related to, including friends, family, and associates.
•  Respond to your friends and make them your buyers
• Then, ask them to introduce other people.

 Due to the customer's interaction with the solution provided, it becomes easy for start-ups to reach out to mutual connections.

 Some of the questions you may be asking yourself include: are these numbers of people adequate?

 Even though the number of contacts you contact through your inner circle might be fewer, you can be assured of getting a relatively large number for the first date.

How to achieve this?

• Ask them about the problem they're facing.
• Listen to them and address them.

After discussing with them, you'll know how your solution will help them and others facing the same challenge.

Do not jump directly to selling them the solution or to others as soon as you have their attention.

You can use the early customer feedback for the start-up to adjust the company's final marketing solution.

Why is it crucial to have a conversation with your inner circle?

Dialogue with your inner circle entails researching your customers' problems, which can help you create your first customer base.

Since you are a start-up firm, you probably do not have the eloquence of a salesperson. Pitching to your inner circle of friends and loved ones gives you firsthand experience in selling the solution of the business.

2. Perform a cold approach

After learning the initial steps of growing your business, start approaching your prospects. You can pitch your products or services through cold emails and calls.

• Cold e-mailing is when you contact potential customers who would fit the target customer description via e-mail.
• Cold e-mailing aims to inform potential customers about your company's presence and the opportunity to solve their problems.
• However, the effectiveness of cold emails depends on whether you have other connections who can vouch for you.
• Remarkably, if your first two or three lines discuss, for instance, the reference to a familiar acquaintance, then the recipient will undoubtedly be more interested in the e-mail.

If you lack this knowledge, it's advisable to research more. This method makes you more personalized, increasing your chances of success.

If you want your prospects to open your cold e-mail, your subject line and body must:

• A person sending the e-mail should not sound like someone selling something to another; as a result, avoid using a complicated and time-consuming subject line.
• You now have an approach, and a headline that should make anyone opening the e-mail perked up. It is important to immediately convey value to the recipient in the e-mail, which is found in the introductory lines.
• At the same time, it would be convenient to share the e-mail when providing the "Core."
• It assists you in building on the goodwill because the reader understands that you have produced a tool that enables them to get their desired ROI.
• This shall assist them in identifying whether they wish to put their money into the solution.
• In the e-mail's body, include something more sincere than sales-orientated.

3. Create your message

When marketing your goods, avoid making marketing promises. Outline the benefits to ensure your message is simple and relevant to your prospects.

For example, the delivery service will deliver your goods within 12 hours or for free.

Remember to focus on actionable metrics instead of increasing the number

How to achieve this:

• Use a customer persona worksheet when crafting the message
• Focus on your customers
• Be specific and clear
• Evaluate, learn, take and iterate

4. Offer freemiums

Freemium is a marketing strategy in which the business offers some aspect of the product to the customer free of charge, and there is no time limit for the offer. However, some of the product or service's features may be restricted.

It simply means getting a free trial for a premium product. While there is a distinction between them, both are used to bring the first cohort of customers to your start-up.

Providing freemiums or free trials as a way of marketing and advertising products is cheaper than other advertising techniques.

Furthermore, for a business start-up, this is the best weapon for acquiring 100 customers or at least achieving that figure for product recognition (branding).

How to achieve this?

• Once the customers begin to subscribe, they will receive an immediately applicable and heart-warming welcome e-mail.
• This will pass the message to them about how much you value their effort in using the product.
• You can also plan to call them to learn about any onboarding problems they have and get their opinion about what is right and what is wrong with the solution you are offering.
• Showing such personal affection to your first customer is important because it creates a bond with them and is beneficial in creating word of mouth for the business.

Offering freemiums and a free trial method to attract customers helps you decide who is ready to buy by using premium features.

• Onboarding is also very special because it enables the users to actualize the value of whatever product you offer.
• Customers continuously seek convenience in finding the solution that pleases them, the product, and the company offering quality omnichannel customer service. 
• Thus, establishing these niches and building the foundations would be necessary and capable of developing towards reaching the first one hundred customers.
•  However, to achieve that scenario, free trial or freemium users have to find the value of our product during their free trial period.
• Ensure the trial users have the correct impressions of your product and encourage them to become premium customers.

