marketing for (almost) no money - startup special

Effective marketing for startups

on zero budget

Leo Exter, founder @ westartup

The things I do

There really is NO “silver bullet”

Clever is good… well-funded is better

Marketing isn’t complex… it’s complicated

Exception?

No, just proves the rules…

Strategy

Forget about it.

For now.

The Missing Word

Don’t

• Don’t wait with name, logo & business cards

• Don’t start with advertising

• Don’t do press releases

• Don’t waste time!

There’s no such thing as “people”

There’s individuals and their unique needs

This is a niche.

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Chose yours wisely:Not too big

Not too smallVery clearly defined

Research: test your (implicit) assumptions

• Talk to 1 person to understand

• Survey 100 peopleto make a choice

•Listen!

Build a basic website first

Work with forums

Fans for every conceivable thing

Find “movers and shakers”

Make them privileged partners

Email marketing:bad rep, great results

• Perfect for keeping in touch with your customers

• Follow basic rules for success

• Plenty of good free tools around

http://www.b2bemailmarketing.com/

Social media: BEWARE!

Not free: costs you time!

Not everyone is (really) on Facebook

More miss than hit – It’s not as “viral” as you think– Takes a lot of skill to do it right

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Social media crash course

Stick to the big 3

Good content wins

Be social!

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Do-it-yourself PR

Don’t forget about “traditional” press!

Choose right journalists, focus

Bring them storiesto copy / paste

Partner power!

Ideal partner:– Same target– Awesome power– Complementary

(non-competing)

Find a win-win

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To create word-of-mouth: under-promise and over-deliver

“€ 75 for a life-changing experience”

Dann Rogge

Get professional help

Wait till you’ve run out of free stuff to do

Think three times before choosing the cheapest service

Always watch out for bullshit

leo.exter@westartup.eu @leoexter