How to Get Your Name Out There as a Startup: 5 Simple Marketing Strategies

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Startups are the new norm in the business world, from 14 year olds making millions developing a startup from their pocket money to uni students creating global brands from their garages, it’s fair to say there has never been a better time to blaze your own trail and enter the world of startups.

There are plenty of exciting startups blazing a trail in the world today, and if you’ve got an idea you think has legs you could be the next Airbnb, Uber or even Snapchat.

What Makes a Startup Different?

Startups are different to a standard business due mainly the fact that they are designed to grow super fast. Usually a startup has an offering that is attractive to a massive audience, think Uber, plus the good majority of startups these days are tech startups (for obvious reasons).

A startup may be as small as a new food stand, mobile phone app or a website development company and there is no exclusive recipe for a startup so to speak; it just needs to solve a problem.

Companies such as Dropbox with over 25 million users, and currently valued at over $10 billion – was once just a tiny startup looking to kick goals in the big bad digital world.

SpaceX with a current value of over $4.8 billion has managed to commercialize space travel, transporting the world’s satellites to space and back…and is, you guessed it, a startup. Startups are not destined to be little fish forever; they can wind up being super global businesses in no time at all.

How do I Make my Startup a Household Name?

You have an idea and you want to see it through – now’s the perfect time to get cracking and get your name out there!  

How the heck do you do that?

TIP #1 - PAVE YOUR WAY TO SUCCESS WITH A MARKETING STRATEGY

You may be an entrepreneur and you may have created the best app the world has ever seen – but if no one sees it, what good will that do? If you are the founder of a startup and have a great idea but just don’t know how to execute it you may just want to bring in a freelance marketing expert to help you get your name out there and develop a solid marketing plan.

Engaging the services of a freelance marketing expert is a great way to save costs and have someone on hand if and when you need them when the budget is tight and you can’t afford to have anyone on the team full time. There are plenty of great freelance marketing professionals who work with startups specifically and can help to get your business out to your audience.

If you get your hands on a great freelance marketing expert who specializes in your startup industry or field, they could make light work of getting your name out to your target market.

Marketing experts understand how to monetize ideas and create a buzz around your product/service. Key tips to finding a brilliant freelancer marketing expert:

  • Review their past work and check out some of the startups or businesses they have worked for. Get an idea of their experience and whether they are able to work with your target market. Creating a good job post for the freelancer will allow you to find the right person for the job.

  • Ensure they are offering you an hourly or project rate you can afford. If you are on a shoestring budget you won’t have the budget for fancy agency fees, so find a freelance marketing expert that is affordable and willing to work on an hourly or contract rate that suits you both.

  • Ask them to create sales projections based on the activities, so you can get an idea of what your startup could and should be earning.

  • Push them to work outside the box!

Ask your marketing expert to create a top notch marketing plan include a 12-month strategy for activation. A good marketing plan should have a clear and actionable roadmap for you to be able to undertake immediately offering solutions that are cost-effective to drive your business.

TIP #2 - GET YOURSELF A PROTOTYPE

Although you genuinely may have a world’s first idea – your idea won’t knock investors and potential customers off their feet if they don’t know what you’re offering. It’s a good idea to get a prototype created of your product or service so you can pitch it to investors or potential customers and show them the benefits of your awesome new startup concept.

If you’re launching an app, get yourself sorted by engaging the skills of a red hot freelance mobile app developer to develop the app, an app designer to create the visual elements, and a copywriter to write any content or text. As well as this, you might also want to get cracking finding a web developer and website designer to create a landing page for you as well as a social media strategist to create social media pages and get you started with some pro-active social media management.

This prototype is your one-stop shop for customer feedback. Which you’ll need to better your mobile app. You can’t just magically whip up an app with features that everyone loves. It’s a process.

