My best marketing advice for startups + How to
Decrease your Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC), enjoy higher retention rates, and keep your competitors at bay by driving awareness around your brand. Something practically all successful companies do, so you should too.
If you decide to skip the awareness part, you might be faced with a scenario where your marketing won't work or acquires customers at too high of a cost.
But wait, what does awareness mean?
By awareness, I refer to activities that focus on getting your brand known while not trying to sell your product/service!
Let's take HubSpot as an example. They have written TONS of great articles and rarely promote their own products. Instead, they try to create awareness around their brand.
When they do try to sell you something, chances are you will listen.
Data has also shown that it takes people around 6-10 interactions with a brand before considering it. And I'm not referring to 6-10 pushy sales ads. I'm talking awareness stuff. Like HubSpot does!
Isn't it better to focus on sales?
Let me share an experience.
A while back, I went to a Google Seminar about marketing. They told us that they've seen in their massive data pool that spending 60% of a budget on awareness campaigns results in MORE customers for unknown companies...
...Versus spending 100% on sales ads. Hm.
I then started a freelancing gig as a Growth Hacker at one of the world's leading parking apps, and guess what?
If we entered a new city, where the brand was unknown, we'd get MORE customers if we spent ~60% of our budget on pure awareness campaigns ("Free ice cream!") and the rest on sales ads ("Download our app!")
Lastly, if you look at some of the most successful companies, they do the same. For example, Tesla, Mcdonald's, Coca-Cola, and Apple drive massive awareness around their brands in efforts that are not sales-focused.
I'm convinced. Give me inspiring examples!
Here are a few examples of creating awareness before selling to your audience.
- Produce videos that explain a topic closely related to your business. Market the videos on forums, Slack/Discord channels by responding to people who need help with the issue. Or pay $$$ to get your video in front of your target audience. You can re-target the same audience with sales ads after they know about your brand!
- Start communities (Slack/Discord channels, subreddits) and discuss topics related to your business, focusing on giving. Throw in the occasional sales pitch after some time.
- Set up a website with the sole purpose of helping and, at the same time spreading awareness around your brand. It could be a comparison site, an online tax calculator, etc.
How do I get started?
Before you start driving awareness, it's a good idea to figure out WHAT content you should create, WHERE to spread it, and WHO your audience is.
To figure that out, you need a basic Brand Strategy and your subsequent Buyer Persona. Starting there will help narrow your focus and increase your chances of success.
The articles linked above will explain more.
Takeaways
- Awareness is a fluffy topic, but tangible results = Lower Customer Acquisition Costs.
- Content Marketing is an effective way to drive awareness around your brand.
- To drive awareness effectively, start with your Brand Strategy.
PS. Next-level is understanding your whole sales funnel, where awareness is the top layer. Read about it here.
Do you intentionally focus on awareness?
Hi @JOHANOCKLINDdotCOM
Thank you for sharing your wisdom. But many Indie Hackers don't have the budget or a team to work on the brand and build market awareness first. If you are heavily venture backed and this is baked in the strategy, then that's one thing, but with Indie Hackers and self funded tech startups, it's not that straight forward.
However, there is help at hand. We have brought together a 16,700+ strong free talent pool from 100 countries on https://skilledup.life to help Indie hackers and bootstrappers who are building the next wave of tech startups.
Once subscribed, https://skilledup.life/pricing, all our talent is free. You can them assemble a marketing team that could work on brand awareness.
We ourselves have recently started assembling our own brand awareness team.
Keen to hear your thoughts on adding free talent + wisdom.
Best regards
Manoj
manoj@skilledup.life
Hey Manoj! First of all, I realize Indie Hackers often have a small or non-existent budget.
But driving awareness can be done by creating and organically spreading great content.
You are reading and responding to this article, which mean you now are aware of me and my personal brand. Awareness is created! ;)
Regarding free talent, it sounds like if you have an NGO you could get volunteers, but for a for-profit tech startup?
https://skilledup.life is not for NGOs. We are strictly for profit-inspired tech startups.
Agree. It is not that straightforward for IndieHackers
Hi Manoj.
Is it correctly understood, that you hook startups up with voluntary workers (who get no pay except for the experience), and then you take a subscription fee for that?
