Guides and Templates

Online customer acquisition guide

Create a structured plan to acquire new customers online and get ahead of your competitors

How will this guide help me and my business?

Acquisition marketing today can seem complex and daunting. The pace of change, plethora of established and evolving online channels and variety of consumer devices means lots of decisions about where to best invest your budget need to be made.

All the issues vying for your attention across SEO, social media, content marketing, online adverting and online PR can, unless you are careful, push you into the detail before you have stepped back and got a grip on the bigger picture - that's your online acquisition strategy.

This guide features a structured approach to creating an online acquisition plan by reviewing current performance; defining the right KPIs to control acquisition; creating a media and content engagement strategy; creating a zero-based budget model and reviewing attribution and tracking. It has been updated with advice for tracking and optimizing performance using Google Analytics 4 (GA4).

What does the acquisition guide cover?

The acquisition guide covers these seven steps:

  1. Review current acquisition effectiveness
  2. Set targets, objectives, and KPIs
  3. Acquisition strategy for audience targeting, customer journey and value propositions
  4. Acquisition strategy for media and content
  5. Model results and create acquisition budget
  6. Implement and manage acquisition media and content plan
  7. Optimize performance and review tracking

Resource Details

About the author

Rob Laurens

Rob Laurens is the author of Get Fit for Digital Business (Routledge 2019), a keynote speaker and the founder of Kaisen Digital, a digital transformation consultancy.

Over the last two decades, Rob has been helping organizations successfully transition to digital-first business models. He has held board roles in several mid-market companies, set up and led a digital agency in London and spent 7 years leading digital transformation across 104 SMEs worldwide as eCommerce Director at TUI Travel, the world’s leading travel brand. He has also worked as a consultant for a number of clients in the charity and heritage sectors, including the National Gallery. You can connect on LinkedIn.

Business memebrship badge icon Professional Membership is required

Access this resource now

Professional members get full access to this and other resources in the Integrated lifecycle marketing Toolkit.

Learn more about Professional membership Already a Professional member? Login here Guide cover
Look inside content

Trusted by marketers all over the world

Since 2009 our toolkits have helped thousands of marketers in over 170 countries to hit - and exceed - their targets.
Will you be next?

Globe illustration
Smart Insight partner logos

...plus over 165,000 consultants, agencies, entrepreneurs and SMB's in over 170 countries.

Get better results

Make your job easier

Tenfold improvement

Learn more about business membership
Smart insights logo
CLOSE