5. Engage with influencers

You can engage by meeting with them during events and try to build relationships by requesting them to talk about your brand. You may also e-mail them or start a blog. There is stiff competition in blogging, so you must find something unique to stand out.

Use your blogs to engage influencers by guest posting or inviting feedback.

How to execute this:

Create a blog about the problem that you are solving. Again, if you know about influential market issues, write about them and how they can be overcome. If they feel that people in the marketplace care about it, they will share, link, and even sign up if you have that CTA.

Utilize the content you write on other sites like Reddit, where people congregate in groups of the same interests.

• Update your About page: As we have pointed out, it does not disadvantage one to state what one is looking for. Fans of your blog scroll to your About page almost every time; if they come across this, they may be willing to assist.
• Start a blog to talk about your industry: Speak about the field in which your business operates and what makes you address the matters you do. Bring a view that can only be attributed to your company and get people on your side. More significantly, ensure that you have a form for people to sign up for updates about the current positions.

6. Impressive advertising

Most start-up entrepreneurs use paid advertising as their primary method of acquiring initial customers. However, it's important to note that there is conflicting information about using paid ads.

Since you're new in digital marketing, you must choose your tools carefully to attract your customers.

Industry specialists say paid advertising isn't the best for company start-ups. It's ideal for businesses that have products in the market.

Most small business owners consider these paid ads useful for companies anticipating expansion of the sales ladder.

However, other marketers will opine that paid traffic-generating leads are the quickest way for anyone to use it, especially when starting a new campaign.

When using paid advertising, it becomes essential that these ads lead to a high-converting landing page where you drive your target customers. You can also integrate it with advertising CRM to handle leads from that CRM.

Components of a high-converting landing page

The Unique Selling Proposition Headline Strategy-based statement arguments.

• Video and image depicting the use of the item in real life
• Statement of Benefit
• Visitor information (name and e-mail)
• A call to action
• Social proof, testimonials

You can use paid ads on channels, including:

• Google Ads: the digital marketer can reach prospects in the buyer's journey map at the consideration stage. This puts start-ups in a perfect position to supply solutions to buyers who understand they have a problem and need a solution. Specialists can pay for specific keywords and then use those in the promotions they would like to advertise.
• Facebook Ads: The best thing about Facebook advertisements is that you can be very selective about the user's interests, location, behavior on social networks, etc.

7. Sponsor events and groups

Sponsoring an event is one of the best promotional strategies for a business that targets people attending an occasion. It is an efficient means of reaching the targeted customers and increasing your brand's visibility.

Sponsorship permits your business to share private face-to-face encounters with the attendees and other forms of advertising. However, you must be very selective when choosing events. Why? Thus, for an event to yield profit, it must interest your audience or target niche and enable you to propagate your information.

If sponsoring an event or group is out of your range, you can always' tag along' to that event. You can use Socedo to get people talking about a conference matching your customer profile. Follow them and send a private message about the solution you provided under the link to your landing page.

How to do this:

• Define your target audience
• Define the type of events your prospect attends
• Ensure you like how the event is run
• Select the suitable events to sponsor
• Know your strategy and message. Ensure it will positively contribute to the event experience.
• Secure your sponsorship position and become the organizers' partner
• Participate in the event
• Follow-up: There is always a day before and after the occasion. Do not miss these chances to access the clients.

8. Keep an eye on your competitors

Marketing and promotion analysis of your competitors is valuable knowledge for your start-up. Since they have been in business for some time, they must have pointed out areas that customers most frequent. Although you don't have to imitate them, tracking your rivals protects you from threats.

How to do this:

1. Social Mentions: Track the social mentions of competitors, as digital users usually express their opinions about the service or dissatisfaction. You should carry out these conversations and develop relations with the dissatisfied customer. This is very effective because it can turn them into paying customers in the long run.

2. Their Advertising: Many of your competitors' strategies, specifically keywords and ad spending, are discernible. You use programs like Spyfu and SEMrush. Evaluate their perspective on online advertising to sharpen your strategy and enhance user engagement.

