Startup marketing: 7 ways to sell your startup with no budget

As a startup, trying to get your company in the minds of consumers and investors, life can be difficult. Chances are you have no money for marketing and no clue on how to make it happen.

The best way to market anything is to make it an unavoidable brand. So your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to build a kick ass brand that is second to none. Because you have no money, you have to find a way to do all of this without spending any money or as little money has possible.

There are probably millions of ways to get your company noticed and but we have highlighted some key things that can help you pick the best ones from the millions.

So here is where to begin before your dreams of grandeur come through:

Research until there is nothing left
As obvious as this sounds, very few startups actually take the time to do their research. You have the product, it may seem as though you have your audience in place but sometimes the people your product appeals to might surprise you. So take the time to find out who you’re trying to sell to before you start selling to the wrong people. Do some market research, find out who they are and how they prefer to be spoken to.

Network till you drop
As a startup, getting your company out there when no one knows who you are can be quite the challenge, so get networking. There are many events in the tech space or startup space, so go to them and start talking about your company. Get yourself into the industry’s consciousness. Most people generally argue that if you are startup you should spend your time building the actual product rather than at networking events. As valid as that may be, if you have a product that no one knows about what is the point?

Talk, talk and talk some more
Talk about your product wherever and whenever you can. The more your talk about it the more people will start taking notice because it will become this thing they keep hearing about and need to find out more about. So have as much information about your company as possible out there. Talk, talk and keeping talking about your product and how it will change everything.

Get socially active
Figure out what social platforms your market and the people your want talking about you frequent, then meet them there. Social media isn’t always the answer but rather be there and engage with people there than not. This is not just a good place to talk about your product but a good place to get other people talking about it too. Also try to offer people something different here, not just company punting but value and advice. Don’t make them feel that all you care about is selling, but also engaging and building a community.

Cosy up to the media
The media can either be your friend or your enemy. Rather go the friendship route. Give them something to talk about, they need content and if you can provide them with unique angles and interesting stories they will keep talking about you. Favourable reviews from the media go a long way to getting into people’s consciousnesses. Make yourself available for comment on your sector and build a relationship.

Become a thought leader
Start a blog, or get a respected publication to publish your thoughts on your industry. If you are building nano sensors, start publishing your thoughts on nano-tech. What nano tech can do for medicine, for green tech and other critical areas. Talk about how innovative the tech is and how it could be applied. Try not to punt your product but build yourself up as a thought leader in the space so people trust you and once they trust you, they will want to talk about your nano tech solution.

Get your SEO sorted
You have to be easy to find. There is no point to getting everything else right when people can’t search for you easily. Get your Search Engine Optimisation right so Google and other search engines can locate you easily and rank you higher. When people search Joe Soap, make sure your Joe Soap comes up first. And when their product is similar to yours make sure yours is the one they find. Keywords are crucial. So get your SEO right.