Your Comprehensive Guide to Acquisition Marketing

With rising Customer Acquisition Costs (CACs) across nearly every sector and increasingly fragmented marketing channels, many businesses are struggling to devise sustainable acquisition marketing. Pouring resources into marketing campaigns with diminishing returns, unsure which acquisition channels truly deliver value, they struggle to balance acquisition with customer retention efforts.

Throughout this guide, you’ll learn how to develop an effective strategy that aligns with your target audience's journey, discover which marketing channels provide the best ROI for your specific product or service, and understand how to measure success beyond just conversion rates. Let's start by understanding exactly what customer acquisition is and how it differs from broader brand awareness initiatives.

Written by: Mark Camp | CEO & Founder Propello Cloud

Contents

Key Takeaways

 

	Acquisition marketing focuses specifically on consumers at the consideration stage who have already encountered your brand and are now contemplating your products or services.
	Understanding the distinction between brand awareness and acquisition marketing is crucial for developing targeted strategies that convert interest into action.
	A properly structured acquisition funnel transforms random marketing activities into a cohesive system that guides potential customers through discovery, consideration, conversion, and retention.
	The most effective acquisition strategies combine referral programmes and strategic brand partnerships to attract qualified leads at lower acquisition costs.
	Tracking key metrics like Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) is essential for measuring success and optimising your marketing efforts.
	Following a systematic approach to develop your customer acquisition strategy - from auditing current performance to testing and refining - ensures alignment with business objectives.
	Behavioural segmentation is more effective than demographic targeting alone when understanding your target audience for acquisition purposes.
	The ideal CLV:CAC ratio should be at least 3:1, indicating each customer brings in three times more revenue than it costs to acquire them.

What is Acquisition Marketing?

Acquisition marketing is the process of attracting and converting new customers into paying customers. They've encountered your brand, engaged with it during the awareness stage, appreciate what they've seen, and are now contemplating your products or services.

Acquisition Marketing vs Brand Awareness

It's easy to confuse strategies that build brand awareness with those typically employed in acquisition marketing. Both approaches aim to acquire new customers. However, strategies for building brand awareness are designed to create interest and awareness for a product or service, with the ultimate aim of driving leads and sales.

There's certainly an element of persuading leads to consider the brand at the awareness stage. That's why understanding what actions compel a prospect to climb the loyalty ladder towards consideration is vital. 

Put simply:

From my perspective, the distinction is crucial. When speaking with clients, I often explain that brand awareness creates the foundation, while targeted acquisition marketing converts that awareness into tangible business results. The real magic happens when both work in harmony, creating a seamless journey for your target audience.

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Why an Acquisition Marketing Strategy is Important

As I alluded to earlier, customer acquisition sometimes gets a bad rap these days. Many businesses overly focus on the costs of acquisition, especially when compared to the value of customer retention. I’ll be the first to admit there are risks to concentrating too heavily on acquisition. But just as focusing only on retention can leave growth opportunities untapped, the real advantage lies in striking the right balance between an effective acquisition strategy and strong retention efforts.

Neglecting acquisition is a sure path towards plateauing because it means missing out on innovative marketing approaches, particularly acquisition marketing’s ability to leverage partnerships, referral programmes, and other new emerging channels. Each is proven to be exceptionally effective and just as beneficial as retention for sustainable business growth.

We've already seen how acquisition channels impact the trajectory of business growth. Put these together in a comprehensive acquisition marketing strategy and any company can increase its outreach and market share, while targeting specific audience segments with unrivalled precision. Which is why acquisition marketing is important for any business, whether mature or startup. After all, new business is the lifeblood of any organisation.

There are many approaches to effective acquisition marketing. Below are three examples that highlight just how powerful acquisition strategies can be when applied thoughtfully:

The reciprocal nature of these strategies creates a win-win scenario where your existing customers become advocates, effectively extending your marketing efforts through trusted channels. This not only improves your acquisition cost metrics but also tends to bring in customers with higher lifetime value.

These are just a few examples of how acquisition marketing strategies can unlock new growth opportunities. From partnerships and referrals to emerging channels like retail media, businesses today have a wide range of options to strengthen their acquisition engines. 

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Brand Partnerships as an Acquisition Marketing Strategy

You can acquire new customers through the power of brand partnerships. Look for businesses whose products or services complement your own. Think gym clubs and protein powder, or smartphone companies and a gaming company co-creating an app.

A partner’s paying customer is more likely to consider your offerings when they feel more relevant. That’s why brand partnerships work so well in acquisition marketing.

