Date: 2026-06-16 Companion to: readme/ACQUISITION_CHANNELS_2026-06-15.md (the why). This doc is the how — copy-paste-ready scripts, lists, page outlines, and trackers so a founder can start on Monday. Scope: The two primary bets only. BET 1 = founder-led manual outreach fused with 2 print communities. BET 2 = bottom-of-funnel SEO + a free standalone design tool. Everything here is manual, near-zero-cash, and built to throw off the messaging the rest of the funnel reuses.

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0. The one-page operating rhythm

A solo founder can run both bets in ~12–15 focused hours/week:

Block	Time/wk	What
Outreach (Bet 1)	5–6 h	10–15 hand-picked shops/day → branded Loom → follow-ups → log objections
Community (Bet 1)	3–4 h	Answer 3–5 threads/day across your 2 owned communities; 1 build-in-public post/wk
SEO assets (Bet 2)	4–5 h	Ship 1 comparison/BOFU page per week; build the free tool in a front-loaded sprint
Review	30 min	Update the tracker; read CAC/Volume/Fit; decide what to do more/less of

The non-negotiable: every objection, every “I already use ___”, every “but can it ___” goes into the Objection Log (§5). That log is the real product of week 1–4 — it writes your homepage, your onboarding, and every BOFU page in Bet 2.

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BET 1 — Founder-led outreach + communities

1. Build the list (Week 1, ~free)

Target profile. Small print/sign/apparel/promo/POD shops that (a) take orders by phone/email/walk-in and (b) have a weak site or no online ordering. These feel the pain most and have the least lock-in.

Where to source (free):

• Google Maps — search screen printing, sign shop, print shop, embroidery, promotional products in target metros. Each result has phone, site, reviews.
• Yelp / Yellow Pages — same categories; good for filtering by “no website”.
• Trade directories — Printing United Alliance / former SGIA member directory, NAQP, local print-association member lists.
• Instagram — hashtags #screenprinting #customtshirts #signshop #printshop; DM-able owners who post their work but link to a Linktree, not a store.

Qualify each row (the filter that matters):

1. Do they have a website? (no site = stronger pain, but slower to close)
2. Can a customer order or upload artwork online right now? (if no → ideal)
3. Is there a visible owner/name to personalize to?
4. Any sign of size (reviews count, team photos) — favor 1–10 person shops.

Tracker columns (spreadsheet is fine — this is your CRM for now):

Shop name | Owner name | City | Phone | Website | Online ordering? (Y/N) |
IG/FB | Source | Status | Loom link | Last touch date | Next touch date |
Objection / notes | Outcome

Status values: Not contacted → Loom sent → Opened → Replied → Demo booked → Trial → Paying → Dead.

Goal for week 1: 100–200 qualified rows, top 50 flagged for first-wave outreach.

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2. The pitch asset — a pre-branded demo store + 60-second Loom

This is the whole edge. Text can’t convey “your brand, live, in a real store.” A 60-second screen recording can.

Before recording, for each top prospect:

• Spin up a Print-Flow-360 demo store.
• Drop in their logo (grab from their site/IG) and rough-match their brand colors (the store-theme branding makes this a one-color change).
• Add 2–3 products they actually sell (business cards, banners, tees).

Loom script (≈60 seconds):

“Hey [Owner name], [Your name] here — I run a tool called Print-Flow-360. I follow [Shop name] on Instagram and noticed customers have to call or email to order. So I built you something — take a look. [show store] This is your shop’s own online store: your logo, your colors. A customer picks business cards, [click] uploads their artwork right here, sees the price instantly, [click] and checks out — no back-and-forth with you. [show order landing in admin] The order lands here with the print-ready file attached. It took me about 10 minutes to set this up for you. If you want, I’ll hand you the keys and you can try it free this week — no card, no commitment. Reply and I’ll send the login. Either way, keep up the great work.”

Why it lands: specific to them, shows the visual “wow”, names the exact pain (phone/email back-and-forth), and the ask is zero-risk (“free this week, no card”).

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3. Outreach copy (manual — never automate at this stage)

Rule: send these by hand, from your real inbox / real LinkedIn / real IG DMs. No sequencer, no 20-inbox warm-up. SaaS is the lowest-replying cold vertical (2–4%); the only thing that beats that here is genuinely personalized, founder-sent touches. Automation also creates CAN-SPAM / GDPR liability for a thin subscription.

3a. Email — first touch

Subject: Built a demo store for [Shop name]

Hi [Owner name],

I build online stores specifically for print shops, and I made one for [Shop name] to show you what it’d look like — your logo, your colors, your products.

60-second look: [Loom link]

It lets your customers order, upload their artwork, and pay online — so you stop doing the back-and-forth over text and email. Want me to hand you the keys to try it free this week? No card, nothing to cancel.

