5-Panel vs 6-Panel Hat: Differences and Use Cases
A 5-panel and 6-panel hat have subtle differences that can affect…
09 Feb 2017 | Mark
Too many entrepreneurs face the exact same challenge. They come up with a brilliant idea. Then they work tirelessly to build the product, source the inventory, or tweak the program. After weeks or months–or years–spent building and perfecting, the business is finally ready to launch.
Things are finally in place–here we go!
Crickets.
Where are all the customers?
Does anyone even know this thing even exists?
That point is where most startup founders realize the importance of marketing. And many of them also realize at that point that they had not properly budgeted for marketing (it can be incredibly expensive, after all).
But that’s not the end of the story. And even if you don’t have a massive budget to spend on marketing, you can still employ some savvy marketing tactics and strategies to get your business off the ground.
Keep in mind that at the early stages of any startup, traction is key. This means sometimes getting scrappy and doing things that just won’t scale in the long run–but they’ll help you get your first few customers and start to build your reputation.
Many brands have smashing success with social media marketing, but it can take a long time (or a lot of dollars) to hit a critical mass. If you don’t have the time or money to do that, then you’ll have to get a bit more personal.
Rather than using social media as a broadcast mechanism, dig in on a personal level and identify small communities within Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, or Reddit that are relevant to your product or service.
Find them and make a polite post about your business. Explain why it’s valuable. Tell them you’d love if they’d check it out and give you feedback. Offer them a coupon code. Just remember not to be too salesy, you’re already using a public forum for self-promotion.
Just like on social media, there are forums all over the internet–for just about anything you can imagine.
While these may not be as popular as they once were (and they’re sorta being phased out by things like Reddit), there are still plenty of active message boards out there.
For this one, you’ll want to tread lightly again. And make sure you read and respect any rules–some forums may ban self-promotion or commercial posts.
Even if your product doesn’t lend itself to an immediate tie into a forum, there is likely a relevant group out there with a bit of lateral thinking:
Tit-for-tat promotions can be hugely helpful for small upstart businesses. A more sophisticated strategy might involve rolling out a referral or affiliate program, but small companies can start with some simple cross-promotion.
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This can be executed in a number of ways, but the key to success will be identifying lateral (non-competing) partners that have access to an audience that’s likely to buy your product or service.
If you’re targeting small business owners with an accounting service or software, you could work with firms selling an HR program, managed benefits, or marketing services.
One Holy Grail of startup marketing can be a nice bit of PR. Getting a front-page article on TechCrunch is elusive for most early-stage companies, but with the right approach and a lot of persistence, you can land some mentions.
For this strategy to work, you’ll want to laser-focus your pitches. Find journalists who not only write for publications that cover your industry or area but also write specifically about companies like yours or who cover your relevant market
Skip the press release–most journalists don’t need to hear your life story. Instead, send them a quick note about your company and why it’s important (not just to you). Think of it from a journalist’s perspective: What’s the headline of your story? Why do other people care to read it?
Try to keep your initial message under 250 words. Short and sweet. Then, follow up. Emails get lost and journalists are busy. That’s why follow-ups are so essential in marketing.
Content marketing should be a cornerstone of your long-term marketing strategy. But you can also use content as a way to get media coverage, build your email list, and drive social traffic above and beyond any success you have with a more traditional PR pitch.
Do some digging in your industry or in the kinds of publications that you want to target and find times when they reference information, data, or content from other sites. This often comes in the form of an infographic, interesting data, cool interactive content, or just a really useful tool.
Did you find any patterns? You may need to get creative and brainstorm ways that you can flip some of the ideas and create something interesting.
Sources of data and information might include:
These five strategies outline a basic lean or shoestring marketing model–it’s all about earned and owned media, generating free exposure, and a bit of shameless promotion. Once you’ve gotten traction, you can look for strategies that scale–like advertising or other paid promotions–but for now, focus on driving traffic to your site in any way you can.
Remember, Facebook only succeeded because of a lot of on-the-ground, word-of-mouth promotion that spread it to specific college campuses. Don’t try to eat the world in one bite. A long journey is made up of small steps.
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