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Actually I think the info in the article is on the mark. The most important aspect is a systematic approach to obtaining customers.

The real tricky part though is figuring out how to use each traction approach (the article calls them verticals) properly. For example, in my first three years of business, I learned a bunch of hard lessons here. These include:

1) Most advertising doesn't work unless people already know of you. Push your advertising later. Advertising that does work at that stage is that which has a personal feel to it (like infomercials).

2) PR is golden. Go for it at every opportunity.

3) Your biggest friend is your competition. If you can reach out and build good relationships with folks who are already in the field, that is support that can't be underrated. I thought at first that this was specific to smaller businesses but it turns out that the more I look into it, the more many successful businesses of all size do it, and do well because of it.

4) Public service announcements are very good as well. If you are just doing tech support, and the local radio station has an open hour or so, call up every time there is a major virus outbreak and let folks know. Or buy advertisement space in these cases, or the like.




>Your biggest friend is your competition.

I dont get this. For example how can Google gain anything by maintaining a really good relationship with Bing.(which in fact they dont!)

Conversely,it seems like you can build traction by picking fights with your competition.Ex Tesla vs Edison, Google vs Bing, Apple vs Microsoft.


Bing is a new-comer. But I bet when Google started up, they would have gained a lot by having good relationships with Yahoo and Lycos. Moreover, I would be surprised if Google is not pursuing a good relationship overall with Microsoft even if it tense and filled with lawsuits around the edges.


Google did have a deal with Yahoo! early on and it was absolutely crucial because they got Google's branded search box on the Yahoo site




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