9. Have an online presence

When starting up your business, consider investing in building a simple website with these elements:

• An opt-in form: The objective of your page is to capture leads out of the visitors you get. This can be achieved through a primary webpage, which the visitor fills out with their name, e-mail address, and any other details you may need to onboard them.
• Social media links: Your visitors will certainly spend time on social media networks. So, make your business available to them by incorporating their social profiles. Don't overdo it. Use the two or three that your audience likes.
• Start a blog: A blog enables one to establish credibility and make them relevant within the market for an extended period. Writing does not have to be a gift at all. It does not take an inspiring person to write for you. Consumers do not care how you deliver value; they care about the value they receive from your company.

10. Start using data research tools

Target audience behavior: it is essential to know what the target market is likely to do. More details about the audience allow you to provide the most accurate information in the content and adapt the solution to the audience's current needs.

Here is a list of some basic yet effective ways to identify your audience using market research tools that provide valuable insights.

Heatmaps and Surveys

Hotjar allows you to see which regions of the page readers are attracted to, enabling you to get insights on your content creation, layouts, and call to action.

A survey feature allows the entrepreneur to attach small additional surveys to any site page or target any actions from a visitor.

Polls

Conducting polls assists organizations in understanding whether added features in a business, application, tool, or product fulfill users' expectations. Resources such as Proved enable organizations to share plans with the proven community to get a snapshot of whether they should invest their time, money, and effort in the idea.

Monitor Conversations

Tools like Google Alerts and Mention help users track business-related conversations. This information can help your business remain relevant in the market.

These tools assist you in tracking conversations so that you can engage in them where they are profitable for your business or stay informed about trends.

11. Online forums/ communities

Online communities are effective in finding your first customers. They act as large-scale models of industry conventions where companies can interact with people with similar interests, supply the services needed by clients, and obtain customers to pay.

Attending a conference and pitching your offering to everyone present can close doors instead of opening new opportunities. It is more practical to aim at developing and sustaining symbiotic contacts. Spending time getting to know others makes comprehending their problems possible.

Gather their details for follow-up, but ensure they reach out the next day. Likewise, do not spam the online communities with promotions or links to a site of interest. Instead, try to enter the community gently and make people realize you can be helpful to them.

How do you maximize your impact in an online community?

Take note of popular topics in your community and create content that matches their interests. When community members see your content aligning with community values, they will likely engage with you. This increases the chances of receiving recommendations.

Provide complimentary Q&A sessions.

This will help you understand your community members' issues. Then, you will provide them with your product and teach them how your solutions align with their requirements.

If you can sell the concept to the members through a powerful virtual product demo pitch, you will most likely close more deals through your online community.

Use other blogs to share your expertise

Engage with blogs more inclined to your view and the problems you attempt to solve. These bloggers are experts in their respective fields, and their opinions should enhance yours somehow. They can also provide sources that may contain customer insights and lead to the communities your customers visit regularly.

How to do this:

• Reach out to other bloggers for interviews: Numerous bloggers write on various topics that also encompass issues related to the market and solutions that interest you. Such a database often has detailed, inside knowledge of the industries it works with and can be a great source of candidates for customer interviews. They may also give further references on reaching your target markets.
• Offer to write a guest blog: You should consider writing a blog guest post or article for your blog. Bloggers always need good content and are open to well-written articles to spread the word to many people.
• Run targeted ads: Target blogs relevant to your industry that get good traffic. Talk to them about possible advertising that directs consumers back to your site.
• Use blog directories: Sites like Alltop can help you discover the leading blogs in your line of business and who the players are. You can also use influencer discovery tools, such as Klout and Klear.
• Engage with commenters: Active commenters about the blog posts or forums to get interaction with the posts. Look at their profiles, which might give you their blog if they have one. Start making personal contacts with them so that you are acquainted with them, and they will be acquainted with you.

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Bottom Line

The above are methods to get your first 100 paying customers. Whatever method you choose, ensure it will not drain your pocket and consume much time. 

Some of these methods may look simple, but remember, they are proven methods that have worked for other start-ups to get their first customers.

Whether you have launched a product or not, you could use the methods outlined in this post to get the first boost that your business requires. Do you have any questions on how to get your first 100 paying customers? Kindly contact one of our experts here today.