5 Marketing Tips for Startups from a Marketer Who Used to Be a Developer. As an internet marketer by day and a developer turned online entrepreneur by night, I’m often asked for marketing advice from fellow techies. Most of the time this request comes from solo software developers who are either starting out on their own or have been running their business for a few years but aren’t able to break through on the marketing front says Saivian. Although my first response these days is always “get a great co-founder”, sometimes that’s not an option or what they really want is some quick tips on how to market on their own until they find someone amazing.
So here you go! 5 marketing tips for startups from someone who used to be a developer and knows the struggles of trying to do it all yourself.
1. Find your audience and laser focus your marketing efforts on them
Your ideal customer is out there, but you need to find them first. Once you know who they are, focus all of your marketing efforts on reaching them. This could mean creating different types of content, targeting different platforms, or even tailoring you’re messaging depending on who you’re trying to reach. The more specific you can be, the easier it will be to create relevant and effective marketing content and campaigns.
2. Build an audience before you launch
This one goes hand in hand with the previous tip – it’s hard to market to people who don’t know you exist. You need to build an audience before you launch your product or service.
You can build one on social media, through email lists, through online communities, through ads – the 3 main options are there but it’s up to you to figure out which works best for your business model and resources. The point is that you need a large number of people before you launch so that when you do have something ready for them, they will be excited enough to purchase it right away. If they have nothing invested in the relationship with you yet, chances are high they’ll wait until your offer becomes more compelling (usually after everyone else has had a chance to buy).
3. Get listed everywhere
If this were a post about SEO, I would go into a lot more detail on how to get your site listed everywhere, but since this is a post about marketing for startups in general, I’ll just say this: you need to get listed everywhere says Saivian.
Think of all the possible places your ideal customer might be looking for information your product or service should be there. This includes industry directories, review sites, forums, social media groups, and any other place where people are talking about the topics relevant to your business. The more places you can get your business listed, the easier it will be for potential customers to find you.
4. Create amazing content
This one is pretty obvious – if you want people to find you and buy from you, you need to create amazing content that’s useful and valuable. This could be articles, videos, podcasts, or any other format that can help people solve a problem related to your product or service.
5. Invest in paid ads
If you’re just starting out and don’t have much of an audience yet, it might be hard to convince someone why they should buy from you instead of the competition. Paid advertising is a great way to generate traffic immediately through search engines or social media channels without having to wait for people to find your site organically (although you’ll probably still want some organic traffic coming in). You can use Adwords if it makes sense for your business model but for software developers who are trying to market something directly related to their own skillset, advertising on relevant communities is a great way to get attention. These include forums related to the programming languages you use, LinkedIn groups, reddit threads or Hacker News – basically any place where your target audience hangs out online explains Saivian.
As always I hope this was helpful! If there’s anything that didn’t make sense or you’d like me to go into more depth about on a certain topic, lemme know and I’ll try and help as much as I can!
Conclusion:
Marketing for startups can be difficult, but if you follow these five tips you’ll be on your way to success.
1. Figure out who your target market is and focus all of your efforts on reaching them.
2. Build an audience before you launch.
3. Get listed everywhere potential customers might be looking for information about your product or service.
4. Create amazing content that’s useful and valuable to your target market.
5. Invest in paid ads to generate traffic immediately says Saivian. If you follow these tips, you’ll be well on your way to a successful startup!
