While investment in American startups has increased dramatically in recent years, the reality is that most startups begin by bootstrapping their way to success.
With increasing competition and limited resources, CEOs and founders of new companies must be more creative than ever. Most VCs, particularly in Silicon Valley, have stated that they prefer to invest in well-expressed ideas and products.
Marketing is one of your most powerful tools for getting your startup off the ground and in front of investors. Good marketing can stretch your imagination and allow you to share your vision, mission, and goals with the outside world.
Don’t rely solely on Google reviews and banner ads to get where you want to go. Instead, let’s look at ten innovative and uncommon tips for startup marketing.
Table of Contents:
What Is a Startup Marketing Strategy?
Ten uncommon tips for a successful startup marketing strategy (with examples)
Understand the product market fit
Launch a referral program
Create a viral-explainer video
Use user-generated content to tell your story
Connect for Co-Branding Partnerships
Use more than one source of publication
Send personalized emails
Use your product for a social cause
Reach out to the user community
Build a reputation
It fits a startup’s limited budget and promises faster growth than traditional marketing strategies. Whether you need quick results or a solid foundation to build your business, this strategy may include some growth marketing plan.
In our experience, no startup has risen to the top using only paid advertising or paid partnerships. No matter how many investors it has or how strong its source background is.
Most startups do not have the funds to hire an experienced consultant or marketing expert immediately. As a result, it is up to you to determine the best way to spread the word about your startup.
Furthermore, the road to success can be difficult if you work with a limited budget. But don’t lose hope; here are a few tips to get you started in the right direction.
This is similar to using your product.
If you cannot use your product or believe that another product is superior to yours, your product does not fit the market.
Isn’t marketing the process of persuading people that they require your product? People will not bother getting to know your product if you don’t stand out in one aspect or if it isn’t worth the cost or effort.
So, how do you know if your product is in demand and will sell well?
Easy.
Go to Quora.com and look for questions about your product. You can either respond to the questions, contact the people who asked, or introduce your product.
Solve their issue.
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If you want to develop a huge following very quickly, you need to look into referral marketing.
This is an essential marketing strategy for startups. Here you allow customers to help promote your product for you. It’s a simple concept, but it isn’t used nearly enough by most startups.
PayPal was one of the first businesses to use a referral marketing strategy. And its program is still going strong. Their program helped them achieve an astounding yearly growth rate of over 1,650%. It reached a million users in only two years and grew to a whopping 100 million users in only six years!
Image source
Do you want to generate traffic while encouraging people to buy more of your product?
Airbnb shows the unique experiences obtained using Air BnB through an excellent combination of live-action and animation. This explainer video does an excellent job. By demonstrating the benefits of the Airbnb system while verbally explaining them.
Startups typically lack the resources to launch large-scale social media campaigns.
A user-generated content marketing campaign is a simple and cost-free way to incorporate testimonials. You can carry out the campaign through your social media channels. And include hashtags to increase your chances of appearing in more feeds.
La Croix, like LuluLemon, uses a hashtag (#LiveLaCroix) to mine user-generated content on their social media channels. On the other hand, La Croix relies less on brand loyalists and instead shares content created by anyone, regardless of follower count.
Because audiences will see themselves reflected in these photos, their user-generated content will be more relatable.
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If your startup is too small to attract a large audience, partnering with a larger company may be the answer to building a large group of loyal fans.
Starbucks built a massive global brand out of a premium coffee shop experience. They used music to create an ambiance around their coffee. Spotify, a music streaming service, has powered nearly 25 billion hours of listening globally.
Starbucks and Spotify forged an innovative co-branding partnership to build a “music ecosystem.” They were offering artists access to Starbucks consumers.
Even if you can’t partner with a company the size of Starbucks or Spotify, look for a strategic partnership. It will help you build a brand strategy and gain market visibility.
If you want to promote your blog, you will most likely want people to know about it. You must filter out people who prefer to read or understand the preferences of your people. For example, if you’re going to reach an audience who watches content on YouTube, you must create videos.
BigCommerce, an e-commerce website platform, has created a strong lead funnel that uses various marketing channels.
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Making people aware of how you recognize them in a post will boost your credibility. And increase the likelihood of them telling you about your brand and work.
You can send personalized emails with an exclusive offer to users to commemorate special occasions and milestones. Such as your company’s anniversary, birthday, or first purchase. You can also thank them for being a part of your organization and contributing to its growth.
By combining their users’ travel history, Paravel sends personalized emails. Consider how they use images to connect with users and evoke nostalgia.
Source – Really Good emails
If you’re looking for something highly creative that will skyrocket your brand to success, consider using the product for a social cause.
What does this look like? It means that customers are able to interact with your physical product in a way that helps a greater purpose.
In 2020, beauty and wellness company The Body Shop wanted to thank healthcare workers for their dedication. To do that, decision-makers at the company decided to start a campaign: “Time To Care.” This initiative supports health, wellness, and kindness.
Image Source
The North American teams of The Body Shop collaborated with shelters. And assisted living communities to donate cleaning supplies such as body and hand soap. Because the company encourages self-care, they wanted to make that experience available to everyone.
To build a user base quickly, you must first understand what your user looks like.
You can then create content that is specifically tailored to this community. The more precisely you target this demographic, your campaign will be more effective.
–Esteban Kolsky
Lego’s community is an excellent example of community-based marketing. It manifests itself in the form of a web platform called Lego Ideas. Community members can use the platform to share visual ideas for new products and proudly display Lego creations. Members can then vote on specific ideas and comment on them.
Source-Lego Ideas
If you’re in tune with a large online community, this can be a great way to promote your startup virally.
Building a reputation for being good at whatever your product or brand offers is essential for marketing success. However, because you are an unknown startup with no track record, there is no way for people to know whether they can trust you. What do you do?
One way to build a brand reputation is to get featured in a significant publication and build a marketing strategy.
The great thing about social media is that it allows you to communicate directly with large corporations and brands.
Develop relationships with prominent publications. You can share their posts, participate in their content, and follow their editors. Be genuine and avoid being too promotional. Being featured in a large-circulation magazine can significantly increase your website’s traffic and product sales.
Startup marketing budgets are always limited. Deciding where to spend them can take time and effort. However, as a startup, you can experiment with various marketing ideas without breaking the bank. The tips mentioned above are surefire ways to spread the word and find new leads. But staying current on the latest trends is critical to keeping your business afloat.
KiwiTech offers reliable, scalable, cost-effective software development, crowdfunding, and digital marketing services. Our proficient team provides client-centric and business-centric solutions to meet our client’s business goals.
We have delivered top-rated marketing services by leveraging our deep expertise, impelling abilities, and proficiency in developing marketing strategies. This helped our clients generate value and revenue.
If you have a brand to reach a vast audience or need help with digital marketing services. Please share it with us and get your concept implemented the way you want.