Grow your startup with ZERO budget
Free and effective ways to grow your startup with growth marketing.
Sujan Patel, Co-founder of Web Profits gave a talk about how to grow your startup at StartCon. Even better? All of these methods are things you can do for FREE, to build your company right from the very beginning.
Want to watch Sujan’s full presentation? Get the Digital Pass
FOCUS
The first thing Sujan emphasized was that you need to focus on your top channels and really get to know how you’re getting people to click through, sign up, use your product, etc. Sujan suggests that you focus on just three channels, of all the possible channels you could use. The truth is, Sujan says, “You’re going to suck at most of them.” So find what works and double down on it.
So when should you start doing all this? “Pre-launch,” Sujan explains. Before you even have a product – even if you have a product ready – you need to get things moving. You need to build up hype before you even get to day one of your product being out there in the wild.
Pre-launch
What can you do pre-launch? The first thing you need is a landing page. If you don’t have one, go make one right now. It doesn’t have to be complex, but you need a way to start registering interest and collecting emails .
Sujan’s favorite trick is making a relevant ebook. You could also run a blog, especially if you can get hold of other people from products which have already got an audience to come and do guest posts. Whatever it is, you need to offer value up front. If you have something valuable, people will share that and that’s how you can start getting referrals before your product is even on the market. You’re building an audience here.
Sujan starts off by saying “screw PR”… but if you can make friends with a journalist somehow, it’s a great idea at any point in the process.
Launch marketing
Once you have an audience, you’re ready to launch! Sujan’s top recommendation is to use Product Hunt: you’ll get some feedback, maybe some new users, and it could even be an opportunity for PR and viral sharing. If people like your product right from the start, it could really take off – “Product Hunt is the new TechCrunch,” Sujan says.
You’ve gathered emails through your sign-in page or blog, or marketing an ebook, and now it’s time to email them and let them know the product has launched. Some of them are just waiting to hear how they can support you! Sujan is a big advocate of smart cold emailing, too: use RetargetLinks, offer value up front, and let the customers come to you.
Grown-up marketing
Now your product is out there, what next? You might still not have a big budget, but there’s still plenty you can do to make sure your customers feel valued. Send them a thank you card, or even freebies if you have the budget. Follow them on social media and let them know how much you appreciate their support. This is a huge way to get more support, because people will often share these appreciative touches and let other people know there’s a great community feeling surrounding your project. Anything you can do to foster that community is a good idea – Sujan even gives an example of an issue one of his projects had which saw their customers reaching out to offer them money to fix it faster!
Another big tip from Sujan is to seek feedback from your early adopters. What do they like, where are they getting value from your product? Maybe what they’re paying for isn’t at all what you thought you were doing.
Takeaways
· Market every step of the way. Even before your product is ready, start getting the word out. You can build some serious momentum.
· Reach out to potential customers. Making people feel like they’re part of a community is a great way to get them excited about your product.
· Don’t do anything that doesn’t work. Find out what you’re good at, what brings the most people to your product, and focus on it.
Actionable Growth Tactics for 2017
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Speakers include:
- Andrew Chen, Rider-Side Growth, UBER
- Jason Crusan, Director of Advanced Exploration Systems, NASA
- Elena Verna, SVP Growth, SurveyMonkey
- Nate Moch, VP Product Teams & Growth, Zillow
- Patrick Malatack, VP Product Management, Twilio
- Chandini Ammineni, Distribution Partner, 500 Startups
- Sean Ellis, Founder of Growth Hackers
- Christopher Lowe, Global Tech Media Specialist, Bloomberg
