The Most Effective Marketing Strategies for Early-Stage Startups
Your marketing plan changes depending on what stage your business is at. Brand new startups have very different marketing goals from Series B-funded tech companies. What works for an established, 5-year-old fintech entity might be a total waste of budget for a post-Series A funded proptech venture still trying to establish a cohesive brand. We've pulled together some of the most effective startup marketing strategies that actually work for new and growing businesses.
Raise Brand Awareness
Your brand is more than just a logo or a tagline. It becomes connected to every communication you have with potential clients, every social media engagement, and every email you send. It encompasses your values, your vision, and your business goals.
Once you've created a brand messaging framework, you can start to plan how you'll raise brand awareness. You need to consider what makes you different from your competitors and capitalize on that. Utilize social media platforms and your website or blog to create cohesive content and client engagements that use the same tone, personality, and visuals while also addressing customer pain points. The persistent effort here will position you first as a familiar face within your industry and eventually as a trusted entity.
Research proves that if your brand is more recognizable, you can charge more for your products and services. Investing in your brand as early as possible is a great way to boost your bottom line and a firm foundation for future ongoing marketing efforts.
Define Your Target Audience or ICP
Your ICP is your ideal customer profile – the business or decision maker that will get the most from your tech offering. Your ICP may become several buyer personas as you do more user research, but in the early stages of marketing, you'll want to define who gains value from your digital product, what they're using already, what pain points your product addresses, and what sort of budget they have. You'll also consider who you'll speak to within a business. What's their role or job title? How much free time do they have for a lengthy sales pitch or product demo?
If you're not sure how to go about defining your ICP, consult with a marketing expert who can help you get inside the mind of potential clients and really focus your budget and attention effectively.
Utilize Your Business Website
Social media, video, podcasts, and face-to-face conversations are all vital aspects of startup marketing. But the humble business website is such an under-utilized resource. Your business website can be:
Your social hub that links to your presence on all other platforms
A home for a forum or message center
Your blog
A resource center
A sales platform or online store
A point of contact
A data-gathering tool
A way to encourage visitors to sign up for emails or other updates
A highly visible demonstration of your company's value and brand message
Remember that B2B buyers are just as active on mobile devices as B2C customers, so make sure all your website content is optimized for smartphones and tablets. 48% of buyers who use mobile devices lose faith in companies that fail to make content mobile-friendly, so make sure you consider all your potential clients when considering web design.
Final Word
There are so many ways to get the word out about your amazing tech venture, but not all of them will work at every stage of your business. If you need more help figuring out which startup marketing strategies could attract clients and investors, book a 15-minute introductory call and tell us a little about your business. We'll connect you to a marketing freelancer who can support you on your journey to continuous and sustainable growth.
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