21 Ways to Promote a Startup with no Extra Money

Stuck in a rut trying to find ways to promote your startup but you don’t have any extra funds? Every startup needs a little help getting off the ground, and if you’re working out of your own home, you have no extra money to spend on marketing.

The internet increasingly connects people from different parts of the world, which could eventually lead to more startup success stories. Investopedia defines a startup as a company in its early stages, founded by an entrepreneur who wants to cultivate new products or services. Here is a list of effective marketing techniques that won’t break the bank.

Click here to read: How to Raise Fund for your business

Way to Start a Successful Startup

A creative brand helps you to stand out, but a good product/service is essential for success. Take note that today we are now in a modern world where online marketing is very important, and the proper utilization of SEO techniques such as link building, choosing SEO keywords, content writing, as well as social media optimization, can increase brand awareness. Your startup doesn’t need to spend a lot on marketing to succeed.

Startup marketing tools and strategies are meant to support your business as you grow. Without good startup marketing, you won’t be able to compete or survive once the business gets big. Since you have decided to launch a startup, you need to think about the best way to promote it. Here are 21 useful ideas for promoting your business.

21 Thoughts to Promote Your Startup

When promoting your startup, consider these three key ideas: First, leverage social media platforms to connect with your target audience and share engaging content. Second, network with other entrepreneurs and potential customers at industry events to build relationships and increase visibility. Finally, offer exclusive promotions or trials to attract new users and encourage word-of-mouth recommendations. Let’s know about these thoughts in detail now.

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1.Target Audience

Keep in mind that even though you’re making a product for mass consumption, some people are still going to be unsatisfied with it. There’s a cost-to-benefit ratio in everything, and you should look to decrease costs by reducing the number of people who will never like your product. You’re not looking to please everybody. If you want to get your target audience’s attention and keep it, you have to know how they think and what they want.

Get to know your target audience by learning about their general interests, concerns, hobbies, and complaints. Find the one thing that your customers want and give it to them, then repeat and repeat and repeat. If you don’t build your product with your target audience in mind, then they won’t buy it. This is the group that your marketing should focus on most because once you’ve built a relationship with them, it will be easier to sell your product conveniently. Do not squander time and energy on unnecessary or unproductive things.

2.Marketing Strategies Development

Beginners often start without a marketing strategy in place or a goal to work towards. There are cases when companies put their products on the market too early. It’s important to spend time researching and learning before you start marketing anything.

Start with identifying what you want to accomplish and how much of it will be paid for by others. Then, research your plan inside and out. Assess your current and potential future markets, research your competitors, what risks there are, figure out what you need to do to increase your sales, and track how much time and money you spend on each activity.

3.Create a Website

Many business people believe that it’s impossible to succeed without a website. In the information age, it’s vital to have a preeminent online presence. Your website should be the central information source for your business, and it should offer a personalized experience.

Regardless of whether your website is one page or thousands of pages, developing a professional website doesn’t have to be expensive. Within minutes you can have a high-quality template that looks great on mobile devices and computers. You can change the color scheme, add content, and much more to your website without worrying about being a computer expert.

4.SEO Implementation

After the initial buzz about your product dies down and you want to get some more sales, you should promote it further using SEO techniques. In the search engine optimization world, it’s important to raise your website’s visibility and traffic. This is a high converting way to attract more customers.

SEO has two main areas:

• On-page SEO
• Off-page SEO

On-page SEO: It works just like traditional SEO in that it analyzes your content for keywords, but unlike traditional SEO, it also analyzes your Meta descriptions, titles, and URLs.

Off-page SEO: Off-page factors include backlinks and social signals. For example, the number of backlinks from authoritative sites is an off-page SEO factor.

5.Create a Blog

If you’re interested in increasing your brand recognition and establishing yourself as an authority in your field, then content marketing may be the way to go. It can increase exposure and traffic, which could help with SEO and lead generation. If you want to build a blog quickly, you can use free platforms like WordPress.com and Tumblr.com. Remember to post content frequently and use video and audio to embed on your blog.

Make sure your blog is always being shared on different networking platforms, like Twitter and LinkedIn. By doing this, you will be able to connect with a very large audience that may have never heard of you. Blogging is the bedrock of any online business, and having a detailed blog will help you attract customers.

Click Here to Read: How to Start a Blog for Free

6.Email Marketing

Email marketing campaigns can be very helpful if you do not want to spend a lot of time and effort trying to market your product. You can grow your email list by including an option to subscribe on key pages of your website. Another way you can generate leads is through opt-ins. If you offered something in exchange for the email address of your subscribers like a free ebook, pdf file, it can help you to generate leads.

Special offers for products, discounts on products or services, corporate news, and information about changes should be announced to your customers and prospects. Videos are especially useful for capturing the audience’s attention. A good email subject line is necessary to increase your open rate. Focus on the most important information. Relevant text content is what keeps readers around, and you can’t inform your readers of something if it isn’t there.

7.Startup Platforms

You can develop relationships with investors and mentors, learn ways other people have found to solve problems you’re encountering, and build a presence for your business.

There are an increasing number of online resources for startup promotion, many of which can be accessed at little to no charge. Some examples include Y Combinator, AngelList, and WeFunder.

8.Listing Services

It is common practice for smaller sites to pull data from larger sites, so by listing your business on the biggest directories available you will likely also be listed on any similar, minor directories.

Filling out your business profile will make it easier for customers to locate you and basic SEO tactics like adding images and collecting reviews can significantly improve your local rankings. Your listings must contain the same information as the information on your website. Having different versions of your company story can make you look unprofessional. Make sure to check your listing regularly to make sure that it is accurate because even auto-populated listings can have errors.

