I was talking to a successful entrepreneur this afternoon and he made a statement that I agree with: most startups should emulate direct marketers and focus on customer acquisition costs from the out set. Companies like Capital One and American Express set the bar for being extremely effective direct marketers. So, why direct marketing for startups?
Direct marketing, as different from generic marketing, is centered around advertising with specific calls to action, like calling a phone number or filling out a form, and measuring the effectiveness. Most entrepreneurs get caught up in building a great product, which is critical, but there are more stories of inferior products with better sales and marketing teams beating out superior products. Building the direct marketer mindset into the DNA of the company from the beginning helps ingrain the importance of a metrics-driven approach to acquiring customers.
The product is the marketing. Sales are the lifeblood. Every entrepreneur needs to be a direct marketer.
David Cummings on Startups 
Great point about direct marketing. In addition to the costs, there’s also the revenue. The two key metrics for direct marketing are: cost of acquisition and lifetime customer value. Create a low cost of acquisition and a high lifetime customer value and you will have a great company.