A study by Forrester reported:

• 49% of businesses who implemented partnerships experienced a boost in revenues
• 45% reported an increase in brand awareness with a target audience

Partnerships expose your brand to new audiences without the costs of paid ads. They help you attract and convert new customers who are naturally at the consideration stage due to relevancy, credibility, and exclusivity.

Here's how to boost the impact of brand partnerships on your customer acquisition rates:

Reciprocal Marketing: Acquiring Audiences of Complementary Brands

As mentioned previously, finding the ideal partner requires several key elements. First, there should be no conflict of interests. Second, both parties should mutually gain from the partnership. Finally, agree on the specific type of collaboration.

Effective partnerships often involve identifying demand for each other's product or service within your respective customer bases. For example, partners could survey their customers with questions like:

• Would you like to see offers from our partnered brands?
• Would you be interested in a discount code for [specific product] from our partner?

The first question reveals whether customers are interested in the partnered brand. The second confirms if the selected partner resonates with your audience and identifies segments already in the consideration stage for partner offerings.

Celebrate Your Partners

This might sound obvious, but it's important to publicly celebrate your partners. It’s best to avoid thinking of partnerships as collaboration between competitors. You're co-creating unique and relevant experiences with brands that complement your offerings.

Agree on communication guidelines before officially launching. This is where marketing channels for acquisition come into play. You might announce the partnership through content marketing or email marketing. The key is ensuring your audience knows about the collaboration.

Studies show 68% of consumers make purchase decisions after seeing a joint promotional campaign. You'll not only tap into leads at the consideration stage in your partner's customer base, but all partners will gain fresh prospects at the consideration stage too.

Communicate the Benefits 

Recognise the power of co-created promotions and offers. Over 85% of customers find brands who co-create value more trustworthy. While transferable brand equity benefits the partnered brands, customers also win in multiple ways.

They receive unique customer experiences with highly relevant rewards that feel personally tailored. Customers particularly value partnered promotions that help in their daily lives, like offsetting food costs or providing insurance discounts.

Your messaging should emphasise the exclusivity and tangible benefits of these offers. By doing this, you and your partners create compelling differentiation in your respective markets, driving both acquisition and conversion rates.

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Referral Marketing as an Acquisition Marketing Strategy

Referral marketing is without a doubt one of the most powerful customer acquisition strategies. Most satisfied customers willingly refer brands to friends and family, and since referrals are the most trusted form of advertisement, these leads convert at significantly higher rates.

At Propello, we've seen referral programmes consistently outperform other acquisition channels in both conversion rate and long-term value. Referrals drive acquisition through highly qualified leads who are naturally more receptive to your brand. Brand advocacy also builds positive brand equity while helping acquire new customers at lower costs than traditional channels.

Here are three effective approaches to give your referral strategy more oomph:

Ask for Feedback

Let customers have their say. According to Microsoft, 77% of consumers prefer brands that ask for feedback. Reviews guide improvement and help identify issues with your product or service before they become problems.

Feedback is particularly important when leveraging brand advocacy to drive customer acquisition. Addressing weak points ensures your customer experience remains at a standard worth sharing with others.

Encourage Sharing

Make your referral process seamless. Nothing frustrates brand champions more than complexity. Referral links should work effortlessly whether via email marketing, social media, or QR codes.

Referring others to your brand should be just as easy as talking about it. The simpler you make the process, the better your referral programme will perform.

Personalise the Process

Create personalised content for both advocates and prospects. Use analytics to understand preferences and buyer journey position. Incentivise advocates to encourage conversions with rewards ranging from discounts to free products.

According to Epsilon, 80% of consumers make their first purchase after receiving a personalised recommendation.

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Retail Media as an Acquisition Marketing Strategy

Retail media is rapidly becoming one of the most effective tools for customer acquisition. It places your brand and products directly in front of potential customers at the point of purchase or discovery — when buying intent is at its highest.

Retail media networks such as Amazon Ads, Walmart Connect, and Tesco Media allow brands to reach shoppers who are already browsing for relevant products. Unlike casual browsers on social media, these users are much closer to making a purchase decision, making them prime targets for acquisition.

In fact, 73% of advertisers plan to increase their retail media network spend this year to reach consumers precisely at the point of purchase. 

Here’s how retail media supports customer acquisition strategies:


High-Intent Audience Targeting

Retailers' platforms enable you to target high-intent audiences; people actively shopping for products like yours. As a result, acquisition efforts become more precise and results-driven compared to broader awareness campaigns. Retail media’s ability to introduce brands to new customers makes it “a clear winner” for consumer marketers. 