The following are some major directories for online marketing.

• Google My Business
• Yelp
• Facebook
• Glassdoor
• Bing
• Yellow/White pages
• Foursquare

9.Promotions Through Social Media

The majority of young people check their social media accounts hourly. If you want your startup to succeed, it is important to use social media platforms so that you can market your product. This does not mean that you should use all of them, but it won’t hurt to try a few. Also, it is important to update your posts often and engage with the audience.

Effective social media marketing leads to more customers and better engagement. This does not mean that you should use all of them, but it won’t hurt to try a few. Also, it is important to update your posts often and engage with the audience.

If you’re having difficulty creating blog posts, you might be able to track down information from other blogs’ about important issues and add your take on it. Another way to increase your sales is to promote special offers on social media accounts like Facebook or Twitter.

10.Guest Blogging

Guest blogging is a type of link-building that brings traffic to your site. When you write for related blogs, guest blogging can be a good way to reach new audiences. Marketing is constantly evolving, so it’s important to stay on top of marketing trends and see what other marketers are doing.

To increase your domain authority, you can use external links to connect your content to relevant sources. A good way to begin is to connect with other bloggers through MyBlogGuest. Also check out HARO, as it connects journalists and bloggers with reliable experts.

11.Cross-Promotions

If you know people who have large social media followings, ask if they’ll help promote your business in return for you helping them promote theirs. It is called a buddy campaign or cross-promotions. The more people you interact with, the more likely it is that you will find common interests and become invested in their future. Affiliate marketing is just one of many ways that companies reward one another for promoting and selling each other’s products. If you wish to start an affiliate program, several such companies provide the software needed to run it like Powerlinx, Buddy Marketing, and LoyalBe.

12.Promotion Through Videos

These days, it’s hard to attract a market audience with just text. That is why you need to add colorful pictures and videos to your marketing campaigns. Making promo videos is time-consuming and resource-intensive. Fortunately, you don’t need to create them from scratch. You can just customize a ready-made promo video template and use it for free.

13.Host-Webinars

The idea of webinars is becoming increasingly popular. Webinars are a great way to connect with your customers and introduce them to your company’s values, as well as marketing strategies.

GoToWebinar, Zoho Meeting, ClickMeeting, Zoom, and your favorite social media all provide you with options for live streaming. The more platform choices you have, the better.

14.Give a Presentation or Seminar

Any experience you have that you believe others would find interesting, you can speak about in a seminar or presentation. If you do so, not only will it promote your brand, but it also leaves the door open for more opportunities. If you’re trying to reach a larger audience or grow your business, you should consider whether it’s worth trying to raise more capital.

Remember to use visual aids when presenting to the audience. This will make it easier for them to understand your message.

15.Feedback and Reviews are Important

The varied reviews help inform your customers about what they may want to avoid and what sorts of expectations are reasonable. Some are positive, and some negative, but both can be valuable.

Positive feedback is an indication that you are on the right track, and it lets you know how to improve your product. Here’s the thing about negative feedback: You can use it to improve your product and reveal what people most value in it.

People trust reviews they read on blogs and are more likely to purchase a product that has been blogged about. You can also contact the blogger to write positive reviews for your product.

16.Outspending Your Competitor is Not Wise

If you outspend your competitors, then you’re just doing what they are doing. That’s an unnecessary expense and it doesn’t guarantee better results. You need to have a better product with better features than your competitors do to get good results. If you can figure out how to get the public to say good things about your product, you won’t have to worry about paying expensive advertising costs.

Examine your niche and see if you can reignite an idea for a product that would be beneficial to others, such as a pen that never runs out of ink. How can you use what you already know to create something new? If so, then why not consider starting your own business?

17.Use of Q&A sites

It’s important to search for Q&As on Yahoo! Answers, Answers.com, Quora, Reddit to find questions related to your field or business. Keywords are used to find relevant questions.

If you want to attract followers, it’s best to make sure that you’re able to provide them with the information they find valuable in some way.

18.Talk Shows

As a marketing tool, talk shows allow you to spread awareness about your startup in a cost-effective way. If you attract investors, it will be easier for you to get access to more capital. First, carefully research the programs where you want to be featured. Then contact the host via email and tell them about your business. Ask them if you can have an interview with them.

19.Post Your Ads for Free

These are free ad sites, like Craigslist, Amazon, eBay, MerchantCircle.com, and Gumtree. Using them will give a boost to your startup promotion. Millions of people who visit these sites click on them every day.

20.Live Chats and Interviews

Professional conferences are expensive and you might not be able to get a ticket, but if you have an interview with a professional in your field who’s willing to share their knowledge through an interview on your blog, you can reach a very large number of people. One way to get more visitors and to freshen up your content is to participate in blog-related discussions or to have live chats.

21.Socializing

The more people you meet, the more leads you’ll have, and the easier it will be to convince clients to buy from you. Don’t isolate yourself. Go to meet-ups, events, and conferences. Meet people who can help you in achieving your goals by supporting you in all ways.

In a Nutshell

There are so many startups that the marketplace is saturated. As an entrepreneur, you need to build a brand and get your startup heard and noticed so that you can distinguish yourself from other startups. In the world of business, it is very competitive to attract people’s attention to your product. You need to be creative because otherwise, you’ll have a difficult time trying to attract your customers’ attention.

Fortunately, there are lots of business promotion opportunities that allow you to get the most bangs for your buck.