What Are Unexpectedly Effective Marketing Tactics for Startups?
Navigating the vast ocean of startup success often hinges on the compass of smart marketing. With insights from founders and CEOs, this guide crystallizes seven potent strategies designed to elevate your startup. Kicking off with thought leadership, the wisdom shared promises transformational results for budding entrepreneurs.
- Become a Thought Leader
- Build a General Voice of Authority
- Offer Value Upfront
- Partner With Other Companies
- Target Micro-Communities
- Highlight Customer Experiences
- Create Personalized Videos
Become a Thought Leader
Years ago, when everyone was trying to build their presence on LinkedIn, I nearly completely abandoned social media and turned to Quora to become a thought leader in the SaaS industry. Little did I know...
My answers generated over 7 million views, not only attracting clients for our services but also generating significant interest in Quora consulting as potential customers saw how it could be done. And now, with Quora regaining its popularity and being favored by Google, many of these old answers have experienced a resurgence, driving views, traffic, and conversions. For us and our clients.
It seems that when everyone goes right, you should not be afraid to go left—at least you won't be stuck in the traffic caused by those who turned right frantically! This applies to Quora vs. other social media, but also so many other aspects of marketing and business.
Build a General Voice of Authority
When we started Superfiliate, we saw a ton of companies spending a ton of money running the same playbooks. By nature, that meant they were competing over the same "real estate" in our potential customers' minds, and that was not a game we wanted to play.
So, we decided to lean into building each leader into a general voice of authority on various perspectives about our company, industry, and business-building generally. Although it's not an "overnight-success" tactic, inbound from LinkedIn and other social channels is now our number one lead source, and we rarely speak to a prospect that doesn't mention seeing content from one of us online.
We almost never promote Superfiliate directly in our content, but over time, we've built trust and curiosity amongst our prospects, and 6-12 months later, that is now heavily converting into prospects and meetings.
Offer Value Upfront
One of the most unexpectedly effective marketing tactics for our recruiting platform was something incredibly simple: personalized cold outreach via LinkedIn, but with a twist. We didn’t just pitch the platform; instead, we shared insightful data or trends from the hiring market tailored to the specific industry of the person we were reaching out to. It wasn’t about selling right away but rather about offering something valuable upfront, like an insider’s tip.
I remember reaching out to a small HR team in a fast-growing tech company, sharing some of the latest hiring trends in AI roles. Instead of ignoring the message like people do with most cold outreach, the HR lead actually thanked me for the insights and scheduled a demo. That one message turned into a long-term client.
What I found is that people respond to value, not just a sales pitch. It’s like being at a party where no one wants to talk to the person who’s just talking about themselves, but if you’re the one dropping useful nuggets of info, you become the person people seek out.
Partner With Other Companies
Look to partner with other companies that serve the same audience but sell other services. For example, as a digital marketing agency that offers web design and SEO, we reached out to design agencies that only do branding and graphic design, or social media marketing, or paid advertising, and made connections and partnerships with them. We refer business to each other or offer white-labeled services on behalf of those other agencies. You can do the same in virtually any industry. My wife runs a cleaning company, and she connected with moving companies and real estate agents or realtors. Find who else is serving your target audience and connect with them!
Target Micro-Communities
Instead of casting a wide net, we focused on micro-communities—online forums, LinkedIn groups, and niche social media pages. By offering free SEO audits and advice to these specific groups, we positioned ourselves as experts and built a loyal audience. This approach allowed us to generate high-quality leads with minimal ad spend. We found that trust and expertise in smaller, focused circles led to stronger word-of-mouth referrals, which outperformed many broader marketing tactics we had tried.
Highlight Customer Experiences
One marketing tactic that proved to be unexpectedly effective for SpeakWrite was leveraging customer testimonials early on. We initially thought that showcasing the technical aspects of our transcription services, like speed and accuracy, would be the primary driver for growth. However, when we began highlighting real customer experiences—especially how our services helped streamline their workflows and improve productivity—it resonated far more with potential clients.
We found that people connect with stories, especially when they can see themselves in those situations. By focusing on the success and satisfaction of our clients, we not only built trust but also created a sense of community around SpeakWrite. It was surprising how much more engagement and conversion we saw when we shifted from promoting features to highlighting the impact we made on our customers' daily operations.
Create Personalized Videos
One specific tactic that was unexpectedly effective for my startup, Teckst, was recording 2-minute, personalized digital videos for every lead we were targeting to get a meeting. We started each video with a piece of paper with their name and company logo on it to attract their attention. Then, we explained how our solution would help them achieve their goals. We put the video on Vimeo and emailed them a link with the still frame of their name and company. We landed meetings with 30% of the companies we targeted using this tactic.