Sponsored Product Placements and Ads

Sponsored listings, banner ads, and search placements inside online retail environments drive immediate product visibility. These placements directly influence first-time purchases by putting your offer in front of the right shoppers at the right time.

Data-Driven Targeting

Retail media leverages rich first-party data, including browsing and purchase behaviour, to deliver hyper-targeted ads. Brands can identify and engage likely new customers with far greater accuracy than through third-party cookie-based channels. Top-performing retail media campaigns can deliver 5–10 times higher return on ad spend (ROAS) compared to traditional digital advertising.

Co-Branded Acquisition Campaigns

Some retail media networks allow brands to collaborate with retailers on co-branded campaigns, offering exclusive deals or trials aimed at attracting new customers who already trust the retailer’s platform.

Attribution and Conversion Measurement

Retail media platforms typically offer closed-loop reporting, allowing brands to see exactly how many sales resulted from a specific ad. This direct attribution enables marketers to optimise acquisition efforts based on real-world conversion data — not just impressions or clicks.

Omnichannel Acquisition Opportunities

Retail media extends beyond digital storefronts. In-store placements such as digital screens, shelf-edge ads, and point-of-sale displays can influence shoppers on-site, bridging online and offline acquisition strategies seamlessly.

Retail media ad spending in the U.S. is set to grow 26% in 2024, reaching about $67 billion this year. That accounts for nearly 20% of all digital ad spend. Growth this rapid suggests brands’ are increasingly reliant on retail media for customer acquisition.

Ultimately, retail media is not just about brand awareness — it's a high-performance acquisition channel that targets high-intent audiences with measurable, conversion-focused outcomes.

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Building a Successful Acquisition Marketing Strategy

Creating an effective acquisition marketing strategy requires more than just implementing random marketing campaigns. It demands a systematic approach that aligns your business objectives with the needs of your target audience. 

Steps to Develop an Effective Acquisition Strategy

The most successful acquisition strategies follow a clear development process:

1. Audit Your Current Performance: Before making changes, assess your existing conversion rates, customer acquisition costs, and channel effectiveness. This baseline data is crucial for measuring improvement.

2. Define Your Value Proposition: Clearly articulate what makes your product or service uniquely valuable to potential customers. This should address specific pain points your target audience experiences.

3. Map the Customer Journey: Identify all touchpoints where prospects interact with your brand, from initial brand awareness to post-purchase experience. 

4. Select Appropriate Channels: Choose marketing channels that align with your audience's preferences and behaviours. Not every channel works for every business model or customer segment.

5. Create Compelling Content: Develop marketing content that addresses customer needs at each funnel stage. Different content formats serve different purposes in the acquisition funnel.

6. Implement Measurement Systems: Establish tracking mechanisms for all key metrics to evaluate performance and identify opportunities for improvement.

7. Test and Refine: Start with small-scale implementations, measure results, and optimise before scaling successful approaches.

Understanding Your Target Audience

The foundation of any successful acquisition marketing strategy is a deep understanding of the people you're trying to reach:

Behavioural Segmentation: Group prospects based on their actions and engagement patterns rather than just demographics. How they interact with your brand often reveals more about their purchase readiness than their age or location.

Intent Signals: Identify the specific behaviours that indicate purchase intent for your particular product or service. These signals vary dramatically by industry and offering.

Competitive Analysis: Understand who your prospects currently buy from and why. This reveals gaps your offering can address.

Voice of Customer Research: Conduct interviews with existing customers to understand their decision process. What convinced them to choose your solution over alternatives?

By building your acquisition strategy on these foundational elements, you create a system that not only attracts prospects but efficiently converts them into valuable customers. The most effective strategies continually evolve based on performance data, market changes, emerging marketing channels and optimising the acquisition marketing funnel. 

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Understanding the Acquisition Marketing Funnel

The acquisition marketing funnel represents the journey potential customers take from first discovering your brand to becoming paying clients. Unlike traditional marketing approaches that cast a wide net, a properly structured acquisition funnel specifically targets prospects showing genuine interest in your product or service, significantly increasing conversion rates while optimising your marketing budget.

This structured approach is fundamental to successful acquisition marketing because it transforms random marketing activities into a cohesive, measurable system. By understanding each stage of the customer journey, businesses can deploy targeted interventions exactly when and where potential customers need them, reducing wasted spend and focusing resources on prospects with genuine purchase intent rather than broad audiences who may never convert.

