Having a big dream, a great team and no money? That's what startups are about. The budget is a very sensitive issue for tech toddlers trying to fight the way through to the market. When you're pitching your startup, investors and accelerator hubs want from you some evidence on how viable your startup idea is. In most cases, this means that you're already expected to have your first customers. And even with brilliant tech solutions you provide, it's challenging and time-consuming to convince people to test out your product, unless you invest enough in advertising (which is in truth is never enough). And since this is expensive, let me propose a budget neutral option for you.
My advice to you is to begin blogging about your startup progress, team, ideas, challenges, the current state of affairs. Using SEO strategy and your personal blog will boost your startup's recognition in social media. It's not only your friends and family you're going to target to, but you can also reach a larger audience by hashtags and relevant publishing platforms, by spreading a word on your achievements and plans. If you're a student or graduate, consider asking your uni staff to include info about you in their newsletter. All this in synergy can generate a traffic flow to your website, and this is the first data you might to present to startup angels and incubators.
Every day you can produce by one 300 words sized article (from Monday to Thursday), and share some trivia news in non-trivial style, for instance, what are you plans for the next week and how you're going not to fuck up them. Make sure you have team building events, at some point, you'll need to prove how well your team is doing together. News and media - think about distributing your press-release, get spotted by the media agencies by providing exclusive content. Now, let's do a bit of math, 4 articles per week * 4 weeks = 16 articles per month * 12 months = (now I should take my calculator) = 192 times per year your startup will blink online. SEO starts to work after six months from the moment when your article is published. On weekends, you can write guest posts for thematic websites, since it requires much more effort, but also bring better results.
The last but not least: it's always helpful to brainstorm and write your content plan for at least two-three months ahead. The content plan will help you to remain focused and keep publishing regularly.
What do you think about other ways of improving your content marketing strategy? Do you think for each startup niche there should be specific rules? Share your tips in the comments.
Now you know that the best way to advertise your brand is via blogging!
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