If yes... ew.
Great post Johan. Absolutely agree.
98% of one's target market isn't in the market to buy your solution in the first place. So trying to pitch them your product isn't going to help convince them to buy.
Actually wrote an article about this not too long ago - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/belief-freemium-strategy-took-startup-from-0-8-million-chris-monk
Thanks a lot for sharing. It is very helpful
No problem. Glad I could be of help :-)
Yeah, freemium business models fit right in between awareness and sales. People listen, but only because they get your stuff for free! Good article, I like the name "BLUNT"
Thanks Johan :-)
Great insights, Johan. I like the idea of outsourcing the brand strategy at an early stage since startups don't have massive budgets for agencies. You're onto something!
I will even take it a step before and plug in why I am working on geeks and experts to help aspiring professionals get access to brainstorming sessions with domain experts for a fee or for free.
Instead of relying on warm intros or cold DMs if you could just pick my brain in one click.
Thanks SnehaSaigal! Founders who enjoy working with branding and have some experience could even set their own brand strategy to start with. That's why we provide free templates for download.
Cool service!
Sharing this article as well, especially if you are planning to launch your SaaS startup
https://www.saasjournal.io/posts/11-important-tips-for-launching-a-saas-platform
Hey rhrs323, that's some sweet and condensed advice for launching. But instead of posting it as a comment I'd create a new post here on IH and on Reddits subred startups ;)
It's much easier to buy from brands we know Indeed for most of the things (not everything). Thanks for the write up
For sure! Online I think it’s even more prevalent due to the fact that scams exist to such a high degree
Yess Content marketing is the best method I know!
It’s for sure very cost effective. And I like the fact that you are (hopefully) providing value with your content even before your audience are your customers. I feel kind in a way 😅
100% Alex Hormozi said "Giveaway the secret, sell the execution."🙂
I got two leads after I post 4 contents...surreal.
Totally agree with that quote! If you give away the secret and your counterpart decides to do the execution themselves, they would likely not have hired you to start with. Since they are do-it-themselves!
I think you are spot on. Direct sales adds are less and less effective it seems and I personally have almost never bought something because of a sales add without being generally aware of the brand.
It's what makes this people able to create a real brand identity so special. A still I personally am trying to obtain hahaha.
Yeah, creating a strong brand is not an easy thing. That's why I think niche brands are the way to go! Easier to drive awareness towards 100k people vs 1B =P
I think you are right, for startups, it's often best to focus on a niche that they can relate to and within which they can become dominant through brand recognition and loyalty.
Is awareness another term for value add in this case? Also, is there anyone to work with on a professional brand strategy?
I guess you could call it value add. Since without the awareness, the customer acquisition cost would be much higher.
But with the term awareness, I'm referring more to the practice of just getting your brand out there. Without trying to sell anything.
So that the next time people hear about your product, they will recognize your brand from before, and hence hopefully put more trust in the product.
There are a lot of Marketing Agencies out there who can help with Brand Strategy, they usually charge $5000 and up. But as a startup, you often get a lot of unnecessary stuff and too many people involved, hence the price.
That's why I founded Lead Hedgehog (leanhedgehog.com), to offer startups only the must-haves and at a much lower rate. We do complete Brand Strategy projects for $1999.
Totally agree with you Johan, awareness is one of the most important aspects of getting an active user base and when you are just starting out or working on a budget, social media platforms and blogs do feel like lifesavers.
At the end of the day how you present your product is what's gonna drive sales, so it is better to spend more time and effort on content writing rather than to blindly start an ad campaign, which in a lot of cases can be annoying to people.
That is actually exactly the reason why my team and I try to share our journey and product development insights of our feedback tool ruttl with people as much as possible, if people know about you they might develop interest.
So, thanks a lot for sharing, it was a great read!
Yeah I think sharing your journey is a great way to spread awareness!
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Thank you bravojhony! Tell me, do you drive awareness around your brand?
Love this Johan! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks! Hope it's helpful. Let me know if you want any more examples on ways to spread awareness
Hey Johan, insightful one!
Thanks! Took me a while to understand. And when working with companies with larger datasets, you can get actual numbers behind the statement. Which always is preferred imo
Oh Yeah! Thanks for sharing it.