Customer Acquisition — First Principles for Product Managers

How to execute your Customer Acquisition plan

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I’ve been a non-competitive runner for over a decade now, but I’ve never really had any formal training in improving my speedwork, or efficiency. As I hit my late thirties, I began to realize the need for a training program to increase my running efficiency and speed without getting injured. A few google searches later — articles and blogs from Runner’s World started to pop up in my feed. I ended subscribing to their newsletter. I must say Runner’s World is a great resource for people who want to get stronger with their running.

Another interesting thing happened as soon as I subscribed to these blog posts — I became a Lead in Runner’s World’s Customer Acquisition Funnel. I was somebody that was obviously interested in running, and Runner’s world has plenty of paid products to sell me (after all its a business).

I started receiving my fair share of free articles and blog posts in my mailbox, each one ever so subtly pushing me to purchase their premium/paid content and merchandise. This is a classic example of Customer Acquisition Machines in perpetual motion. If you look at…