Free «Cowbucker» Essay Sample

Topic Summary

Four steps of growth hacking include finding a product-market fit, finding the growth hack, going viral and retention with optimization. Going viral is vital and it means the ability of an image or a piece of information to be spread quickly from one person to others. In order to become viral, information should be worth spreading, should be easily observable and provide incentives for sharing. Retention means a startup is able to maximize the number of customers, while optimization means maximizing outcomes (“Growth hacker marketing: going viral, retention and optimization,” n.d.).

Market segmentation is a process of selecting a primary target audience for a product. The next step product positioning and it is aimed at informing the target audience why this product should be bought and what makes it better than those provided by competitors. Then, customer persona is created. Persona is a profile of a typical target customer. It includes information about age, sex, income, interests of a customer, etc. (“Segmentation & positioning,” n.d.).

Targeting blogs is important in modern marketing. Efficient targeting includes several basic tactics, such as looking for top blogs in particular sphere, searching for video blogs covering the product or industry, using Twitter search, talking with online audience directly and targeting link-sharing web communities. Targeting blogs is one of the step in Bullseye (“Targeting blogs, publicity, unconventional PR,” n.d.).

Publicity is vital in modern marketing. It can be defined as public messaging via news outlets, newspapers and magazines, which are provided by a company in order to increase customer awareness, hire new employees and find new partners. For initial publicity, it is better to focus on small online outlets first, because bigger news sources often use their content. In order to draw attention to a new story when it is published, it is important to be clear, draw attention to something unusual and offer opportunities for feedback (“Targeting blogs, publicity, unconventional PR,” n.d.).

Research

Four Steps of Growth Hacking

1) In order to find if a product fits the market, it is necessary to determine what customers are the best to fit hats offered by Cowbucker. As the hats sold by the company are unusual, have interesting designs and different colors, they can be interesting for different customer groups. The product fits a group of customers, which includes people who are interested in hats with more outdoor elements and fashionable style. The hats are universal and can be worn in different places and for different purposes.

Generating idea: when people graduate from college or get out of game, they are likely to look for goods that correspond to their daily lifestyles. Bright and unusual hats can generate positive memories and enable customers to meet people with similar interests (“History,” 2017).

Building: for the Wild line, Cowbucker first produced hats by their own as sample. The choice is wide and new models of hats are tested.

Testing and measuring: testing is made based on sales – if a new hat model is sold in large amounts and quickly, they are mass produced at a Chinese factory; if the product is not interesting for customers, its production is cancelled.

2) In order to find the growth hack, Cowbucker can set partnerships with local stores or chains. Further promotion efforts are also important for growth, and they will be described further.

3) In order to go viral, Cowbucker should focus on various websites that can quickly spread information about their hats, including social media sites, YouTube, blogs and product review websites. It is important to create content worth sharing to make it viral, i.e. an interesting and informative video about hats or a short but catching story about the company and its success. Lotteries are a good way to attract customers and become famous, i.e. it is required to retweet a post about Cowbucker in order to raffle off a hat.

4) Retention and optimization will be possible if Cowbucker focuses on attracting customers using something that is not offered by competitors. The first strategy is to use twitter and encourage retweeting by posting regularly interesting information about the company or news about the products. The second strategy is to use Pinterest and encourage users to follow high-quality photos. The third strategy is related to Facebook and is focused on making friends with potential customers and inviting them to Cowbucker’s community. As for optimization, Cowbucker should study the results of all its marketing efforts and continue using only those that are efficient and optimize others if possible. In particular, it is positive to focus on mobile platform visitors, because their number is the highest, as well as to decline page loading time to encourage people to visit it (“Growth hacker marketing: going viral, retention and optimization,” n.d.).

Segmentation and Positioning / Customer Persona

Market segmentation for Cowbucker is aimed at selecting primary target audience (PTA). Thus, the company`s hats will be positioned as unique and unusual hats made of innovative materials that are convenient and can be customized to any taste. Thus, unique characteristics of hats will include unusual design, customization options, universal usage, and convenience.

Customer persona for Cowbucker is a male of 30-45 years old, because at this age, people commonly work, but they still use their free time in the ways they like. Typical profession of a customer is a marketing manager whose work is routine and related to sitting in the office in front of a computer. To relax, this person has active weekends, i.e. he coaches kids soccer. Thus, a typical customer is an outgoing person who likes spending free time outdoors. He likes various activities, such as playing or watching soccer or hunting. The income of a marketing manager is large enough to purchase premium priced hats sold by Cowbucker.

