At the most fundamental level, marketing is the process of converting unaware people into paying customers. Of all your activities, landing new customers is the heart and soul of your operation. Simply put, without customers you don’t have a business. Since they’re so important, your marketing assumptions should be the first that you derisk. It will be tempting to set them aside as you build the business, but that’s a mistake. You can’t start a business without also knowing where your customers will come from.
There are several customer acquisition factors that could drastically affect your go-to-market strategy. You might discover that an assumed sales channel has specific requirements that will impact product development. Or perhaps you’ll find that the cost of reaching your target market is astronomical. The earlier you explore these make-or-break assumptions, the more options you have and the better your chances for success. Saying you’re going to worry about customer acquisition later, that they’ll come if you build it, is akin to saying that your plan is to get lucky. While you need luck on your side, don’t make it the backbone of your plan.
