5 Simple Steps to Effectively Marketing your Startup
With all the noise on the internet, it can be hard to find marketing tips that actually work for your startup. Many of these downloads, courses, etc., create a gaping hole in your wallet, too.
I’ve been there, done that. There isn’t one single marketing effort that can make a big impact on your business. Instead, it’s a combination of doing a few things really well that will make your business grow.
As the CEO of Accelity, I’ve connected with thousands of startups and they all shared similar fears surrounding marketing. And I know firsthand, from bootstrapping my company from $0 to 7-figures, how to help get you real results for your business. My biggest key is you have to be realistic about what you can accomplish.
This won’t be a cakewalk full of how-to-go-viral hacks, but it also isn’t going to cost thousands of dollars upfront to get you actionable results.
Ready to do the work? Let’s go.
Full transparency: this article is a detailed preview of my course, Marketing for Cash-Strapped Startups. You can use this article to build a marketing plan by itself (I’m even linking to some FREE modules with content planning documents), or check out more about my course at the end.
Step 1: Create a Brand That Speaks for Itself
You know what you’re selling, you know how great it is—but no one knows who you are.
You have a million questions: How do you brand your company? How do you brand yourself? How do you make a good website? NOT arbitrarily, but it’s easy to get paralyzed by the number of options out there.
We’re going to dive into why it’s essential to nail down your brand (for your company and yourself) and my tips for getting started quickly and efficiently. As you’ll learn, I prefer FAST action over-elaborate and expensive.
I urge you to consider a personal brand. People buy from people.
If you’re uncomfortable, that’s ok! Everyone is when they start. You don’t need to be active on every single social media platform—you just have to get good at one.
A good brand requires time investment… ”post and ghost” (where you post and then don’t stick around to interact with people) does NOT work. It’s really important to keep up with engagement and your DMs—this is where leads will come from and how you will build relationships. It’s insane how many people forget this.
You could also consider having a simple website for your personal brand. Keep it SIMPLE. You only need a few pages (or one of those one-page websites).
Share who you are and what you do. Use layman’s terms and keep the design simple as well. Don’t make your visitors hunt for a way to talk to you—add a way for people to contact you on every single page.
Most importantly. focus on education and value. Not selling.
Step 2: Marketing to everyone is marketing to no one
Trying to appeal to everyone is a huge trap that companies fall into when they get started. Companies feel like they’ll miss out on potential sales, but you actually miss out WAY more when no one knows who your product or service is for.
Don’t overcomplicate it. Choose one audience to start (not two or more). Then rinse and repeat when you have the formula perfected for your specific target audience.
Next, consider creating buyer personas. Think about who’s involved in the buying process and make a list of those people.
Again, don’t go overboard. You’re not going to create custom messaging for 5 different personas in your marketing when you’re strapped for resources. Only create what you need to write strong messaging for the next 3-6 months.
Finally, a hot tip: make sure you put a CRM in place right away to track data as you find these buyers. Don’t be one of those people that puts a bunch of information in a spreadsheet then has to figure out how to enter it all in a CRM later. My marketing agency company uses HubSpot and their CRM is free to get started.
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Step 3: Create a Plan That You Can Actually Achieve
Being realistic about what you can achieve is the most important part of creating a marketing plan.
I find that most founders create an intense plan, and then when they start missing some of their posts or content deadlines, they ditch the plan altogether. Don’t be that person!
Keep your value proposition in mind while you create your plan. Don’t have one? A value proposition is a statement that tells your audience what you do. Follow this format: Simple, Specific, Compelling, Unique.
Too often, I see value propositions made up of unnecessary jargon and filler statements. Half the time when I visit a startup’s website, I don’t have a CLUE what they do (that’s gotta be bad for business). Your value proposition should be simple enough to repeat.
Next up is content planning. Most people don’t know where to start.
I’ll keep this part simple:
Step 4: Content Creation for Dummies
I know you’re not a dummy. :) That said, it doesn’t take a marketing genius to create good content—it only requires the right plan, resources, and consistency.
I look at content planning as a monthly activity. Typically, I pick one topic each month and then create a large piece of “anchor” content that can be dripped out to your audience in via social, blogs, emails, etc. Anchor content could be a video, a long blog, a graphic, downloadable content, or similar.
Keep in mind that 70% of people prefer to consume video and photo over text (source), and that can actually make your job easier. The tools needed to create videos are more accessible than ever.
You, like many, may be overwhelmed by the idea of creating your own video content. However, there are several tried and true methods that make producing videos a breeze.
You can start making videos on even the smallest budget today. Here’s how:
Film using what you already have (smartphone, computer, tablet)
Focus on the visuals: great lighting, horizontal filming, clean background
Don’t be afraid to Google editing apps, tricks, and tips!
From there, make sure you have a plan for the month for social media, email (if you have a list) and your website. Do not bite off more than you can chew!
If you can only maintain ONE social platform, pick the one where your buyers spend the most time and get to work. (Personally, I focus on LinkedIn.) Even worse than no presence on a social platform is one that hasn’t posted in years.
Remember, focus on education and value, not selling. Ensure every piece of content has a call-to-action or next step for visitors to take (view more content on your site, learn more about your product or service, or even talk to someone).
Step 5: Tweak & Repeat
Finally, make sure your marketing actually works.
Put the tools that you need in place right away to test your marketing effectiveness. My marketing agency uses a combination of HubSpot (the Starter packages are well-priced for small businesses!) and Databox, which pulls in data from email, social sites, your website, ads, etc.
Make your goals realistic and keep working on your marketing until you reach them. You’re not going to go viral on day one—but you could have a goal of increasing your followers by 20-50 each week, depending on the platform. Run a couple months of your marketing program as a benchmark and go from there.
Remember, success looks different to everyone. If you have a large dollar sale, you don’t need a ton of social followers to get where you want to be. On the flipside, if you have a budget-friendly consumer brand, more followers and web traffic is better. Make sure your marketing goals match the long-term goals for your business.
My course, Marketing for Cash-Strapped startups, provides all the tools (with video overviews!) that you need to execute on everything I talked about in this article for only $300. It’s an absolute steal—my marketing agency’s clients pay thousands to go through this process with us.
Learn more about the Marketing for Cash-Strapped Startups Course now.