Writing for Intercom, a selection
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Startup marketing: strategies for year one
The most important tasks for any early stage startup are to write code and talk to users. When we started Intercom the latter was my job.
Understanding direct and indirect competition
Sometimes your customers really want to use your feature or product, but they also want something else that simply isn’t compatible with it. People really want to be slim and healthy, but they also really want soft drinks and fast food.
How Intercom got our first customers
There are two harsh truths for startups. 1: Until you have users, you don’t have a product. 2: Until they’re paying you, you don’t have a business.
Q&A: How to get better at public speaking
This week, one of our readers emailed us to ask: “What advice would you give someone who’s just getting started with public speaking?”
Reduce churn by re-engaging your customers
Churn is one of the most important metrics tracked by today’s startups. But also one of the most misunderstood.
5 simple messages to engage your customers
At Intercom, we’ve worked with hundreds of our customers, helping them target messages to their customers and improve their messaging schedules.
How to send good email – opens, clicks, conversions
A badly-written email is about as effective as a love letter addressed “To whom it may concern.” Don’t waste your time writing them.
Word of mouth
Word of mouth is the first traffic source. You can’t put a price on its value, and it sure as hell isn’t free. You’ll only get word of mouth when the same words come out of lots of different mouths.
What everyone needs to know about disruption
Every start-up from every incubator claims to be disruptive nowadays, but the claim always falls apart under any close examination. Usually it’s one of these three reasons.
Creative advertisements
Understanding the value of offline advertising is messy. Billboards, for example, are priced based on how many cars drive past them. Compared with impressions or click-throughs, that sort of metric is a joke.
Overcoming customer inertia
To create an anxiety relievable only by a purchase… that is the job of advertising.
What jobs does advertising do?
“Advertising on the web is easy: just calculate how much money a customer is worth, then find a way to advertise where you win customers for less than that amount. Voila! A money factory. Right?”
Measuring Viral Distribution
Explanations are explanations, promises are promises, diagrams are diagrams… but only performance is reality.
The fallacy of funnels
The funnel is a lousy metaphor for measuring conversion. In real life, funnels let everything pass through–a 100% conversion rate if you will.
Why startups need a strong vision
Meaningful companies are built upon a strong timeless vision. Let’s look at some examples.