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In this text, I’ll discuss the seven most vital marketing activities that may help your startup start, grow and scale, based on my 10+ years of experience in growing corporations and startups, managing projects and leading marketing activities.
For me, the most vital thing in marketing and building a startup is to use the scientific method – making a hypothesis, testing it through various experiments, and adjusting or rejecting the hypothesis based on market results.
Being a startup founder could be a challenge. When building something from scratch, you have to wear many hats, be on a tight budget, and strive to grow quickly while fighting off fierce competition. The list below simplifies your marketing steps.
1. Target group
The external side of marketing is that it only involves running ads and posting on social media. The truth, nevertheless, is that it’s about understanding the motivations, pain points, and behaviors of your audience. This is the basis of my experience running my marketing agency Aezir.
I quickly realized that it’s inconceivable to solve all marketing problems for all corporations. You need to find and reach the audiences to whom you provide the most meaningful help and clearly define your advantages. Find a area of interest and explore it through market research, customer reviews and data evaluation.
2. Clear, achievable goals
Start by defining clear, actionable goals that align with your most pressing business priorities. Often, startups begin their marketing journey chasing quick wins or key metrics without having a plan for sustainable growth.
Setting SMART goals—specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound—is the best way to clearly define your goals. Whether you increase your email click-through rate by 50% next quarter or post each day on LinkedIn focusing on building our core audience for a month to test your hypothesis, having clear goals will keep everyone in Your team shall be cohesive and focused.
3. Identity
The next step is building your brand identity. You need to define what your brand identity means to you and your team. This goes beyond your name and logo – the way you communicate your mission, values and the unique advantages you bring to the market.
When working with startups like Scailyte, I focused on creating a compelling and authentic brand story, showcasing real team interactions, company exits, and, after all, the expertise and labor inside the company. My idea was to humanize the company, showcasing the people inside, while the team focused on the science of single cells. This has proven to be a success based on feedback from our team attending events and knowing that everybody knows who we are and what we do.
4. Content marketing
I know firsthand that writing content is not the most glamorous thing you possibly can do, mainly focusing on attracting investors or increasing sales. However, this marketing strategy will increase your exposure at a fraction of the cost of an event or promoting campaign, while building your knowledge and communication with your followers.
In many of my ventures, content marketing has grow to be the primary way to build authority and generate organic traffic while providing value – through blog posts, newsletters, videos and podcasts. Choose a medium that suits your personality and test it. Focus on timeless content that may stay relevant and drive traffic long after publication. Remember that content could be transformed from blog posts into videos, podcast episodes, or email campaigns.
5. Social media
In today’s world, marketing is impossible without social media. Pick your poison and focus on the one your audience is on. Always consider opportunity cost – where you possibly can make the best use of your time. While managing social media for various corporations, I have found that success lies in promoting honest communication, not only spreading messages. Reply to comments, engage in conversations and show the human side of your brand. LinkedIn is implausible for B2B networking and thought leadership, while Instagram and TikTok work higher for visual B2C brands.
6. Performance tracking
Remember that marketing is a continuous process. You need to track, measure and analyze your results to optimize your marketing strategy and ultimately your business. Tools like Google Analytics, HubSpot, and (*7*) are a part of my marketing arsenal as I manage a startup marketing department. They help you see what’s working and where you wish to change direction. Set up dashboards for metrics like customer acquisition cost, conversion rates, and engagement levels, and use these statistics to transform your marketing approach. Make a hypothesis and A/B test it with a variation to see what resonates best with your audience.
7. Be ready to pivot
One of the most beneficial lessons I’ve learned on my marketing and entrepreneurship journey is the importance of adaptability. The world of marketing never sleeps and is continuously evolving with the emergence of recent technologies, platforms and consumer behaviors. My advice is to stay agile and open to learning by listening to the signals the data gives you. From leveraging emerging trends like AI and Web3 to the latest growth hacking techniques, staying ahead means continuously experimenting, testing, and optimizing.
The path to marketing mastery is challenging. This article is my contribution to guiding you thru the hurdles on the road to launch, but it is not a means of following and doing.
It’s about being resourceful, data-driven, and strongly focused on your audience and the signals they’re sending to them. The strategies mentioned can form the foundation of your marketing mix and help you set your startup engine for growth and long-term success.