Customer Acquisition Strategy
Acquisition isn't just about getting more people in. It's about reaching the right ones with the right message at the right moment. Here's how I approach that work — and what it's produced.
How to grow a customer base with intention — and numbers to show for it.
Growing a customer base sounds simple enough. Get more people in. Keep more people around. But anyone who has actually done it — run the campaigns, built the onboarding flows, pulled the data at the end of the quarter — knows it's a lot more layered than that.
I've spent the better part of a decade helping organizations figure out how to acquire the right customers, not just more of them. That's meant working inside banks, a global engineering association, and everything in between. And the through-line in all of it has been the same: sustainable acquisition comes from strategy, not just spend.
This pillar is where I share what I've learned — what works, what I've gotten wrong, and how I think about building acquisition programs that hold up over time.
Results I've helped drive
40%
YOY growth in new checking accounts
M&T Bank
20%
reduction in cost per acquisition
M&T Bank
30%
increase new member sign-ups
SAE International
20%
reduction in legacy member attrition
SAE International
These didn't happen by accident. They came from understanding the customer, building the right journey, and measuring what mattered.
What I Mean by 'Acquisition Strategy'
A lot of organizations conflate acquisition with advertising. Run more ads, get more leads. And sure, paid media is part of it — but it's one lever in a much bigger machine.
When I talk about acquisition strategy, I mean the full picture:
-
Who exactly are we trying to reach, and what do they actually need to hear?
-
What does the path from awareness to conversion look like — and where does it break down?
-
What content, channels, and campaigns will move people through that path?
-
How do we measure what's working without drowning in dashboards?
-
What happens right after someone converts — and how does that affect whether they stick around?
That last one is something I think about a lot. Acquisition and retention are not separate problems. The best acquisition strategies I've been part of were designed with the post-conversion experience in mind from day one.
Where I've done this work
Financial Services
Banking is a tough acquisition environment. Products are often perceived as interchangeable, trust is hard-won, and compliance puts real constraints on what you can say and how you can say it. I learned to be creative inside those constraints.
At M&T Bank, I owned deposits product marketing for small business owners — a segment with specific needs and serious skepticism toward generic marketing. We built a content hub, launched targeted paid campaigns, and streamlined the digital onboarding experience. The result was 40% YOY growth in new checking accounts with a 20% lower cost per acquisition.
At PNC, my work was more product-focused — managing the digital tools customers used to find branches, set appointments, and interact with staff. That experience taught me how much acquisition depends on the product itself. A bad onboarding flow can undo a great campaign.
Association Marketing
Member acquisition in the association world is its own discipline. You're selling belonging, not a product. Value is harder to quantify. And the decision to join (or renew) is often emotional as much as rational.
At SAE International, I partnered with product and content teams to build and test multi-touch journeys, using Demandbase and Salesforce to segment audiences and personalize outreach. We also addressed a structural issue: member and volunteer engagement had been treated as two separate experiences, which made it harder to show the full value of belonging. Connecting those journeys contributed to a 30% increase in new enrollment and a 25% reduction in attrition.
How I Approach Acquisition Projects
Every engagement is different, but I tend to follow a similar sequence when I'm starting acquisition work with a new client or team:
-
Start with research. Who is the customer today vs. who should it be? What are the gaps?
-
Map the journey. Where does someone go from first touch to conversion — and where do they drop off?
-
Define what success looks like before we start. Not just 'more leads' — actual metrics.
-
Build and test. Launch campaigns, content, or flows — then learn fast.
-
Measure the right things. Attribution is messy; I focus on the signals that actually predict retention.
Dive Deeper
The posts below explore specific pieces of this work in more detail.
