Picture it: you’ve just quit your high-profile job, given up your healthy salary that helps sustain your family, and have entered the world of the startup because YOU have an idea that will take the world by storm!
Your idea is groundbreaking, you’ve spoken to numerous people in your professional and personal network to validate it, and heck…you even got funded from a pre-seed VC because indeed…YOUR STARTUP IS AMAZING!
You and your co-founder excitedly start building and you get all your socials and website setup, ready to tell the world about your idea and how it will make the world a better place.
Time to get the word out…
*Crickets chirping*
*Tumbleweed blowing*
*A pin drops…you hear it…oh boy you hear it…it frickin ECHOS across the sound of no-one caring*
Yep…thats right…NO ONE GIVES A SH*T!
Sorry for the implied expletives here (and sorry for apologising…I’m British after all!) but this realisation was such a slap around the face for me, that I can’t help but be a tad over the top.
The Truth about marketing a startup
It’s A LOT harder than you may think, and traditional methods simply won’t cut it.
Why?
Cos you’re not a household name…yet.
I use the term “household name” a tad erratically cos lets be honest, theres tech unicorns out there that my wife has never heard of…but the point is, you and your startup simply have no following. No devoted early supporters…and therefore no network effect.
Much of this could come down to where you are at with your startup.
Do you have a product in market yet?
Do you have a product in alpha that you can at least demo or showcase?
Are you literally just getting started and most you have are some screens you’ve mocked up in Figma?
Obviously the further along you are, the “easier” it will be to show off what you are working on and WHY people should care and follow you on your journey. But the way you market your business needs to be in line with where you are at with the product, else even the best marketing ideas may go unseen, and therefore wasted.
A prime example for Braiv was this marketing video we put together about a week after we got our pre-seed funding from Antler. Heavily influenced by one of the most profound marketing videos from Apple: “Think Different”, or as I remember it…”Here’s to the crazy ones…”:
Like, legit, when I made this, I thought it was lowkey genius. I was itching to get it out for people to see…but I waited.
Turns out I didn’t wait long enough, cos when I eventually did get it out into the world…
I look back on it now and realise why…cos, well DUH…we are not Apple, and we have no audience to watch it, let alone have an opinion on it.
That…or it simply isn’t as good as I like to believe…also possible! 🤣
So….”what do”?!
5 ideas for “cheeky” startup marketing
There’s no single solution that startups can undertake that will get them the audience and traction they want…but there’s no shortage of stories about what some famous startups did to get their 1st customers.
But here are some things I believe are important, and things that we at Braiv are undertaking:
1. Community first — your first supporters are not just customers, they are “family”.
Make sure you create a safe space for your first few customers to engage with you. Not with a virtual assistant or AI bot…with YOU!
We have setup a Discord server which we are using to interact with our Beta signups to keep them up to date, and also provide them value along the way.
Community is so important pre-product because until you have a stable solution in market, YOU ARE THE PRODUCT.
With that in mind…
2. Founder-first marketing — you are the product, you are the “brand”.
It’s official, people like people…and before product, there are only people. If you are a faceless startup with a website and faceless social posts, only showing visuals of a product that is yet to exist, people won’t connect.
We ran a few A/B tests recently on instagram and the proof is in the pudding. The best performing posts were the ones of me, humble Ben Radcliffe, walking down the street, talking to the camera…being human.
It’s cheesy AF, but it works. People connect with people before product, and when you want to engage a small set of people to begin with, you need to be the thing they connect with.
3. Go where your customers are — where do people go to moan about the problem you are solving?
“Obsess about the problem, not the solution”
True…to a point. But the statement really defines WHERE you can find those first few customers:
If there’s a real problem you are solving, there will be a place that people go to collectively whinge about said problem…literally, everyone loves a good whinge!
For us, we have begun the process of infiltrating Discord servers for some of the products that are creating the problem we are solving. This is not to say these businesses are bad….no no, some are best in their field, but they have created a need that we fill…”How to deliver your dubbed video content online”.
I’m not gonna give too much away here, only cos I find it cheesy and cheeky, and I still have a little pride. It’s messy, but it gets people thinking about the problem that exists, and we can then point them to the solution…Braiv Player!
4. Collaborate with Other Startups — “your network is your net worth”.
Partner with non-competing startups to cross-promote each other’s products. This can be through joint webinars, co-branded content, or bundled offers. It’s a win-win situation where both parties can expand their reach.
After all…no one knows what you’re going through better than other startups, and empathy is a strong emotion. But it needs to be a win-win and/or a “scratch each other backs” agreement.
For instance, we work closely with Andre and team from Screenapp to help cross promote. We dub their how-to video at no cost and host the video on our site which provides us public validation, and helps spread the word of their solution to global audiences.
5. Bring value to as many people as possible — it’s karma basically!
If you take nothing away from this stream of consciousness I am calling a “blog”, let it be this…
Use every scrap of free time you have, to endeavour to bring value…to everyone!
This one is so so important, and whether you are spiritual like me or not, the real truth is that when you offer value to the world, you will get it back eventually.
Whether its collaborating with other startups, helping prospective customers for free, giving your advice to the world at no cost, or building a community of like-minded folks to solve a problem together…it will all eventually culminate in good things.
Wait, did I just mention all the things I listed in this article as ways to bring value? Huh…happy coincidence I guess!
Conclusion.
TL;DR…marketing is hard as a startup. Posting about product or even about solutions you are building will not land.
Human-lead interactions are key. Be YOU, not the product…because YOU ARE THE PRODUCT!
I hope this has been of help to anyone in our shoes. Gosh knows, I am not the expert in any of this, but these are things that I have personally learnt, and am continuously trying to do to help our startup…but always to help others in the process!
Much love, and…”Here’s to the Braiv Ones!”