The Stages of the Acquisition Funnel

I've found the most effective acquisition funnels typically include four key stages:

1. Discovery - Prospects become aware of your solution through organic search, digital advertising, or social platforms.

2. Consideration - Leads evaluate your offering by exploring product comparisons and user reviews.

3. Conversion - Prospects make their first purchase, becoming part of your customer base.

4. Retention - New customers receive onboarding and support to enhance customer satisfaction.

Each stage requires specific strategies to move prospects forward in their buying journey.

Mapping Marketing Tactics to Customer Journey

The most successful acquisition strategies align specific marketing techniques with each stage of the customer journey:

Discovery Stage: Generate quality inbound traffic through SEO optimisation, strategic social media presence, and targeted display ads. Your goal is presenting solutions to problems your ideal prospects are actively researching.

Consideration Stage: Deploy lead nurturing through compelling case studies, informative product demos, and honest competitor comparisons. This is where potential customers are evaluating options against their specific needs.

Conversion Stage: Implement frictionless checkout processes, clear value propositions, and compelling incentives to finalise the purchase decision. Your marketing efforts here should focus on removing final barriers to purchase.

Retention Stage: Utilise personalised onboarding and post-purchase engagement to ensure satisfaction and create advocacy opportunities that feed new prospects into your funnel.

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Marketing Channels for Acquisition 

Acquisition marketing relies on various distribution channels to reach potential customers with content, specifically tailored for a targeted audience at the consideration stage. While most channels are digital, traditional approaches like mail marketing can still be effective.

Examples include:

• Brand partnerships
• Blogging
• Email marketing
• Influencers and affiliate marketing
• Mail marketing
• Paid ads
• Premium content
• Referral programmes
• Social media
• Video and visual media
• Websites

From my experience working with brands across industries, certain channels consistently outperform others for specific business models. 

Subscription-based services typically see exceptional results with referral programmes and strategic brand partnerships. According to the Wharton School of Business, there’s a 37% higher retention rate with customers that came through referrals.  

For Ecom businesses with a membership component, email marketing and personalised content marketing typically generate the highest ROI. In fact, Campaign Monitor reports that email marketing delivers an average ROI of 4,200% ($42 for every $1 spent).

The key is identifying which channels align with your business objectives and resonate most with your audience. I've found that hyper-relevant, reciprocal approaches yield the best results, especially when they complement your intrinsic value proposition.

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Tracking and Measuring Acquisition Marketing

As with any successful strategy, data-gathering and analytics tools are essential. Running an acquisition marketing campaign requires consistent and thorough tracking. 

In my experience working with enterprise clients, this is where many businesses fall short. They implement various marketing channels but fail to properly measure which ones truly drive customer acquisition. More often than not, giving up in the process, and bemoaning customer acquisition due to its high cost. 

When in reality, all they needed to do was track key metrics and KPIs, in order to optimise their marketing campaigns. Consistent monitoring of acquisition marketing efforts help avoid wasting resources. That’s because data-informed decisions provide insights on how and when to adjust your approach.

Here are two essential KPIs you should track to achieve an effective customer acquisition strategy:

Customer Acquisition Costs (CAC)

You need to consider the costs of acquisition to your company if it's your main focus. When it comes to tracking it, there's no metric better suited than customer acquisition cost. CAC represents the total cost of acquiring new customers.

How Do You Calculate Customer Acquisition Costs?

Total acquisition costs include expenses such as advertising and marketing efforts; pay-per-click ads, social media ads, digital ads, etc. Sales team commissions and salaries, software or technology, lead generation, and any other expenditures directly related to acquiring new customers should also be factored into costs.

Formula for CAC 

CAC in a given period is calculated by dividing the total sales and marketing expenses by the number of acquired customers. The formula is:

Customer acquisition cost = Marketing and sales expenses                                                                     
                                                    ---------------------------------
                                                    Total number of acquired customers

Customer Lifetime Value (CLV or LTV)

All the time and effort put into your acquisition marketing should pay off in the long term. That's why customer lifetime value is the next critical metric. CLV tells you how much revenue you can expect from a single customer throughout their relationship with your business.

After you've acquired considering leads, track the value they bring to your company. That way, you know for certain that all the effort you've put into acquiring this particular segment of your target audience is worth it.

Customer lifetime value is also perfect for measuring loyalty when shifting to customer retention strategies. 

How to Calculate CLV

Set a period to measure CLV. This could be the first six months after a customer was acquired through referral marketing.