TIP #3 - TEST, CAPTURE, EVOLVE

In order to get your startup noticed – get people involved. If you can find some people within your identified target market get them to test out your product or service and get some genuine feedback. Start with local universities, ask the students to test your product, to share with their friends and provide feedback. Testing will help you to get feedback and improve, don’t just assume everyone will love your business idea and that you’ve got the best idea ever.  

If your product is ready to go to market share it using marketing and sales ideas outlined in your marketing plan. If your startup isn’t ready, users will provide feedback for your team to pivot, upgrade and retest with the market – the key is, you have users in a captive market that are talking about your product, your brand and how it can solve their issues – this is the first step to a great startup.

TIP #4 - NETWORK LIKE CRAZY OR FIND SOMEONE THAT WILL DO IT FOR YOU

If you’re a wallflower you might find this a little hard, but networking is essential for startups. Network with startups in your area, online and at conferences to get an understanding of how they succeeded.

Consider attending conferences like StartCon to learn from those who have come before you in the startup world, as well as many associated services that can support your growth. Grab a pack of your best modern business cards, put on your best smile and start chatting away with other entrepreneurs in the industry.  

You can’t just sit back and wait for the customers to come to you. Depending on who your target market are and what service you provide you need to be actively networking, talking about your startup and getting your name out there. If you just can’t bare the idea of networking and you have the budget available, you can engage the services of a brilliant freelance business development manager or a sales guru to network on your behalf. There are plenty of great freelancers who are guns at sales that will work to drive leads and beat the drum for your new startup.

TIP #5 - POUND THE PAVEMENT & PROMOTE YOURSELF

As a startup looking to get your name out there, you should not be afraid to get out there and ‘do the hard sell’. No matter whether you like the idea of it or not, your startup will need to engage in business development activities and on a lean budget the person to do this will probably be you.

Freelance public relations experts or communications experts can help to create press releases and marketing campaigns to help you promote yourself if you a digital startup, and it’s well worth if you are launching in a couple of different markets to engage local freelance public relations and marketing experts to help you in each market. Every country has a unique way of being marketed to, so engaging the services of a local freelance marketing expert or public relations guru could help in the promotion of your startup on the ground in each of your markets.

If you are looking to promote yourself and you just don’t have the experience or the knowledge there are plenty of freelancers who can help you with the following tasks:

The list is basically endless for tasks you can outsource to freelancers and the beauty of freelancing means you can engage an individual on an hourly or project basis so you’re not handing out wads of cash. 

How do I Find Freelancers Who Can Help With my Startup?

Post a job ad for your startup and outline the individual task you need done, depending on what stage you’re at in your development and marketing you’ll have a wide range of freelance needs so you could have a few people working for you at the same time.

Here are a few things to consider adding to your job post when you’re looking for a freelancer for your startup:

  • Business information - what does your startup do exactly or what will it do when it actually launches. Share some information on your startup, your industry, why it’s difference and why they will want to be a part of the action.  Add a NDA if you’re worried about sharing your idea.

  • Provide an outline of the task- what exactly do you need done, if its app-related, website related or admin, be super specific about what it is you need done by the freelancer.

  • Add a time frame – do you need the work done yesterday or have you got a bit of time up your sleeve before you launch? Either way, outline when you need the project done so you find freelancers who have the time to do your project.

  • Specific requirements – If you need an app developer or a freelancer with a specific skill set or training on a particular program outline this in the job brief. The more specific you can be the better applications you will get.

Ready to Find Freelancers to Help Get Your Name Out There as a Startup?

Finding the perfect freelancer for your startup is simple when you know what to look for and Freelancer.com has the world’s best freelancers all at your fingertips.

Whatever you need done for your startup, freelancers are available and ready to get started so you can share your business idea with a global audience.

Freelancer.com makes hiring the best talent easy! Whether it’s virtual assistants, copywriting, website development or data entry you’ll find the perfect match for your business needs. Post a project today, and receive bids within seconds.  

 

Posted 17 January, 2017

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