How to Find the Best Acquisition Channels for Your Business

Ioana Cozma
May 14, 2024
November 18, 2023

If you want to skyrocket your customer acquisition efforts, you must target customers on the best customer acquisition channels.

But how do you evaluate which channel you should use?

You’re on the right page for that. You’ll find out:

  • The 7-step plan to finding the best acquisition channels
  • Actionable advice and tools you can implement today
  • Insider stories from our customer acquisition agency

Let’s dive right in.

1. Understand Your Customers to Find the Best Channel

Tl;dr:

  • Use demographic and behavioral data to create detailed buyer personas​​​​.
  • Delve into specific characteristics of your potential customers, including unusual behaviors or niche interests.
  • Explore segments that competitors might have overlooked.

The best acquisition channels for your business are the ones your potential customers use. So, the key first step is understanding your target audience.

1.1. Gathering Data

  • Leverage your existing customer database: Analyze purchase history, engagement patterns, and any demographic information you have. Use CRM software to streamline this process.
  • Use surveys and interviews: Ask your existing or potential customers about their preferences, needs, and challenges.
  • Use social media and website analytics: Use analytics tools to understand who engages with your content, their interests, and behaviors.
  • Research market reports: Access market reports and industry studies highlighting broader market trends and demographic information about your customer base.
  • Monitor online forums and communities: Pay attention to discussions in online forums and communities related to your industry. That’s how you can sleuth out niche interests and behaviors of your potential customers.

Insider Story: Bumble (Part 1)

At inBeat, we value data-driven, results-oriented strategies.

When the Bumble app needed to launch a paid ads campaign to increase app downloads and in-app users, we started with their potential customers.

We looked at Bumble’s previous campaigns, databases, and social media analytics to understand who uses this dating app.

1.2. Building Buyer Personas

  • Segment your audience: Divide your potential buyers into segments based on common characteristics, such as age, location, income level, job title, etc.
  • Identify behavioral patterns: Look for patterns in purchasing behavior, online activity, and engagement with your marketing content.
  • Create detailed profiles: For each segment, create a complex persona. Include customer demographics (age, gender, income, etc.), behavioral traits (buying habits, preferred communication channels), and psychographic elements (values, interests, lifestyle).
  • Include unique characteristics: Look for niche behaviors and interests that distinguish a segment. These details give you competitive advantages in targeting.
  • Validate and update regularly: Use real data from current customers and feedback to validate your personas and ensure they’re accurate. Update them regularly to reflect changes in customer behavior and market trends.

Insider Story: Bumble (Part 2)

We found that most of Bumble’s users are young Gen Z-ers looking to make real connections with the people they date.

We also discovered these people are adventurous and energetic. Their favorite channels included social media, especially TikTok.

1.3. Explore Segments Your Competitors Missed

To explore segments your competitors might have missed, look at their audience segments and identify gaps.

You can use:

  • Market reports to discover industry trends
  • Social media listening tools to identify users’ complaints or pain points
  • Government data discussing population changes, economic shifts, and other factors

You should also:

Identify new trends that your competitors haven’t capitalized on yet, such as:

  • Shifts in consumer behavior
  • New technology adoption
  • Evolving cultural norms

Insider Story: Bumble (Part 3)

We researched Bumble’s competitors and their behavior on social media. Our expert team discovered that these companies were missing a key niche.

An important audience segment comprises people going on their first dates.

That’s how we got to the first-date idea for the UGC campaign we built for Bumble:

2. Analyze Competitors

Key points:

  • Study competitors’ strategies, marketing tactics, and prospective customers to identify gaps and opportunities.
  • Learn from competitors while developing unique value propositions that set your business apart.

A thorough competitor analysis helps you identify opportunities you can leverage, such as niches and messages your competitors aren’t targeting.

You can also zero in on high-performing strategies they’re using that you can reverse-engineer

Here’s how to perform this competitor analysis to identify the best channels for customer acquisition:

  1. Identify your main competitors: List your direct competitors, meaning businesses with similar products and services with the same target audience. Then, list your indirect competitors – companies that compete for the same customer base with distinct products.
  2. Analyze your competitors’ online presence:
  • Website analysis: Examine their website structure, content, and user experience.
  • SEO strategies: Use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush to understand their search engine optimization tactics.
  • Social media analysis: Look at their social media channels to see engagement levels, content strategy, and audience interaction.
  • Email marketing: Subscribe to their newsletters to understand their email marketing strategy.
  1. Evaluate their sales channels:
  • Direct and indirect channels: Look at how they sell their product: directly, through partners, online, or offline channels.
  • Customer journey: Understand their customers’ steps from discovery to purchase.
  1. Look for gaps and opportunities:
  • Identify any potential market segments they might be overlooking.
  • Determine if there are any channels (like certain social media platforms or online events) they’re not leveraging effectively.
  • Adapt strategies that work well for them to increase your conversion rate.
  • Look for areas where they are lacking and consider how your business can fill those gaps.
  1. Develop Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP):
  • Based on the analysis above, identify how your product or service can stand out. This could be through unique features, pricing, customer service, or innovation.
  • Craft your marketing messages to highlight this UVP.

Insider Story: Aura Parental Control

In the case of Aura Parental Control, we saw that our competitors weren’t making the most of social media to target young parents with toddlers.

And most of Aura’s audience uses social channels to learn about their products. They are also preoccupied with their kids’ safety while using smartphones.

That was the free niche we could use to build Aura’s unique value proposition:

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