Marketing your startup is hard. You\u2019re likely working with a limited budget (if any at all), no name recognition, and an early-stage product that isn\u2019t nearly complete \u2014 but is functional enough that you\u2019re ready to roll it out for users.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve noticed that for a lot of first-time founders, the hardest part about marketing is just figuring out where to get started. In no particular order, here are five things I\u2019ve learned over the past few years:<\/p>\n
Take the time to study the competitors in your space and see what platforms work best for them. Remember that there are different, but overlapping audiences between social platforms. For example, you\u2019ll want to reach the overlapping group of users who are following you both on Facebook and Twitter. Crafting your strategy around this idea will help your brand reach a wider audience as your qualified leads share it with their friends and followers.<\/p>\n
Also, you\u2019re probably working with a small team, so focus on coming up with ideas and campaigns that are scalable. Think like your users and play the long game. Social media is a lot of work, so never underestimate how much effort it\u2019ll take to do it well.<\/p>\n
A lot of startups think they need to be everywhere and establish a presence at every corner of the Internet. They\u2019ll devote five percent of their resources in twenty different areas and wonder why the needle never moves. Let\u2019s be real, your company doesn\u2019t need a MySpace page. While your resources are limited, you should focus your efforts on the two or three social platforms that will have the most impact — most likely they\u2019ll be Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest.<\/p>\n
Reserve the appropriate handles everywhere else and stay focused on the tasks at hand. Be goal-oriented and reevaluate often.<\/p>\n
You need to be persistent in your initial efforts to get press. Be smart about it by coming up with clever and unique hooks for the appropriate writers. Figure out what topics different publications and reporters focus on, and then find a way to get your pitches to them through connections. Understand that they are extremely busy and always be respectful if they pass on your pitch. You\u2019ll find that beyond the initial spikes in traffic, press can also make an impact on your business development and fundraising efforts.<\/p>\n
Know the influencers in your market and build relationships with them over time. This includes brands, bloggers, reporters, and celebrities. Most likely they\u2019ll have a large following that in aggregate will become a large part of your customer base.<\/p>\n
Come up with partnership ideas that fit both party\u2019s goals and interests \u2014 think: content marketing, social media campaigns, paid advertising, joint contests, and events.<\/p>\n
Be creative and try new things because you never know what will work. If you notice that a particular campaign isn\u2019t working, throw it out and switch to something else. Observe what other brands are doing, try to reverse engineer their process, and modify it to fit your company. Always monitor your progress and set clear boundaries. Pour more resources into successful campaigns and see how far you can take it.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve found that experimenting in marketing means being wrong a lot and that\u2019s okay. Remember that this is a process that simply requires you to learn from the failures. You\u2019ll no doubt get better over time and develop an efficient process for testing out new ideas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Marketing your startup is hard. You\u2019re likely working with a limited budget (if any at all), no name recognition, and an early-stage product that isn\u2019t nearly complete \u2014 but is functional enough that you\u2019re ready to roll it out for users. I\u2019ve noticed that for a lot of first-time founders, the hardest part about marketing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":888,"featured_media":33688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n