1. Add up the purchase value of every customer in the period you set. Then divide this amount by the total number of purchases made. This gives you the average purchase value: APV = Total Revenue / Total Number of Purchases
   
   

2. Next, calculate the average purchase frequency (PF) of each customer in the specified timeframe. Divide the total number of purchases by the number of customers: PF = Total Number of Purchases / Total Number of Customers
   
   

3. Calculate the average customer lifespan (CL). This is the average length of time a customer stays with the brand and keeps purchasing. You can determine this by calculating churn rate: Lost Customers / Total Customers at the Start of Time Period x 100
   
   

4. Now multiply APV by PF and times that by your customer retention rate (CRR): CLV = Average Purchase Value x Purchase Frequency x Customer Lifespan x Customer Retention Rate

Or the simplified formula is:

CLV = Customer Value x Average Customer Lifespan

The real power comes from comparing your CLV to your CAC. According to widely recognised industry benchmarks, businesses should aim for a CLV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1. As venture capitalist David Skok notes in his 'For Entrepreneurs' blog, this indicates that each customer brings in three times more revenue than it costs to acquire them - a clear sign of sustainable growth.

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Launch Your Acquisition Marketing Strategy

Mastering the art of customer acquisition unlocks unprecedented growth by targeting specific segments of leads at the consideration stage. Combining referral programmes and brand partnerships in your acquisition marketing strategy, will attract qualified leads at a fraction of traditional costs. 

Through word-of-mouth marketing and strategic partnerships, you tip the scale toward conversion while building credibility among new audiences. The combination of relevant rewards with targeted marketing channels creates a value proposition that resonates with your target audience.

Remember, effective customer acquisition not only brings in new business. It also brings in the right business that drives long-term value.

FAQS

What is the difference between acquisition marketing and brand awareness?

Acquisition marketing targets consumers at the consideration stage who are evaluating your offerings. It focuses on converting interested leads into customers. Brand awareness strategies aim to capture initial attention and introduce your brand to new audiences. One generates demand; the other converts it.

How do I calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)?

Calculate Customer Acquisition Cost by dividing your total sales and marketing expenses by the number of new customers acquired in a specific period. Include all advertising, marketing campaigns, sales team expenses, software, and costs directly related to acquiring customers.

Which acquisition channels work best for subscription-based businesses?

For subscription-based businesses, referral programmes and strategic brand partnerships typically yield the best results. Referrals generate highly qualified leads with higher retention rates, while partnerships provide access to complementary audiences without the high costs of traditional channels.

How can I improve my referral marketing strategy?

Improve your referral marketing by soliciting customer feedback, simplifying your sharing process, and personalising the experience. Ensure referral links work effortlessly across channels. Incentivise advocates with relevant rewards and use analytics to continuously refine your programme.

What metrics should I track to measure acquisition marketing success?

Track Customer Acquisition Cost, Customer Lifetime Value, conversion rates by channel, and lead-to-customer percentages. Also monitor engagement metrics, click-through rates, and time-to-conversion to diagnose issues in your acquisition funnel and optimise performance.

How do I find the right brand partners for acquisition marketing?

Identify businesses with complementary offerings and no conflicts of interest. Ensure mutual benefit and agreement on collaboration type. Survey customers to gauge interest in potential partners and identify segments already considering partner offerings.

What is a good CLV:CAC ratio to aim for?

Industry benchmarks suggest aiming for a CLV:CAC ratio of at least 3:1, meaning each customer brings in three times more revenue than their acquisition cost. This indicates sustainable growth and efficient marketing spend. Higher ratios may suggest underinvestment.

How can I understand my target audience better for acquisition marketing?

Use behavioural segmentation rather than demographics alone. Identify specific intent signals for your industry. Conduct competitive analysis to understand why prospects choose competitors. Interview existing customers about their decision process and pain points.

What are the stages of an effective acquisition funnel?

An effective acquisition funnel typically includes: Discovery (awareness through search or ads), Consideration (evaluation), Conversion (first purchase), and Retention (onboarding and support). Each stage requires specific marketing tactics tailored to the customer's journey.

How can small businesses compete with larger competitors in acquisition marketing?

Focus on niche target audiences, leverage referral programmes, form strategic partnerships, and create personalised experiences. Emphasise unique value propositions and build community around your brand to drive word-of-mouth marketing at lower costs.

Author Bio

Mark Camp | CEO & Founder at PropelloCloud.com | LinkedIn


Mark is the Founder and CEO of Propello Cloud, an innovative SaaS platform for loyalty and customer engagement. With over 20 years of marketing experience, he is passionate about helping brands boost retention and acquisition with scalable loyalty solutions.

Mark is an expert in loyalty and engagement strategy, having worked with major enterprise clients across industries to drive growth through rewards programmes. He leads Propello Cloud's mission to deliver versatile platforms that help organisations attract, engage and retain customers.