[Your name] [phone] · [link]

3b. Email — follow-up (3 business days later, if opened/no reply)

Subject: Re: Built a demo store for [Shop name]

Hi [Owner name], didn’t want this to get buried. The demo store I set up for you is still live here: [Loom link]. Happy to walk you through it on a 10-min call, or just send the login so you can poke around yourself. Which is easier?

3c. Email — breakup (touch 3, ~1 week later)

Subject: Should I close the demo store?

Hi [Owner name] — I’ll take the [Shop name] demo store down at the end of the week unless you want it. No worries either way; just reply “keep it” and it’s yours to try. Thanks for the time!

(The breakup consistently out-pulls another “just checking in.” It also gives you a clean reason to stop — respect the no.)

3d. Instagram / Facebook DM

Hey [Shop name]! Love your [recent post / specific product]. I build online stores for print shops and made a quick demo with your branding — mind if I send a 60-sec video? Customers could order + upload art straight from your page. No pitch, just thought it was cool to see your brand in it 👀

3e. LinkedIn — connection note + first message

Connection note: Hi [Name] — I work with print shop owners on online ordering. Made a demo store with [Shop name]'s branding I'd love to show you.

After accept: (send the 3a body)

Cadence per prospect: Touch 1 (Loom) → wait 3 business days → Touch 2 → wait ~5 days → breakup. Stop at 3 touches. Move dead rows to Dead and harvest the objection.

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4. Community playbook (own TWO, not ten)

Your two to OWN:

1. r/SCREENPRINTING (large, active, owner-heavy) — public, searchable, answers index in Google.
2. “Screen Printing Q&A” private Facebook group (~14k, pro-skewed) — request to join, answer the “how do I take orders online / what software” threads.

Background presence (value-add, not owned): Signs101 (~46k), T-ShirtForums — forum answers rank in Google for years.

The discipline (≈95/5 helpful-to-promo):

• Set free saved searches for: online ordering, artwork upload, web to print, storefront, take orders online, proof approval, what software.
• Answer those threads product-agnostically and genuinely. Mention Print-Flow-360 only when it’s literally the best answer to the exact question — and disclose you built it.
• One build-in-public post per week: a before/after, a design-studio clip, “here’s how I solved artwork approval.” Visual beats text in these groups.
• Around week 4–6, message mods and request an AMA: “I built a ‘Shopify for print shops’ — happy to do an AMA, here’s proof / what I’ve learned.” Don’t post it without mod sign-off.
• Recruit 3–5 active members as free design partners; their live stores become the case-study posts the community trusts more than any ad.

What NOT to do: drive-by “check out my tool” links, DMing people who didn’t ask, posting the same thing to ten groups. One spam flag in a niche this small is expensive.

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5. The Objection Log (the real deliverable of weeks 1–4)

Single sheet, append every time someone pushes back or hesitates:

Date | Source (email/DM/community/demo) | Shop | Exact words | Category | What it tells us

Categories to tag: price · already-use-X (which competitor?) · too-complex · no-time · trust/risk · missing-feature · not-online-yet · other.

How it feeds everything:

• Most common already-use-X → tells you which comparison pages to build first in Bet 2 (§7).
• Repeated missing-feature → product roadmap signal.
• The exact words people use → your homepage headline, onboarding copy, and BOFU page intros. Use their language, not yours.

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BET 2 — BOFU SEO + free design tool

Slow (ranks at 9–12 months) so it can’t carry near-term revenue — but cheap, compounding, on-brand for a visual product, and fed directly by the Objection Log. Front-load the one-time builds now; let them compound while Bet 1 produces cash.

6. Front-load these assets (one-time builds)

Priority order:

1. 5–10 comparison / “alternatives” pages (§7) — highest intent, lowest competition, directly answers already-use-X.
2. The free standalone design tool (§8) — engineering-as-marketing magnet + live product demo.
3. 3–5 JTBD guides (§9) — written in the exact objection language.

Each page gets: a single, specific CTA; a live demo store embedded or linked; real screenshots of the design studio; and an honest, link-out-able comparison (no fake trashing — credibility ranks and converts).

7. Comparison-page build list

The verified competitor SERP (from the research doc): InkSoft, DecoNetwork, OnPrintShop, DesignNBuy/PrintXpand, Printavo, plus Shopify/Wix as the generic alternative. Build these titles (let the Objection Log reorder them — whoever shows up most as already-use-X goes first):

Page title	Primary intent	CTA
[Competitor] Alternatives for Print Shops (2026) — one per top competitor	”is there something better/cheaper"	"See your shop’s store in 10 min”
Print-Flow-360 vs DecoNetwork vs InkSoft	head-to-head comparison shoppers	side-by-side table → demo
Best Web-to-Print Software for Small Print Shops	category buyer	demo store
Online Ordering Software for Print Shops	the term you can actually win	demo store
How much does web-to-print software cost?	price-shoppers (the price objection)	transparent pricing → trial

Comparison-page skeleton (reuse for each):

1. One-line answer up top (who it’s best for).
2. Honest comparison table (features, who-it’s-for, pricing transparency).
3. “Where [Competitor] is strong” — builds trust.
4. “Where Print-Flow-360 fits better” — your wedge (non-technical owners, fast setup, visual studio).
5. Embedded live demo store + studio screenshots.
6. Single CTA: dedicated landing page with the same Loom-style demo.

