Having a strong idea for a business is important. However, so is making sure people know about your business. That’s why marketing is crucial. It doesn’t matter how impressive your product is: no one will use it if you don’t get the word out.
This can seem difficult in your early stages of growth. If your budget is limited, finding ways to market your business effectively may be challenging.
This doesn’t have to be the case. If you’re marketing a startup on a budget, consider these tactics.
Guest Post
Publications need contributors. Startups needs press. Together, they can help each other.
Make a list of publications and blogs relevant to your industry. Reach out to their editorial teams to pitch guest posts. Although maintaining your own blog is also an effective (and affordable) way to generate content about your business, it’s also helpful to publish content on sites and in magazines people already read.
Not sure where to submit guest posts? You can start by choosing keywords relevant to your business and searching for them in Google, along with the words “write for us” or “guest post.” For instance, perhaps you’ve built a new fintech app. Searching “fintech” and “write for us” or “fintech” and “guest post” will help you find publications open to your contributions.
Leverage Email Marketing
Your goal when creating a low-budget marketing campaign is to identify the marketing channels that deliver the strongest return on investment. Because you don’t have a lot of cash, it’s important to be confident the money you do spend will have a substantial impact on brand awareness and revenue.
This is a good reason to prioritize email marketing. An email campaign can be relatively affordable if you set aside time to draft email content, automate a sending schedule, and monitor your performance to determine where you can make improvements. It can also deliver an ROI of 400%.
Make sure all visitors to your site are asked to sign up for your email list. Promote it via social media as well. The more subscribers you attract, the more opportunities you have to engage potential customers.
Emphasize Shareable Content
Creating content is just one step when implementing a marketing strategy. You also need to share that content. The more people see it, the better.
Remember that you may not be the only one responsible for distributing this marketing content. If it’s strong enough, people who see it may unofficially “help” with your marketing efforts by sharing it with their friends and family via social media.
Thus, you should emphasize creating the type of content that’s most likely to get shared. An infographic is one example. Because it compresses a lot of information into a small format, it’s more shareable than a link to a blog post, which requires users to click on it and read through a blog. People might assume their social media followers won’t be interested in such content. An infographic, on the other hand, gives them a easy way to visually share information their followers are more likely to actually consume.
You should also develop a video strategy. While video can be somewhat expensive to produce when compared to other forms of content, it is becoming increasingly popular among Internet users. Many brands have already used video to great effect in their content marketing.
Participate in Forums
Content marketing is effective for many reasons. A major one is simply that it gives you the chance to demonstrate your authority. For example, if your business is a B2B startup in the insurtech niche, creating thorough and informative content about the industry will help you make the right impression on potential customers.
Thus, you should also participate in online forums (Facebook groups, Reddit, etc.) related to your industry. Don’t use this as an excuse to blatantly promote your business. You need to participate in discussions naturally, making it clear to others you’re an expert. Once you have their trust, you can mention your business.
Remember, you’re a startup founder because you’re a creative person. You solve problems. That means a low marketing budget is just another problem you can come up with solutions for. These initial ideas will simply help you get started.
