There are hundreds of resources and guides out there regarding how to best market a startup. In fact, there’s so much material that it can actually be pretty overwhelming to know where to start. Especially when, as a young company, you already have so much to focus on and worry about in terms of launching your business and getting your product off the ground. If you’re like most business owners, you want to get information as easily as possible and ensure that you are focusing on all of the right tasks instead of funneling time and money into efforts that aren’t helping you succeed. That’s where this guide comes in. Check out the basic essentials where your time and money will be focused on the tasks that are most likely to help you move your business forward.
Pre-Launch Startup Marketing Planning
Don’t wait until you have already hit the stores to start marketing your business. There are some smart things you can do pre-launch in order to make sure that when your product comes out, you already have a following.
1.) Pick an awesome name – the name of your startup should be your core concern. It is an investment in your future and you want to make sure it’s something that is memorable and easy to find online.
2.) Save domain names – make sure you grab all possible and relevant domain names once you have named your business, including .com, .co, .org, .eu, .io, etc. as they apply to you and your audience.
3.) Develop personas – make sure you have your target audience and personas well developed.
4.) Create social media accounts – this one is huge! Make sure you create profiles on Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Pinterest, Yelp, Twitter, etc. in order to start posting regularly and gain a following before you launch.
5.) Get your website in gear – Even if your product isn’t available yet, you can still have a “Coming Soon” page on your website. This will help attract an audience and you can use your social media to link back to it to start developing more traffic.
6.) Invite beta testers – people love to be part of a project that is still in the early phases. It makes them feel special! Create a VIP list of beta testers who get to sample your product for free or get early access to it before everyone else.
7.) Start a blog – the sooner you start writing blog posts, the sooner you will gain attention from the audience you want.
8.) Don’t delay on analytics – get your analytics in gear early on. Google Analytics and other free tools can help you keep tabs on your traffic and success from day one.
9.) Put your startup on directories – this is an awesome list of directories you can submit your startup to in order to start gaining attention.
10.) Build an outreach list – start building a list of people who might be interested in your product and your point of view. As you start blogging, this list is a good resource to develop your thought leadership in. As your roadmap unfolds, it’s also a place to release updates to for media coverage.
11.) Prep for the launch – set a date for your launch, write and share your press releases, send out a newsletter, fill up your social media with info about it and invite all your beta users to the launch party!
BONUS: Download our inbound campaign checklist to make sure your startup is ready when launching an inbound marketing campaign.