8. Free standalone design tool (engineering-as-marketing)

Expose the existing Fabric.js design studio as a free, no-login tool: a business-card / flyer / t-shirt maker. This is the Ahrefs/Canva playbook — a free tool that pulls top-of-funnel traffic and doubles as a live demo of your core differentiator.

Spec for v1:

• No login required to start designing; gentle “save/order → create free account” gate at export.
• 1–2 product types to start (business card + flyer), template gallery seeded from product data.
• Soft, on-brand CTA: “Want to sell designs like this from your own store? → start free.”
• SEO target: free business card maker, free flyer maker, online [product] designer (high volume; the gate converts a slice to product trials).
• Instrument: every export and account-create gets a UTM/source so you can read tool → trial conversion.

9. JTBD guides (write last, in the customer’s words)

Use the exact phrasing from the Objection Log. Examples the niche actually searches:

• “How to let customers approve print proofs online”
• “How to take print orders online without a developer”
• “How to let customers upload artwork for printing”
• “How to start selling print products online (for an existing shop)”

Each guide ends with the relevant comparison page + a demo store CTA.

10. SEO guardrails

• Do target BOFU/comparison/category/JTBD terms you can win.
• Don’t chase print on demand / how to start a print on demand business — owned by Printful/Printify/Gelato/Shopify/Wix, unwinnable for 1–2+ years.
• Mirror each money page with a single-CTA landing page + live demo.
• Don’t judge Bet 2 on revenue before ~9 months — judge it on leading indicators: pages indexed, first long-tail rankings within 90 days, organic signups trending up.

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11. Measurement — CAC / Volume / Fit (the Bullseye read)

Instrument from day one or you’ll fly blind. Attribution in a niche is fuzzy, so use explicit codes.

Channel	Attribution method	Volume metric	Fit signal
Outreach	tracker Status + Loom view + UTM on the link	demos booked / week	% of demos that are real shop owners who close
Community	per-community discount code + “where’d you hear?” on signup	signups / month	are they owners or hobbyists?
BOFU SEO	UTM per page + GSC rankings/impressions	organic signups / month (lagging); rankings (leading)	which pages convert to trials
Free tool	UTM on export → account-create	tool users → trials	do tool users become store trials

Kill / double-down criteria (set Week 0):

• Bet 1: must clear >8–10% positive-reply on hand-picked outreach and book demos that close. If manual founder outreach can’t clear that bar, automated cold email (which performs worse) won’t — shift weight to community + SEO. Do not scale into automation.
• Bet 2: pages indexed + first long-tail rankings within 90 days, organic signups trending up. Don’t abandon at 3 months for “no trials” — it ranks at 9–12.

Review cadence: weekly tracker update; first formal Bullseye read at Week 4–6; re-run the loop quarterly. When Bet 1 produces 10–20 reference stores, pre-test the next channel before it plateaus — the reseller/partnership play (OnPrintShop × Ricoh model, scaled to 1–2 regional dealers), now armed with live demo stores + case studies. Add a “Powered by Print-Flow-360” footer on free/low-tier storefronts as a free viral loop.

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12. Week-by-week (first 6 weeks)

Week	Bet 1	Bet 2
0	Set kill-criteria. Stand up tracker + Objection Log. Create the demo-store template + Loom recording setup.	Pick first 5 comparison-page titles. Set up GSC + UTM scheme.
1	Build list to 100–200; flag top 50. Join + lurk both communities; set saved searches.	Draft comparison-page skeleton; scope the free-tool v1.
2	Send first 50 branded Looms (manual). Start answering 3–5 community threads/day.	Ship comparison page #1 (+ its landing page + demo).
3	Follow-ups + breakups; book first demos. 1 build-in-public post.	Comparison page #2. Begin free-tool build sprint.
4	Second wave of 50; recruit 3–5 design partners; request mod AMA.	Comparison page #3. Free-tool alpha.
5	Run demos; convert to free trials; keep logging objections.	Comparison page #4. Free-tool v1 live + instrumented.
6	First Bullseye read — CAC/Volume/Fit on outreach + community. Decide double-down.	Comparison page #5; reorder remaining pages by the Objection Log; 1 JTBD guide.

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Companion to the strategy doc ACQUISITION_CHANNELS_2026-06-15.md. Everything here is manual and near-zero-cash by design — the moment a step needs automation or ad spend to work, re-read the kill-criteria before funding it.