Targeting Blogs

Bullseye Step #1:

First, Cowbucker should discover all blogs that can be used to promote its hats and increase customer awareness and sales. The possible blogs to promote hats include those related to fashion and startups, such as Fashionable Hats Blog that is devoted to discussion of current trends in hat fashion, as well as hat brands (“Fashionable Hats Blog,” 2017). Currently, the blog does not have any articles about Cowbucker and its hats; thus, it is a company`s potential partner. Several other blogs can be also selected as potential partners.

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Publicity

Bullseye Step #1:

In regard to publicity, it is important for Cowbucker to select several possible alternative news media to target in order to increase customer awareness and loyalty to the brand. It is possible to select both large media sources, such as New York Times, and small ones, for instance, fashion media and media related to outdoor activities. For a startup, it is better to focus on smaller media sources and then shift to larger and more famous ones. This strategy is recommended, because large sources often pick up interesting content from smaller ones. Thus, Cowbucker will be able to become famous firstly via a small source and then via a larger one, such as New York Times.

Unconventional PR can also be used by Cowbucker, because it can attract customers due to its unusual views. As for Publicity Stunts, Cowbucker can organize different events to attract customers. For example, the company can organize presentation of its hats on the street, especially in business districts where many potential customers can be found. Regarding Customer Appreciation, it is possible to provide smaller but noticeable actions, such as providing customers with gifts and other benefits, including handwritten notes.

Bullseye Step #2:

Cowbucker can test several potential partners among blogs in order to select the best ones to promote its products. It can ask the blogs to post entries devoted to Cowbucker. They may be related to unusual products or ideas of the company`s founder, may include interesting stories about the company or something that can easily catch attention. Testing will be based on the number of entries and customer feedback. As for media sources, they can be tested based on popularity of each source and number of readings of the article about Cowbucker. In regard to unconventional PR, an event should be organized. For a small startup company, organizing multiple events can be too expensive. Thus, one or two events can be used to test the idea related to unconventional PR.

Crafting Strategy

Four Steps of Growth Hacking

Based on research in several startup areas, a specific strategy is recommended for Cowbucker for each area. In terms of growth hacking, the company can be recommended to focus on market segmentation and determining customer interest first. It is important to determine what markets should the company target, avoiding those that are not likely to provide many potential customers. As there are many hat models, new ones should be tested in order to decide whether they should be mass-produced or not. To increase sales, apart from selling online, the company should set partnerships with local stores, such as those with in-store activities or those located in tourist areas. Becoming viral should be the key strategy, and Cowbucker should increase its online presence as much as possible by targeting blogs, YouTube, social media, etc. In order to optimize its online presence, Cowbucker should decline its website`s page loading time and optimize it for mobile users.

Segmentation and Positioning / Customer Persona

In regard to positioning, Cowbucker should focus mostly on unusual design, innovative materials and ability to customize its hats. It is vital for a startup to focus on unique characteristics of the product. Among many potential market segments, the most optimal one includes people of active lifestyles and relatively high income, who want unusual hats for activities and are ready to pay high prices to obtain them. People of various jobs can be targeted; a marketing manager is one potential customer option, because this person is likely to have high income and desire for active lifestyle after routine office work.

Targeting Blogs

For Cowbucker, blogs targeting should become a daily activity, because they increase awareness of customers and are free or very cheap for a startup. Some possible blogs that can be used to promote Cowbucker include Fashionable Hats Blog and other fashion and/or activity blogs. The company can be recommended to communicate with blog administrators and to persuade them to post entries about the company and its hats.

Publicity

Publicity strategies for Cowbucker should be effective and at the same time cheap enough, because the company is a startup with limited resources. In order to be promoted via news media, Cowbucker should select different media sources. If possible, famous ones should be selected (such as NY Times), but smaller ones are also good, because large sources usually copy interesting articles from smaller ones. Unconventional PR is also positive, because unusual strategies attract customers efficiently. The new company has limited resources and can choose events that are relatively cheap but attract customers, i.e. product presentations outdoors and gifts for customers. Finally, all traction channels should be tested in order to select the best ones.